A Soldier's Life
chapter-35

As I made my way back at a steady run through the city to the Legion Hall, I planned to tell Castille I returned late and didn’t want to wake her. Or maybe I should just go with the truth and tell her I fell asleep. I had planned to tell Delmar or Adrian when I returned to the villa, but now I was up shit’s creek without a paddle. Two legion men stood guard as I entered and slowed to a walk. At least I had built up a significant sweat in the morning humid weather, so it looked like I had rushed here. In the common room, I found everyone.

Flavius and the five men were seated at a long, dark oak table. Across from them, Adrian and Delmar stood behind Castille, and two men I didn’t recognize sat with her. One of them was definitely the commander of the other mage company, as he had the same rank symbols as Castille. I slowed and realized I was not even breathing heavily from the sprint of nearly a mile, so I faked some heavy breathing. All eyes were on me, and I guiltily noted all the men I had returned with still wore filthy clothes and were caked in mud. I could even smell their unwashed bodies from twenty feet away as it filled the room.

Mage Castille did not look angry, but maybe she did look amused at my entrance and appearance. It was the man who I couldn’t place who spoke, “Are you legionnaire Eryk?”

“I am.” I came to what was attention for being in a Legion formation.

The other mage who I did not recognize, said, “Since we do not have a Truthseeker here, let us confirm their story with him and close the matter. The defensive plans for the city are in turmoil without Durandus and his men. We need to start planning and make a request for another mage from the Legatus Legonis.”

Castille didn’t seem to care at his words and studied me. The first man spoke irritably, “He has repeatedly denied my requests for a fourth mage company. I do not think he will send anyone, Gregor.”

The mage, who I assumed was named Gregor, replied, “We must ask. Durandus was the center of our defense planning. Neither I nor mage Castille can handle the load on the defense.”

Castille stopped them both with a slap of the table. She focused on me, “Tell us about the storm giant attack Eryk. In your own words. And be brief.” Her eyes told me she did not have patience today.

I relaxed slightly as it appeared my mage commander was not directing anger at me. “Durandus got us there, and we found the storm giant digging. He waited until the giant was resting. Maybe he thought the giant was out of aether. I don’t know. He sent the shield wall supported by the spearmen to attack it and distract it while our swordsmen and archers flanked it. The storm giant called down lightning, and it had no effect. The giant charged the shieldmen when Durandus tried to encase him in ice. The giant plowed through the spearman, casting them aside to get to Durandus. I think Durandus thought his shield spell would protect him from any attack.”

I took a moment to remember. “It did, but the giant’s sword launched the mage 150 feet, his protective ball intact. I don’t know when it failed, but he hit the ground and was knocked out. The giant blew apart the archer formation with a lightning bolt. And proceeded to kill all the shield and spear men.”

Mage Gregor asked with narrowed eyes, “And what were you doing during all this?”

“I used some potions on the archers and then rushed to give Durandus some healing potions. It got him up again, and he was able to immobilize the giant, and we were eventually victorious. Durandus collected the essence of the giant and consumed it immediately,” I ended the bloody tale quickly.

Mage Gregor asked, “And where is the essence collector, legionnaire?”

I was not sure if this was a trap or not. So, I choose my words carefully. “We fought something called a shambling mound on the return trip. The mage thought he had immobilized the last creature and was going to take its essence. It surprised him and threw him into the swamp with the device. We think he was knocked unconscious and drowned. The next day we all,” I indicated the six men, “spent hours searching for it. During the search, we couldn’t find a trace of it in the swamp.” This was true since I had put it in my space when Brutus and I found Durandus’ body.

Gregor seemed agitated, his eyes narrowed and brightened slightly, “I want his dimensional pocket searched!”

Mage Castille got angry, “He is under my command authority and does not have to submit to a search from you.”

“I want him searched as well,” the other man added. I was confused. Was he a mage too? Castille looked at him and was not happy. Gregor had a smug look on his face from this victory. This must be some type of power struggle now that Durandus was dead. The man continued, “Castille, you called the mage tribunal. That is two votes to one.” I guessed then that he was also a mage but did not command a legion company. Well, if they could force open my dimensional space, I was fucked. I had a few hundred pounds of supplies in there—and the collector.

Castille looked hard at me, no sympathy but maybe regret. “Eryk empty your space on the table. You bring the wetted sand,” she pointed to a legionnaire by the door.

Confused, I walked towards the table of tribunal members and put the four potion trays on the table. Only the ten of the cure poison remained. I looked at Adrian and Delmar who had impassive faces but made eye contact with me. Their eyes seemed curious. I decided to add all my coins as well. Three gold, ninety-one silver, and twenty-eight copper. A wheelbarrow of wet sand was rolled in. Castille said, “Fill your dimensional space with the sand, Eryk.” This was the test?

Thankfully, I had taken the box in the Varvao baths. I moved to the wheelbarrow, outlined the section of sand I wanted, and moved it inside the box in the dimensional space. Castille nodded regretfully, “Good. Put the contents of your space again on the table—everything. And then move back,” Castille ordered.

A block of wet sand appeared, and it maintained its shape. I moved to stand behind the Durandus’ men again. A giddy Gregor started carefully cutting through the sand in slices with a long, thin dagger. After he had finished, the third mage asked, “Any voids in the sand?” Gregor threw a handful of sand across the table in frustration. Castille seemed shocked nothing was found as well. Did she already think I was hiding something? Well, I was hiding a lot of somethings.

Castille relaxed and smirked, “I will note that Eryk does not have the collector then. And Gregor, even if the collector was here, Durandus’ brother has a claim to it.” I felt a chill because it appeared the collector was valuable enough to be wanted by a lot of people.

I do not know why I asked, but I did, “Why is it so valuable?”

The three mages turned toward me, and Delmar grinned at my idiocy for interrupting and asking. Castille answered without drawing out the drama. “It always yields an essence in a dungeon from any creature. Durandus’ made most of his wealth from it.”

I played stupid, “Should we have spent longer looking?” Flavius, who was sitting with his back to me, twitched.

“Yes. You should have!” Gregor barked. My thought was mages are all kind of bitchy. Even though my company was known to lose a fair amount of men, at least Castille seemed reasonable.

The questioning of me turned to the fight with the shambling mounds, and I answered two dozen questions consistent with what I remembered of the attack and Durandus’ death. I even told them about the company dividing up the essences, minus the three apex ones. Finally, Castille announced, “It is ruled Durandus died by his own stupidity.” Gregor reluctantly seconded, and the other man confirmed. Castille scribbled out the verdict on a parchment and rolled it up. I assumed it to be an official record of how the mage died.

Castille stood, “You six will be divided among the two companies. Eryk, see Adrian before heading to get some sleep.” Castille walked out. The other two mages went their separate ways as well.

Delmar scooped up my coin and walked to me with Adrian. He grinned as he approached, “Damn, Eryk. We sent word to the villa that you were dead. We didn’t know until the trial started you still lived from the men under questioning.” He clapped me on my back.

“Yeah, I stopped at the baths and fell asleep in the water,” I said, and Delmar just shook his head in disbelief.

“There is fifty-five silver in your room at the villa from the snake hide. You may have to kick someone out of the room when you get back—after all, they thought you were dead,” he chuckled.

“I actually was up there, and they told me to come down here,” I admitted.

“Well, since you are all prettied up, I am assuming you plan to go make a dalliance or two,” Delmar handed me my coin slowly. “But you did not pack my spinnerets out of the mountains. He took one gold coin from my stash,” smiling as he did so and leaving me with Adrian. Damn, I was hoping he had forgotten about that. He paid me a gold coin to pack his monster parts out of the mountains, but I had been tasked to carry the First Citizen’s gear instead.

Adrian stood in front of me and asked, “Castille wanted me to ask you about the remaining men from Durandus’ company. Any good legionaries among them?”

I nodded, thinking, “Flavius. He was one of the archers but also a trained scout. He was the only one who knew about the shambling mounds. He told Durandus that lightning healed them after he attacked. Brutus is the only other one I talked to at any length. He is a good fighter and has some smarts. When the mounds attacked one side of the camp, he remained on watch on the other side, and a third one did show itself, so he prevented us from being attacked from behind.”

I added, watching the men mill about in the Legion common room awaiting their fate, “They generally were not too welcoming to outsiders. The six men that we left on the road with our gear—I did not talk with any of them.”

Adiran heaved a breath, “Durandus’ company was made of volunteers, not conscripts. They chose the life in the Legion. They trained at the Legion Camp just outside of the capital. When they complete their training and are assigned a Mage or duty, all the missions would be within the confines of the interior of the Empire and not on the borders.”

He considered my words for a moment longer, “So, just the two? No others?” I nodded; he turned and left to talk to the filthy men. He yelled to me as I was almost to the door, “Be careful, where you spend your coin, Eryk. According to the Firth, there is an epidemic of crotch crickets in the city.”

Crotch crickets? I didn’t ask. I was exhausted and needed some sleep. I made my way to the villa and found my gear where I had dropped it. In my tiny room, I found the fifty-five silver on the desk, and my things looked to be in the exact same place as I left them. I locked the door, barred the window, pulled my griffin feather pillow out of my storage, and collapsed on my bed. I was asleep in seconds.