A Soldier's Life-Chapter 258: Time Is of the Essence

Chapter 258: Time Is of the Essence

The sun was already making the deck sticky with drying blood. The first calls were to stabilize the injured. Pickle, his right arm in a sling, climbed laboriously up to the crow’s nest to resume his watch, but I thought the sahuagin had been bloodied enough that they would not return. Still, Desdemona was eager to get the ship moving and gain distance.

I overheard Isaak talking: “It is unlikely they will return, but they could always decide to be vengeful and sink us. The ice coating on the underside of the hull won’t last much longer.” I hadn’t been aware that the ice had encased the underside of the hull.

As I looked over the dozens of bodies and parts, the fish smell was already rising to a dangerously high level of nauseating. “Desdemona, do you have a collector?”

She had been facing away from me, talking to Isaak and her mages. She looked exhausted and pained, having lost over half her crew. “Collector? Essence collector? Do I look like a wealthy captain to you?” she said, a little exasperated at the question and her despairing situation.

“Then you don’t mind if I use mine?” I asked, eyeing the sahuagin Isaak had called a prince. Shocked looks passed between her mages and Isaak. They started whispering to each other quietly. “Time is of the essence?” I said as they talked. I was disappointed that my clever play on words was missed.

Desdemona turned and announced hopefully, “None of my crew and half the essences to the ship.”

I thought that was greedy on her part, seeing she would have gotten nothing if I hadn’t had the collector. But I was just as tired as they were and didn’t care to argue. “Fine, but I choose which half Maveith and I keep.” Desdemona waved me off to return to her crew, which I assumed meant she agreed. The battle had lasted almost an hour in my estimation, so many of the slain fishmen would likely yield nothing anyway.

I moved to the foul-smelling, messy bow. The fiery trident prince had a shattered leg and his chest was caved in. Maveith was standing over me as I produced the collector. “You did a number on him,” I said appreciatively.

“Number? I only struck him twice. He was a tough fight. Stabbed me thrice in return with his oversized fork,” he said in a gravelly tone laced with resentment.

I shook my head, unsure if Maveith was trying to be funny or serious. The collector started pulling thick blue aetheric smoke. From my past experience, I could already tell this was going to be an apex essence. An apex water essence formed, and I thought it odd, since the prince had imbued his tridents with fire. The essence disappeared into my space, and I looked down at the deck to see if anyone had seen it. Desdemona was facing me, giving orders, but she couldn’t have seen what essence had formed.

“Are you upset I asked you to remain in the bow?” I asked Maveith as I moved on to one of the four-armed sahuagin.

Maveith considered the question longer than I thought he needed to as I got a major coordination essence from the fishman. “Yes. I couldn’t protect you from so far away, but I understood the necessity of defending the bow.”

“I can take care of myself,” I said casually, and regretted my words as he frowned. “But I count you as a friend, Maveith, and appreciate your concern for my well-being.” That seemed to satisfy him, and he nodded curtly with a grin. The other four-armed creature yielded a lesser dexterity essence. It was a bit disappointing, as it was one of the three strongest sahuagin.

Desdemona and Isaak came up to the bow with a few crewmen. “We are laying out the bodies to expedite the use of your collector. I want to get them overboard as quickly as possible. My ship is already starting to carry their foul scent. Are you done with these?” I nodded and she ordered, “Search ’em and toss ’em!” I hadn’t thought about searching them. They looked naked except for their metal-and-bone bracelets and belts. I shrugged, not concerned about the loot. I moved to the main deck and continued my harvesting.

In the end, I tried the collector on sixty-seven of the sahuagin warriors and gained one major strength essence, two lesser quickness essences, six lesser strength essences, four lesser constitution essences, three lesser dexterity essences, and one lesser perception essence. Seventeen of the sixty-seven had yielded an essence. Although my collector was near-perfect in dungeons, it was less effective outside of them.

The crew was in rough shape, both physically and mentally, and were moving lethargically. I helped toss the sahuagin bodies overboard after finishing with the collector.

The ruined sail was taken down and cut up. The dead crew were tightly wrapped and weighted and would be buried at sea after a brief ceremony. There was still a lot of work to do before honoring them. Fourteen of Desdemona’s crew had been killed on deck, and two more had been pulled overboard. Of the fifteen still living, three were maimed and unable to work the sails, and another six needed time to have their injuries healed after the mage recovered her aether.

Most of the crew worked to retrieve the spare sail in the hold and raise it. While all this was going on, I checked on Ginger. She had clearly panicked and kicked her stall during the fight, splintering the wood. She was excited to see me and forced her head into my chest, butting my head. “It’s alright, girl. It’s going to take a lot more than a bunch of fish to take me out. But I think we will avoid traveling by boat in the future.” With the crew busy, I tended to Ginger and gave her two apples with her feed.

Returning to the deck, I saw a steady stream of water flowing across the deck from the bow. Lasho was pulling seawater up to the deck with his spell form. On their hands and knees, the crew scrubbed to wash away the blood, scales, and gore. Maveith was working diligently with them, but I passed on aiding this task.

I walked to the still-filthy Desdemona at the helm as the fresh sail was being stretched in the wind, the creases slowly disappearing. I produced all twenty essences I had collected in a bowl. Desdemona’s eyes betrayed her surprise and covetousness at the sight of the essences. “Twenty? More than I expected. Where did you get your collector?”

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I ignored her question about the collector. “This is everything I collected. Your share is the six lesser strength essences and four lesser dexterity essences.” I pulled the spheres out of the bowl and handed them to her. The muscles in her jaw twitched slightly at seeing the apex water affinity essence remain.

Desdemona relaxed as she pocketed the essences. “Isaak is separating the half share of the jewelry for you and Maveith.” I raised my eyebrows, slightly surprised. Maveith and I had accounted for about one third of the dead sahuagin, but I hadn’t expected her generosity. Then again, without our participation, the ship would definitely have been overrun. Perhaps this was an unspoken trade for half of the essences I gathered with my collector. I nodded in thanks.

“Leoch has cleaned your runic swords and put them in your room. Thank you for the loan. They helped.” Her statement was laced with an unasked question. When I only nodded, she pressed a little more. “Your runic spear was an impressive weapon, too. If there is time, I would like to look at it more closely.”

Unfortunately, there was no innuendo in her tone or on her face. I think she was mostly curious about where I was storing something so large. Still, I couldn’t resist responding, “Maybe I will show you my spear after we clean up and are somewhere more comfortable.” My grin and tone were full of innuendo, and maybe it was not the right time after she had lost half her crew. But the adrenaline and violence of combat can do strange things to you.

“Yes, maybe after cleaning up a bit,” she responded, licking her lips and then spitting, regretting her action; her face still had dried fishman blood on it. “My crew and friends call me Dee, by the way. If you are not going to help with the cleaning effort, talk with Lasho about a shower.”

Although her body language was responding to my sensual overtones, her tone was meant to guilt me into helping scrub the deck. It didn’t work. As I walked to the bow, I handed Maveith the major strength essence and the two quickness essences. He only wanted the quickness essences, but I insisted he take the strength essence as well.

In the bow, Lasho pulled a stream of seawater higher to fall on the deck in a makeshift shower. With a respectful nod, he noted, “When you’re ready to rinse, let me know, and I’ll remove the salt from the water.” I quickly shed my damaged adventurer’s armor and all my clothes to make full use of his efforts. The annoying part was removing all the crusty blood and fleshy bits from my hair.

I didn’t even bother to note if Desdemona was watching. However, Vodoma, the female wind mage, had taken the opportunity to move closer to talk with Lasho. Judging by their broken and nonsensical conversation, it was clear what the middle-aged wind mage was after a closer view. With respect to Lasho’s efforts, I washed as quickly as possible before requesting fresh water to rinse.

I packed up my fouled clothes and stored them, cleaned my hands, and then produced clean clothes and sandals, to both mages’ surprise and envy. There was no point in hiding my space after what I had displayed in the battle, but I wasn’t going to pull any people out or reveal just how large it was.

The deck-cleaning effort was nearly complete, but the lingering smell of rotting fish was going to persist for a very long time. I patted Maveith on the back on my way by, nodded in the direction of Desdemona, who had her eyes on me, and headed to my cabin.

I found the two runic blades cleaned and on my hammock, and stored them. I swung in my hammock, trying to sleep, but the fishy scent hung in the air even here. I used the dreamscape amulet to escape the smell. My manifestation of Scholar Favian was much more helpful after I poured all the knowledge of Elvish from Isaak and Leoch into him. I spent four hours practicing Elvish before being pulled out of the dreamscape. Instantly on alert, I was out of the hammock and on my feet.

I hadn’t secured the door in case we were attacked again, but I had attached a line to it to pull the amulet from my grasp if someone opened my door. That person was Maveith. “Is there an issue?”

He had a guilty look on his face at disturbing me. “No. I knocked and when you didn’t answer, I tried the door.”

“It is fine, Maveith.” I bent over to retrieve the amulet and untied the string.

Maveith was mostly clean as he squeezed into the cabin. “Dee has asked for you to join her for a late dinner.” He paused and stressed, “Alone. I think she wants to thank you for your help during the attack.” My eyes widened in surprise. I couldn’t hold back a smirk, although I had already come down a bit after my combat high.

Desdemona had her captain’s cabin door open as I reached it. She was dressed in a thin, mustard-colored blouse, and her hair was still wet from washing. Her bright smile creased her tanned face as I entered, and she motioned that I should close the door. I complied. She was sitting at the table, and I sat across from her. The table had a spread of dried fruit, jerky, and nuts. Her smile faded. “I apologize for the meal, but Cook was killed in the engagement.”

“The food is fine. I am sorry you lost so many of your crew,” I said consolingly. She nodded sharply, and I could tell she was in a bit of pain from the loss. “There is nothing you could have done differently, Dee.” She winced like I had stabbed her, and I liked that she felt guilt over losing her crew. It meant she cared about them—just like Castile cared about the men of the company.

I was modestly hungry from all the healing, so I poured myself a glass of wine and helped myself.

“You always second-guess yourself after the battle,” she said heavily after regaining herself. She nibbled on some fruit, and there was silence as we both ate slowly. Before long she asked with a silly grin, “You said you would show me your impressive spear?”

I produced the runic black spear I had used in the fight in my right hand. Her eyes immediately traveled to the golden ring on that hand before her eyes took in the weapon. She clearly assumed the ring was a storage device of some sort. She placed her hand on the black shaft and stroked it some. “Treant obsidian, if I am not mistaken.” She eyed the black leaf pattern on the spearhead. “Elvish?” she asked.

“Dungeon-artificed,” I responded while watching her admire it. There was still some blood drying on the tip. She nodded as her hands ran along the spiraled grain reverently. “What is treant obsidian?” I asked, watching her intently.

“Wood from an ancient treant. When a treant’s age surpasses its life, it will fall into an eternal slumber, and its wood will blacken, like so. It is the strongest wood known to man and treasured by the elves. I have never seen anything like the spiraling grain pattern, though. You can almost feel the power bound within.” I let her admire the weapon before returning it to my storage.

Desdemona exhaled like she had been holding her breath. “I cannot thank you enough for saving my ship and crew. Your prowess in battle reminds me of fabled heroes.” She cracked a smile, which I returned. “You are full of surprises.” Her bare foot intentionally brushed my leg under the table. “I bet you have another spear hidden away somewhere?” Her foot slowly climbed my leg …

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