A Soldier's Life
chapter-16

Konstantin wore a grin as he continued. “The little boy got himself trapped on an island in the center of the chamber. There is a lake and island accessible by stepping stones. Some type of luminescent fish lights up the water, which lights up the chamber and water. The water is also home to giant aquatic centipedes. They can not reach more than five feet out of the water, according to the idiot on the island.”

Castille asked sternly, “So you talked with Justin Cicero? How is his health?”

Konstantin grinned, “He tried to order me to save him. He said he had a commander’s rank in the army and had the right to command me. He has been catching and cooking the glowing fish with his fire magic.”

Delmar asked, “How did he get trapped? What happened to his adventuring party?”

Konstantin frowned, “He lost one man to the spiders. It was his healing mage. A spider came from under the bridge and got him from behind. The water centipedes have a strong paralytic cloud attack. His two heavy fighters inhaled it, fell into the water, and drowned while they were crossing the stepping stones.”

Firth asked, “What happened to Marius, the pathfinder?”

Konstantin shook his head, “He did not say. But if the dungeon only allows seven people to enter and we number six, then it is safe to assume Marius is also dead.”

“What information do you have on the water creatures?” Castille asked.

Konstantin grunted, “The glowing fish light chamber and water, like the fire beetles did in the prior chambers. The six centipedes are all about ten feet long and easily seen moving in the water. But instead of legs, they have one hundred fins. They are really fast, and that is why I think Justin’s team was surprised when crossing.”

Mage Castille frowned, “My shadow chains do not work underwater. Will they attack along the shoreline or just when crossing the stepping stones?”

Konstantin shook his head, “There is no shoreline. The chamber opens right to the stepping stones. The island in the middle has a shoreline— about thirty feet circular.”

“What is the likely hood of getting all of us to the island with the baron’s son?” Castille asked. Konstantin was shaking his head no.

Delmar suggested, “As long as we don’t breathe in the paralytic gas can we sprint to the island?”

“No,” Konstantin said. “The stepping stones are about five feet across, and it is about five feet between the stones. If you stop on the stones, then you will likely get quickly swarmed.”

Castille heaved a sigh, “We have one instant ice potion. It will freeze all water in a fifteen-foot radius. If we can catch enough of them in the ice, we should be able to eliminate all of the water threats. It will take the dungeon at least two days to respawn them if we do not exit.”

Delamar asked, “Who is going to hop on the stones, draw them all in, and freeze them?” No one moved to volunteer. A long heavy silence ensued.

Castille finally tried to entice someone, “Two essences of their choice to the volunteer we harvest from the water creatures.” Still, no one volunteered. But I was thinking what everyone else was thinking. You can not use the essence if you are dead. Mage Castille upped the offer, “Three and whatever is in the reward chest for the room.”

Firth started to fidget. Delmar cocked his eyebrow, thinking Firth was going to cave and volunteer. “I will do it.” All eyes turned to me. “I already got some experience with the spiders being the bait, and you all will have my back,” I said confidently. Or at least I thought I sounded confident.

I slowly removed the potions from my dimensional space, and Mage Castille pulled the aqua-colored potion out. “We got this as a gift from a merchant for rescuing him from a gnoll war party. Keep the lid off, and throw it in the water when all six creatures are within range.” Delmar and Konstantin had something akin to ice spikes that they applied to their boots so they would not slip on the ice.

We all walked down the long tunnel. As we approached the end, a blue light highlighted the room. When we reached the end, it was actually quite beautiful. The water glowed a soft blue, and the stepping stones were round and dark gray, heading out to an island in the center. A young man stood on the island studying us. “You back, soldier?” He yelled excitedly. “At least you brought help. Ready to get me off this island?”

I didn’t like him from the second I heard his voice. To make matters worse, I was about risk my life for him. Konstantin walked up to me, “Don’t worry about catching them all. Get to the second stone and toss it when the first one attacks. When they emerge, hold your breath as long as you can. We will be right behind you.” He patted my back reassuringly.

I nodded but was questioning my self-preservation thought process. It was a good ten minutes of preparation with the man on the island screaming the entire time for us to hurry up. Castille told me to avoid falling into the water after I dropped the potion. She jokingly said they wouldn’t have time to chip me out of the ice before I died.

I could see the snake-looking creatures in the water. The glowing fish scattered from in front of them as they swam. I took a breath and leaped to the first stepping stone. I had expected it to be stable and nearly fell when it wobbled underneath me. Ripples of water spread from the stone, calling the creatures to me. I got my feet quickly under me. The creatures raced toward me incredibly fast. Two were trailing far behind, back near the island. I waited, a short sword in one hand and the potion in the other for them to get close.

Konstantin yelled, “Get to the next platform!” I had forgotten the plan to get to the second platform when I stumbled. I needed to give everyone room to fight. I ran and leaped. The wobble of the platform had me not get a great push-off, and I came up short a little short. My bad knee slammed hard, and I heard a crack in my knee as my lower body splashed into the water. Water filled my boots as I scrambled to get on the platform. Somehow I didn’t spill the potion, but the knuckles on my sword hand were smashed and bleeding as I rolled onto the floating stone.

An insectoid head appeared above water. I swung my sword as the centipede spewed a foul mist into my face. My blade cut its face rubbery face. I swung twice more, hacking away. The exertion meant I couldn’t hold my breath much longer. I tossed the potion into the water, unaware if all the swimming beasts were close enough yet.

I watched in fascination as the water crystalized and the ice started spreading rapidly. Konstantin landed behind me, and I inhaled in relief as I needed the air. The foul mist had not fully dissipated, and I felt the paralytic taking hold. It was hard to move and breathe, but my fellow soldiers were around me and hacking away as the centipedes were trapped in the ice. Then my feet felt cold, but it was not the paralyzing mist. My boots and pants froze, and then I was a statue. My frozen clothes from the waist down held up my paralyzed body. I watched as five of the six centipedes were hacked to death, trapped in the ice.

The last one lunged up onto the ice, and its long body slid toward me. Delmar intercepted it and hacked into the body, stopping it. Firth walked into my line of sight. “Damn, if I knew it was going to be this easy, I would have volunteered myself.” He tapped my forehead. “Hey, Linus, how long before he moves again?”

“About a minute, I believe,” I heard from behind me. He was correct as I felt my movement slowly return. I slowly and painfully sucked in the precious air. If I had known the paralysis would have extended to my lungs, I would not have volunteered.

I gasped and went down on one knee and tried to remove my boots, as I was now worried about frostbite. As I wrestled with the boots, the baron’s son came to us across the stones and reeked something fierce. “About time. Give me some food, and you can hand me my essences from those creatures, mage.”

I had only gotten one boot off so far but looked up to see the Mage Castille staring at the man who was in his twenties with weeks of haggard grow on his gaunt face. Delmar stepped between the mage and the baron’s son, “Over here, First Citizen Justin. We can get you some rations.” Delmar escorted Justin back up to the safe room before the confrontation with Mage Castille erupted into something.

Mage Castille stood over me as I rubbed my bare feet, trying to get the feeling back. I was still on the ice-covered second stepping stone. “Nice work Eryk.” She leaned down and placed three essences into my palm. “Three apex endurance affinities. All six were apex endurance essences. The baron’s son took the reward chest as it materialized on the island,” she said regrettably.

“He can just take the chest? He didn’t do a damn thing! What about his claim on the essences?” I asked, annoyed, starting to feel some life in my bare feet.

Castille pursed her lips, “He is a First Citizen.” My confused look had her add, “They fall under different laws.”

“As a mage, are you not a First Citizen as well?” I asked.

Castille harumphed, “No. You can only be born into first citizenship. You need to be a descendent of a member of the First Legion.”

I had more questions but did not want to show my ignorance, “So what is going to happen with Mr. Personality?” I asked Mage Castille. She huffed in a short laugh at my nickname.

“I will give him these three essences and tell him that was all we collected. He didn’t see me collect them all as he was too busy opening the chest on the island and securing whatever was in it. He will probably doubt me, so consume those quickly. You may get some indigestion as you are only supposed to take one essence a day, but if you don’t take them all now, that nitwit will confiscate them. Stay down here and take one every hour. I will see you in two hours.” Castille nodded at me, then she turned away and started walking back to the safe room.

Konstantin was the only one left at the passage heading up. He spoke, “Since the reward chest appeared in this room, there will be no other threats. When you feel up to it, walk down to the next chamber and take an accounting of it. If Justin asks, we will tell him we left you behind to scout. Do not enter the room, though, just note what you see from the passageway so you have something to tell Justin if he asks. The dungeon’s ecology will prevent the creatures from leaving their designated room.”

“Couldn’t we just kill the monsters from the passageway then?” I asked, trying to find a loophole.

Konstantin shook his head in disappointment, “I thought you were smarter than that, Eryk.” Instead of elaborating, he turned and left. I was left barefoot and alone on the floating stone with three essences in my hand.

I looked around and put the first essence into my mouth, thinking about what he meant. Then it struck me. The ankhegs were underground. The spiders were under the bridge. And the centipede fish were in the water and only came close after I leaped onto the first stone. All of the monsters had only attacked after we entered the room. I surmised dungeons protected their creations from making killing them too easy.

I confirmed I was alone. I sent my wet, cold socks to my dimensional storage and brought out dry socks. I put on the icy, frost-covered boots. I had a lot of time, so I decided to check out the island in the center of the chamber. I hopped to it and almost collapsed every time I landed. My knee was in serious pain, and I think I cracked the patella. On the island, I found the mess the baron’s son left—piles of shit, fish bones, dirty clothes. The smell was horrendous. I looked at the far side of the cavern. I still had a lot of time before I needed to return to the safe room. I knew curiosity killed the cat, but it couldn’t hurt to take a peak. As Konstantin said, I just needed to remain in the passageway.