A Soldier's Life
chapter-74

The barge floated down the calm river, and the dunking game turned into an interesting contest. Everyone was given a staff and fought without armor. Pulling the defeated man back on board was a rush before he floated past the stern. Sometimes, it was required for Blaze to toss him a rope before he passed. The losers stripped their clothes to dry in the sun. I was asked a few times if I wanted another go, but I declined.

We did learn that Kolm could not swim, and Firth jumped in first to save him from drowning. Kolm was vomiting up water while Firth swore at him breathing heavily from the effort, “Damn it, Kolm, you are heavier than a fat merwoman.”

The contest was more to distract us as Castile, Adrian, and Delmar had a serious discussion in the stern and only watched briefly. I wondered what they were talking about concerning our fate.

As the men were drying, I could see Adrian and Delmar going around and talking with each person. Since they skipped Konstantin, myself, and the other three who ran ahead, I was assuming they were letting them know the results of the Tribunal, Castile’s fate, and how it affected them.

I relaxed and watched the mage summon and manipulate his wind into the single sail. He must have a huge aether pool to keep the continuous heavy breeze and overcome the current. The mast even groaned under the stress. After the staff battles had finished, and I got bored watching the sail, I focused on the passing shoreline.

The river was wide, over half a mile across. There were numerous small towns and farms along the western shore as we traveled. I assumed the man at the tiller was keeping the box-like barge in the river area with the least current. When we veered close to the eastern shore, Blaze suddenly stood and released an arrow. A squeal of pain erupted from among the trees. Blaze announced while scanning the trees, “Gnoll. Everyone be prepared for an attack.”

We mobilized quickly, shields came up, and the barge angled away from the shore. Adrian and Castile were talking, and I overheard small pieces of the conversation. We were only fifteen miles from the capital, and it was unusual to have gnolls this close. They were on the far shore, but still, it seemed to unsettle my comrades. Gnolls appeared to be a hyena-humanoid in their appearance.

After a few miles of river, everyone relaxed, and we stayed away from the eastern shore. Konstantin came and sat with me. “What do you know about gnolls?” I was about to get some more scout information.

“Just what they look like,” I responded, having seen a few dead ones fleeing Macha.

“Gnolls are a plague because one pregnant gnoll gives birth to five or more in just three months. The young grow to maturity in just over a year. Two of those birthed will likely be female, and then you have fifteen or more pups on the way. In just two years, they will start sending out hunting packs. They are carnivores and will eat any flesh.”

Brutus sat on my other side, adding, “I was always told they plague us because we killed off their natural enemies, larger creatures, and the like. Now they are able to breed unmolested.”

Konstantin laughed with mirth, “That and the wood elves have left the lands. Before the First Legion arrived, dozens of small elven villages were within the borders of the Empire. The wood elves hated and hunted gnolls with a passion.”

Brutus defended the Empire, “The elves were banished from the Empire because they would not join the army or pay a tithe to support it.”

Konstantin huffed a short chuckle, “That is what the history books say. But the history books are written by the Empire. I am sure if you asked the Bartiradian elves or the elves of Esenhem, they would have a different retelling of the histories.”

I soon tuned out Konstantin and Brutus debating the histories and policies of the Empire. I closed my eyes, listening to the water rushing under my head in the bow, and finally got some sleep.

“Wake up,” Brutus shook me. “We are making landfall to set up camp for the night.”

I stirred and found it was late in the evening. “Why are we not traveling throughout the night?”

“He is out of aether,” he indicated the man who had been filling the sail. “We are going to beach the barge at that town,” he pointed at a small village with a row of fishing boats moored appearing ahead.

Adrian spoke to everyone, “I have been told there are only eight rooms at the inn in the village. Castile will stay there, and everyone else on the barge. Unless you want to pay the coin for your own room,” he added.

Brutus murmured to himself, “As long as it doesn’t rain, it should be fine.” I forgot Brutus did not receive a share of the dungeon discovery reward.

Firth was the first one off the barge when it hit the sand bar. He turned to everyone, “If this armpit of a village has a tavern, then the first drink is on me!” That call got everyone to mobilize off the barge. I remained and watched the bargemen drive stakes into the shore to anchor the craft. The three bargemen then went to the tavern. I was left on the barge with Lirkin and Mateo, who were sorting through the supplies that had been packed on the barge before we left. Most of it was provisions for the six-month assignment.

I approached the two, “Do you need help?”

Lirkin looked up, “No, just confirming everything on the inventory Delmar gave me. Konstantin ordered it, and Delmar wants it confirmed. At least dinner will be at the tavern, and I will not have to cook tonight. I would have prepared a meal on the river, but I get a little sick from the motion.”

I sat on a crate, “What did Adrian and Delmar tell you this morning?”

Mateo answered, “Mostly to take better care of our packs and gear. Castile no longer has an account at Legion Halls, so we must pay from our weekly pay to replace our gear. Still can be housed and fed at the Halls.”

Lirkin added unhappily, “We can still exchange worn-out gear, though. Also, our weekly salary needs to be drawn when we are in cities. And at half the rate we have been receiving,” he grunted.

“Adrian said she would make it up from the sale of loot eventually, though. The real kicker is the healing potions. Adrian told us not to get hurt,” Mateo laughed harshly.

“Castile is a mage. Why can’t she just learn to cast a healing spell?” said Lirkin as he rolled up the ledger, having finished.

“I am sure Castile would if she could,” I replied defending Castile.

Lirkin grunted and noted, “Missing one crate of potatoes, not bad considering how rushed the order was.”

Lirkin and Mateo remained to guard the supplies, and I went to get dinner. They were going to be relieved by Blaze and Firth later. As I walked, I also planned to check if any more rooms were left at the small inn. The noise in the tiny town led me to the tavern, where everyone else was drinking and eating. The local food was a spinach pie cooked with bacon fat and chunks of roasted garlic and onion. The crust was buttery, dense, and filling.

I listened to the conversations at my table. Most of the legionaries were angry with how Castile was being treated and how it had a trickle-down effect on them. I finished a second serving of the spinach pie and asked the barkeep where the inn was located. It was directly across the street but did not have a sign on it.

There was a single room left for one silver for the night. I gladly paid and went and knocked on Castile’s door after checking out the small room. Adrian opened the door, and it was obvious they had been eating dinner and discussing company business in her room.

Castile motioned me in, “Eryk, we are almost done. We can spend some time working on your spell form in a few minutes.”

Delmar continued speaking, ignoring my presence, “If the ledger is correct, we have just under six weeks of food. If the Duchess does not supply consumables, there are two farms near her city where we can requisition some. The barge was stocked well, and Konstantin did a good job. I would still like ten more small bundles of arrows and two bows. Lirkin and Felix are our two next-best bowmen.”

Adrian added heavily, “We did lose most of our skilled archers. We should probably do some more formation practice since we have so many holes in the company.”

“And it is likely to get worse with every man we lose,” the straight-backed Castile huffed. “Fine, we will work on formations in the evening. Get Lirkin and Felix some practice with the short bows. Any other concerns?”

“We can talk on the barge tomorrow,” Adrian said, eyeing me, leaving with Delmar following him out.

I produced the book and sat on the bed next to Castile, “Do they know you are helping me work on a spell form?”

“Yes, Eryk. I made them aware. They do not think you are bending me over the bed if that is what you are worried about,” Castile chastised me. She sounded slightly offended, so I avoided a response.

After we studied for a bit, I asked, “Why have you not learned any healing spells? You can cast spells, so why no healing spells.”

“Sometimes I forget you lack the basics taught in the first year of the Mage College. You need to create the spell form and use the aether of the specific affinity. If you studied the books I gave you, it would detail how to identify your different affinities on your core. You need to give the aether that affinity when casting the spell. Otherwise, the spell form created with the aether just collapses,” she paused. Then she admitted, “I have almost no affinity for healing magic. If I created the healing spell form, it would be so weak it could only heal a wound from a splinter.”

“So, how strong does a mage’s affinity need to be to create an effective healing spell?” I questioned Castile.

“Thirty is the low end for healing and most spells. The purity of the aether you create from your core empowers the spell further. Someone with an affinity of seventy will produce a much stronger spell than someone with thirty in the associated affinity,” I nodded at Castile’s explanation. It explained so much and answered Lirkin’s question.

We spent just over an hour reviewing the spell forms, and I think I was getting close. Castile had taken a multi-faceted approach to helping me. She had learned a dozen tricks in her time at the mage college. The mages who attended were expected to imprint all their spell forms in the first year. Most mages had between two and six affinities over ten.

Renna, the peasant girl I met while hunting the griffins, was learning her spell forms from High Mages before she even went to the Mage College. When I asked why, Castile had an answer, “Renna was being groomed. She was not only expected to learn the spell forms, but she was also going to be schooled in etiquette. The Mage College is a tough environment for plebians. My guess is they were just trying to prepare her so she would not buckle under the pressure.”

I left Castile and locked myself in my private room. It was not quiet, as an energetic couple could easily be heard through the thin wooden wall. The thuds and grunts bleeding through the wall would not matter as I produced and donned the amulet under my shirt. I probably should have brought my armor to my room from the barge but decided against making a return trip to the barge. Laying down, I channeled aether into the amulet.

I was stunned to find an excited and barking Oscar, happy to see me in the entry room. I walked into the next chamber, and the disturbed soil and blood from Konstantin was still there. This was unexpected as the amulet did not reset when I left. I gave Oscar a pat and then watched as I had an ogre and ankheg battle. The ankheg won after a very graphic and smelly fight.

I needed to decide how best to use my time in the dreamscape. If the amulet remembered everything I did when I was last here, would those things be here if someone else used the amulet? Could the amulet learn from other people as well? Every question led to another question. I needed to know more about its capabilities to get the most use out of it. I considered asking Castile. She seemed genuine in her efforts to help me.

I materialized a shelf and a comfortable black leather reclining reading chair in the entry room. I took the protection spell form book and continued studying from the evening. The quicker I learned the wind shield, the safer I would be. Oscar was in my lap, and I had absentmindedly rubbed his head while I studied the book. I spent about six hours in the dreamscape before returning through the prismatic dungeon entrance.

My head ached again on the bed in my room when I returned. I returned the amulet and slept a few hours before an irritated Konstantin banged on my door, “Eryk! If you are in there, we are leaving soon. Get your arse in gear if you don’t want to be swimming to catch up. Next time, let someone know where you are sleeping!”

I put on my boots and rushed down to the barge. I caught up to Konstantin, who had a gleeful smile on his face as it looked like the company was just starting to eat breakfast on the barge. He had me rush for no reason.

“Grab some food, and we can walk the woods around the town. The barge leaves in a few hours. If you are going to be a scout, it is all about practice, and we have time to practice.” At least my headache was gone from using the amulet.