A Soldier's Life
chapter-29

I paused as Mage Durandus was still gazing at the storm. I asked tentatively, “So we are done? We scouted. Found the reason for the storm. Are we going to head back now that we know what is causing it?”

He did not respond for a long moment. Then Mage Durandus said slowly, “No. I think we will investigate further. There appears to be only one giant.” He turned and left, moving to his tent, which his men had erected for him. He was definitely not a conversationalist.

I was left there wondering, what is a storm giant? It did not sound good. A giant that could call lightning and raise a mountain in a swamp did not sound like someone I wanted to meet. I went and set up my tent in the middle of the island. One of the shieldmen was doing the same, “Leonidus,” he said, holding out his hand.

“Eryk,” I responded, grasping wrists with him. “So why does everyone have a stick shoved up their ass?”

He scrunched his face as my analogy didn’t quite translate. “You mean, why is no one talking to you?” I nodded. “It takes a while for them to warm up. If Durandus was not around, we might be more prone to conversation. I overheard you talking with Durandus and that he wants to keep going.”

“What is a storm giant anyway?” I asked, finishing my tent setup and laying my oiled cloak on the damp ground to protect my sleeping bedroll. I was planning to change into my dry clothes so I could sleep comfortably, but Leonidus motioned me to wait.

“Give the mage a moment to think. He will dry everyone’s clothes before we sleep.” My eyebrows went up. He finished his tent and said, “Never heard of a storm giant before. We have fought hill giants on two occasions. One grabbed my shield mate and ripped him in half,” he uncomfortably shuddered at his memory.

We didn’t talk for a while as we prepared our respective sleeping areas. Delmar had been right on what I needed to pack. I started gathering twigs and dead wood for a fire. Leonidus stopped me, “No fire. Not out in the wild. Draws the creatures in, and we hate fighting in the night.” He took a small black pouch out and tossed it to me. I opened it to find a glowing oval rock inside. I looked up, curious. He answered my unspoken question, “It is a glowstone.” My face was still blank. “It has stored aether in it. Gives enough light at night to take a piss without tripping over every damn thing. Durandus got everyone one, so night marching was easier. You can borrow mine for the night in case you need to piss.”

“Thanks. How long does it last?” I asked, putting it back in the bag.

“It lasts a few days. Durandus recharges them. Kyle, one of our bowmen, can do it too, but he is usually a pain about it and tries to get something in return,” he replied.

Since Leonidus was talking, I asked, “After the giant frog was killed, I didn’t see him give the essence to anyone.”

Leonidus sighed, “Yeah, we heard Mage Castille hands out the essence. What Durandus doesn’t consume himself, he sells. He has a large estate near the capital. He wants to marry a First Citizen.” He leaned in close and spoke, “About two months ago, a duke offered him his daughter if he paid the tithe on her behalf for her to gain the status of First Citizenship. He refused, saying if he was going to give away half his estate for a woman, she better not look like a pig.” Leonidus checked to make sure the mage wasn’t coming to smite him, then said, “At least that is how we heard it happened.”

He had some soft jerky and cheese as I ate my dry ration. As we got more comfortable with each other, he offered, “I am guessing that is why he wants this storm giant.” He explained his thoughts, “The essence it would yield probably had a magic affinity to it. He wants to improve his power over the aether affinity for lightning.” I nodded, remembering High Mage Dacian was hunting the bulette for the same reason. The powerful just wanted more power.

I noticed one of the other legionaries had a metal fishing line and a small spell form that sent a blue shock down the metal wire to stun the fish. Leonidis noted that it was Kyle who could also charge the stones. Kyle worked with a partner who had a net, and they quickly had six fish for themselves. The fish were flat and black and swam on the bottom of the muddy swamp so that was why I have not noticed them during our travel in the muck.

Contrary to Leonidus’ advice, they started a fire, cooked their fish, and then extinguished the fire. They did not offer any to anyone else. Leonidus did say Kyle was a bit of an asshole. I drank half a gallon of water to get my dry ration bar down. Leonidis showed me a trick for the wax leaf. You cut it up into four sections and then rub the wax off. It left a soft fibrous sheet good for wiping your arse. He admitted that some legionaries got the ration bars just to make toilet paper and tossed them away, not eating them.

As the sun set, it was as predicted, Durandus came by and dried everyone’s clothes. The water was not evaporated but pushed toward the ground, causing a puddle underneath you. The smaller bugs of the swamp seemed to wake up as the light disappeared. The humidity lessened slightly, but I was still sweating non-stop. I folded my sleeping roll around me. I pulled out the glowstone, refilled my canteen from my storage space, and then pulled out the healing affinity book to study.

I risked it because I felt some urgency. Locking in a spell form was more likely to happen in a stressful situation, and there was no more stressful situation than fighting for your life against a giant. I still managed to get a fair amount of sleep as I did not have to participate in the watch rotation. The cold water in my canteen was a godsend as I sweat through the early night.

I had just put my book away to sleep when a shout came from the sentries. We all scrambled to put on armor and move to aid the ten men on watch on the perimeter. A massive island was moving toward us in the moonlight. Durandus stood ready, and one of the archers announced, “It is a giant tortoise. Hold positions, and it should pass without attacking.” We were all tense as the island loomed closer and finally veered away.

Getting back to sleep did not take long for me, knowing we had good sentries on watch. The camp noise woke me, and I dressed. One man was handing out salve for bug bites. The men who were on watch took more than a few. Now that the sun was rising, the small bugs were fleeing, and the large fist-sized insects buzzed. I was one of the first to pack up and unwrapped my breakfast ration bar. I was already sick of them, but a few men had gotten their own rations wet on the walk through the swampy water. I ate half of it before switching to the trail mix. My canteens were empty by the time I was done eating.

We soon moved on toward the flashes and low thunder. I guessed it was just over three miles remaining. We trudged through the water, following the mage’s direction. The air turned misty and then to rain. The closer we approached, the heavier the rain became. I did not think approaching something that could control Mother Nature like this was wise.

The ground switched from swamp to mud, and we started to climb a mud-slick hill. The rain was heavy at the top of the mud hill, but it gave us a view down into what I would describe as a caldera. This was not a volcano, but that was the shape. No rain fell inside, and we all stood dumbfounded as a giant of a man, easily over twenty-five feet in height, called down and directed lightning into the expanding earthworks. The lightning stuck, and the earth surged and rolled away like a wave.

The mage seemed to consider our next action. I was just glad the monstrous giant had not spotted us. Finally, the mage said to no one in particular, “He is not building a lair. No, he is digging for something.” Our heads barely peeked over, but he signaled everyone back. He called his four lieutenants to him for a strategy session. I was not privy to the words exchanged.

Orders were given. We were to wait on the mud-soaked lip of the crater. When the storm giant was resting, we would attack. It was terrible because we ended up in the heaviest rain on the lip of the crater, and I took out my cloak, but that just meant all my dry clothes were not going to be protected from the heavy water. I huddled in my cloak, hoping that whatever the attack plan happened to be, it would go well.

The storm giant seemed tireless, and I could feel the muddy earth surge underneath me every few minutes as he moved it. If the mage was correct and he was searching for something, I wondered what it might be. It started getting dark, and a whisper came down the line, “He is resting. Shield Wall Ready!”

No one had told me what my role in the fight would be. Staying at the back and handling the wounded sounded like a good plan to me. I even pulled two of the full healing potions and one of the lesser to my hand from the dimensional space.

The shield wall headed straight toward the giant with the spearmen behind them. Mage Durandus followed this group at a distance. To the right, the swordsmen lead the way with the archers behind. It was clearly a flanking maneuver by Durandus. I moved behind the archers.

The giant noticed us and stood and watched, unconcerned, as we made our way down the muddy slope. Keeping their ranks in the rocky mud was difficult, but they did an admirable job. The sky roiled above us and grew thicker. A lightning bolt flashed down toward the shield wall, but the man it struck glowed, and the bolt raced into the ground, not affecting anyone.

So the mage did have a plan. If the giant’s lightning ability did not work and we closed to the range, we could possibly take down the towering man. I could tell the failed attack had emboldened the shield wall as they drew short swords. The giant seemed to consider and then picked his own weapon off the ground. A weapon was an understatement. It was as thick as a man and nearly nine feet long. The giant twirled it easily, and you could hear it whistle in the air, even in the storm conditions.

A second lightning strike occurred amongst the archers. Once again, it had no effect, going into the ground, but I noticed Durandus stumble slightly. Was the spell drawing aether? That could be bad if it drained him before we engaged.

The shield unit reached the bottom of the crater, and the spears were thrown on command from the ranks behind them, and only two penetrated the giant’s thigh and chest. He roared in anger and charged the shield wall. The giant built speed, and instead of swinging his sword, he went into a feet-first slide. His massive frame bowled through the shield wall and even past the spearmen. He had taken a few slashes but quickly stood. The mage was now directly in front of the giant, a malicious grin on his face.

He roared as he swung the massive sword, and Mage Durandus stood confident. A ball of energy flared around him before the sword connected. Then that ball of energy, and the mage in the center, was sailing through the air two hundred feet to my right. Far away from everyone. The giant pointed at the archers, and a lightning strike came down again. This time the man it struck exploded and tossed the men who had been around him to the ground. My ears were ringing, and I had some gore on me from the exploded archer.

I was halfway down the mud-soaked crater. The shield wall was quickly forming again to face the giant, with the spearmen rotating to the back for another volley. I needed to decide if I should get the potions to the archers or go and try to get Mage Durandus back on his feet. If I lived through this, I decided I never wanted to fight a giant again.