A Soldier's Life - 354 - Stowaway

Chapter 354: Stowaway

The halfling snapped her fingers in front of Konstantin’s glassy eyes as he tried to focus. “He got mind-fucked real good,” Lesna said, amused. Konstantin’s jaw tightened, and I hoped he didn’t punch the halfling woman. “Whaddya been up to?”

“What can we do to cure him?” Gilda asked heatedly, ignoring her question. I could tell she didn’t like the short woman. Gilda had probably watched Lesna in the common room many times in the last few weeks.

“Time. Two, three, maybe four days, and he will be fine if he isn’t spelled again. I hear submerging in freezing water can help as well. Regular healing will not speed it up.” I frowned, as Konstantin had already taken one of the precious dungeon potions.

“Is he going to stab us in our sleep?” I asked, half-serious, and Konstantin narrowed his eyes at me. He hated not being in control.

“No. He will have trouble swinging his sword for a while," the halfling chuckled mirthfully. “I know a mage who can fix him. Ten gold.”

“No!” Konstantin barked. “I will be fine. Let me sleep!” I looked at Gilda, who nodded slightly. She would keep an eye on him.

Lesna held out her hand, a big grin on her face. I hadn't promised her anything, but she obviously expected something in return for her knowledge. I pretended to perform a sleight of hand and produced a large dungeon silver. She narrowed her eyes at me, not picking up on what I had done. “Thank you, and you can leave.” She huffed and stormed out, well-stormed out for a three-foot woman.

The next morning, a body from the Sect of the Venomous Serpent was discovered outside the Adventurer’s Hall. The werehyena in sect robes had fallen from a great height and was midway through his transformation into his hybrid form.

We had decided on this course instead of claiming credit for infiltrating the sect’s tower. I had access to the roof of the building, and he failed to yell as he appeared in mid-air and fell one hundred feet in the dark, head-first to the cobblestones below. Gilda was on the body instantly below to ensure his death and walked away.

Later in the day, we learned he had been one of the sect’s leaders. The city governance was slow to investigate the sect’s tower, and by the time city guards and mages arrived in the late afternoon, it was completely abandoned. Konstantin was angry about the incompetence, but we had stirred up quite the shitstorm in the city. Now, city guards walked the streets randomly, requiring citizens to hold a pure silver coin in their hand. Anyone who refused was arrested, and it was putting the entire city on edge. A few martial sects had even closed their doors to challengers.

A week later, I was working on my alchemy, and Konstantin was sitting on my bed. He had been hiding out in the Guild Hall, being bored, and thought annoying me was a decent pastime. When he did wander the streets, it was without his armor and in disguise. We were also very selective in the sects we challenged in the mornings. He was too stubborn to give up on the training.

“Eryk, I think it is time to go.” I paused to listen to him. “The werehyenas are looking for us. They interrogated several people in the slums and killed them afterward. By now, they might have a decent idea of what we look like.” I studied him. Konstantin was not scared, just being prudent. He preferred to be the one on the offensive.

“How has the city watch been doing?” I asked, knowing several people had been cut down in the streets.

“From what Gilda has picked up in rumors, they have killed nine werebeasts, but only two were werehyenas,” he said, disgusted by their incompetence in finding their new lair. He griped that there weren’t many places to hide half a dozen forest drakes in the city. He spat, “In another week, their patrols will slacken, and they will say, 'Good enough!'"

I shook my head at his pessimism. Gilda had said the sect was well-connected and respected. “I still need at least another three weeks in the Archives to review all the texts I want,” I replied, annoyed that his quest had interfered with my work. This inconvenience was his fault. The fact that one of the sect leaders was a powerful mind mage probably didn't help our cause, as he likely had numerous agents in authority under his control.

I relented, “Fine, find a ship. A good ship without any abominations on board.” Konstantin nodded like that was the answer he was expecting and left me to my alchemy. I didn’t know how Castile had managed the cantankerous veteran.

Later that evening, Konstantin returned with news that he had found us passage on a massive merchant ship to the capital of Gesedmuria. The ship was set to sail in six days, so I needed to focus my research in the remaining time. I would also have to limit my language lessons with Dorrel. I could understand the Titan language but was terrible at speaking it. The amulet of clarity helped my learning, but the vocalizations were tricky.

Dorrel was so impressed with my progress that we had recently begun working on the written language, which was important because I learned that the language could be found in the oldest dungeons.

The most important thing I learned in my studies was that dungeon cores were typically found in a secret room linked to the final chamber of a dungeon. Not always, but most of the time, this room featured walls upon walls of runic script. The dungeon core was a glossy black aether stone that channeled aether to these runes—the power source. To destroy a dungeon, you only needed to shatter or remove this stone. The easiest way was with the shatter spell.

I had my suspicions of what this room was from Earth. After seeing the translation amulet taken apart so long ago, with each of the runic discs reminding me of circuit boards, I thought dungeons were essentially magical computers. It might have been a bit of a leap, but it made sense.

I was visiting my favorite apothecaries in the city when a familiar little mage found me as I negotiated prices. “What do you want, Lesna?” I asked a bit curtly.

“Oh, come on! We’re friends! But we should talk privately. Maybe while you’re buying me lunch,” she grinned at me. I considered her request before paying and following her to an expensive café. I thought that, given her small size, she wouldn’t order much, but the plate she ordered was as big as her head, filled with clams in a white butter sauce.

The cost wasn’t steep, but I still asked, with irritation, “What information did my coin buy me?”

“I do you a favor, and I have to take this abuse?!” she said indignantly. “Fine, I found where your werehyenas are hiding. But my team wants half the reward.” The city had placed a bounty of 20 gold for each werehyena in the Guild Hall and 100 gold for every forest drake.

“Why do you think I care about the bounty?” I said indifferently.

“Everyone in the guild knows your little trio were the ones who kicked the hornet’s nest. There is a fair amount of vileness in the city, but most of us are smart enough to mind our own business—unless the reward is big enough.” She started slurping up the clams in the sauce, keeping her eyes on me.

I shook my head, “We are not interested and leaving for the other continent in three days.”

“I heard. On the Prosperity. Look, I have a team of four other reliable sword arms. With your fat witch, you, and your father, this should be easy coin if we surprise them.” I coughed as I swallowed. Why the hell did she think Konstantin was my father? We looked nothing alike.

“No. We’re leaving as planned,” I said firmly. I needed to be a little harsh to make sure she didn’t inform Konstantin. If she did, nothing good would come from it. “You got a free meal out of this. I suggest you just report it to some city guards and let them handle it.” I stood and left in an aggravated huff. I hope she took the hint.

Later that night, I was working on a new variation of the aether restorative potion when an explosion erupted in the city. It occurred somewhere in the upper districts where the wealthy lived. I unbarred my small window to see if I could make out what was happening. In the distance, one of the sect towers had a plume of fire rising above it. Lightning flashed in the streets before the tower, followed by booms, indicating that mages were at work.

Konstantin knocked, and I unlocked the door to let him in. We both stood by the window, watching. A bell rang in the guild hall. “That’s a call to defend the city,” Konstantin muttered. We were not required to answer the call, but we would receive a substantial payment from the city and points toward advancement in the guild—if we chose not to answer, we would lose points. Points were an abstract way to raise your rank in the guild, determined by each Guildmaster.

I oriented myself to identify the tower where the battle was happening. “That is the sect of the Morning Sky. They focus on air magic and sending messages.” Konstantin had not moved to return to his room and dress.

“Maybe they are trying to draw out the adventurers to get to us,” he guessed.

I thought about not telling him but decided against keeping the secret. “The Venomous Serpents? Unlikely. I think someone else found them." I assumed Lesna had moved on her intel. “I was approached this afternoon to help hunt the werebeasts.”

Konstantin’s eyebrow arched, but he wasn't upset. I thought he was hesitant to confront the mind mage again. We watched the show together until the flashes faded. The location was half a mile away, so we wouldn’t know the victor until the gossip reached us tomorrow. Some buildings were on fire when I closed the window.

The news the next day was not great. Twelve adventurers, including Lesna, had attacked the sect tower. Eight of them were dead, and the remaining four, including Lesna, were missing. They had killed more than a score of werehyenas and a handful of humans. By my math, that meant there were still over two dozen werebeasts alive. Maybe the halfling had gotten herself kidnapped. I resisted my instincts to search for her. I needed to break my habit of trying to save everyone. Still, the guilt nagged at me over the next two days when she didn’t return to the Adventurer’s Hall and one of the missing four adventurers was found dead in the streets.

I thanked Dorrel for his time and the use of his archives before leaving with Gilda and Konstantin to board our ship. The mood in the city was tense, and it felt like things might be getting ready to boil over. The Prosperity was a massive ship, as Konstantin said. The cabins we had were opulent and must have cost him a fair amount of coin. In addition to being a merchant cargo ship, it was also a luxury passenger liner.

My cabin was ten by ten, and instead of a hammock, I had a real bed. The vessel’s beam was so wide that it hardly rocked on the ocean. Perhaps I could even work on my alchemy in my cabin during the voyage. Konstantin stood in the doorway, and I nodded my thanks to him. He returned the gesture and went to his cabin next door. Hopefully, we would be able to decompress during this voyage.

Once the ship sailed, I stripped off my boots and planned to spend some time in the dreamscape. The amulet appeared in my hand, and I heard a slight gasp. Then, the black spear appeared in my hand, and I backed to the door defensively.

Lesna appeared in the corner, “I knew it! You are a mage!”

“What the hell are you doing in my cabin!?”

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