A Soldier's Life - 397 - Brausis (edited 5-25-25 +100 words)

Chapter 397: Brausis

With the elemental confused, I swung off of Ginger and slapped her rump, “Run!” My other hand was already raising an aether potion to my lips.

Blaze’s riding horse had dashed ahead, and he was trying to regain control of the spooked gelding. The earth elemental continued to gaze at where its arm should have been. The humanoid shape of shifting earth towered over me, easily exceeding nine feet in height. The scent of freshly dug earth lingered in the air. This elemental had very few rocks encased in its body, so it was not very strong according to the bestiary. Generally, an earth elemental wouldn’t attack unless disturbed, but this one was likely from the dungeon break.

As my aether core filled from the potion, I sent out an earth-speak pulse to ensure it was alone, and the head of the earth elemental jerked toward me. I didn’t give it a chance to understand what happened as magebane bit into its leg, causing the mass of earth to flinch. I felt the blade siphon aether from me.

The elemental looked foolishly down at its leg as a section of its flowing surface stilled and poured to the ground like sand. I was only slightly surprised that the magebane poison worked on the creature. Earth elementals were composed of aether but lacked veins like organics to circulate the poison. The fact that it affected the elemental at all was a blessing.

While earth elementals had frightfully powerful blows, their attacks were always telegraphed and gained speed through the initial attack. I could see a new arm growing from the body as the other arm swung over its head, preparing to squish me. The slowness of the action struck me as almost comical. When the arm reached its zenith, I darted forward and struck the same leg four times as I got behind the creature.

The fist of the elemental struck the ground and I felt the reverberation through my feet. From behind, I attacked the same leg twice more and watched the elemental topple as the leg's integrity gave way. I moved in and mercilessly attacked the head until the entire body collapsed into an innocuous pile of earth and stone.

With an earth pulse, I confirmed the elemental’s demise. Ginger trotted back to me now that the danger was handled. Blaze was still wrestling his mount forty yards further down the road. His horse was not battle-trained, so it was understandable that it was reluctant to remain in danger.

Ginger pawed at the dirt, either confirming the elemental was dead or showing that she somehow contributed to the fight. “Yes, Ginger, you did a good job. After we try the collector, I will give you an apple.”

By the time the collector was out, Blaze had returned on his mount, cursing. “Sorry,” he said, dismounting. “Thanks for the save.”

“No, problem. I should have been more vigilant. We knew earth elementals were a possibility. This should work on elementals, but you need to use it quickly after they have been destroyed.” I placed the collector over a collection of rough gemstones near what had been the creature’s head. I had seen the cluster during an earth pulse. I closed my eyes and focused on the convergence facet of my core. If I had been preparing to write a spell form for that affinity, this would be my technique. I pulled aether through the facet and along my arm and into the collector.

The collector activated normally, and wisps of aether were drawn from the earth, but a thick stream was pulled from where the cluster of stones lay buried. A major earth essence formed, and I nodded happily. Even though this elemental had been large, it was a lesser earth elemental. Obtaining a major earth essence was probably the best I could expect.

I tossed the essence in my hard, and maybe it was slightly heavier than an average major essence as well—or maybe that was wishful thinking. I knew when you sold essences to the Adventurer’s Guild, they were carefully weighed and graded, as not all essences of the same size were equal.

I exchanged the collector for an apple for Ginger, and then consumed the essence. Earth essences were one of the worst, tasting like grainy dirt as they dissolved. This one even had a metallic aftertaste. I focused inward and studied the aether racing through my body to my core and pooling in the earth facet of my core. No matter how many times I did it, the effect was always euphoric.

“Next one is yours,” I smiled up at Blaze.

“I didn’t do a damn thing but run away,” he retorted bitterly. I dug through the elemental dirt and pulled out some flawed sapphires and emeralds. Gemstones from an earth elemental had numerous defects and were ground into dust to be used in alchemy. I cleaned them a little before storing them in my belt.

Ginger was in as good a mood as I was after her apple. I took her reins and led her down the road, sending out earth pulses every twenty steps. My range had definitely improved by a few feet. I skewered two acid-venom spiders that were building nests in the high grass. Both yielded minor coordination essences. Blaze managed to kill two gremlins hiding in bushes from range.

As I finished with the collector on the second gremlin, with both yielding dexterity essences, I told Blaze my thoughts, “This is not a good sign. We are still over thirty miles from the dungeon, and these creatures had wandered this far already after just four days.”

“We haven’t seen anyone on the road either,” Blaze noted, with perhaps some worry in his voice. His concern was unfounded because, four miles later, there was a camp off the road next to the smoldering remains of a building.

Six men stood watch, and the camp was roused as we approached. The smell of rot was in the air, and dozens of gremlin heads were laid out in the sun to dry. A tall, dark-skinned man with a rusty, unkempt beard walked out to greet us. I counted fifteen men in the camp, but I didn’t see Kyrenic among them. The man addressed me in the local tongue, and I replied in Elvish when I didn’t understand him. “We came to help. How goes the struggle?”

Looking across the group, they all looked like adventurers with mismatched armor, weapons, and no unified discipline. Their leader spat on the ground, not in anger or challenge, just to clear his mouth of whatever he had been chewing on to speak the more delicate language of the elves. “Bounty seekers?” He said plainly.

I produced my guild medallion, and Blaze did likewise at my direction. He nodded, and some of the men started to filter back to their tents to get some sleep. If they were only hunting the lesser goblins, they were probably hunting at night since gremlins were nocturnal.

“The bugbears have fortified near the dungeon. Must be over sixty now. They are smart enough to realize if they wait, more of their kind eventually come out.” He took a pull on a waterskin, swished his mouth, and spat again. “The real pain is the cursed harpies. Well, two of them anyway. Whenever there is an attack on the bugbears, they come from nowhere to support.” I didn’t ask him why they didn’t stuff their ears, a common tactic to avoid the harpies’ song.

“Is this everyone hunting?” I said, looking over their small number. “Why has your king not sent more to contain this?”

A few of the adventurers chuckled. Their leader spoke after the laughter died down. “Nothing essential to protect, at least to King Kolora. We hear the dungeon near the capital is releasing water drakes. One sank a royal trader with a silver ore shipment aboard.” He grunted, “I am sure once that dungeon is contained, he will send help.”

“Is this everyone in your group? Did Knight Kyrenic come this way?” I repeated.

“If you are looking for someone, they are probably in Brausis.” He gestured uninterestedly down the road. I nodded my thanks and led Ginger down the road, leaving the band of adventurers behind. Brausis was not a large city; it barely qualified to be a large town in my opinion. From the maps, I knew the dungeon was just a few miles northeast of the city.

The wooden palisade surrounding the town looked as if it had recently had large sections replaced with wood that had freshly stripped bark. The heavy wooden city gates were barred, but a man on the wall yelled down to me. It was getting frustrating with constant language barriers. It took them twenty minutes to bring someone who spoke Elvish.

“Prince Kyrenic! Good to see you alive and well!” I yelled up when the man appeared.

He grinned and looked amused. “Where did you hear that? I am no longer a prince. I abjugated myself from the line of succession,” he said conversationally.

“Why would you do that?” I asked in a tone that indicated I thought he was crazy.

“My older sister is going to make a much better Queen than I would be a king. Hell, any one of my younger siblings would do a better job than me!” he said, laughing. Finally, the gates started to open for us. His genuine, affable humility was slightly annoying.

We didn’t speak again, until Blaze and I were inside and the gates were closed. “Where are the others?” Kyrenic asked in genuine worry.

“They remained in the town at the fork in the road. They will wait for us to return,” I said, shaking wrists in greeting. Blaze did likewise.

“Good. Glad to hear they are well,” Kyrenic smiled. “You are here to hunt?”

“Yes, but why haven’t you snuffed out the bugbears already?” I asked as we followed Kyrenic to some stables.

His face scrunched into unhappiness. “Yes, I know. We have over two hundred men left in Brausis, but only a hundred can fight, and forty of them are local guards. They are only paid to guard the city, not attack monsters outside the walls. Their guard captain is very adamant about it. The remaining sixty are adventurers, caravan guards, and retired armsmen. I can’t rally more than twenty for a sortie.”

That surprised me. Kyrenic’s charisma made him a natural leader of men. But I took solace that man was not successful at everything he did. “What about the other creatures? The wisps, harpies, and earth elementals?”

“There have been five dungeon releases, and two of the elementals have been dealt with.”

“Three,” I interrupted, and he nodded appreciatively in understanding before continuing.

“The harpies are causing the most trouble on the surrounding farms. Most of the farmers have fled, but they left their livestock behind, and the harpies and bugbears have a vast source of food. As to the wisps, they put on a fantastic show above the trees at night. There has to be a hundred now,” Kyrenic finished, and we stopped outside a small tavern, and he led the way.

“Food and ale for my friends!” Kyrenic yelled to the barkeep, and the patrons raised their mugs to acknowledge Kyrenic’s presence like he was one of the locals.

We sat at a table, and the food seemed too normal for being in the center of monster-infested territory. The corn was sweet, and the lean steak covered in gravy wasn’t bad. However, the ale was bitter and hard to swallow. 

“Are there any containment vessels for the wisps in the city?” I asked, fighting down the ale as I was parched.

“You hunt wisps? You have a runic weapon, why bother to capture them?” he asked, interested. The reason to capture a wisp is to use a collector on a living wisp. Dispersing them with a sword ensures there’s nothing left to use the collector on.

I ignored his question for now. “So, there are no containment vessels in town?” I asked, disappointed. I had checked before we left the others at the town at the fork in the road.

“No, I believe there are. There is an artificer on the far side of town who has not fled. I think he might have made them for adventurers.” Kyrenic said in thought. “Yes, I believe there were some in his shop.”

“Fantastic,” I said, draining the rest of the bitter ale.

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