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A Soldier's Life - 281 - Fortuna's Chosen (Final Edit 6-19-25)
🕑 Added 2024-10-20 20:31:46 +0000 UTCChapter 281: Fortuna’s Chosen
It was the first time I had felt exhausted in a while, and my ring of sustenance and essence-fortified attributes could not overcome my lack of sleep and the stress of leadership. I dressed in my adventurer armor and then rubbed down Ginger before breakfast. When I told the stable hand we were leaving today, he went to get coppers since I had paid for three days. I refused the refund to his confusion.
There was a small outfitter in the guild hall who had detailed maps of the Caliphate, far better than what I had in my dreamscape. I bought the four maps that covered the northern Caliphate. The southern Caliphate lay across the Endless Salt Sea and bordered the Telhian Empire. I studied the maps while sampling the offered buffet.
The Adventurer’s Hall breakfast was poorly attended based on the number of adventurers drinking late night. I had read a cookbook from the Caliphate, but didn’t recognize anything being offered. I went with thinly sliced cured meat on a doughy pita and slathered some green paste. The paste was a pungent garlic pesto, and the only thing that gave the improvised pocket sandwich flavor.
Raelia sat with me as I consumed my small sandwich, judging me. “Still wearing the ring?” she said as she sorted through her plate stacked high with the offerings at the buffet. I had taken the ring of sustenance from her in the dungeon and never returned it, even after we came to an accord.
“If you want it back, you can give me the cloak back,” I said with a smirk, knowing she wouldn’t accept. She wore an artifact called a ranger’s cloak, which allowed her to blend into her surroundings. At night, she was nearly invisible, and during the day, if she didn’t move, she remained the same. The cloak was in a reward chest from one of the creatures I had killed in the Shimmering Labyrinth and also held special meaning for wood elves.
“It was a fair exchange,” she said hastily. Baldo chirped at not being fed, and Raelia gave him a chunk of meat from her plate after he obeyed two commands. The griffin was growing rapidly and had added half its weight in the last three weeks. Before too long he wouldn’t be able to ride on Stormcloud. Raelia picked at the plate while Baldo got the majority; clearly, something was on her mind.
I waited patiently as I sipped some bitter wine. I thought she would ask about my earth-speak ability, but her mind was elsewhere. “Could you place Baldo in your dimensional pocket if I asked?” I was a bit shocked at the request. She was aware of my space’s power, having spent a lot of time in there herself.
“Possibly. Why?” I asked, but I already knew the answer.
She sighed with relief. “I should be training him ten hours a day, but it is hard to do so constantly on the move.” I looked at her dubiously. She had been training the griffin constantly in the saddle. It would be more difficult as we increased our pace from escorting merchant wagons, but it would still be feasible.
“Fine! It was a mistake to bring him!” She hissed in concession. “He is too vulnerable, and there is too much interest in Baldo.” Baldo chirped, hearing his name, and Raelia gave him more meat. I could needle her on how she had thought she knew better than me and had insisted he wouldn’t be a liability—but I didn’t.
Instead, I considered how to explain Baldo’s disappearance to the others. Was it the right time to reveal that I could move live creatures and people into my dimensional space? Benito and Mateo talked too freely, and they could let it slip after a few rounds at a tavern.
In a compassionate tone, I replied. “I understand your concern. Do your best to care for him for now. If there is no other recourse, I will do as you wish. I don’t want to explain his disappearance to the others at the moment.” Relief flooded her face, a burden lifted and her face brightened into a smile directed at me.
“Thank you,” she said softly and she touched my arm and then withdrew it quickly, acting like it was unintended.
Maveith’s voice rumbled down the stairs, guiding the others. As they helped themselves, Mateo complained that the food wasn't to his taste. Blaze reminded him of our time starving in the Caelora, and he quieted. I took the time to explain the job we had taken in simple terms. “One of the orc clerics is looking for an ancient battlefield. We will escort her and assist her in finding evidence buried with time.”
“Ugh, I thought I wouldn’t have to dig again after leaving the legion,” Mateo groaned as he consumed pickled duck eggs.
“Don’t worry; it will be a quick assignment but a long ride, slightly over three hundred miles on the road. It will get us much closer to our true objective.” That got a hearty nod from Maveith.
“That is a long way to travel for a job. Is there nothing else we can do along the way?” Blaze inquired, sampling a number of the offerings on his plate. In my opinion, the meat was a bit salty but not terrible. Apparently, it was not to his taste, and he only ate something that was boiled in rolled cabbage leaves.
Blaze was being pragmatic, even though I was more focused on haste than making coin. However, it might be best to maintain the appearance of trying to earn as much coin as possible, like normal adventurers. “You can examine the job board with Raelia to see if anything is along the trade road on our way to the city of Adorechi,” I decided. Raelia looked pained. I could tell her mastery of the written orc language was limited.
Benito didn’t have the same reservations about the food and was working on his second plate. Once everyone was finished, we would saddle up and depart. My goal was to cover forty miles today and then sixty miles each successive day. Blaze returned with a posting an hour later and handed it to me. “Someone wants their parents’ farm checked on. They haven’t heard from them in four months. It is near Adorechi.”
I looked to Raelia to explain it more clearly. “The local baker has parents on a farm about twenty miles east of Adorechi. We would pass within a few miles of it. Shouldn’t take us long to tell them their son is worried about them.” I guess even orc children cared about their parents.
“Unless monsters have eaten them,” Mateo noted off-handily.
“Then all we have to do is return the letter to the local guild with a note on what we found,” Blaze said glibly. “We will still get paid.” On the posting, the payout was small, just ten silver pieces, but that might be a substantial sum for a baker.
“Fine, it will only be a few hours’ detour. Blaze, since you wanted more work so badly, you can saddle Ginger for me while I accept the job.” As my companions left, I approached the desk, and it was much quicker to accept this quest than the last one. I received a folded letter with a black wax seal, which I sent to my dimensional space as I walked to the stables. Soon, our group was on the road.
The main trade road of Esenhem continued into the Boutan Caliphate. As we rode, farmlands sprawled deep into the plains on either side of us. This differed from the Telhian Empire, where farms were cloistered together for protection from the dangers of the wild. There were fewer roaming creatures in the Caliphate than in the Empire.
We rode in pairs, with the lead pair responsible for scouting and the rear pair scanning our backs. The middle pair was allowed to relax and not be on constant alert. Not that there was much of a threat. The road was wide but rougher than in Esenhem, and we mostly saw orc farmers driving ox carts toward larger towns or cities. We didn’t see a single mounted patrol that would be commonplace in the Empire.
Raelia used the time to have Baldo hunt large birds when she spotted them flying. The griffin was still clumsy in the air against the smaller and more agile hawks and eagles. But Raelia explained that the aerial pursuit was training his fitness and agility. When he got too frustrated, he would abandon his prey and dive down onto an unsuspecting rabbit, fox, or fawn. He still liked to exchange the kill with me for dungeon meat. I think he could sense the aether in the flesh instinctively. Maybe if he consumed enough, he could become a dire griffin, but I didn’t know for sure.
During the ride, I explained my earth speak spell form to my companions. Benito needed a bit more explanation than the others, as it was hard for him to conceptualize. I also told them not to discuss my ability or its range with anyone, as it was an indicator of my earth affinity. Raelia knew enough about the spell form to be stunned when I admitted my range. She stared at me for most of the day after that revelation.
We made an excellent pace, with the only issue being small clouds of spring black flies hazing us. Raelia demonstrated her usefulness with micro fireballs to incinerate the offenders. Even though Raelia warned the group, the first such explosion spooked Maveith’s horse, causing him to tumble backward off his saddle, landing in a tangle of his limbs on the ground. It gave us all a good laugh, and I worked with Maveith to train his mount not to be spooked. It was largely about the mount trusting the rider to inform it when real danger was present.
There were no large merchant barns for us to stay in along the trade road. Our options were to camp, pay for an inn, or negotiate with a farmer for space in an outbuilding. Although most of the farms we passed lacked stables or barns. Truthfully, life in the Caliphate did not seem so bad.
When Benito cycled back to ride with me on the third day, he had a giddy look on his face, which I knew couldn’t be good. “So Eryk, I was thinking.”
Mateo, behind us, laughed aloud, “Thinking? Who are you, and what have you done with my friend Benito?!”
I looked back at Mateo, “There is a person among us who speaks before they think at all.” Mateo knew I was talking about him but pretended to inspect the others like he was trying to figure out who I was indicating. “Go ahead, Benito. Tell me what epiphany you have reached.”
“Epiphany?” He tested the unfamiliar word before giving up on it and rambling out excitedly. “Growing up, we had a bard visit during the holidays. He used to tell and sing us stories about all the great heroes and their companions. Well, a lot of the hero companies had names. So, we should come up with one for ourselves to be sung about in the taverns long after we are gone.”
Blaze supported Benito idea immediately, albeit with self-aggrandizement. “I like it! We should be Diana’s Chosen.” Diana was the goddess of the hunt and master of the bow.
Mateo offered his own vision of our company: “How about Handsome Fiends?”
Benito offered up, “Castile’s Castoffs!”
The suggestions continued over the next two hours before one finally struck me as fitting. It was one of Benito’s many suggestions and probably had to do with the fact he practically worshipped the goddess Fortuna. “I like it,” I said aloud, stopping the shouts of ideas. “We will be called Fortuna’s Chosen.”
“Personally, I liked Blaze’s Misfits better,” Blaze said in jest. “But I suppose that will do. It flows off the tongue.”
It took five days to reach the branch off the main road for Adorechi. Raelia interpreted the inscription on the large stone marker for us. She needed to convert the distances the orcs used to the Esenhem measurement, so she took a moment. “Adorechi is 34 miles. The town of Dewmire is about twenty miles away. We need to head north from there to find the baker’s family.”
It took half a day riding to reach Dewmire. Town was a generous connotation as it was just a collection of twenty wooden buildings. The entire town looked to an industry for processing massive bovines called aurochs. Half the buildings appeared to be for smoking and salting the meat. There were dozens of racks lining a field for treating and prepping hides. That was where Maveith’s attention was drawn as we approached.
When the wind shifted, and the odor churned my stomach, death mixed with curing hides and aging meat. The slaughter grounds must be nearby as some of the horses got antsy. Baldo’s head was up, and his nostrils were flaring. A filthy stream of water was coming from the builds and joining the wide stream passing the town.
“Raelia, take Maveith and Blaze to ask the locals for directions.” Being a leader had to have some privileges, and one of them was not having to put up to get closer to the foulness. “We will wait upwind, north of the town.” The three dismounted and walked into town while we led all mounts around, but kept our companions in sight.
It wasn’t long before the three returned. Raelia told us what they learned. “They found the old orc couple dead in their beds four months ago. Thinking it was a disease, they burned the farmhouse down to avoid the spread. Nothing is left, according to the town’s steward. I have directions if you want to confirm.”
“How far is it?” I asked, not too keen on the unnecessary delay. I was wondering if orcs would murder each other and cover it up by burning down a house?
Raelia pointed north, “We follow the path along the stream for about two miles. There will be a wooden bridge to cross to the other side. We continue following the stream on the other side for two miles.”
It was getting late in the day, and we would probably have to camp at the farm after investigating. We would not make Adorechi before nightfall. All eyes were looking at me, even Baldo’s. I sighed. “Let’s go confirm so we can add details to the report.” I swung up into Ginger’s saddle and led the group.
We passed two wheat farms before crossing the narrow wooden bridge over the wide stream feeding the town. There were farms on the banks, along with a few large pastures that contained the aurochs. For some reason, Benito didn’t seem to like the big bovines.
The farm appeared just as it had been described. Nature was slowly reclaiming the fields surrounding the charred remains of the farmhouse, with wild vegetation beginning to encroach upon the landscape. The only remnants of the once-standing farmhouse were the partially collapsed, soot-covered chimney. Two large open-sided shelters stood near the burnt remains. One was filled with farming tools, while the other housed firewood.
As I carefully made my way through the ashes, I sent out earth pulses. I discovered a root cellar under the debris, but to my surprise, there were no signs of any bones. It crossed my mind that perhaps the neighbors had already taken the remains and given them a proper burial. “Do orcs bury their dead?”
Raelia thought a moment, “I don’t know. There is a big party for their friends to celebrate their life, but I don’t know what they do with the body. We have not passed any cemeteries.”
A collection of copper and silver coins was secreted in the root cellar, but accessing them would have required too much effort and they were out of reach of my dimensional space. I walked the perimeter of the charred remains, but my earth speak revealed nothing else. The others waited patiently, and it was already dark when I was finished.
I didn’t find anything unsettling that could have caused the fire, but I decided it was safer to head back and camp by the stream. “We will camp by the stream and finish the trip to Adorechi tomorrow.”
The stream was only a few hundred yards from the burned farmhouse. Maveith cooked for everyone, and the others set tents while I walked the campsite perimeter with Raelia, setting simple tripwires. Raelia was talkative this evening.
“I think you did the right thing coming here to check. It will give peace of mind to the baker,” she said while setting a tripwire.
“Every delay is a burden on Maveith’s conscience. He has not asked anyone to play checkers once,” I disclosed.
“I talk to Maveith every day. You are doing a good job, and he knows it. He trusts you more than you know. He knows caution is the best course of action and has the patience,” Raelia said supportively.
Neptune’s Tear had been bright when we set camp, but now clouds concealed its light. Drops started to hit the ground and our tarp tents, rapidly growing larger and larger. Lightning flashed, and thunder rumbled in the distance. “Lets get to the camp. It feels like a heavy rain, and nothing should disturb us.” I packed up my snare kit and hurried back to stay as dry as possible.
We had gone a whole week without rain, and it figured that the first time I decided for us to sleep outside, we would be getting a rainstorm. It wasn’t long before the storm was completely upon us, with strong winds, constant flashes of lightning, and heavier rain. With no sign of the storm letting up, I roused everyone to move to the farmhouse shelters in case the stream overflowed. Drenched, we trudged through the mud toward the higher ground of the farm.
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Comments
Kingtie
Benito would make a great bard
Marnie
I had taken the ring of sustenance from her in the dungeon and *never returned it, even after we came to an accord. Maybe "not" instead of never. I feel like never implies judgement, like you should have returned it.
Marnie
The Adventurer’s Hall breakfast was poorly attended *based on the number of adventurers drinking late night. compared to vs. based on
Marnie
It was the first time I had felt exhausted in a while, *and my ring of sustenance and essence-fortified attributes could not overcome my lack of sleep and the stress of leadership. Possible unnecessary "and"
Marnie
A filthy stream of water was coming from the *builds and joining the wide stream passing the town. buildings
Marnie
Baldo’s head was up, and his nostrils were flaring. Nares is an older/falconry word for nostrils. Also, no idea about griffins, but eagles are thought to have a worse sense of smell than the average human
Marnie
The entire town looked to an industry for processing massive bovines called aurochs. All industry in the town appeared to be focused around processing massive bovines called aurochs.
Marnie
Town was a generous *connotation as it was just a collection of twenty wooden buildings. descriptive/description
Marnie
where farms were *cloistered together for protection from clustered
Erick Thiemke
corrected
Erick Thiemke
maybe. drapping a strap behind him, but it could cause a tripping hazard for the horse if it stepped on it
Erick Thiemke
corrected
Erick Thiemke
so I had a cockatail for a pet, there is a membrane in the nostril of the bird that can puff out
Douglas Lilley
“Baldo’s head was up, and his nostrils were flaring” Baldo’s nostrils shouldn’t be capable of flaring if they are part of his beak. It might be better to say his pupils were pinning in excitement.
Mercutio Montano
No. Not Fortuna's Chosen. That's too pretentious, and far too much on-the-nose. May I suggest: Fortuna's Misfits? Which fits the group composition far more, combines two names already in the prose, and doesn't raise an automatic red flag.
Andrew Crews
“*Good ahead Benito.” “Go ahead Benito.”
Joseph Snyder
Could MC run a cord of earth drake leather from his stirrup to the ground to be able to use tremor sense while saddled? It's even supposed to be stupid durable.
Salvo
I was just thinking ‘what would they want to advertise?’. They don’t want to be known as legionnaires, they probably don’t want Baldo as a mascot. They want to travel across the country for Maveith sister, but probably don’t want to advertise that. So, collecting manticore essences is probably a good goal.
Jordan
Not necessarily as there are other monsters that give channeling essence. The giant spider in the glittering dungeon for example. I agree however that manticores are the best bet right now (however unlikely).
Silver Beard
Something that never came up. Using Magic in Orc territory... or elf for that matter. Given how tightly controlled mages were in the Empire it is questionable how other nations regulate their own and/or tolerate others. A border town- a serious violation might have been forgiven, but he's traveling to the heart. Seems only orc cleric can wield any real power. So how much is Eryk going to stand out with his spellform...?
Silver Beard
If you want it back, you can [return my cloak] give me the cloak back, flow [off] of the tongue
Kbzzy
Will Konstantin find Castille soon?
Silver Beard
Eryk's extraordinaries? they all have their perks... extremely.
Patrick Gleba
Spatium peregrinans
Lemes
Fortuna's Few as a chapter title isn't bad, but as a name for a mercenary group it seems lacking to me. It probably needs more work.
Salvo
Manticore extinction- cause if they want to fix Castille spell burn, that is the only way.
Seth Feist
No bones or bodies, my money is on undead
Lord M
“Griffon hunt” Because a griffon is a type of dog that were originally hunting dogs. In other words a hound. And it also almost could be confused with the word griffin. It’s misleading because they have a griffin in their group.
Silver Beard
The problem with Legion type names is that it supposedly comes from Mavieth (but I suppose that could be rewritten if necessary) and the Empire is not well liked anywhere. That's not an association you want to maintain.
Erick Thiemke
correcting now - yes less as mentioned before that the dungeons were constantly delved and the orcs have outposts at all exits from the Endless Dark
Erick Thiemke
so far my #1 choice as well, dont get excited that the chapter title changed to it - i amy change my mind
Erick Thiemke
they passed out of the plains into forests. they area they are in is fairly wooded but relatively flat. weather comes fast
PatronTurtle
I'm somewhat confused about the geography of the Caliphate. It sounds pretty inland, so storms (especially near farmland) should be pretty predictable. Did E just not pay attention to the sky that they got caught out?
Pope Yoda I
Fortuna's Fools Overcompensation and his Merry Men The Few and the Furious
Steven Savage
The Maverick's Mane. Both symbolizing their departure from the Empire and their origins in the legion of the lion.
Keven Leigh
Damocle's Swords
Chachi
really wish raelia dies or something cant stand these interactions
Shane clark
Wandering lions.
Jordan
“Good ahead Benito.” Good -> Go
Jordan
“As we rode, farmlands sprawled deep into the plains on either side of us. This differed from the Telhian Empire, where farms were cloistered together for protection from the dangers of the wild. There were a lot more roaming creatures in the Caliphate than in the Empire.” The last sentence says there are more roaming creatures in the caliphate than the empire. Wouldn’t it make sense that caliphate farms would cluster together like the empire if that were the case? When you wrote “more roaming creatures” did you mean to say “less roaming creatures”?
Zabuza Momochi
I really like fortuna's few because each member of that party is lucky to be alive
Alex
Old timers ! Complaining Adventures! Hungry Hunters!
Tetsu-nii
Was thinking of suggesting "Mötley Crüe" as an Earth reference, but none of the natives would get the joke.
NightRider
It looks like we are about to find out happened to the Baker’s parents. I can’t wait for the next chapter and find out what type of legendary monster attacks them, it may be the start of the groups fame, and possibly give them an official name to call their gang.
Lemes
I vote for Old Lions, it harks back to their time in the legion and gives them a sense of courage and belonging.
visigoth
Fortuna’s Few. Or maybe something like Terra Fortuna as an homage to his earthly origins and how he isekai’d seemingly at the whims of fate or fortune. Both keep the Roman philosophy angle. Later, watch eryk try to awkwardly explain Terra because the earth speak spell bouta make him bookoo famous lol
Prinny Knight
Comedy names: The Goon Squad, Band of the Hawk, Erik and his merry men.
Joshua allen
i vote for (suggestion from the readers) because i think it would be funny lol
Eriach
Tftc!
Garrett
Eryk's Eidolons ? Name suggestion
Hoang Le Minh
Lions of Old As in legion of the lion
Erick Thiemke
2nd of 4 for the cycle. The next will be tomorrow, but working on Town Builder now. Title of the chapter will be the winner of the 'group name' among reader suggestions
