A Soldier's Life - 379 - The Two Yutes (this is homage to My Cousin Vinny) (edited 5-1-25 to explain Lexi's resistence)

Chapter 379: The Two Yutes

Castile managed to bring Lexi to me without Karina or Anika in tow. Karina had drunk some ale and was passed out, while Anika was talking with Selene, expanding her vocabulary. If they wanted to know their attributes, we could do so in the future. For now, Castile was focused on confirming Lexi’s healing affinity. Since Castile couldn’t talk to her, it was up to me to explain.

Lexi had a big smile and a full belly. “Eryk, is it time for Evie to come out?”

“Soon. How is your aether shaping coming along? Can you make an aether thread?” I asked patiently.

“Not as good as Lesna,” she held up her finger and squinted as a tiny thread of twisted aether seemed to extend from it.

“Better than Castile,” I said with a smirk. Castile frowned, and even though she didn’t know English, I was sure she heard her name and understood what I had said. Castile was getting better, but it was like trying to break muscle memory to twist the aether like Lesna did. “Lexi, I need you to hold here and here on this table and push your aether into each hand—any amount will do.”

Lexi walked to the table and ran her hand across the surface. “It’s pretty. What does it do?”

I looked to Castile for a moment, then back to Lexi. “It will tell us how much potential you have in magic.” Her eyes lit up, clearly eager to learn about magic.

I tried to temper her enthusiasm. “After I read it to you, you should be careful not to say your attributes aloud, Lexi. Castile thinks you have the potential to be very powerful, and others might take advantage of you.” I looked at Castile and thought she might be one of those people. What was the saying my grandmother used to tell me, ‘The road to hell is paved with good intentions’. I sighed and nodded for Lexi to proceed.

Spreading her arms, she had to stretch to reach both sides of the tables. I chuckled to myself as Lesna’s arms were probably too short to even use this reader. Lexi’s fingers sparked and she jumped back, and the table lit up. She had used too much aether, but the table didn’t look damaged. Castile stepped forward and struggled to read the elven script. I read it all quickly.

Strength4/24 Power6/33 Quickness5/30 Dexterity9/32 Endurance11/50 Constitution8/44 Coordination24/51

Intellect22/40 Reasoning11/52 Perception29/40 Insight6/48 Resilience10/68 Empathy39/70 Fortitude28/40

Aether Pool9/52 Channeling3/30 Aether Shaping11/68 Aether Tolerance2/40 Aether Resistance45/52 Prime Aether AffinityHealing

Fire0 Air0 Water 30 Earth0 Lightning (Energy)22 Spirit (Healing)88 Nature (Plant)0

Charm (Mind)0Illusion44 Clairvoyance0 Protection (Guardian)0 Necromancy0 Celestial0 Abyssal0

Space17 Time9 Displacement25 Materialism0 Worlds31 Void0 Convergence27

“What does it say?” Lexi grabbed my arm, pulling me excitedly to the table.

My eyes glided over it a few times. “You are very special Lexi. Your healing magic is 88, that is probably one of the strongest on this continent. Your finger light comes from your illusion magic of 44. Most likely, it is more powerful than you are aware.” We were all blinded momentarily as Lexi’s finger flashed extremely brightly. I activated my night vision, which overrode my temporary blindness. My aether sight apparently did not use my eyes to see.

“Lexi, be careful. You can blind someone permanently with that, especially at night,” I told her gently. Luckily, Castile had been looking away and was blinking back her sight. 

“I know, I had to heal myself,” Lexi said sullenly. She reached up, and I felt her healing aether spread through me, but there was nothing for it to do. She didn’t realize that and forced more into me until she was satisfied. She needed training, as she was pushing healing aether into me without direction. She did the same for Castile, who gave me a look that said, I told you so. 

I continued to explain her readings. “You also have an affinity for water and energy. You can learn spell forms for those affinities. You have some of the rare magics as well. You can eventually learn a small version of my magic trick to make things appear and disappear if you want.” She looked away with a guilty expression.

“Did you already imprint a spell form on your core?” I asked softly. Lexi seemed reluctant but slowly nodded. 

Lexi held out her hand reluctantly, and an apple appeared in it—one I had probably given her recently, as I recalled being amazed at how quickly she had eaten it. 

Castile looked smugly at me. Castile gasped, “Three spell forms at ten! Tell her she needs to stop. She needs to study the proper spell forms—there is no knowing how much utility she lost by being impulsive.”

I frowned at Castile but asked Lexi, “How big is your space?”

Lexi concentrated and made a small box with her small hands, just over a cubic foot. I nodded and mussed her hair. “Good job, Lexi, do not try to do anything else until you receive some training,” I said emphatically for Castile.

“I was just trying to do your trick,” she said, looking down at her feet.

“It is fine Lexi, you didn’t lose much in size of the space, but there were other things you could have learned instead. It is best if you review all your options before deciding.” She nodded at my sagely wisdom. I also guessed that her dimensional box was what had prevented me from being able to send her to my own dimensional space as her aether resistance was not impressive. 

“Is it Evie’s turn?” Lex looked up at me with puppy dog eyes. She obviously missed her friend and was good at guilting adults—well, at least me. Castile was behind her and shook her head no.

I reluctantly sided with Castile. “Not yet. We are going to wait to get somewhere safer. Why don’t you get some rest? If you are going to tell Karina and Anika, make sure you do it quietly.” She yawned at the mention of sleeping and walked out of the room. I pulsed earth speak to ensure that she made it to the room she was sharing with them.

Castile was eager to talk with me. “She is incredible. How a child has that much potential—it makes me believe there are gods. Eighty-eight! There are so many powerful healing spells she could learn in time.”

“She is a child, Castile. All she wants is to return home with her friend,” I chided my friend.

“Look at her magical attributes! She is capable of being the greatest healing mage in the last hundred years,” Castile argued.

“It just means everyone will want to control her.” I let my words hang, and Castile’s face displayed a range of emotions as she chewed my words. She was still human and hadn’t realized what she was implying.

She looked more restrained when she spoke. “You are right. I will train her if she wants. But I will not try to persuade her to do anything—or return with us to Gramney. Once we get your people to the Matron, we need to return to Gramney. Viridia needs my help—things are happening,” Castile said while moving for the door.

“What is happening?” I asked, moving to stop her.

Castile hesitated before replying, “The Empire has dug deep enough to reach the ruins of Atlantium, and artifacts are being uncovered. We don’t know what, but the Empire and Esenhem are dividing the plunder per their peace accords.”

“Is that bad or good for us?” I asked, concerned.

Castile looked at me for a long moment, and I once again got the feeling she was keeping something from me. “I am sure the Bartiradians are almost done licking their wounds and have found new allies. They will not let the Empire consolidate its power again, so the Emperor’s eyes should be off of us. The Empire even failed to break the goblinoid city in the assault last month.” Castile left before saying anything else to me, and I secured the door.

I turned and was prepared to move the table to my space, but stopped. It was not just curiosity; I needed to know what I was dealing with. I focused my earth speak on Castile. I didn’t think she would spy on me, but you never knew. The fuzzy feedback showed her writing on the parchment to Viridia. She couldn’t be spying on me at that moment.

Evie appeared before me, and before she could scream, I shushed her. “Evie, it is fine. Everyone is safe, and we are at an inn. Relax.” She looked around wildly, and if she made a racket, I would send her back. She looked around slowly.

“Why are they not here?” Evie asked, confused but calm.

“They are sleeping, Evie. I wanted to talk to you alone, but you need to keep your voice down.” She obviously trusted me and nodded slowly. 

“Good. Lexi had her magic tested, and I wanted to ask you if you wanted to have your magic tested.” I sat on a wooden stool that protested under my weight. I produced a meat bun and extended it to her. She was still processing the shift from being outside and anticipating an attack to suddenly finding herself in a room in an inn.

She started to eat the bun and asked, “Everyone is okay?”

“We killed all the men who were coming after you. Some people got injured, but Lexi healed them. I pointed to the window and the thin line of darkness between the curtains. She went to the window and looked outside.

“You are not going to let me see them, aren’t you?” she whispered. “Why else would you release me alone. Are you going to kill me?”

“No!” I said louder than I intended. She was very astute. “I brought you out because I wanted to find out how strong your necromancy power is. Did you know Castile has a low affinity for necromancy as well?”

“She does? Why didn’t she tell me?” Evie said, facing me. A tear had dribbled down her cheek, and all I could think was how bad I was with children. Evie really thought I was going to kill her for being a necromancer.

“It is a very weak affinity. Castile said you were good with aether shaping—do you want to show me on this—” I indicated the tablet reader. She was reluctant but consented. Her wingspan was greater than Lexi’s, and she didn’t struggle to activate the reader. I sucked in a little air as I read the results.

“Is it bad?” she asked based on my reaction. Damn it, my mind was racing.

“No. It was not bad at all. You can be a very strong mage one day. Maybe even stronger than Lexi,” I smiled but it felt forced. “Finish your meat bun and drink this.” I produced a water skin and glanced at the table before resetting it.

Strength5/30Power6/38Quickness8/67Dexterity10/42Endurance10/42Constitution9/41Coordination26/50

Intellect24/52Reasoning19/60Perception25/44Insight11/39Resilience12/55Empathy29/40Fortitude15/58

Aether Pool10/72Channeling5/50Aether Shaping6/66Aether Tolerance5/39Aether Resistance12/44Prime Aether AffinityNecromancy

Fire0Air20Water 0Earth0Lightning (Energy)0Spirit (Healing)0Nature (Plant)0

Charm (Mind)0Illusion0Clairvoyance55Protection (Guardian)44Necromancy92Celestial0Abyssal0

Space18Time21Displacement31Materialism0Worlds33Void0Convergence42

Her necromancy score was too strong. No one was going to let this girl live if they found out. We didn’t even know what necromancy spell she had already inscribed on her core. Her rare magics mimicked Lexi’s and I wondered if that had something to do with how they were brought to Desia. If we tested Anika and Karina and they had similar rare magics, it would confirm my hypothesis. But I was reluctant to expose them to the reader since they would want to see Evie’s attributes.

“You have that far off look my dad gets when he is trying to solve a complex math equation,” Evie said, the meat bun gone and the water skin empty. “You are trying to decide what to do with me.”

She was smart. Too smart to lie to. “No, I am trying to decide how I can protect you. You cannot raise the dead again, Evie. You need to understand that.” She nodded, but it was not convincing. I sighed. “I am going to send you back for now. Next time I bring you out, it will be with Lexi nearby.”

She smiled and rushed in to give me a hug. I patted her back, but I wasn’t sure how to keep her safe other than preventing her from using her necromancy. I let Evie feel secure and then had her step back, and she vanished. I packed the tablet reader away and got some fitful sleep.

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