A Soldier's Life - 378 - (taking chapter title suggestions)

Chapter 378: 

The metallic smell of death hung in the air. I told Lesna to gather the guild medallions from the bodies while I collected their essence. Their horses had scattered, so Benito and Sylph had gone to collect them. Lexi was healing Helena under Castile's watchful gaze.

I knelt over the mages first. The elf woman reminded me of Raelia, so I closed her shocked eyes before using the collector on her. The apex fire essence that formed was not unexpected. She had demonstrated extreme proficiency in the battle, and I was sure Castile had foiled other attacks I had not been aware of. I settled on the leader next, and the thick aetheric smoke formed into an apex clairvoyant affinity. It confirmed he was the one who had been tracking us and the potency of his power.

The two thin mages yielded a major abyssal essence and a major aether pool essence. Before I could move to the fighters, Castile stood over me. I thought she might have been interested in the essences, but instead, she softly spoke of Lexi. “That girl is incredibly strong. So much potential.”

I stood and looked her in the eyes, “Explain.”

“The spell form she is using is similar to rejuvenate, Eryk. It requires a healing affinity of over seventy to inscribe,” Castile was holding back a smile as if she had just found a diamond in a barrel of coal.

“She also has a high aether resistance,” I noted, observing her resistance to me. I wanted to reach the others before the concentrated life essence left their bodies, but Castile was too excited. I had never seen her like this before.

“Her aether is unremarkable. She was sweating while healing Helena,” Castile tempered her enthusiasm.

“Did you educate her on aether burn?” I asked.

Castile didn’t seem concerned. “She will be fine as long as she doesn’t drink any aether restoratives.” She finally looked down at the mage leader. I handed her the wand he had attempted to use. Castile studied it intently, turning it over in her hand before pointing it and activating it. An arcane violet missile shot straight from the tip, exploding a clump of grass a dozen yards away. “A strong aetheric missile wand. Dungeon forged.”

“Do you want it as your share?” I asked.

“It would replace my firebrand wand,” she said, pondering. She nodded and never inquired about the essences I had obtained from the mages as she went to help with the horses coming back.

I was kneeling over the second crossbowman when Lexi stood above me. “You are going to let Evie go now, right?” Her tone was both respectful and pleading.

I tempered my response and placed my hand on her shoulder. “I think she is safer where she is at the moment.” The girl’s eyes narrowed at me. Thankfully, Karina approached. Her shirt had a slash in it and was stained with wet blood. I hadn’t realized she had been injured in the fight. I was certain Lexi had healed her since they didn’t have potions. Karina smiled at me and led Lexi away to explain the situation.

I collected seven minor physical essences and one major strength essence from the warriors. The horses and one of the men who Blaze shot in the eye didn’t yield any essences. I gave all eight physical essences to Blaze for distribution. In my mind, that left the four mage essences for Lesna, Selene, and myself. Lesna returned, her hands and sleeves bloody. “Only seven guild medallions,” she said, holding up the collection.

“And their purses?” I asked, raising an eyebrow. I hadn’t seen her take anything but just assumed.

She cracked a grin. “Only a few. I guess there must be more in the saddle bags.”

“I am sure you can handle getting everyone an equal share.” I tossed her the major abyssal essence. I turned away as the tiny woman’s jaw slackened. If I judged her character right, I think she would have too much pride not to be fair in distribution. It was odd how I had no reservations about looting the dead. They had just tried to kill us, after all.

I approached Selene and gave her a choice of the fire or clairvoyant apex essence. I was being selfish in keeping the aether pool essence as it was the only one I could use. She selected the clairvoyant essence since she had a minor affinity for it. I consumed the aether pool essence as I walked away—the fire essence I would save as a gift.

While the others took care of the bodies, I examined the horses, much to Ginger’s jealousy. The horse with the broken leg had been put down by someone, and another had a severe limp. It also looked like one horse had wandered out of sight during the fighting, as I only counted twelve. “Lexi!” I called to the girl. “Come here and show me your healing.” The girl sprinted, her reddish hair bouncing as she approached. I think she thought she was healing me as she studied me. “The horse, Lexi,” I said with a smile. 

“I can heal animals, too?” Her eyes went wide.

“Try,” I encouraged with a smile. She chewed on her cheek as she gripped the horse’s leg. The horse became a little restless before letting out a relieved neigh; then, it knocked over the slight girl with an affectionate head butt. Lexi giggled, and I nodded, leaving her with an apple to feed the horse.

Blaze approached me, rubbing his hip due to the phantom pain from his injury. After healing, the site was sometimes itchy, but that shouldn’t have been the case with a dungeon potion. “That could have gone either way,” he said. 

“How so?” I asked.

“Selene must have stopped a dozen quarrels, and Castile unraveled a dozen spells, or so she said,” Blaze said seriously. “I think they expected more support from below when they charged the hill. After the fire rain, Lesna confused them with illusions of us. You didn’t see because you were only looking forward.”

I was a bit stunned that Blaze had seen so much in the fight—and that I had missed so much. “We were lucky,” I confirmed. “You took down five by yourself?”

Blaze shrugged, “Seven, but who is counting? Castile and Selene kept me alive, and you got me a healing potion when I needed it. Lesna said Kadmiel is well known—extremely well known,” he stressed.

I cursed and took his implied advice. “Dragon shit. Burn the bodies, then.”

My group worked diligently to clean the site as thoroughly as possible. We discovered two runic blades, two artifact rings, and a pair of artificed boots among the bodies before they were burned. Anika and Karina took the blades, while I stored the rings in my pouch until they could be identified. The boots were given to Blaze since he could use them. According to Castile, they were dwarven-made and likely boots of the sojourn. They converted aether to replenish stamina, a simple low-tier spell in the healing affinity.

We took three horses marked for Lexi, Anika, and Karina as the ashes of the bodies smoldered behind us. We finally reached the road late in the day, and I saw Lexi riding toward me as I no longer needed to be our trailblazer. The road was merely packed earth with some rain damage filled in with clay as we rode. We passed a trade caravan heading in the opposite direction, large oxen-like beasts pulling the wagons. The teamsters were catkin, and Lexi couldn’t help but stare as they passed. Four human guards, displaying adventure medallions, rode alongside. Our mostly female group received curious looks, but other than a nod to each other, no communication was exchanged.

I didn’t want to talk to them because I wanted them to think we had traveled the length of the road and not come through the wilds. “Were those cat people?” Lexi asked as she craned her neck back. “Like in anime?” We had destroyed one of the saddles to shorten the stirrups for her. 

“Something like that. Why are you riding next to me?” I asked.

“Well—” she took a deep breath, “I can only talk to Castile with Anika translating, and she is talking to Karina.” She pointed back at them. “Lesna is talking to Benito. And since you are carrying Evie, I am pretending I am riding next to her.” She beamed a smile at me, and I noticed for the first time her teeth were just coming in, reminding me how young she was.

“Castile is impressed with your healing magic,” I said encouragingly.

She looked down at her hands, suddenly depressed. What did I say now? She whispered, “I can probably cure cancer. Papi has cancer. That is my grandfather. Karina said you are going to help us get home. If you do it faster, I might be able to help him.”

I clenched my jaw. I never promised I would help them get home. Was she trying to guilt trip me. No, she was too young to manipulate me. I suppose Karina was trying to give them hope—which is a powerful motivator to get through this crazy fantasy world. I exhaled slowly, releasing my anger at Karina. “I don’t know how to get back to Earth, Lexi. But I will help you look for a way.”

“You will be coming with us, right? You could be a superhero on Earth.” She waved her arms in what I thought might be some martial art. “I could help so many people, and Evie and I could be your sidekicks.”

I chuckled. “I don’t think I want to go back.” I almost told her that there was probably no magic on Earth and that her healing wouldn’t work, but I didn’t want to crush her hope. Lexi began to ask me about all the monsters I had fought and killed, and I shared a bit of my storytelling while remaining humble and not elaborating on my true abilities. I pulled a bunch of things from my space to show her that she got a kick out of. She asked a lot of silly questions, but that is what you expect of a ten-year-old. It helped the time pass for me.

“Town!” Benito shouted from the front.

Blaze trotted up and patted me on the shoulder as he past, “Stop smiling and go back to brooding. We don’t want the locals to think you are soft.”

“What are you talking about?” I kicked Ginger forward to enter the town with Benito and Blaze.

Outside of town, they were mining an open coal pit, and many citizens were covered in soot. The town had no walls and only about thirty wooden buildings spaced far apart. At least one of the buildings was an inn, though. I couldn’t identify the language, but Anika said it was a Dutch derivative. She struggled through a conversation with the innkeeper before we took all seven of their available rooms for a few silver coins.

The stables were only a lean-to, and I made sure that all the mounts were rubbed down and fed before letting anyone eat and rest for the evening. They were just straw mats, but everyone appreciated the walls and a sense of security. Castile knocked on my door. “Are we going to continue along this path with them?”

“What do you want? Lexi?” I asked pointedly.

She looked a little guilty as I had hit it spot on. “Someone has to train her. The Shiunyuet is not the place for her. You don’t understand. She shouldn’t even have magic, yet she is as strong as a High Mage.” I could tell Castile was preparing for an argument. She didn’t want to leave Lexi in Karina’s care.

Let’s find out how strong she is. The Elven tablet table appeared in my small room, and Castile stepped back, shaking her head in admiration. She looked from the tablet reader to me a few times and then motioned at it, saying, “Are you going to give me a peak?”

 I smirked, “I still have some secrets I would like to keep, Castile.”

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