A Soldier's Life - 402 - Weight of Leadership (edited 6-5-25 +200 words)

Chapter 402: Weight of Leadership

No one looked eager to begin the cleanup. Many of the defenders had injuries that were being treated and were in shock from the intense fight. Kyrenic was starting to direct people, breaking their malaise. The mayor had fled, leaving the guard captain in charge, who had wisely completely deferred to Kyrenic’s leadership.

Blaze came trotting through the streets toward us, his bow at the ready. “Is the northern wall secured?” I asked as he approached.

Blaze nodded as he came to a stop and studied the bloody carnage. He spoke as his eyes drifted, reading the fight. “The wounded are being cared for and all the injured buggers have been put out of their misery.”

When Blaze approached close enough, I talked quietly, “There are likely some gremlins in the city, but we can handle them later.”

“Are you going to use the collector?” he asked, eyeing the monstrous chieftains. He knew stronger monsters gave better essences.

With some consternation, I sighed. “Not in the open. Even though we just saved these people, the greed would be too real, even at a single major essence. These were the people too poor to flee.” Blaze arched his eyebrow accusatorily. I ignored his insinuation that I was greedy. “I am going to talk with Kyrenic. Go and relieve those two guards on that tower, and I will see about dragging the corpses outside under its watch to burn.” Blaze nodded in understanding and climbed the smoldering steps calling out and gesturing to the town guards to leave.

Kyrenic was still giving orders when I approached, and he paused to talk with me. “They will sing tales of what you have done here tonight,” he said with a half-grin in greeting. “You likely saved me from a premature death with that potion, too. Was it dungeon brewed?”

“It was,” but I winced at his praise as I remembered the bodies I passed in the streets. “It was my fault they were agitated to attack.”

Kyrenic’s grin faded, and his face became serious. “In a day and a half, they would have had enough numbers to crack our defenses. This clever plan…” he waved his hand at the smoking gates that had been breached. “They were already prepared to attack and just waiting on a few more reinforcements from the dungeon. The attack was inevitable, Eryk.”

I didn’t want to argue, but perhaps soldiers could have come to fortify the city by then. I pushed aside my guilt to focus on my problem. “I wanted to ask a favor. Can you send everyone to the north wall to start the cleanup there? Blaze is taking watchman duties on this wall. I have a collector that I do not want to reveal to the locals.”

Kyrenic’s eyes danced in thought at my revelation. “Ah, the wisp hunting makes more sense now. And that is why you haven’t brought any captured wisps back to Jonik. And you trust me with such knowledge?” He cracked an amused expression. The weight of the defense had gone for a moment.

Damn it, he was right I should have at least brought back one of the creatures to the artificer. “Let’s just say, I think you are the type of knight who can keep my secret.”

“You wound me thinking me so noble. I have done things I regret, but yes, we are comrades now, and your secret will not be shared with anyone else. Do what you must, and I will keep the locals from observing.” He turned serious again and moved away to direct the people out of the area. I had passed several children and women who had been cut down within the city when they rushed here with water buckets. Kyrenic was about to find that out.

I quickly fashioned a rope to pull the first massive bugbear out of the gates. The hairy goblinoid must have weighed three hundred pounds, but once I got it moving, the body hair made it easy to pull across the pavers. I only went around the corner and about thirty feet from the wall before the collector appeared. Blaze gave me an all-clear sign from above, and soon I was tossing a major strength essence up to Blaze as I re-entered the town. He caught it smoothly and palmed it into his belt for later.

The plaza inside the gates was now deserted, and only a single archer was posted at a distant corner of the wall. He could only see me dragging the bugbears out, and not what I was doing outside the gates. I knew I needed to work quickly, so I soon found myself sweating as I worked through the morning. Eleven chieftains and six lesser bugbears yielded four major strength, two major constitution, two major power, and three lesser strength essences. Only the chieftains had yielded essences, and I realized that as soon as they started forming lesser essences, I was running out of time. Still, I tried the collector on all the normal bugbears anyway with no luck.

I consumed one of the major strength essences and climbed the burnt stairs to Blaze to hand him the three lesser strength essences. “You really do need a bath,” he noted as he took them gratefully. I smelled so bad, I didn’t even notice anymore. I was splattered in dried harpy and bugbear blood. My boots were caked in all manner of bodily fluids, and a thick layer of dust muddied by my sweat now coated my exposed flesh. It was the filthiest I had been in a while.

“Yeah, I guess I do. After I take a bath, I will find Kyrenic and send someone to relieve you.” I said, turning away.

“Wait! How long will your bath take?” Blaze asked worriedly.

I simply waved back at him and climbed down the wall, leaving him behind. I was actually planning to explore the city using earth speak to search for the gremlins first. I found three of the hideous creatures hiding in a crate, a drain, and a pile of manure. The last one Ginger actually drew my attention to, and I rewarded her diligence with an apple—or maybe she had just been asking for an apple in the first place. I was unseen for the last gremlin, and it yielded a minor dexterity essence.

Kyrenic found me as I contemplated where to search next. He looked grim as he approached. “From reports, we think six escaped, two of them chieftains, and they will be reinforced soon,” he said tiredly, looking up at the sun and then back at me. “We lost five women and children and eight defenders on the walls, with a few others maimed. If they hadn’t burned the walls and focused their strength on the south side of the city, the women and children wouldn’t have died. I underestimated their ability to strategize.” His inner turmoil at losing people on his watch was why I hated being in charge.

“You can’t foresee everything. Is there a healer?” I asked, trying to sound consoling.

Kyrenic was slightly distracted as he replied. “What? Yes, there are two healers with weak spell forms. I heard you handed out a number of potions—and the dungeon potion you fed me—I cannot repay you at the moment, but if you travel to Queen Adelin’s court, she will pay you triple their worth.”

“Why don’t you just call her your mother?” I said, bemused and trying to distract him from his guilt.

Kyrenic arched his eyebrow, some of the weight of leadership fading, “Would you tell someone your queen mother will take care of your debts?”

“I suppose not. But then again, I would probably be the fat son with a dozen pretty maids,” I said, chuckling.

“Queen Adelin would have used a whip if we got lazy, but my youngest brother has an oddly large number of maids—but most are now gray old women after our mother replaced them,” he laughed.

“How did your brother take it?” I asked with a grin.

“He told me in private that the old women know things his younger maids did not,” Kyrenic said with a serious expression but amusement in his eyes.

My work was done, and it was time to clean myself. “I am going to take a bath. Can you send someone to relieve Blaze? He will need some rest before we enter the woods tonight.” I said as I prepared to leave.

“You are going out again tonight?” he looked me up and down, surprised.

“Just wisp hunting,” I said as I walked away. We had gotten some of the physical essences we needed for Lesna and Evie, but I was hoping for more aether pool and energy essences for myself.

My bath ended up being in a horse trough that had been filled to fight the fires. As I bathed, I was informed there was a swimming hole in the direction of the dungeon, but the bell signaling the dungeon release time had just rung. When I returned to our room, mostly clean, Blaze was already sleeping, so I quietly got into my bed.

I cursed Kyrenic, as I had only wanted to hunt wisps for another night or two before returning to the Lesna and Evie. Now, my guilt was building over letting the bugbears regain strength. It was nagging at me enough that I planned to reduce their numbers tonight. Additionally, there were a large number of harpies unaccounted for, since the chamber in the dungeon always had three. I think we had killed the harpies that were cooperating with the bugbears—so there was that bright bit.

I decided to consume one of the minor energy essences with a minor aether pool essence. I would only lose a minor amount of overflow, but I was seeking a euphoric release to help me sleep. I didn’t use the dreamscape amulet in case there was another attack, and ended up with a few hours of restless, guilty sleep.

I felt disappointed by what I perceived as a minor swelling of my aether core. Perhaps after tonight, I'll check on my progress. The energy essence should be bringing me very close to the ten threshold for learning a spell form. I have two books of suggested spell forms stored in the dreamscape amulet: one written by the elves and the other by the Telhian Empire. I drifted off and woke before Blaze.

I quietly left and headed down to the common room to find it was mid-afternoon, and only a few patrons and the barkeep were present. He took my order and placed a large pitcher of ale on the counter, refusing my coin while thanking me. It was thick egg noodles with shaved beef in a mushroom gravy sauce. I added some salt and pepper from my belt and surprisingly consumed a large plate. The chef plated another dish, and I brought it up to Blaze, who woke up to the smell.

He quickly focused on the food, alert instantly. “How did the gremlin hunt go?” He asked as he started eating.

“Killed three, and yes, I turned in their bodies for the silver. The problem is we are only getting vouchers since the guild hall was overrun with bugbears—and they would have had to receive approval from the central Adventurer’s Hall, which in turn would need the coin from the kingdom to pay the bounties,” I explained.

“What do you think the bugbears did with all the gold in the Adventurers Hall?” Blaze asked introspectively.

“I would guess some would have fled with it, but not all. Three teams went into the dungeon to try to stem the flow. There is also the equipment from the adventurers the buggers killed,” I added. I thought out loud for Blaze’s benefit. “The Mirror Caverns Dungeon mostly yields essences in the reward chests, but two of the rooms do have some interesting artifacts. The wisp room generally yields a very simple wand, while the final room with the three chieftains yields a simple dungeon runic weapon—usually a long sword or great axe.”

“We are not going into the dungeon, are we?” Blaze asked, putting down his unfinished plate, apparently losing his appetite.

I shook my head. “It is a six-person dungeon, and I don’t think the reward chests would have appeared, but perhaps the adventurer’s stronghold would have a vault or cache,” I hypothesized.

“So, we are going to attack a camp of thirty bugbears alone?” Blaze looked a little upset.

I exhaled slowly as Blaze was correct, the danger was not worth the reward. “No, just scout it. Sunset is about four hours away. Go and replenish your arrows.”

We both stood on the walls as the sun set and watched as darkness encroached and the wisps slowly rose from the ground. They were more spread out and further north along the path of the ley line this evening, closer to the dungeon. Kyrenic joined us as we waited for enough darkness to see the wisps in the woods easily. “Here to see us off?” I asked the knight.

“I am here to join you tonight,” he said earnestly.

“What about the children?” I asked, reminding him of his promise to protect them.

I have made satisfactory arrangements, and the bugbears are not going to attack tonight. So here I am to try to repay my debt to you,” he said ceremoniously with a bow.

It put a wrench in my plans of possibly robbing the Guild stronghold, but I smiled anyway. Blaze greeted him with a smile, welcoming the help. “Welcome to the Fortuna’s Chosen.”

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