A Soldier's Life - 466 -

Chapter 466:

I quickly got the impression that Queen Adelin liked to be in charge, and not having all the facts when they were available was what had her irate with me. It was not the first time I had failed to report all the details. Not letting Castile know about the ruins in the swamp outside of Macha was a fairly large omission on my part.

I explained as simply as possible, without letting the queen know how we treated the elven messenger. “Alhur brought news of my son’s birth to me,” I said and tried to be as delicate as possible. “He didn’t think I was worthy of my elven lover and warned me to stay away.”

Queen Adelin was openly shocked. “Your son is half elven?”

“And half human, but I have not met him yet, and he should have reached his first year by now,” I said. 

“Virile indeed,” the queen said appreciatively with a twinkle in her eye, her reaction surprising me. Baelira did not look entertained by our exchange. “I know there is a stigma in other nations bout half-elven children, but they are looked upon as miracles in the Heptarchy. With two elven kingdoms and four human kingdoms, we see the children sharing the blood of both as symbols of our similarities and unity.”

“I was not aware. Are there many half-elves in the Heptarchy?” I inquired.

“No, less than twenty,” she said regretfully. “Tell me more about Alhur. Will he work with us or against us?”

“He understands the threat, but I cannot read his mind. Truthfully, I would have killed him but I didn’t want to risk souring my relationship with Raelia and her family,” I admitted.

The queen’s eyes widened slightly at my statement. “Perhaps it is best if we do not allow you both in the same room.” I answered a dozen more questions about Alhur before she was satisfied she had gotten everything valuable from me and Adelin returned to her planning.

After cleaning up from our practice, I headed into the city with Maveith and Evie. If I had to stay for a few days, I would use the opportunity to stock my dimensional space with prepared meals. We brought a large crate for Maveith to carry, and after stacking the items inside, I moved them to my space.

We wandered through the markets, searching for fresh produce and prepared dishes, which were served in simple ceramic bowls. Of course, Evie wanted desserts and sweeter meals, and I had plenty of space to cater to her. In the end, I had four crates of fruit—two of which were apples—and four crates of vegetables, along with four crates of prepared meals, mostly different types of meat pies, but there was also an assortment of pastries and chocolate liquor.

As we shopped, I counted three different men and women watching us with more than a passing curiosity. I would let them guess where all the food was going. Hiding my space when I had the protection of one of the sovereigns of the Heptarchy was unnecessary, but my habits were ingrained to make the effort.

Maveith felt pressured while taking Evie shopping for clothes, whereas I stocked up on arrows. I had arrows from Sanctuary, but they were longer than the Hound arrows I was used to. I also had the chance to sell mimic and naga chests from the dungeon. The curiosity shop bought both chests for 62 gold, far more than I thought they were worth.

While I was waiting on Maveith and Evie, I considered confronting one of the men watching me. The elf wasn’t a bad snoop, but was oblivious that I could see him with my earth speak pulses. I had worn the earth drake boots just to have my range enhanced for the shopping trip. He was mostly followed by staying in the allies and their shadows. The other two who were interested in me were an elderly woman who changed her shawl four times during the afternoon and an older boy who walked around with a sense of self-importance. He was likely a decoy for the old woman, as I caught the two of them talking more than once.

Evie looked excited as Maveith carried the crate out of the clothing shop. I sighed and moved the bundle of clothes to my space, while Maveith grinned when he felt the crate get lighter. “Leave the crate over there,” I told him. He frowned but followed my instruction. When he returned, I explained his perplexed expression. “I'm sure they'll think we're watching the crate and will wait until no one is watching — or better yet, wait until night. I don’t mind wasting their time spying on us.”

We had no trouble getting back into the sovereign's residence, and I went straight to the library to page through some more books. The queen sent one of her attendants to update me. Princess Elenora had been sent to King Theron’s estate but was expected back for dinner. Besides King Elenor, King Belanor was the only other sovereign in the city. Both Kings ruled the only elven kingdoms in the Heptarchy and were in the capital for a wedding. Alhur had made an appearance in both the elven king’s courts.

Urgent messages had been sent to the other four sovereigns to convene the war council. That meant either the kingdom’s sovereign or someone he could entrust his vote to would need to attend in haste. King Roderin of the dwarves had the furthest to travel. I thanked the attendant for the information and returned to my studies in peace.

I was turning pages on some of the more recent reports of countries throughout Desia when Elenora found me. “Did you and your companions already finish your practice for the day?”

“We did, but will be practicing again tomorrow morning,” I replied, closing the book.

The woman took the opportunity to crash into the large chair opposite me and sighed, clearly wanting my attention. A little frustrated, but realizing I was accepting their hospitality, I closed the book. “How did your time with King Theron go?”

“I find the elves so tedious. They always want to dance around the subject and discuss matters of unimportance before getting to the marrow of things. Half a day in elven company can feel like a week. But perhaps it had more to do with the wedding feast of the king’s happening around us,” she chuckled softly.

“Ah, your mother didn’t tell you yet that the mother of my son is an elf?” I replied, causing the princess to flush and excuse herself. At least it got me some privacy. I still had dozens of books to add to the dreamscape in a backlog, but a lot of knowledge of the kingdoms here was more recent.

When I was called for dinner, it was in a much smaller dining room with just Maveith, the queen, and the princess. The meal was simple as the queen explained the current state of things. “King Belanor and Theron are meeting tonight to discuss elven support. I believe both will be posting recruitment notices to raise volunteers for secondary forces. Both kingdoms have about twelve thousand soldiers. My hope is they send a third plus whatever volunteers they raise.”

“We are also posting notices for volunteers in Aurelith. The economy is healthy currently, and few men are looking for work, but we are estimating three thousand young men to sign with the bonuses detailed in the notices,” Princess Elenora added. She flushed when I looked at her, still thinking her words this afternoon had been disrespectful to Raelia and my son.

Aurelith’s army and city guards number less than fifteen thousand, but as long as other sovereigns put forth strong support, and the Telhians can manage, I plan to send eleven thousand with the volunteers, but no cavalry and only volunteer mages,” the queen said. The princess held a slight gasp, so the numbers must be substantial and the queen’s commitment strong. “I hope you haven’t changed your mind about presenting at the war council, Seeker?”

Did she imply that her support depended on me staying until then? “Of course, I will answer their questions. But after I’ve delivered my news, you can deliberate without me.” I didn’t know how long it would take for seven rulers to decide on something, but my family growing up couldn’t even agree on where to eat for dinner. I wasn’t going to commit to waiting until an agreement was reached. From my impressions, it seemed like a foregone conclusion, and the only question was how many would be sent from each kingdom.

The rest of the dinner was conversation between Maveith and Queen Adelin as they outlined the extent of the trade agreement between Maveith’s people and the Kingdom of Aurelith. I excused myself early because I had things to do. In my room, I cleared tables and desks and set up my alchemy equipment. If I worked through the night, I should be able to prep most of the golden figs for aether restorative potions.

The repetitive work was just what I needed, and Evie came in to help by extracting the seeds for me. She wasn't very interested in alchemy but listened as I explained what I was doing. She fell asleep in my bed long before I finished for the evening, but I didn’t let her use the dreamscape amulet alone. There were just too many layers and contributions by different people, so I was worried she might change something irrecoverably.

I got a few hours sleep before rousing Evie at sunrise for breakfast. Baelira and Maveith were already eating. “Where did you go yesterday?” I asked Baelira.

“Wandered the city and talked several elven people. I found they were more open to talking if I didn’t display my Seeker medallion,” she replied while sampling the different fruit.

“Did you learn anything?” Maveith asked.

“The worries of ordinary people are very different from those of a Sentinel and the rulers of the kingdoms. I talked with a woman about how she disliked her daughter’s suitor for an hour. A baker couldn’t decide which yeast made his bread taste better, and he kept having me try fresh samples,” she said seriously.

“If you let me know the baker’s shop location, I will go there tomorrow and assist,” Maveith said thoughtfully.

I laughed. “Was he a single male elf?” Baelira squinted at me in confusion. “I am guessing he was interested in our pretty Seeker here, Maveith.” Baelira had cleaned up nicely and out of her armor and robes, her tall, athletic figure was on full display.

Baelira flushed, and Evie supported my case. “Even without makeup, you are on fire!”

“On fire?” She said, confused.

Maveith rescued her. “I believe Evie is calling you beautiful in their slang. Eryk has a number of them that are very applicable once you figure them out.” The rest of breakfast was Maveith reviewing every colloquialism I had used in his presence since I met him. We were thankfully interrupted by Princess Elenora.

“I only have two hours before I need to get ready for Windholm’s court. Are you training this morning?” The princess was wearing trousers and a loose, long-sleeve dark blue blouse. I could tell she had also wrapped her chest.

I looked at the others, before nodding. We had gone hard yesterday, and I wanted to finish my aether restoratives today and pack up my equipment. “Two hours of practice,” I said in agreement.

We used the same private training yard as yesterday, and I corrected Evie through the warmup before an overly eager princess faced off against me. “No shield?” I asked, since all she had was a practice blade that mimicked Voidpiercer.

“I wanted to make sure it was an equal contest,” she said with a smirk and arched eyebrow.

I shrugged and put down my shield. The practice blade I had chosen was close to Orc’s Torment in weight and length. It was not wrapped, but too dull to cut. I missed having Benito’s voice in the crowd, trying to find bets against me. “First to three touches?” I asked.

“Why don’t we go till one of us has too many bruises on the body or the ego?” she taunted playfully. I shrugged, and she slid forward with excellent footwork.

She controlled the tip of her blade very well, and her outfit was clearly chosen to hide her muscle flexion. Still, her first probing attack was too slow, and I parried her blade harder than expected. I was behind her and struck her calf with the flat of my blade as I danced out of reach before she could recover.

“Perhaps you should use a shield?” I suggested.

That only pushed her into a blindly quick attack. Our blades clanged as I moved left toward her strong side since she was right-handed. My superior strength pushed her footwork back, and every time she aimed for my legs, I was ready. I mostly read her eyes since she was excellent at disguising what her body was going to do.

Her frustration and impatience caused her to overextend herself for a strike on my thigh. I parried the blade, and my free hand grabbed her wrist, yanking her toward me while my sword hand balled into a fist and punched her sternum. She grasped as the force of my blow pushed her back. I broke two fingers in the punch as she had some type of magical under armor.

She rubbed her chest and looked stunned. “Spell form?” she questioned. I shook my head negatively.

“Eryk is very fast when he wants to be,” Evie said, in support. That was true, but what I had just done was stupid in anything other than a friendly spar. I gave her time to recover and she relaxed.

“I was my class champion every year at the Academy, and the champion of the entire Academy my last two years. I have trained with a dozen masters from a dozen countries, and you could match most of them,” she said respectfully.

“Not all of them?” I said, amused.

She seemed to consider for a moment. “Maybe all—except Master Thomas.”

“I never heard of him,” I said.

“I don’t know if he is still alive, as he was my private instructor while I attended the Academy, but that was more than twenty years ago, and his gray hair was starting to show.” By the slight flush, I think Master Thomas instructed the princess in more than swordsmanship.

“If I ever find a master swordsman named Thomas, I will be sure to give him your regards. Do you wish to continue?” I offered. She nodded eagerly.

Forty minutes later and with two dozen more bruises, the princess finally conceded defeat. She had gotten two glancing blows, and one even broke the skin, but I healed it before hardly any blood was lost. I couldn’t tell which of my companions was more pleased with my dominance of the princess. She had been confident but not cocky, and she was an excellent swordswoman, even a master. With Voidpiercer, she would be deadly since she could cut the opponent’s blade in half, but with training blades, my superior speed, strength, and experience were too overwhelming.

She was not disappointed and instead seemed hungry for more. “Same time tomorrow? I will need to get some healing before heading to court, but you were remarkably gentle with me.” I had pulled most of my strikes, but gentle was not the word I would have used.

The midmorning blue sky began to cloud over rapidly with fast-moving storm clouds. Baelira noticed it first, and I recognized it a few heartbeats later. The weather didn’t feel natural, and it seemed like the air was churning with aether. “It’s coming from the south,” Baelira said as the wind picked up quickly. Drops of rain pelted the packed earth.

“Get inside,” I yelled, thinking it was a hurricane. The rain intensified as we moved inside, becoming a torrential downpour. The wind was so powerful that the rain seemed to move sideways. You could feel the aether in the air, pushing the wind. So much aether that the only place it could come from was the ley lines…

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