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A Soldier's Life - 248 - Vigiliante Justice
🕑 Added 2024-08-20 05:40:41 +0000 UTCChapter 248: Vigilante Justice
Under the light of the glowstone, the mage cringed away from me. Boris had dropped to one knee, supporting his body with the runic sword. “Don’t tell him anything,” he spat angrily at the mage.
I looked down the road and could see the large, shadowy shape of Maveith coming. I raised my sword and addressed Boris, “I didn’t ask you Boris.”
“Your friend betrayed you, I know your secrets,” Boris said obnoxiously.
“My only true friend is about to join me,” I said without looking away, thinking it was a trick.
“Brutus.” He searched for his name, “Brutus Salacia. He told me all your secrets!” I really was not up for a villain’s monologue.
“And where is Brutus? Did you kill him?” I said impatiently.
“He slowed the wyvern for our escape. He is dead! But he told me…” I raised my sword, not caring what Brutus told him. I was already dead to the Empire.
He made to defend himself from his knees, but I batted aside the runic blade easily and came back with a rapid slash across his throat. Boris was stunned at my act as his eyes widened, not believing what I had just done. Did he think his status as a First Citizen would shield him or whatever secret Brutus had told him? My anger had boiled over, culminating from all my interactions with the First Citizen and his minions.
Boris wasn’t going to be walking away tonight. I watched as his hand went to his throat to try to stem the bleeding. The terror in his dark eyes, knowing he was going to die, didn’t affect me either. “For Brutus then,” I whispered. In my mind, I had avenged another legionnaire’s death due to a First Citizen’s greed.
Boris slowly fell forward, collapsing before Maveith reached us. I had watched him bleed out and die, and now turned to the dumbfounded mage. Under the glowstone’s luminescence, I probably looked like a callus murderer. I licked my lips slowly to find my voice. “So, what is a soul prison?”
The mage fumbled in his pockets and produced a large crystal. “A...a…a necromancy vessel,” he stuttered out. “Weak necromancers require a soul to animate the dead.” I walked forward and took the offered crystal. It was twice as thick as my finger, and the rich pink color reminded me of an amethyst.
“This helped you clear the ruins?” I asked the terrified necromancer.
“Yes,” he squeaked out and cowered in fear as Maveith arrived and took in the scene. Maveith didn’t look shocked or disappointed, which helped me accept my act. I think the fact that I didn’t feel any remorse was what unsettled me. Killing was feeling too normal for me.
I turned back to the necromancer. “So, what were you trying to get from the ruins?”
Even though he hadn’t moved, he was out of breath. “The library. We were trying to reach the library. The ancient tomes are worth hundreds of gold each.” He stated while his eyes were fixed on Maveith. I had to agree that the shadows of the glowstone made the large goliath look more menacing, especially with his impassive visage.
“Did you succeed?” I asked, then snapped my fingers to get his attention when he didn’t answer.
“No. We were only camped for five days before the wyvern came at dusk. Brutus told us there might be a wyvern in the area. He didn’t believe him.” He said spitefully and eyed the dead Boris.
I looked at him doubtfully, “Five days? The snow is gone, and the library is only four hundred yards from the Western Gate.”
He nodded emphatically, “The soul crystal can only hold one soul. After every specter was captured, I had to empty it. It takes time to use a soul to power a simple ritual.”
My mind raced back to what he said earlier about a soul crystal, “Wait, were you creating an army of undead?”
He put up his hand in capitulation and panic, “No. I didn’t break the Empire’s laws! I burned the soul with lesser necromancy spells to empty the crystal!” He was breathing heavily in worry and sweating visibly. I wasn’t familiar with the necromancy laws, but I assumed raising the dead was probably frowned upon. There were special mage companies to hunt necromancers but the Hounds frequently tracked them. Hearne’s lectures on Hound training never focused on the undead, as we had been in abbreviated training.
“So, you were not trying to enter the dungeon?” I asked after a long pause in thought.
The necromancer seemed to be relaxing, thinking I might let him live by my calm tone and rational questions. “Count Cato wanted us to find the path to the dungeon entrance, but we had no plans to enter. We were just supposed to load the wagons with the Elven books and return for this expedition. We didn’t realize there were still so many specters left in the city. Brutus said his mage company cleared most of the specters around the library and western gate, and it would be easy.” His tone was a bit angry now.
“How many specters did you kill with this?” I held up the soul prison.
His mind raced as he thought I wanted an accurate count. “More than forty, less than fifty.”
I couldn’t help but laugh, and it might have sounded a little maniacal as he cringed. “Less than fifty in five days?” I said, a little mocking. Castile could do that many with the kettle of souls in an hour. On my last days using the kettle of souls, I could have done about a hundred in a day. It wouldn’t have been a pleasant experience, but it was possible for me.
The necromancer straightened. “Draining a soul is taxing work! The Count wasn’t able to obtain the artifact that the mage company used. It was moved to the Imperial Archives until an expedition could be assembled. But then the Emperor left to fight the invaders…” he trailed off, thinking he had defended himself sufficiently.
Maveith’s deep voice from behind me, asked, “What are we going to do with him?” The necromancer looked just as interested in my answer as Maveith.
“How does this work?” I held the slightly chilly purple crystal in my hand.
The necromancer took my question as a lifeline. “When the undead is killed, you place it where the creature dissipated. It pulls in the soul after a minute or so.”
“Would it work on him?” I asked, indicating Boris.
He got a little nervous. “Uh, yes, but it would take much longer, maybe an hour as he was living, not dead. The crystal would be fighting his corporeal body for the soul. There are stronger soul prisons that work quicker, but this one is not very strong and really only good for undead.” By the tension and uncertainty in his voice, I think using this device on people, even recently dead people, was also against Telhian law.
I nodded in thanks, as he had been very helpful in answering my questions. I took a slow, deep breath, “I can’t let you live. Do you want to take some oblivion pills before I remove your head?” The color drained from the necromancer's face, and he turned and ran. I would have run in his shoes too.
“Do you want me?” Maveith’s voice asked softly behind me.
“No. It is my burden.” I pulled a bow from my space, fixed a paralytic arrow to the string, and released. Even though night had fallen, the necromancer ran straight down the old road. He only got thirty yards before my arrow pierced his back. He let out a scream and stumbled for ten yards before falling to the ground and floundering like a fish out of water.
I walked up to him, but he wasn’t even aware of my approach. The arrow had only missed his heart by a few inches, but his lungs were rapidly filling with blood by how much blood he was spewing. Magebane came down on his neck to end his suffering. My conscience felt a little heavier, but I was starting to become numb to the killing.
I dragged the body back to Maveith, who hadn’t moved the entire time but had held Ginger’s reins. “Can you hold this while I search the bodies?” Maveith took the glowstone, as I searched. The most valuable item by far was Boris’ dungeon forged blade. The pommel had an intricate pattern carved into it and was probably easily recognizable in the Empire. I sent the blade to my space with the magebane.
Boris also had a heavy coin pouch, a gold signet ring, and some papers that Count Cato signed, and a wax stamp was attached, too. The papers were for passage on to the Count’s business, and the bearer was not to be detained. The letter was likely how Boris and his group avoided the press gangs.
The necromancer didn’t have anything useful on him, and the guard just had the lesser runic weapon. I searched the bushes where they had bedded down and frowned. There was nothing but two heavy cloaks. They must have fled the wyvern and left everything behind.
I returned to the road and took out the collector, not making eye contact with Maveith as I worked. The necromancer produced a milky gray minor essence. Affinity essences were usually multi-colored, so I did not think this was the necromancy affinity. It took me some time to recall the attribute the essence fortified—aether shaping. I didn’t hesitate and consumed it. I might be able to successfully write out spell forms with a few dozen more of these shaping essences.
Boris’ body yielded a minor constitution essence, which I offered to Maveith. He only considered for a breath before accepting it. The guard produced a minor strength essence, which I also offered to Maveith. He briefly argued that I had done all the killing, but for some reason, these last two days had made me nauseous. I knew I had crossed a point where I had no remorse for killing people.
“We will stack the bodies and burn them,” I told Maveith, and he worked with me. I had some alchemy accelerants, and we left the bodies burning behind us.
I pulsed earth speak as we walked in silence—well, not complete silence, as Ginger’s hooves thudded softly on the earth and occasionally clicked on an ancient paver.
“We should move off the road,” Maveith intoned after we had gained some distance from the burning bodies.
The night was not overly dark, and Neptune’s Tear gave us decent light, but I agreed. I used a few pulses of earth speak to find an old structure just off the road, not quite claimed by nature. Only two crumbling stone walls remained, but they gave us some shelter and were modestly defensible. With Ginger along, we didn’t have a lot of options.
We spent some time clearing the debris and setting trip alarms before settling in. I needed some sleep, even with the ring. I made sure the aether shield amulet was charged before letting Maveith stand watch while he had an early breakfast. I found I couldn’t use the dreamscape amulet with the aether shield amulet on. They were like opposing aether magnets. When I tried to activate the dreamscape amulet, it tried to jump from my grip.
Grumbling, I stored the dreamscape amulet and just tried to get a few hours of rest. The nightmares came quickly, but I did not shy away from them tonight. They started with the Hounds chasing me because I had killed a First Citizen. I quickly turned from prey to hunter and eliminated the Hounds one by one. The last man I killed gave me pause because it was Konstantin. I was woken by the soft bell being tripped on one of the alarms.
My eyes were open, and I was instantly on alert. “Maveith?” I asked the darkness as my eyes adjusted, and I sent out an earth pulse.
A short distance away, Maveith replied, “I don’t know what is out there.”
When the image came back, I swore, causing Maveith to look back at me. I changed my focus and sent out more pulses. “Gnolls. A lot of gnolls.” A large pack had surrounded our campsite.
Maveith quickly had his bow out as shadowy shapes moved through the trees. I tried to count, but not all the gnolls were within range of my earth speak pulses. They were also not just passing by. They were clearly preparing to attack. Maveith had his bow drawn, and Ginger was getting anxious. “At least thirteen, Maveith,” I hissed. “They all have spears.”
The gnolls were not too skilled at remaining silent as branches snapped in the night, and their soft, cackling speech drifted on the air as they prepared. We were in the corner of two ancient walls with thick trunks covering a third side. I pulled some pellets out of my belt pouch while tracking the gnolls. “Maveith, I have some blindness and sneezing pellets. It should slow them and make them vulnerable.” I imagined Maveith nodding in the dark as his back was to me. My last pulse showed the first gnolls rushing our position. “They come!” I hissed.
Comments
Justin Barnett
I kind of expected Eryk would spend a little time thinking about Brutus after the fight. They were friends, even if Brutus betrayed him in the end.
HappyNoms
He's readily capable of using a foot of his 11x11 space and 1/11th of his mana to establish a 1x11 stone wall, but he camps out with three sides covered and the fourth just wide open. He can also topple huge trees easily by slicing out a minimal mana cost thin slice of cross-section, and seriously impair the terrain on a side, but doesn't. For someone with Ranger training, and advice from expert woodsman and specialists, he is awfully simpleminded about not using his skills. You would think he would have at least one rattlesnake, acid, and grenades in his dimensional inventory, as trivially available, but instead he goes with sneezing/blinding powder. But then kills three people out of hand when he could have blinded them, or at least tried to blind them. You went out of your way to have blinding powder, Eryk - what are you even doing with your life. (being a villian, apparently.) I love this story, but the protagonist is such an exasperating bag of walnuts about skill/equipment use.
Erick Thiemke
corrected
Erick Thiemke
I removed two in the dialogue for you
J Watrous
Does he need to say Maevith after every line?
Erick Thiemke
SPOILER - he is headed back to the Shimmering Labrynith in book 7 or 8 as he works to find a way for Evie to return to Earth
J. L. Mullins
I wish that Eryk would at least consider going back to get the Elvin armor and massive sword, maybe dropping through the dungeon for some easy essences and major healing potions from literally every bear in there...
Space Cadet
Except for Raella, she will still be alive
Space Cadet
With the diminishing returns from essenses, is it realistic for Erik to get a high enough mana shaping to be able to cast spells. I recall that you needed ~60.
Kevin O'Malley
The library, a set of rune armor and a rune great sword, the most powerful dungeon any of the characters have ever seen.
Kevin O'Malley
Maveith is his closest friend in the literal universe.
Kevin O'Malley
Eh, Boris has earned it by being a selfish pest. Not only does Eryk have a personal grudge against him for trying to kill him several times, but Boris’ own sister will have an easier time running a peaceful province with him gone.
Trevayne
Thanks for the chapter.
Andrew Crews
I had to agree *the shadows of the glowstone made the large goliath look more menacing, especially with his impassive visage. I had to agree that the shadows of the glowstone made the large goliath look more menacing, especially with his impassive visage.
Apophixas
Bro, he didn't even come close to wiping out the resources of the dungeon. They didn't even explore half the thing. Not to mention there is still a ton of shit to gather in the ruins themselves like some of the books still in the library. Or the elven runic greatsword and chest plate, which I'm surprised he didn't consider going to get on his way by. Could maybe have found a way to disguise it and use it once he became an adventurer.
Apophixas
Nah, thats how a selfish ass thinks. Maveith is his friend, almost like a goofy little brother to him, and even though he didn't need Maveith's help in that situation, he will in the future, or hell, in the very next chapter. So of course he would share, if he has no reason not to. It was only a minor essence, not a major and certainly no apex. He's gotta keep Maveith strong too with all they are gonna lijely end up going though. It's especially important if Maveith hasn't yet had all his stats reinforced, which can help him not lose too many stats (especially permanently), if they end up in a starvation type situation again (unlikely with their rings though).
Apophixas
Exactly. The only oaths he has are to himself, Maveith, and formerly to the coup makers up until he finished doing his assigned part in burning the hidden archives.
Steve
His 'oath' was forced conscription, no better than slavery, to a detestable and rotten empire. It is not oath breaking to emancipate yourself.
ChocoSongi
Wtf are you talking about
sdf
The necromancer absolutely was his enemy, being in the service of his enemies. Killing him made as much sense as killing some scout on the outskirts of an enemy camp, some guard on a city wall. It made as much sense as killing a witness, which is a special circumstances crime that gets you the death penalty where we come from ;/ In this world, or setting, this doesn't make Eryk a villain, just a pragmatic realist. If he lets the Necromancer live, Eryk is now targeted by several FIrst Citizens who can turn their resources to hunting him down. Eryk could tell a certain blacksmith there's a fortune in books in a hidden wall, if he were so inclined.
Enk
the topics of the books taken were quite limited tho fairly varied iirc - but i still got the impression that they came from a particular tower where those skill summaries were concentrated, and that what was taken was only a drop in the ocean.
Karnnie
Honestly, in my opinion, this is simply the MC becoming numb to death like he is to pain. As a soldier, you learn to essentially flip a switch where you can do some truly horrible things without blinking an eye. It isnt a nice thing but as a soldier, think of it as a coping mechanism. It is just something we learn to do. What he did was essentially killing because it needed to be done in order to cover his ass. He tried trusting and he has been burned more than once, especially by those that work for the empire. I applaud the author for finally doing it. He is right, a lot of the military members that support him have been saying it for a long time. do what needs to be done and move on, this is exactly what he did. He was not malicious about it, he did not reville in the fact that he had to kill and he did not torture. it was quick and clean and is exactly what should have been done,
Deliver roo
If I remember correctly the requirement for the stone skin spell form, the only one possessed by Boris, is 30 in earth affinity. While not shitty it is still a mid-low affinity, so low infact that Eryk didn’t obtain a minor earth essence but a constitution one, which could mean that the affinities don’t always influence the result… I’m actually more confused by the fact that the MC gives essences to Maveith even when he doesn’t do shit, I get that Eryk is already physically resilient and that magic essences are the gamechangers but physical essences seem still valuable, especially to maintain his high stats.
Deliver roo
Honestly, the moment Eyrick got all the info he needed about Boris and his party their death was the only outcome that would have made sense. Glad to see the darker tone, I’m curious to see if it will last the next encounter with an enemy woman.
Erick Thiemke
I will try to shade the necromancer a little more but the point is the MC has overcome his reluctance to kill. people wanted this to occur earlier in the story but now with Aesop, the father of the teeenage boy and now these three, he has finally crossed the moral line becoming judge, jury and executioner. I am going to add some more Boris/Justin meddling when I edit book 4 so the readers hate them more
Erick Thiemke
Blood Archives and Imperial Archives would be under the palace but different rooms
Erick Thiemke
it is just a mark that they have poor quality spirit. most essecences harvested are minor. major essences are uncommon/rare. apex essences are very rare - the MC just has been able to get into a powerful untouched dungeon and fight powerful people
Ivan Kanewske
He is changing, but who wouldn't, He basically went military special forces. Multiple life and death situations, will be interesting how he hardens or crumbles, All of that and he can live for thousands of years and keep his mind, but his friends, and future family will die, Going to have to be hard
Jeff Kollada
Oh I agree, I like how hes handled those situations
momo2009
Loyal to mavieth and a little to his old legion group. Now his path to independence begin and let hope he doesn't turn to dark. I like him being still saving the weak and sparing innocent, fight injustice etc.
momo2009
Well the necromancer didn't know he quitted being the hounds so I wished he had try to trick him to gain more knowledge or convinced him to work with the group for awhile. But yeah now he only oath
Jeff Kollada
You aren't wrong but for good or bad, the necromancer wasn't his enemy. And he's a traitor so his word means nothing anymore. Once an oath breaker always an oath breaker. He still choose to make a confrontation that was needed
momo2009
A villian is someone who hurt innocent. For better or worst the necomancer served the empire which mean he a threat to any traitor of the empire which Eryk has become. Still wasteful killing him without learning everything or trying to ask him to join mc group. Mc has been harden and less forgiving of past enemies.
Jeff Kollada
To me we this chapter is the turning point of watching the MC become the villain. He has become quick to kill and is at this point immune to it. He didn't need to approach the group, they could have easily gone around. He wanted to and even stated they couldn't live after showing themselves
Ivan Kanewske
Upgraded my membership, just read all of book 4 to this point, Work so sucks today now, I like the direction with Eryk and Maveith back together, The horse Pet is a current sideline that doesn't make sense to me, he didn't fight from her back, she is not some great mount or beast, Unless you are just showing trying to hold onto some form of normalcy as he has changed so drastically in the past year. Anyway thank you for this story it is one my absolute favorite
DheeAreBi
Good mix of action and world building in this chapter. I don't always love a cliff hanger but I'm excited for the next chapter!
momo2009
Well we know Konstantin lived, so maybe he did took it.
momo2009
Or even ask him to go with you. Adventure party or mercenary group perhaps? Since you still have hound badge, in the name of the emperor etc. He aid you need necromancer fire to burn each soul to empty the soul prison, so that something new to figure out. Well with the empire being invade by gnolls and globins this will be a lot of chance to get essence and experience. Maybe give ginger some essence.
momo2009
Well he also plan to save mavieth sister and friend in the orc land and who know if their are magical dead in the country or dungeon. And he did say he wanted to get all the books in the city but not enter the dungeon. Which is a shame because the dungeon is more valu
momo2009
I find it realistic but kinda wasteful. Maybe force the necromancer to used the amulet and gain more knowledge about necomancey spell, items etc. Taking his blood to track him or store him made a little more sense if you plan on having someone help you talk to the dead later. Why only minor essence, wouldn't a first citizen have strong magic or abilities leading to a major or apex essence? Why wouldn't the third guy produce an essence when it hasn't been over half an hour plus his dungeon collected is better then a normal one and it alway get an essence.
momo2009
Flying or talking horse soon.
Lazarius
« The Count wasn’t able to obtain the artifact the mage company used. It was moved to the Imperial Archives » The imperial archives was also burned by the traitors. Perhaps Konstantin obtained the artefact ?
Bejan Bosc
Minor essences only? That’s doesn’t seem right. Given that Boris is a first citizen shouldn’t he have pretty decent affinities?
Silver Beard
without the kettle of souls- he'd be better off selling the secret library he left in Zyna's flat then trying to raid a resource he already wiped of most of it's useable goods.
Silver Beard
That makes no sense from what readers 'know'... much less the MC. Not to mention- why would he want to go back there to begin with? Thought the whole point was to go N to become an adventurer to maybe save Mavieth's sister. ''
Silver Beard
I suppose this is a tell tale of the Empire's future. The sheer amount of death will attract everything that feeds off that. Likely a dungeon or three in the making. Eryk will have more essence. He should offer the next constitution or quickness to Ginger. Time to see what feeding his mount will get him.
Thresher
Thanks for the chapter. Glad to see one of Eryk’s haters finally die, and it was by his hand too.
Erick Thiemke
The soul prison? It is a tool that he can use to get back into the Elven ruins in the future
Silver Beard
Thanks, but I'd a little disappointed. I suppose curiosity is still a thing; but Eryk can't use it so it's useless trivia of the moment. Why save a soul that will rat you out given a chance?!
Andrew
Thank you!
Erick Thiemke
3rd of 4 for cycle.
