Chapter 34: Crate and a Hardplace
God must have been listening however, as all throughout his journey through the wet nightmare furnace, the now very miserable youth never once saw so much as a flicker above his head until he reached the top, only to realise, in his horror, that the seat covering was nothing more than a wooden hole cut into a board.
God damn it! He cursed silently, his limbs, already stressed from a constant flow of adrenaline, were beginning to go cold and numb. How could I have forgotten about the plank!?
He wedged himself against the dry side of the wall, his feet finding purchase in the corners as his heels dug into raw sewage, kicking as much free as he could to find solid purchase on the stone beneath. Eventually he felt his heels connect against the rough hewed stone that lined the walls.
Pressing up experimentally, he found that lady luck had taken additional pity on the fool and the plank was merely that, an unsecured plank over a hole that men had used to shit down. He gingerly lifted it, finding it to be lighter than he expected and shimmied it away from the opening.
Hesitantly, he lifted his body out of the disgusting nightmare tunnel and all but threw himself onto the stone floor and stared at the roof of the structure for god knows how long.
This is going to haunt my dreams. Carmen swore terrified that at that moment he could have slipped and fallen to a gruesome death, or worse, had become paralyzed from the fall.
By this time, his vision had become shaky and unsteady from the cold and wet conditions he had subjected himself to, his limbs similarly were weak and shaking from the cold.
He shakily stood to his feet, removing the putrid acrid smelling cloak off his back and unceremoniously threw it down the hole from which he ascended, he made the terrible mistake of staring too long at the walls of the garderobe, and immediately emptied the few remaining contents of his stomach down, along with what was left of his pride into the hole.
Fuck my life Carmen thought, he swore an oath to remember this terrible experience, and do everything within his power to find alternative routes should he ever have some sick bastard order him to infiltrate another castle.
Carmen eventually stabilised his thoughts and his breathing, and realised he had been in this location for far too long, quickly replacing the wooden plank so as to prevent a fate worse than death for any fool who sat before they looked, he made his way to the thin oak door and opened it a crack.
Nobody was present outside of the door thankfully, so he slowly and as quietly as he could opened the door, loathing how rusted the hinges were, noting that he would need to acquire lamp oil if he ever had to attempt a similar task such as this.
Many excruciating seconds later, the door was opened enough for him to look around the structure itself, seeing a few guards clustered closer to the large towers located on opposite sides of his location, he sighed a breath of relief. He doubted anybody would be passing through here within the next fifteen or so minutes, but regardless he had to get off these walls.
He closed the door behind him, making sure to keep it as smooth as he could and the light from the interior faded away, leaving him in near complete darkness.
They really need to light these walls better. He thought to himself
Searching the small enclosed embattlement he was located in, he found a large wooden chest with some useful articles inside, a long rope for a nearby flagpole, a series of knives, and a dark blanket guards could use during cold weather to keep some warmth to themselves.
Great. He thought. I've got to get warm before my body starts to shut down.
Carmen knew he probably couldn't succeed right now if he kept going at this pace, he had truly reached his limit today. Kel's death took a physical and mental toll on him, the physical training afterwards took his frail body and destroyed him, and now his nearly suicidal quest to prove himself to Cassius was starting to take its toll.
Retrieving the large heavy blanket, he quietly shut the large chest before positioning himself behind a stack of large boxes in the corner of the structure and covered himself completely, curling himself into a crouched ball to keep warm.
As Carmen sat thinking about the chaos of the day, he unknowingly dozed off behind the large boxes for an uncertain period of time, woken up by the sound of a group of footsteps and clinking armour.
Oh no. He knew he messed up, he had fallen asleep hiding from his friends from boredom many times, but this was different. He was currently infiltrating the second most heavily defended Fortress in this region of the Kingdom, if he was caught and wasn't recognized, he was likely to get imprisoned, tortured, or just slain on the spot.
So he just froze, letting his experiences guide his actions and just kept still, listening to the men outside approach closer and closer until they stepped up into short battlement.
Listening closely, he could hear one man enter the bathroom structure itself, and another man step closer to his hiding place.
Wrapped up in the heavy blanket, Carmen could still clearly see the chest and a guards shadow cast over it, to his complete horror he saw the shadow grow as it approached the chest. Then he could completely see the man step over and open the chest.
"Bah! Those idiots never remember to leave the damn blankets here for our miserable asses!"
He heard the man turn to another member of his patrol, evidently the leader of the group.
"Go back to our tower and grab some extra blankets, will you? It's freezing up here!" The guard's voice was gruff with annoyance, but Carmen barely registered the words. His heart raced as he watched the guard's hand fumble around inside the chest, a few short from his own concealed form. His breathing was shallow, careful not to make even the slightest sound.
He remained completely still, hoping against all odds that the guard would give up searching and move on. Just go away! His mind screamed in silence.
The guard grunted, shutting the chest with a frustrated slam. "Worthless," he muttered, stepping away and walking back toward the others.
"When you're done in there Harold, meet us at ground level, we've left a torch for you here but we need to get more fuel from the storage before we get back to our stations."
A muffled affirmation came from the toilets, before the remaining men stepped off to accomplish their goals.
-----// Author's note //-----
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