A Soldier's Life - 238 - Follow the Trail

Chapter 238: Following The Trail

I was heading northwest and knew this was some of the wildest parts of the Telhian Empire. Large swaths of land the Empire claimed but had no presence in. There were no roads for hundreds of miles and I was unsure where the blood compass was taking me. The weather remained humid as I jogged at a steady pace pulsing earth speak infrequently.

After a full day of distancing myself from the orc invasion, I relaxed from my paranoia of being pursued by Pathfinders. Vartholme, the nearest city in the direction I was headed, was 400 miles away, and according to my maps of the Telhian Empire, there was not a single settlement on my way there. Most of the land I had traversed today was lined with massive trees with impressive canopies. The buds had recently given birth to the new spring leaves and the humid air had a wonderful scent.

Spring also meant the migration of creatures north, some of them I would prefer not to encounter. At least I was three hundred miles north of the Dragon Spine Mountains, the impressive mountain range that separated the northern and southern parts of this continent. Truly horrific creatures dwelled there, dragons among them.

My earth speak continued to be a blessing as I avoided a number of threats. Something I thought might have been a basilisk burrow turned out to be the worst of the dangers for the day. Without my night vision goggles, I was going to have to sleep in one of the massive trees tonight as the moonlight was not going to penetrate the spring canopy to allow me to continue my flight. 

The bark of my selected night’s accommodations looked like wrinkled skin as I climbed a tree easily the width of two prone men. The first decent-sized branch was fifty feet off the ground. A perturbed dark blue bird nesting nearby warbled loudly at me. It was going to draw attention, so I planned to kill it, but it soon settled down and graciously decided to share the branch with me after I didn’t threaten its nest.

I tied a safety line to the branch in case I fell during the night and sprinkled some myconid powder below. The spring crickets started their song as the sun faded. I ate a hot burrito and checked the blood compass. The pull was still faint, so I was still a distance from Corvus. I needed to think of my own counters to the Hounds tracking me.

The undershirt I was wearing had been soaked in my blood from the neck wound. I took out a glass alchemy jar and removed the shirt. I sprinkled it with some generic alchemical preservation powder and sealed the shirt inside the jar. I then wedged the jar in the fork of the tree. As long as the jar remained sealed, it should keep the blood mildly viable for a month so to anyone trying to track me with a blood compass should be confused. It also wouldn’t be the only false trail I planned to leave.

I pulled on one of my long-sleeved black spider silk shirts. It stretched like spandex and was more comfortable than the standard Hound issue anyway. After I was certain Zyna would not be contacting me tonight, I pressed the anchor stone under my armor. I had hoped with events unfolding so rapidly, I would have received a message from her by now.

I settled in for a long night. The first disturbance was the thundering of a herd of centaurs hunting a lone elk. The chase was a distance from my perch, but the shadowy silhouettes matched my guess. Centaurs had good night vision, so I was not surprised by their night hunt and glad I was not their quarry.

The second disturbance during the night was a lumbering tortoise. At least, that is what the shadow looked like from a hundred yards away. It didn’t match any creature I had been schooled on by Hearne or read in my bestiaries. The night owls also had a very animated conversation across the woods. My own feathery bed partner was bedded tightly down, protecting her clutch.

Morning couldn’t come soon enough. I thought I might take a side trip to check out one of the Hound caches. I lamented the loss of the night vision goggles, and maybe the cache would have a pair. I briefly took a trip into my dreamscape to put overlay the map Corvus had shown me with caches.

The cache he probably went to was along the first river I intended to cross. Unfortunately, the map lacked many terrain features, and I was unfamiliar with the region. Once I reached this river, I would need to cross it, follow it east, and hope I stumbled across the cache. Then again, he might have been lying to me when he claimed it was located near a fork tree.

I thanked my host for the accommodations, descended, and continued northeast at first light. I paused briefly where the centaurs had passed to inspect their tracks. By my count, there were seven heading south, the opposite direction from where I was going. I continued at a brisk pace, and just after midday, I swore. The heavy forest suddenly ended, revealing vast plains spread out before me. If I continued in this direction, I would be travelling in the open.

I spent some time looking at my map, and guessed the river crossing was sixty or so miles away. The terrain type was not distinctly marked on my Hound map. Rivers, mountains, roads, and settlements, yes, but how far would I have to travel in the open? Would I have no cover at night? If these were open plains, that meant the primary predators were bulettes, axe beaks, wolves, boars, and centaurs, according to Hearne. While I was confident I could handle one or two, if I were outnumbered, I would be in trouble and I had nowhere to hide.

I considered trying to convince one of my passengers to help. After all it wasn’t fair they were getting a free ride. Only the First Citizen Mage would be useful and then she couldn’t keep up with my pace. I stared at the grasslands before me, indecisive. The spring grass was just starting to grow. There was nowhere to hide, and only a twisted tree bereft of leaves appeared every few hundred yards.

I sighed and started a quick tempo jog with long strides, checking the skies intermittently. The danger in these wilds could come from both above and below, and I no longer had the cover of the trees. I started to ration earth speak and just pulsed it when something looked suspicious to conserve aether as I ran for any surprise encounters. For much of the run, the only dangers were irate prairie dogs. The lack of a dangerous encounter only unnerved me more.

I only stopped to drink and when the sun began to fade, I excavated a hole to spend the night in. The rich, rock-free soil would probably make incredible farmland, and my earth pulses during the day had shown ancient structures long buried with time, hinting long ago these lands were farmed. There were too many creatures that hunted from the air at night to risk continuing my trek. I felt vulnerable on the plains and didn’t sleep at all. Neptune’s Tear was exceedingly bright tonight, and it felt like it was trying to shine a spotlight on my location.

A muffled voice had a surge of adrenaline go through me. It took me a moment to realize it was the being caused by the anchor stone and not a threat. I pulled in from the crook in my armor. It was Zyna’s voice echoing softly from the air around the stone. I had missed the beginning of the message, but only a few words.

“…finds you safe. I miss your touch and the care you gave to me. Centurian Sergius informed me you were being assigned to Varvao. Be wary of the dangers the orc clerics pose. 

It is with sorrow I tell you Mage Aspirant Livia has been lost to us. Her entire expedition was lost while being escorted through the Dragon Spine Mountains by one of Centurian Sergius’ Hounds.

The situation in the Eastern Empire is tenuous. I have engaged the Esenhem Elves at the Emperor's side, and we are now moving south to confront the Bartiradian army that has crossed the border. Your old mage commander is with us. It is expected to be a bloody conflict.

I will not be able to send another message anytime soon. If we never reunite, take care of yourself.”

The slight hum in the air went silent as the message ended and I cursed it was only a one-way communication. 

My blood had chilled as I listened to the message. The image of Livia’s face with lively green eyes flashed in my mind as she was wolfed down a monstrous portion I had cooked for her. Livia was dead—an innocent young woman used for her gifts by the Empire. Her smiling face would no longer grace this world—no chance for a normal life or family. The mission had been orchestrated by Antonia, but it was to gain military support for the Emperor. My anger flared at the injustice. 

When my temper cooled, I considered the rest of the message. It was clear Zyna was being cautious in her words in case someone was listening to her or if my anchor stone had been stolen. Her voice had come across as clear as if she was standing right next to me. She had alluded to a romantic relationship between us as cover, but it was her intonations that held the true message.

I was certain that the attempt on the Emperor’s life would happen in this next battle. I believed her last words advised me to abandon my mission and flee the Empire. But she didn’t know how close I was to the Archives  

I slept in short bursts, disturbed and angry by the message. When morning came, it was welcome, and I continued on my determined course. The least I could do for Castile was try to infiltrate the Archives and destroy her sample. 

When I reached the muddy banks of the wide river, I decided to burn aether to make air shields to cross the river rather than swim. The river looked shallow, and I quickly found a narrow crossing of just fifty yards. Once on the other side, I guessed the Hound cache would be east. I followed the river for a few miles before giving up on finding it as the blood compass was pointing more north than east. I had only seen bushes growing along the shore, and not a single forked tree. If the Hound caches did exist, I would have better luck finding one closer to a city with more landmarks to triangulate the position of the map.

I noticed structures in the distance and confirmed on my map that there were no Telhian settlements out this far. The spyglass showed the buildings as being in a dilapidated state. Maybe a failed settlement, and there was no smoke from fires. I gave the ruins a wide berth as I continued along my predetermined path.

My luck finally ended late in the day. I noticed a distant movement and confirmed that a shark-like dorsal fin was parting the earth and heading toward me. It was a land shark, commonly known as a bulette. The first time I encountered one, I was able to gut it using my dimensional space. At this moment, I had only a corner of my space available to slay the creature.

The only good news, if it could be called good news, was that it appeared smaller than the one that had almost taken my life a year ago. I laughed as I remembered Herne’s lecture on these monsters—run! Don’t engage, just run, and don’t be the slowest man in your group. Their exoskeleton was impervious to normal attacks, their jaws could cut through metal armor like paper, they could burrow faster than a man could run, and they could leap over forty feet in the air. I had witnessed the last myself but recalled it only cleared about twenty feet.

If the bulette did not leap into the air, it was going to be extremely difficult to pulse earth speak and use my dimensional space to kill it. I started sprinting perpendicular to the land shark’s approach. It slowly started to veer toward me, confirming I was its target. Although Hearne said you couldn’t outrun a bulette, I was going to try and hopefully lure it out. I pumped my arms and sprinted. I hoped the bulette would surface and give me a clear target.

My boots pounded the grass as I ran. I was slightly surprised when the bulette did not seem to be closing. I might even be outrunning it as its fin appeared slightly smaller when I craned my neck. It was hopeful thinking, but maybe I could fatigue the bulette, and it would give up its pursuit. Of course, after forty minutes of running recklessly in the open, I attracted the attention of a pair of aurochs.

Aurochs looked like monstrous buffalo. The Telhians had domesticated some herds to raise for their hides to use in legion armor among other things. Aurochs meat was also a common staple of the diet of nobles. I think these two were males and they seemed to think I was challenging them in their territory. Hearne had said if you left these herbivores alone, they generally left you alone. I raced toward the larger of the two, and it accepted my challenge and charged. It was still confused after I used an air disc to vault over it, and then the bulette reached it.

The emergence of the bulette scared the other auroch into flight. The exploding earth confused the aggressive male, and it was no match for the bulette as its jaws closed on the haunches, gorily cutting off the hindquarters in one bite. I couldn’t be sure the bulette wouldn’t pursue me after its entree, so I raced back while its back was turned and it was gorging on the now silent auroch. My dimensional space overlayed with the head, and I relaxed when the behemoth’s legs gave out.

My heart returned to a normal tempo, and soon, the collector was out and forming a major earth essence. Most of the auroch had been consumed, and the collector failed to draw anything from it. The earth essence was immediately consumed, the chalky taste dissolving in my mouth. I noted it marginally increased the range of my earth-speak pulses. I rested, rehydrating as I sent thanks to Fortuna for placing the aurochs in my path. Soon after, I returned to following the compass. 

My excitement was much more limited over the next three days as I made my way northeast. Some oversized vultures circled me for a time. Five men were riding horses west who did not appear to be Hounds or legionnaires with the spyglass. I passed the ruins of a fort where the stone blocks appeared to be fused together with magic. And I was trailed for a day by a pack of five normal wolves who wisely found easier prey.

I finally reached a well-worn road of packed earth cutting through the plains. I was fairly certain that this road heading southeast would lead to Vartaholme. I didn’t know much about Vartaholme other than it had a dungeon and was relatively isolated. That meant if I took this road in the other direction, to the northwest, I should reach the city of Ogala. 

My blood compass was still pulling me northeast, but the pull had intensified. This meant Corvus was likely in the city of Sagren, less than fifty miles away. I removed the last of pieces of my Hound armor, dressed in the common clothes I had received in Hound training, and started walking toward Ogala. I could really use a bath before finding. Corvus in Sagren.