A Soldier's Life-Chapter 269: Burden of Leadership

Chapter 269: Burden of Leadership

When we returned to the suite, Lirkin and Castile took me aside. Lirkin seemed eager to talk about his options in the city. “I found a few places. Some I thought were out of reach.” He looked at Castile, who nodded. “One is nestled between the trade district and the river dock district. An older proprietor has a lovely little inn that hasn’t seen much business since the new docks were built further upriver, with two new luxury inns opening there. He wants to retire with his wife and move away from the city.”

“How much?” I asked.

Lirkin looked to Castile again for support before saying, “Twelve hundred gold, but the furnishings for the eighteen rooms will be included, as well as a fully stocked kitchen.” His voice had changed to hopeful. “He showed me his books. They do about three hundred gold in business annually, but it used to be closer to four hundred.”

I looked to Castile and back to Lirkin. “And one of the rooms will be for Castile?”

“There is actually a small house attached to the stables in the back courtyard,” Lirkin said eagerly. “It has three additional bedrooms.”

“And that is fine with you?” I asked Castile.

Castile laughed softly, a sign she was adjusting. “I slept on the ground among filthy men most nights these last twenty years. A private room with a bed is a luxury.”

“You can handle Elaro’s brokering the sale of the wine then,” I said, as I made the twelve promised bottles appear on the table. As far as I was concerned, the company men were entitled to the bottles as a share of the loot. I was just doing my job as the company porter. It was also some penance for not revealing my capabilities to the company.

Lirkin huffed, “You had some left, huh? Didn’t think I would see another bottle in my lifetime. Maybe we have a chance to enjoy it now.”

Castile started cleaning the bottles and had other ideas. “These bottles are your inn, Lirkin.” Castile turned to me. “Ignis said you own half of her smithy. Are you doing the same for Lirkin’s inn?”

“Why don’t you and Lirkin split ownership?” I replied indifferently. The truth was, it was very doubtful I would ever return to Gramney in their lifetimes. Even if we failed to find Zorana, I had still promised to travel with Maveith to confront his father. Stone Mountain Island was on the other side of the world.

“I don’t think that is equitable,” Castile rebuked me with a shake of her head, and Lirkin nodded in agreement. “A three-way split for ownership?” she offered. Lirkin was already nodding, so I guessed they had planned this.

Mateo was moving across the room, his eyes locked on the bottles of Caelorian wine, not having heard our conversation. Castile barked in her command voice for everyone to hear, “Mateo, those bottles are worth more than the Primus’s sword you carry.” That caused him to pause and look down at the weapon on his hip in confusion.

“Primus Scorpio?” I asked, slightly confused.

Mateo grinned. “Yeah, he didn’t need it anymore.”

I held out my hand and he drew the blade, handing it to me. He had disguised the hilt, but the silvery metal along the blade and the runes clearly marked it as dungeon-forged. I tested the blade with a few swings, sensing a power in it. Unfortunately for Mateo, that power needed to be unlocked. I could feel the sword thirsting for my aether like the magebane.

“It is a fine weapon, Mateo.” I handed it back to him. “Be careful where you draw it.”

“We have had a lot of practice hiding the nature of our weapons over the last few months. I have Delmar’s dungeon blade, but it is yours if you wish to carry it,” Lirkin said as he retrieved his sheathed weapon from his room.

“No need.” I stopped him. “I am well equipped.” I fingered Orc’s Torment on my hip. I would have to switch it for a different blade before we entered the Caliphate, maybe even before I interviewed the orc guides. “We have a portal to Artiria, Esenhem’s capital, in four days. It should save us a lot of walking.”

Benito’s eyes went wide with excitement. But it was Mateo who asked a question. “I always wondered if there were brothels in the elven kingdom.” Castile gave him a sharp, disapproving look. “Not that I would partake, but I just heard that elves know things … Never mind. I will shut up now.” Benito looked confused, and I doubted Mateo would restrain himself if there were brothels in Artiria. It would be fine as long as he didn’t get himself into too much trouble.

I moved to sit with Blaze, who I hadn’t talked to for some time. He was inspecting some new arrows he had purchased and was regluing some fletchings. “Why did you decide to join Castile?” I asked him privately.

He put down the arrow he was working on. “It just felt right. Every time I draw my bow and release, I get a feeling that my aim is right. I got that feeling with Castile.”

“Then why are you not staying with her here?” I questioned further.

“Same reason. It just feels like the right direction for me. It is a noble act to help Maveith and his sister. Maybe I was always destined to be an adventurer and defend those who couldn’t defend themselves with my bow.” Blaze spoke plainly, but there was something deeper in his words.

“Did Castile tell you that you use aether when you release an arrow?”

“She mentioned it, but I have never been able to feel the aether, no matter how hard I try,” Blaze said, smirking. “My aether shaping is just five. I will never be a mage.”

I opened my hand to reveal the pink hair ring. Elven hunters chased elk around the workings. “This artifact will help you with your bow.” I placed it in his hand and he inspected it. “It needs to be worn in the hair. If you don’t like the color, you can paint it.” Blaze’s hair had grown some, but it would be a challenge to wear the ring at the moment.

“Thank you. How does it work?” he asked, turning the pretty hair clip over.

“Figure it out with Castile. Once your hair lengthens, it should hold it comfortably.” Next, I pulled out my Hound poison kit and showed him how to treat his arrows. I then gifted him the poison kit, including the lesser thermal stone. He would need to channel aether if he wanted to use it, so hopefully it would motivate him.

Ignis returned, beaming as she announced to the room, “I am now the proud owner of the smallest blacksmith forge in the city!” We all clapped and would shortly use the news as an excuse to drink.

“We leave in four days. Can you get this sorry lot fitted and suited?” I asked, grinning at her.

She surveyed the eager expressions, each wearing mismatched armor they had collected during their difficult journey. A few sported pieces of armor they had recently bought at the Adventurers Hall. We looked like true vagabond mercenaries. “I might be able to make you look decent, but as for new armor, I have no jigs, stamps, or stencils prepared. It would be from scratch, and maybe I could get one of you properly suited.”

All eyes turned to me. It appeared I was the one making the decisions from here on out—the burden of leadership. “Do your best with Maveith, Mateo, Blaze, and Benito. You can sell this for supplies.” I tossed her a ring.

She caught the gold ring and inspected it. “The Angella Crest?”

“First Citizen Boris Angella’s ring. He no longer has use of it,” I said snarkily. “Boris was trying to loot Caelora. Maveith and I ran into his exploration party on the old road. A wyvern had killed most, and the rest were limping back to Telha.”

Castile snapped, “The First Citizen pixie prick deserved his fate. It doesn’t leave this room, though. The Empire may be a thousand miles away, but its ears are not. If Boris’s mother lives, she will seek vengeance.” Everyone nodded in understanding. I doubted Duchess Veronica cared about her brother’s death, but Castile had spent more time with the family and knew them much better than I did.

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We had food sent up and started feasting and drinking late into the night. My thoughts turned to Ginger, and I left the group to feed her an apple. She was happy to see me and nudged me for a second right after. “Ginger. An opportunity has come up. Lirkin is buying an inn in this city. You could stay here with him and Castile, or you can come with me. If you come with me, strange things will happen and it will be dangerous. Do you want to stay here in safety or come with me?”

I thought it was my serious tone, but Ginger seemed to be listening intently. She cocked her head to the side and nudged me in the chest. I produced an apple and she didn’t take it right away, nudging me again—and then she chomped on the apple. I was going to take that as Yes, I will come. I sent out an earth pulse to make sure no one was close, and then Ginger disappeared. This spooked some of the horses, and the stable boy came running. I explained that I had traded Ginger away.

Over the next three days, I helped Lirkin and Castile purchase the inn, signing papers and negotiating with the current owners. The others helped Ignis set up her smithy. Every night, they came back filthy from cleaning and doing repairs. Ignis balanced her efforts between equipping them and getting her smithy ready. She removed the stones from the ring and melted the metal down before selling it, heeding Castile’s warning.

Even though they were tired from the hard days, I had us all start training together in the small courtyard behind the Crescent Crossroads before the evening meal. They complained tenfold the amount they used to when Delmar or Adrian had enforced their training. But they were seasoned men and knew the value of it. For all their whining, they worked hard to win the prize of being the first to use the bath that night—I always won. I used the dreamscape amulet at night to sort out their weaknesses and prepare for the next day’s session.

The tavern Lirkin had selected was old but well maintained. It had a small basement larder with no connection to the city’s sewers, which, after Macha, we all agreed was a good thing. However, it didn’t have running water like the Crescent Crossroads, so he would have to hire staff to haul it from the city’s aqueduct.

Elaro was doing his best with the wine, but the process of selling such luxury items took time, which included everything from verifying the authenticity to negotiating a price. The first two bottles he sold were to the Esenhem ambassador for roughly three hundred gold each. The aged ambassador was able to decipher the meaning of the relief art and took the two most valuable bottles out of the four. The other bottles were sold to an ambassador from Keisinia and a merchant prince from Linshania for just over two hundred gold each.

The nine hundred gold started the transfer of the inn. There was a balance due of two hundred and ninety gold at the closing in the City Deeds Hall. Lirkin sold an elven runic dagger from Caelora, and Castile sold something of her own. Annoyingly, they had me sign the ownership documents as well.

It was still going to be a few days before the current innkeeper and his aged wife could move out, but the structure and all the headaches that came with it were now Lirkin’s. Castile had the dozen bottles of wine to sell in an emergency. She didn’t think revealing more to Elaro at this time was prudent.

The search for an orc guide did not go well. The orc caravan guard, Bragaran Agher, had returned but was not interested in joining us. He made good coin doing two trade loops with a local merchant. The next candidate, Synrathe Glimmerborn, was actually a criminal in the Caliphate and laughed at me when I asked him to join us. He said he would be strung up by the testicles if the warlord he stole from caught him, and he was being literal, not figurative. The last potential guide was Folmar Crimsonhand.

Folmar was large for an orc and had tattoos that marked him as one of their elite warriors. I was not familiar enough with orc society to know if he had belonged to either faction. He was haughty beyond compare, looking down on me and demanding half of all the coin we made. By his tone, I also guessed he assumed he was the one who would make the decisions. With this failure, I decided to try again in Artiria, but was worried about the local guildmaster interfering, since he did not like ex-Telhian legionnaires.

I managed to get some time in Elaro’s library. All the books were in Elvish and from the fallen Empire of Milvanoris. Although the Elvish writing was consistent, the calligraphy was slightly different, making it harder to read.

He let me page through all his volumes on spell forms. He lacked volumes on materialism and worlds, but had tomes on all the other affinities. He thought I was just searching for something to imprint, and was not aware of the dreamscape amulet.

On a night in the dreamscape, I took the time to try to figure out my night vision spell form from the illusion affinity. I had imprinted it during the fight with the gnolls, but it was imperfect, with limited range and mostly shades of gray. I quickly found the reason why that was.

I had not imprinted night vision, but something similar to a spell form called mage sight. Mage sight allowed a mage to see aether clearly and to differentiate objects by their aether density. It was extremely valuable to mages learning how to write out spell forms in the air, or see the framework of other casters’ spells. My spell form was just a weaker version of mage sight called aether sight.

If I had imprinted night vision using the spell form within the books, my vision would have had color and significantly greater range. If I had imprinted mage sight, I would have been able to see aether and its flows clearly.

There were some benefits to aether sight, namely that it did not require your eyes to see. If my eyes were removed or I was blinded, aether sight would still give me the ability to see. I could also increase the distance I could see with a higher affinity, but I would never be able to see color. Unfortunately, there was less clarity in seeing with aether than with true mage sight. I counted it a blessing anyway, no matter the limitations.

It had been a great few days of working, eating, drinking, and joking with everyone again. Castile’s sternness had started to slip as she started to get accustomed to her new life. We all moved to Lirkin’s inn. Although the old innkeeper was still in the house by his stables, the inn was temporarily empty of patrons.

I was in the largest room on the third floor with Castile, dawn just getting ready to show itself. The teleport to Artiria was at high noon. The others had already suited up and said their goodbyes. Castile looked me over. I was wearing my black manticore cloak, earth drake boots, and bracers. My adventurer’s armor had been cleaned, repaired, and properly fitted by Ignis, even though she noted that she despised working with leather and inferior armor.

“Are you going to leave her on the bed?” Castile asked to break the silence.

“Yes.” But I was thinking of what else I could do to help Castile. I had been seriously considering leaving the elven tablet reader for her. She could have run a very profitable business with it. But it was worth thousands of gold and might make her a target. I didn’t have many books left in my space, but they should be easy to sell and wouldn’t draw much attention. All of them had been copied into the amulet anyway. A stack of twenty-five books appeared on the table, one or two at a time. “You can sell these and give this one to Ignis.”

She shook her head in wonderment at the assortment. I didn’t have the heart to tell her about the stash in the chancellor’s suite at the Telhian Mage College. Over five hundred books were hidden there. I only had seven books remaining in my space now: two Caelorian herbalism books, a spellbook reward from the Shimmering Labyrinth, an elven spell form book for the energy affinity, and the three-volume set for the displacement affinity.

“I have copies in the amulet,” I explained, then went silent.

Castile looked hard at me. “Well, this doesn’t have to be an awkward farewell. Somehow, I expect to see you again. You always turn up eventually. I hope you find Maveith’s sister.”

I nodded, moved to the bed, and deposited the heavy pack of trinkets and coins Selene had fled with. “If she asks where the rest of it is, tell her I gave it to her legionnaires.”

Mage Selene Greco appeared on the bed. The clean room suddenly filled with pungent odors, including urine and body odor. Castile inhaled sharply, showing her shock at seeing the body and the mage’s chest slowly rising and falling. She moved to the woman. She was bound tightly and had a bandage on her leg from where I cut her with the magebane. I had told Castile about the poison and the oblivion pills I had force-fed her. I had treated her fairly roughly, and it would be best if I was gone when she regained consciousness.

“Fortuna watch over you,” I said softly to her back, and left the room.

Castile muttered to herself, “Like she has time to take her eyes off of you.”

The others were all dressed up and wore mostly matching armor when I joined them outside on the street. Ignis had even made Maveith’s armor mostly match the style of the others’. We looked more like a proper fighting force, except that Benito was blowing snot rockets, Blaze was leaning against a building trying to get a few more winks, and Mateo’s eyes were wandering to every woman walking the streets.

I gathered my company and headed to the courtyard for the teleport while Maveith explained to the others how it worked. On arrival, the golden-haired elven displacement mage noticed me immediately. My group tensed as she approached with a grin on her face. “How was your stay in Gramney?”

“It was fine,” I replied cautiously.

“You know, there was a very disheartened young elf in Artiria who was upset when you and the goliath didn’t come and seek her out,” the mage said slyly. “I hate to ruin a surprise, but she may be waiting for you when we arrive.” The mage retreated and her guards encircled her while she recovered, leaving me stunned. What elf?

Mateo was instantly at my side, staring at the beautiful elven mage walking away. “Eryk, you sure get around. How are elves?”

“I wouldn’t know,” I said numbly, dismissing Mateo’s assumptions. I was more concerned about the elf waiting in Artiria. Shit, there was only one elf that knew me and Maveith. How could she be in Artiria? Why wasn’t she in Bartiradia? I looked at my currently happy companions, wondering how I would explain this.

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