A Soldier's Life - 297 - Master Baiter Again (final edit 7-5-25)

Chapter 297: Master Baiter Again

“Blaze. Maveith. Let’s go.” I stood tiredly from the wall and stepped out into the steady rain. None of the clerics volunteered to come with us, but I could see Mynasha was spent. I addressed Glasha, “Keep your sight focused far afield so we are not surprised. Raelia, you can explode a small fireball in the sky if she sees a threat to warn us.” I pulled my cloak around me and nodded to Blaze and Maveith. “Walk behind me with your glowstones,” I ordered.

I led them into the woods, and soon, we arrived at the troll I had killed. While they inspected the troll, I walked the surroundings to make sure the missing troll was not going to find us. When I returned, I got the question I was expecting. Blaze indicated to the troll, “You cut the troll’s head off in one swing? How? It took you a dozen strikes to hack off the other one.”

I smirked, and the neck of the troll thudded on the ground between the head and body. The bloody stump mixed with the muddy rain water. Blaze gawked for a while as the collector appeared in my hand.

While the essence pooled from the troll’s body, Blaze squeaked out, “Really?” I knew he would put it together quickly. A major essence of healing formed, and I cursed under my breath, not at the essence but at being unable to harvest the troll Mynasha had killed.

“Yes, it only works once, and it takes me about half an hour to recover aether to do it again.” I put the white pearl with silver and gold swirls into my belt. With my core still healing, I needed to space out consumption of any affinities.

Maveith’s voice echoed softly, “Eryk is how we survived the Shimmering Labyrinth. Without his magic, there is no way he would have ever rejoined you.”

“And the spear?” Blaze asked.

“A reward from the Shimmering Labyrinth,” I responded, looking over the bloody corpse. It was wearing rough hides, but the only sack appeared contain body parts for snacking on. “Maveith, anything worth our time?”

“I don’t know. Troll’s blood?” He replied. “Maybe the hide, I think. I cannot process it though.”

I nodded, “I know troll’s blood is an alternate base for advanced healing potions. But it needs to be stabilized when it is collected. I do not have the solution prepared to do so.” I said, standing. “Let’s find the missing troll.”

I could tell Blaze had a dozen questions but wisely kept them for after we finished the last troll. Even with the rain and mud, it didn’t take long to find the trail with massive muddy footfalls leading us to it. It was under a massive pine, leaning against the trunk. I motioned my companions to wait and circled to approach it from behind and downwind. The troll was struggling with raspy breaths and was oblivious to my presence.

At the last moment, it suddenly became alert, but it was too late; I took most of its neck rather than risk engaging it. It quickly tumbled over, and I hacked away, freeing the head completely to make certain it was not going to rise again. Spookily, its wide eyes followed my first few sword swings.

I took out two canteens, emptied the elven ambrosia, and filled them both with fresh troll’s blood. The blood would be in stasis in my dimensional space, allowing me to utilize it in the future. I hated losing canteens, but healing potions were more valuable than water and even elven whisky.

As I used the collector on the troll, getting another major healing essence, I waited for Blaze to ask his burning questions. “Does Castile know that you can kill that way?” He finally asked.

“Yes, I told her in the Shimmering Labyrinth.”

“Can you just do that to anybody?” He gestured at the troll.

“No. I have failed against mages with high aether resistance.” He nodded slowly, and I wondered how his mind worked. Was he replaying everything I had done since joining the company?

“So, are you like a god? Maybe Janus or Mars in the flesh?” He asked off-handily, hiding a smile.

“I considered myself more like Mercury. You believe in the gods?” I asked skeptically with an arched eyebrow.

“Well, no. But your power—it is even more impressive than Mynasha’s.” I shrugged, but something clicked in my head at that moment. Mynasha had a strong affinity for convergence but used it to draw aether from the environment and ley lines. I had a strong convergence affinity, but used my spell form to milk essences. Was Mynasha an otherworlder? Zyna had told me all the races had been brought to Desia from their home worlds, so it seemed plausible.

We searched the body from a distance without delving into its large sack of animal and orc body parts. We all agreed there was nothing worth harvesting. “Let’s get back to the others and get the horses saddled. Maybe we can convince the clerics that we have done enough.”

We arrived back at the cave to find Raelia standing watch alone. Well, that was not completely true because Glasha was using her scrying spell. “Anything?” I asked her.

“No,” she replied, focusing on me. “Is the other troll dead?”

I studied her for a moment before nodding. She was either a good poker player or she had not been spying on me. “We are moving out now. The stench is too much to sleep and I want to get away from the battle site in case more trolls investigate. We should leave for Becar.”

Mynasha struggled to get up. “We can’t until the troll horde has been stopped.”

“You killed three trolls and four ogres, isn’t that enough?” I asked.

“I didn’t…” She started, but I interrupted her.

“You killed three trolls and four ogres,” I stressed. “The honor is all yours.”

Glasha spoke an unfamiliar word in Orcish that silenced Mynasha and nodded at me appreciatively. “Still, we need to scout the fort. We must find out what happened to the warriors who rode ahead of us.” I groaned. If these trolls were out hunting, wasn’t it obvious those warriors were dead? “I can scout from miles away; there’s no need to approach the fort,” she conceded at my hard stare.

“Just because the mason only saw a dozen trolls, that doesn’t mean there are not more. We could be walking into a large host.” Seeing their stubborn gazes, I growled. “Move along the cliff, we leave now.” It was in the direction they wanted to go, and I was going to take the opportunity to try and get an another essence. Blaze understood what I wanted and helped get everyone moving quickly. Mateo was delicate in his walk, and Benito had his arm in a splint as they hung back, and they disappeared into the dark morning, their hooves and boots crunching the shale as they went.

The last troll gave a minor healing essence, and I took two minor strength essences from two of the four ogres. Benito and Mateo were secretly given the strength essences when I caught up to them. After we cleared the shale, we veered into the woods, moving slowly in the graying morning. The rain hadn’t stopped, but I decided to let everyone rest under some dense pines.

I approached Glasha, who was searching through her saddlebags. “How is your aether? Can you continue scouting?”

“It is fine. I have a deep well and can go for a long time yet.” She looked at me, and I could tell she had questions by her eyes.

“What did you see?” I asked. We both knew I was talking about me and not trolls or ogres.

After a moment of thought, she answered. “You have a collector? I can see why you wanted to keep that from me. Your crassness in the dungeon makes a little more sense now.” She must have just checked on me while I harvested the last troll and ogres.

We studied each other, and I broke the stalemate. “Is it going to be a problem?”

Glasha cracked a tusky smile. “Just don’t go showing it off to a warlord. They will find a way to challenge your honor to get it from you,” she chuckled.

“My honor?” I questioned.

“They will say you don’t have enough honor to possess something so precious. Or that you are too selfish to own it. Or that you are in their lands and haven’t declared it. They always think of something if they see something they want. Some of the Caliphate clerics are the same.” She explained her races convoluted logic.

“So, trying to steal from me is honorable?” I said, shaking my head in disgust.

Glasha laughed, “Stealing? You need to spend time among our warlord elite warriors. Only then can you truly understand our sense of honor—doing what is right for the Caliphate and our people is at the forefront of their minds, but I concede that can be twisted for personal gain as well.”

“Do I trust you then to put my secret above the needs of the Caliphate?” I said softly, eyeing the other two.

“I will not use the knowledge to threaten you to become Mynasha’s First. But I would keep the collector’s knowledge from her just the same. She is young and—desperate to help her people.” We stared at each other, coming to an unspoken understanding, and she returned to the group. I wasn’t certain if I was making a mistake or not but was playing the cards I was dealt.

We stayed in the woods off the main road but moved toward the garrison fort. Glasha stopped just before midday to warn us that one troll, three ogres, dozens of horses, and her people’s warriors were attracting carrion birds two miles away. A battle had taken place, most likely with the cavalry that had passed us, and they only managed to kill a single troll.

“It looks like they were ambushed. The terrain features were ideal for an ambush. They fought valiantly for the Caliphate,” Glasha reported somberly.

I decided to go and scout alone and covered myself in anti-scent powder. Ginger didn’t like me leaving and tried to follow. Raelia rolled her eyes at me, but didn’t say anything. Maveith just nodded and took stand watch in case I called for help.

I was confident because with my earth-speak, I should not be surprised, and I was the fastest runner among us. I waited in the woods, studying the carnage with my spyglass.

The scene was horrific, as the ogres and trolls used blunt weapons on the warriors and mounts and then looked to have torn them apart to harvest their organs. It was also a message to the next group that came down the road. It was a note saying we killed dozens of your people, and you only killed one of us. I didn’t leave the woods and instead returned to my group, informing them of what I had found.

Inconceivably, Mynasha was not deterred. “A larger force will be assembled. That warlord was too anxious to gain honor and glory for himself. The next assault will be more organized, with the support of stronger clerics,” Mynasha stated firmly. Maybe she felt some guilt for not riding with them. If she had, she would most likely be among the dead.

“If you wait, you will most definitely miss The Choosing,” I reminded her.

“Some things are more important. If these trolls break into the country, hundreds of my people will be at risk and it will take many weeks to track them down.” She stood straight and I had to admire her conviction. I nodded and agreed we would continue to scout the fort.

We stuck to the woods and rocky cliff face until Glasha halted us a few hours later. “The garrison fort and passage are just a few miles away. If I am given enough time to prepare, I can scout from here.” I waved her to it and ordered the horses watered and rubbed down, and then resaddled in case we needed to run.

Glasha examined her pack and started using metallic dust on a rock to carefully draw spell symbols in a large circle. It took her two hours to arrange the complex workings, and I thought a strong breeze would ruin her efforts, but they stayed undisturbed as she prepared to amplify her spell.

She was using ritual magic to enhance her spell form for her scrying spell. She checked her work thoroughly before she called over Mynasha. “Connect a bridge of aether to me, Mynasha. Feed the spell form slowly, do not overwhelm it.” She nodded and disrobed. Blaze and Raelia did what they could to keep the Mateo’s and Benito’s’ eyes off the spectacle. I didn’t move, wanting to know what Glasha saw in real-time.

I waited as the two orcs seemed to sync their aether together, Mynasha feeding Glasha’s spell. I activated my own aether sight to watch and saw aether flowing in the air and through the runes. It was surreal, almost like a light show overlaying everything they were doing. Aether emmited from the ground and

Glasha’s eyes were closed as she reported. “They have occupied the fort,” she said bitterly.

“How many?” A sweating Mynasha asked.

“Six trolls, unless there are more inside. No, seven. There is one sleeping on a roof. Ogres… I count ten, but many look wounded.” I could see her face harden at something she was seeing.

“What is it?” I asked.

“They have herded a number of people for food. They killed all the warriors, but there are maybe thirty women and children from the surrounding villages.” She blinked rapidly and looked at me. “The trolls and ogres we fought were probably foraging parties finding those hiding nearby.”

“We need to rescue them,” Mynasha stated passionately. “They can’t wait for days while the warlords gather and form a force to retake the fort. I don’t care about killing the trolls; we just need to rescue the people. They are probably eating a dozen or more every day.” I actually respected the cleric. She genuinely cared for her people. It was a fucking stupid idea, but at least I could respect her principle. I could understand why Glasha thought she would also make a good Supreme now.

“The only way to rescue the people is to kill the trolls,” I said, shaking my head in disagreement.

Mynasha smiled, “I hoped you would say that. We just need to draw the trolls to us. I felt a ley line nexus nearby in the road. I can connect to it and will be able to use my lightning.”

“Yeah, who was going to draw them to you?” I asked rhetorically since I already guessed it would be me. Having done it so many times, I actually considered myself a master at it.

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