alwaysrollsaone
patreon
A Soldier's Life - 246 - The Road Less Traveled
🕑 Added 2024-08-16 01:31:56 +0000 UTCChapter 246: The Road Less Traveled
I spent the next three hours proving to Maveith that my range was over fifty feet. I found small animals and even told him where he could find a silver coin twenty paces off the road. As night quickly closed, we moved off the road, Maveith still in disbelief.
“With seeing so much with each earth pulse, how do you interpret what you see so quickly?” he said, cleaning off the ancient silver coin he had dug up. Maveith didn’t care about coins, but this one was ancient, and he wanted to see the stamped images for their historical value. It appeared to be a Telhian coin, featuring the image of a lion on one side and the portrait of a strong-looking man on the other. The script had worn away.
I motioned my distracted friend into some heavy thickets that would be defensible for a camp. Maveith had been awfully vocal today, and I think he missed talking to me, but we were getting closer to the dire wolf territory. As we set camp, I finally answered him. “Lots of practice.”
Maveith looked confused, “How do you not get overwhelmed? From my understanding earth speak shows you everything.”
I thought about how I was doing it as I handed Maveith his pack from my dimensional space. “Before I send out the pulse, I have already focused on where I am looking. I hold the image and study it. If I see something interesting, I refocus and pulse again. With earth speak inscribed on my core, I can pulse two or three times a second now and even pick up movement.”
For the first time I had known Maveith, he looked jealous. As he set up his bedroll, I set trip alarms outside our campsite. I sprinkled myconid powder in a wide arc after I was done to find Maveith already eating. I hitched Ginger’s lead line to a thick bush and wondered how she would react to being placed in my dimensional space. I got myself comfortable on the ground next to him, a rock supporting my back as I took the watch.
“Do you want this?” I held up the dreamscape amulet for Maveith.
He considered for a long moment before nodding slightly, “Yes. I will practice against the orcs and tell my sister we are coming for her.”
“Maveith, that is not how it works,” I said, concerned. Was I setting him up for major disappointment?
Maveith mumbled softly, “I know, Eryk. I just need to talk to her.” I didn’t say more as I let him sleep. In a few days, the ring would cut his sleep down, but still, moving in the dark of night was dangerous for the two of us in this region. I missed my Hound goggles.
The night passed quickly, and only insects and owls spoke to me during the night. My earth speak allowed me to see the nightly foragers come out. Maveith came out of the dreamscape twice to check on me, and both times, I sent him back. I needed to plan our next steps. Getting out of the Empire was not going to be easy.
“You shouldn’t have let me sleep the whole night,” Maveith grumbled as light, misty fog rolled in with the morning. I waved off his concern. The fog felt a little unnatural for this time of year, but a lot of mornings have felt that way recently.
“I am fine, Maveith. I am going to walk Ginger and pick up my snare alarms.” Maveith dug into his pack for breakfast as I moved away. Ginger was probing me for an apple. “Just grass this morning,” I told her, and she immediately looked indignant. As I worked, she eventually took to grazing. I sent out earth speak pulses, only detecting two deer bedded down in a small gulley nearby.
Back on the road, Maveith was chipper from his great night of sleep and, thankfully, talking in a whisper as we walked—well, a whisper for him. The mist cleared, and the azure sky showed itself. Bird songs filled the woods as we walked. Maveith had the right side, and I had the left, but I occasionally focused my earth speak pulse on his side of the road.
Before midday, we encountered our first dire wolf tracks. “Over two days old,” I said, standing. Maveith nodded in agreement. “But there were four of them,” I added unhappily.
Maveith added his input, a little distressed, “If the females had their litter, the males would be hunting during the day and night to feed her while she nursed them.” He looked back at Ginger. “Dire wolves have a fixation for horse meat.” Ginger huffed indignantly, and I couldn’t tell if she understood Maveith’s words or his body language and tone.
“Griffins like horse meat too, but don’t worry, girl. I won’t let them get to you.” I pulled my black spear from my dimensional space to carry with me before we continued.
The dire wolf tracks crossed the road frequently, and we even found a blood trail. Maveith stooped and pressed the large splotch. “We are lucky. It is still tacky. They got some prey last night and probably won’t be hunting again so soon. We should increase our pace.” I agreed, and all three of us broke into a jog. The echoing of Ginger’s shoes on the ancient pavers had me on edge, but haste was our ally.
We covered over fifteen miles in the afternoon and hadn’t seen any tracks for the last few miles. We were approaching the site of the abandoned wagons where the company had discovered with the lockbox, and I had Maveith hold Ginger’s reins while I looked upon the site again.
It looked the same as I approached and sent out earth speak. Metal items and bones were littered a few inches under the soft earth around the site. Scavengers had disrupted whole skeletons, but I located nine different skulls as I fine-tuned my feedback from the spell.
Castile seemed to think there was something extremely odd about this scene, but I didn’t find anything noteworthy as I searched for something besides some clusters of coins. Probably coin purses of the dead. I dug a little and retrieved six gold, nine large silver, seventy-six silver, and dozens of copper coins, large and small. I didn’t need the coin, but it never hurt to have more. The mystery of what had ambushed and killed these traders still remained.
I returned to continue and let Maveith clean the coins while I scouted ahead for us. Two hours later, I yanked on Maveith’s leathers and pulled him off the road. He shoved the coppers he had been cleaning into his rough linen pants. “What?” he hissed.
“Two men about fifty feet ahead, just off the road,” I stated as I did an easy pull hitch for Ginger.
“Bandits?” Maveith asked, confused. I was also confused, as we hadn’t seen any wagon, horse, or human tracks.
“Maybe Hounds or Bartiradian Rangers. Both figures are prone. Give me a moment. My earth speak doesn’t work well through flora and fauna.” I focused and pulsed multiple times before I started to relax. “One of them is dead, and the other is close to it. I can’t discern their race. Wait here.”
I walked cautiously up the road while Maveith prepared his bow in support. Ginger seemed confused as she didn’t sense or see any danger. The two bodies were concealed off the road, but I could easily follow their tracks and dried blood, days old. They had come south from the Caelora Ruins. Maybe men who had thought to raid the city.
I walked over to them and lowered my spear at the one who still lived. He had a runic sword clutched in his hand that was caked in dried blood. He smelled of rot as well, and I could see a larva moving in a massive chest wound. He was not going to live much longer.
I poked him with the spear, and his eyes flashed open, and he coughed painfully and weakly. He was middle-aged with graying hair. His dead companion was very young and didn’t look like a warrior, maybe a servant. He was missing his right arm and had been dead days by the smell and maggots.
The man rasped, and I stepped on his sword and knelt, tilting a canteen into his mouth. He struggled to swallow, and most of the water was wasted. Once he could swallow, I dribbled an orc healing potion into his mouth. He was too far gone to realize the foul taste. It wasn’t going to save his life, but prolong it so I could get answers and decide if he needed saving. He was fairly delirious at the moment, and I did not recognize him.
Maveith appeared behind me while I tended to him and waited for him to speak. I waved Maveith back, as I didn’t want him to see the goliath. I was dressed in common clothes and fairly plain-looking. Maveith understood I didn’t want him to see a goliath and led Ginger a short distance down the road. “Why are you here?” I asked softly.
His eyes couldn’t focus, and he kept wetting his throat and tongue, so I gave him more water till he spoke in a soft rasp. “Our camp was attacked by a wyvern.”
“Why were you on this road?” I asked. I realized the wyvern must be left over from the summoner, and the Empire had not gotten around to removing it with the war escalating. I had seen one flying in the distance when Maveith and I had escaped the city, and there had been two wyverns that had decimated the building we had found near the dungeon entrance.
“We were looting the ruins,” the man managed to say after more water. “The First Citizen was leading us.”
“Which First Citizen, and why isn’t he off fighting the Elves and Bartiradians?” I asked more with curiosity now.
“Boris Angella. He hired us to raid the Caelora Ruins before the Emperor could send an expedition.” His voice was sounding better, and the orc’s lesser healing potion had stabilized him. I doubted Duchess Veronica had sent her brother here. More likely, he was here on his own accord and trying to plunder the ruins without anyone knowing.
“How were you dealing with the specters?” I pressed the dying man. Maybe they had brought the kettle of souls with them.
“He said most of the specters were banished, but we had a necromancer with us, and he had a soul prison. We made slow progress. There were not many specters near the western gate.” The man stated, clearly exhausted from talking. “Is my boy dead?” he asked while I thought.
I looked at the younger man. “Yes, I am sorry.” I didn’t want to have to deal with a wyvern—or two—again. “Is the First Citizen alive? Was Justin Cicero with him? Were there any other First Citizens?” The man appeared to be giving up his weak hold on life after I told him his son was dead. He didn’t answer me, so I shook him a little and repeated my question.
He answered weakly, “No. Only Boris, but Count Cato sponsored the expedition. There were eleven of us when the wyvern attacked. Not sure if any others made it.” The man was straining to look at his son, and I helped him. I looked at his wounds, and I could give him four or five of the orc healing potions to possibly save him, but then he would return and tell someone else about seeing me. He hadn’t seen Maveith at least. Still, the risk was too great.
“I have oblivion pills,” I said softly to the man. “Do you want them? Do you want us to bury you with your son? Or burn your bodies?” His mind was not working well, but he slowly nodded and mouthed, burn. I gave him four oblivion pills and let him drift off and pass away. I didn’t feel right taking his essence after helping him die when I could have saved him.
I worked with Maveith to make a funeral pyre, and we waited till night to start the fire so the smoke wouldn’t draw the wyvern. Once lit, we moved away quickly to where we had prepared our accommodations for the evening.
I sent the man’s runic blade to my dimensional space, but it was unremarkable and poorly forged compared to others of its kind. It was still worth good gold, and he no longer needed it. Our accommodation was a shallow cave on a hill, a good mile from the pyre. It smelled of urine and had small animal bones, so we displaced a modest predator.
I had told Maveith everything the man had told me. “Are we going to search for the First Citizen?” he asked as he ate some jerky with a sour face. I could tell he was upset that the ring of sustenance was working and that he no longer felt hungry.
“No, we are not going to search for him. If we do come across him, we have to kill him. I prefer to avoid the wyvern’s hunting grounds completely. We will move off the road and move parallel to the river under the trees and pick up the old road north of here.” I explained. If we came across First Citizen Boris, I wouldn’t have any choice but to kill him. I couldn’t risk him recognizing me, and to tell the truth, I welcomed his death at my hand.
© Copyrighted 2024 by AlwaysRollsAOne
No Permission is given to translate, copy, or repost this original work of fiction. If you are reading this on a site that is not my Patreon, it has been stolen without my permission and violates DMCA. Remember, this work results from my creative effort and is protected by copyright law. Removal or altering of this notification is an acknowledgment you are aware you are in violation of DMCA.
Comments
Justin Barnett
I think it was konstantin, not Castile who thought the wagons were strange. Also, I remember Konstantin thought there were 20 bodies worth of remains, not nine.
Emme
I believe you said Castille* instead of Maveith when talking about their perception of the scene of scavenged bones
Erick Thiemke
never got that deep in the city
Erick Thiemke
corrected
Erick Thiemke
corrected
Erick Thiemke
corrected
Richard Thorn
But (by) the smell and maggots
Brianna Stormcloud
Thanks for the chapters, thoroughly enjoyable! Glad Maveith is back 📖🍿
Kevin O'Malley
Even Veronica would be happy if Boris turned up dead.
Andrew Crews
I looked at his wounds, and I could give him four * of five of the orc healing potions to save him, but then he would return and tell someone else about seeing me. I looked at his wounds, and I could give him four or five of the orc healing potions to save him, but then he would return and tell someone else about seeing me.
Andrew Crews
I realized the wyvern must be left over from the summoner, and the Empire had not gotten around to removing it with * war escalating. I had seen one flying in the distance when Maveith and I had escaped the city, and there had been two wyverns that had decimated the building we had found near the dungeon entrance. “We were looting the ruins,” the man* he managed after more water. “The First Citizen was leading us.” I realized the wyvern must have been left over from the summoner, and with the war escalating, the Empire hadn’t gotten around to removing it. I had seen one flying in the distance when Maveith and I escaped the city, and two wyverns had decimated the building we found near the dungeon entrance. “We were looting the ruins,” the man managed after taking another sip of water. “The First Citizen was leading us.”
Steve
Not going to lie, if the plot conveniently comes to this necromancer finding things out from Flavius I'm going to be annoyed. The biggest flaw of the novel so far is practically no named character or event is left as it's own thing, they always come back and it makes the world seem tiny.
Erick Thiemke
in this collection
Jude Merry
Where’s 244-245?
Deliver roo
Chapter is good but I would add reasons to circle around and not to go immediatelly after the life of first citizen Boris because the situation represented is too good to pass. Boris has gone in an area that Eryk knows well, with an expedition already weakened by enemies that Eryk has experience against. Eryk can track the first citizen and Boris doesn’t expect an attempt on his life by a legionary so the MC can easily use the element of surprise. Moreover the area is isolated so no reinforcements and easily disposable corpses…
Deliver roo
I agree, unless the party of first citizen Boris has already left the area or Eryk thinks he cannot win due to the necromancer the author has created the perfect occasion to kill Boris.
momo2009
Yes, i guess that possible. But the author did point out multiple time that the adventure guild is really powerful in this world. They fought the empire 1000 years earlier and won the right for concessions to run the dungeon in the empire. And since adventure can travel to dungeon dives in Orc Calphates, shouldn't the weight of an adventure membership for Mavieth outweigh any possible bigotry by the Orcs? Based on how the adventure guild is all accepting majority humanoid races it seen unlikely Mavieth would be rejected or persecuted as he would be an adventurer and the guild stick with own (so far in the story). But i do agree maybe destroy Orc Bane too free Mavieth sister and childhood friend. Great screen where Mavieth/Eryk won the duel to free one of the two captive but can only pick one but then in a show of HONOR he offer up the Orc Bane to save the other, in the name of forgiveness and strength to free a life. Seeing as how the Orc are shown to be focus on family and honor, destroy the blade then would be worth more. I mean offering up a magical race killing weapon for a boat ticket/travel pass/ dungeon diving sound weak to be honest. I would totally go with your point but the Author already hints that the adventure guild here pull way above it weight in power in the empire. Remember the duke being mad about the gold finder fee being split between the legion group and he couldn't stop it. One out of 17 most power people in the empire was block by the adventure guild.
Silver Beard
The whole point is he willingly gives it up as a tithe for passage and a vouch for him being in Orc territory. I seriously doubt the Orc are any more trusting of adventurers than the Legion is; could be a lot worse. He'll need someone to vouch for him to avoid attempted slavery, especially with Mavieth in tow.
Silver Beard
You gave up Castille and Renna's fate but you won't spoil mine.
Silver Beard
Sucks for Renna; but I thought Eryk had better chance with the Elf Maiden. Renna's no different that Octavian (that we know of)... both will need removal in 2-300 years while Eryk has 4500+ years before he's out to pasture (assuming he can't increase his time affinity even more in the interim). An Elf bride makes a lot more sense in the scheme of things... than any other human union. Even if he could reconnect with Renna... she's got limited time while Eryk has almost immortality. A short fling or a long, happy marriage? I know what I'd choose. And when the 'fling' realizes you are going to outlive her by a ridiculous degree- she will try to kill you.
momo2009
So Serigus was just bluffing when he treaten the Cornuis with eternal soul torture? So the ghost who come back into this world are just a part of the person right not the whole thing right? And burning them or destroying the head is the best to set people free? So is their like a netherworld, or heaven, purgatory or rebirth into other worlds?
momo2009
Okay, so how far have planed the plot?
momo2009
So the emperor can keep up to 7 wives but does that mean the Duke already had 7 too? Kill your wife magical gain is so evil. Sad for Renna.
momo2009
She either going to be power hungry and hate Eryk for not rescuing her or a strong leader behind the throne keeping the empire safe and try to use eryk in her political games.
Erick Thiemke
you will have to wait for book 7: Isle of the Dead where Eryk journies to find an undead member of the First Legion there to answer questions
momo2009
I want to see Eryk learn more about necromancy and then maybe bring back zyan ghost for a short thank you. Or if their a power to back dead people.
Erick Thiemke
celestial is 'buff' magic. abyssal is 'debuff' magic. i dont know about tortoring a soul... bringing back the dead would require multiple high affinities - necromacy, healing, celestial, maybe more
momo2009
Can you explained in detail how necromancy works in story? Like so we the audience and Eryk can know. So hard no not going into caelora for more goods? 😪
momo2009
Thanks , so what does the celestial and abysmal magic do? Is their any magic that can bring back the dead if you have the body? How can the hound guy who son eryk killed, torture the dead hound soul guy for years?
Lemes
Will Linus be able to rejoin the rest of the company? I think the company needs its doctor as much as its cook.
Lemes
I don't know why, but Renna strikes me as the kind of woman who will become very unpleasant once she has power in her hands. I think it will be a bittersweet reunion, if not an unpleasant one.
cRoMaToR
Nice to know. Now to see if the company will be reunited. For Renna, it will be a funny reunion down the line in book 8ish 😃
Angus
My guess in that Wylie will probably return to the Empire since he is Firth's mate.
Erick Thiemke
yeah - just Flavius in the Caelora under city...he knows Eryk has the collector...not that it matters much now...I was going to have Flavius' wraith attack him but he is tied to Caelora
Erick Thiemke
he did take their samples. right now he has Castile's sample in the compass. he would have to clean the compass and do another sample. but....(never mind no spoilers, next chapter)
Erick Thiemke
no Castile was the one who thought there was more to it when they passed the second time on the way to the Caelora RUins and got trapped in the city
Lemes
that is, at some point in the future we will have Renna, empress (or at least trying to). I think I saw this coming in that chapter where Erick told her that if she wanted to be the master of her own destiny then she had to gain power. Will Castile lose another legionnaire? There are already so few left!
Angus
Wonder if those necromancers discovered Flavius corpse...
Erick Thiemke
Castile makes it out of the country minus one legionnaire… Renna is forced to marry Octavian after he disposes of his current wife…..now you can live!
Erick Thiemke
Will correct after I get back from dog walk
Erick Thiemke
The Supreme Cleric is the ‘god’ ….think Egyptian Pharoh but has actual magic. They are just mages…clerics don’t exist in the D&D sense here
cRoMaToR
Thanks for the chapter. I’m still dying to know what happened to Renna and Castille. Hope they’ll join the team to leave the empire.
momo2009
Great chapter that show his kindness and practical side. Not getting the essence does make sense to his personality. Wish he can either defeat the first citizen to removed one less threat or defeat the necromancer to get his soul prison and learn more about how necromancer power work in detail. BTW how does clerical powers work? Is it a communication with the world's God's or bring back to life?
momo2009
So is the clerical power the opposite of Necromancy? Bring back people to life or talking to other gods?
momo2009
Unless someone can check his space, no one will find out he has an orc bane blade.
Lemes
I'm all for going after the first citizen and killing him now! The timing is perfect to eliminate a potential future pain in the ass. If Erick gets a new, expensive rune sword and a few more coins, that would just be a welcome bonus.
Angus
Just a heads up In chapter 183 -" Corruption" it has Cassius Cato titled as a Count not Baron.
Enk
a necromancer questioning the wraiths-of-dead-company-members might uncover...how many of Erick's secrets? i guess not too many.
Win Rar
Maveith is such a fun character to have along. If something happens to him it, it must be after he meets his sister! lol
Silver Beard
My issue with avoidance is the big what-if the Necromancer manages to kill the Wyvern and make it an undead pet? Eryk's got a lot of abilities, but I don't see that playing out well for them. Taking a 'vital' chunk of a dead creature won't make it any more or less dead.
Silver Beard
Orc bane might be a great bargaining chip. A replacement blade would be nice, but not necessary. Eryk's not exactly hurting for runic options. The Orcs want every sword destroyed- he needs safe passage and a cover. Chance for the Orcs to eliminate a hereditary weapon bane might be his ticket.
Silver Beard
Didn't Eryk take blood samples in the Archive for one of these First Citizens. He could easily avoid them or wipe them based on proximity to the compass. I'd be tempted to wipe them- he doesn't 'need' coin, but he'll need a substantial bribe for the Adventure Ship Captain in the Capital to take him on and smuggle him out (assuming Ginger and Mavieth are in his storage... even more to pick them up along the way). Why pay when you can arrange an appropriate donation and eliminate an eye sore along the way? The only issue is the necromancer- we've read a lot about them getting answers but fighting one might be a lot uglier. Pray Mage bane is enough.
Andrew
Did you mean to use the name Castile when they find the dead or was it supposed to be Maveith?
Erick Thiemke
yes to the sword....it is a crapy runic weapon forged by humans but still a runic weapon. i should have noted that. the son had nothing - they were fleeing for their lives
Sean Kauffman
Assuming that he still took the loot though? One runic sword and possibly more on the son?
Erick Thiemke
yes. brother to Veronica with stoneskin ability that he beat in a duel. he knew they went to the ruins and returned with a lot of runic weapons....Baron Cato was the one who tried to get the amulet when he summoned Eryk and Zyna interceeded
Andrew Glass
that's the guy who tried take the amulet right?
Lemes
I hope the Fates (the author also serves) guide the threads of our MC's destiny so that he finds the first citizen Boris. It would be very satisfying to see him impaled on the black spear. And as a bonus the MC could acquire that runic sword, even because he will not be able to use the orc bane in the caliphate.
Kaze
Nice chapter, thanks. I love every Mav + Eryk solo chapter.
Andrew
Thank you!
Erick Thiemke
yeah doesnt feel right. he could have saved him and let him die. then taking his essence...he may be a bad guy or good but still felt off doing it
BubblyGhost
Missed free essence, unless Eryk just felt uncomfortable with using the collector on him.
Erick Thiemke
1st of 4 for the cycle. and to answer peoples question before it is asked, a soul prison is not the kettle of souls
