A Soldier's Life

Chapter 146: Not a Graceful Entrance

Konstantin returned from the wine vault; all six men who had followed him were laden with bottles of wine, clicking as they moved with broad smiles. The mood was joyous as the men thought we had a source of food and plenty to drink. Castile had been cycling who had received the nightmare spell as well, so everyone was finally somewhat well-rested.

As the men celebrated, Konstantin came to report, “One hundred and twenty bottles. Do you want us to make another trip? We cut down five specters on the trip that will be reforming. Eryk should come with us with the kettle.”

Castile replied heavily, “No, there will not be time. The summoner released the storm elementals from his control and is preparing for a new summons.”

“Harpies tits,” Konstantin rasped, realization sinking in. “How much time do we have?”

Castile had a stoic visage as she answered, “Not much time. I keep checking on his progress every hour. When I see him start his summons, we will move.”

Adrian added, “We have divided up the company to enter the dungeon. You will be with Castile, Blaze, and me.” Konstantin’s eyebrows went up in surprise, and he looked at me. “Eryk is going with Maveith, Brutus, and Favian.” Konstantin nodded, but I could see him thinking. Maybe he was going to make a case for me to remain with the premier group, but he never voiced his opinion.

“I am going to tell the men now so we can prepare,” Castile made to stand.

“Castile, can I have the dreamscape amulet back?” I asked softly. Things were about to get hectic, and I didn’t want that detail to get lost in the confusion. The amulet would be invaluable for me inside the dungeon.

Castile put her hand between her breasts, feeling the amulet underneath her tunic. “Sorry, Eryk. I forgot I still had it.” Still, Castile’s hand was slow and reluctant as she went to retrieve it. She placed it on the table, and I made it disappear. Castile exhaled regretfully and moved to talk with the men. I definitely think she was hoping I had forgotten about it.

Adrian tapped the butt of a spear he found in the rooms upstairs on the floor to get everyone’s attention. The men quickly went silent and faced Castile. Castile took a deep breath. “I hope everyone enjoyed the fish soup this morning.” Murmurs of agreement raced among the men. I had thought it bland, but the hot soup warmed me from the inside.

Castile continued, “The summoner is preparing to bring forth another creature outside the city walls.” I guess Castile decided to rip the bandage off. The room went deathly silent except for the wood crackling in the fireplace. The fire had obviously drawn the summoner’s attention, but we could not hide from him forever. Everyone understood how powerful the elven summoner was. It was why we had trapped ourselves inside the city, protected by the specters.

“We are going to seek refuge inside the dungeon and wait him out,” Castile announced. A lot of men fidgeted, suddenly uncomfortable. Dungeons were not known for being forgiving places. “You have seen the sustenance it can provide. And even though we have to enter in groups of four, we should all be able to find each other inside given enough time. The Scholar has confirmed as much.” The mood lightened at that news. Castile did not mention how big the dungeon was said to be in the children’s book she was referencing. The princess snuck into the dungeon on her own and was able to wander miles without meeting any others inside.

Adrian took over the speech, “There are over one hundred entry rooms. If your team ends up in a bad location, exit and reenter together. Firth leads the first team and will have Wylie, Mateo, and Felix.” The four men quickly found each other. Firth and Wylie frequently worked together, and Mateo and Felix were the company’s babysitters. At least, that was what they did for me when I first arrived.

“Lucien will lead Benito, Pavel, and Lirkin as the second team,” Adrian announced.

Benito hooted, “Yes! We got the cook!”

Adrian stared hard, “If you want him to cook for you, Benito, then you need to kill something that he can cook.” The realization that he would have to fight the dungeon critters shut him up. Benito’s wrist was still broken and swollen.

From memory, Adrian announced the third team. “One team will only have three men. Cyrus, Soren, and Remus.” These three were the quietest men in the company.

The red-haired Remus cursed under his breath, clearly unhappy. When we had been assigning groups, they had been the three odd men out. Remus was from Gregor’s company and never really fit in. When the minor commotion Remus made died down, Adrian continued, “Flavius will lead Linus, Donte, and Kolm.” Linus and Kolm were two of the most liked men in the company and had helped a lot of men through the last few weeks. I still didn’t trust Flavius, but he was a competent scout and should keep them alive.

“Eryk will lead Brutus and Maveith and protect the Scholar,” Adrian said, looking pointedly at Remus. My group essentially had just three fighters, and Maveith was hampered by injury. This mollified Remus some, as my group was just three warriors as well.

I had selected Maveith because I felt guilty for involving him in the ill-fated expedition. He was also probably the best man in the entire company at processing kills. The Scholar would hopefully have value with his ability to read the Elven script in the safe rooms. I chose Brutus as my fourth because he was one of the best spearmen and swordsmen in the company. We were also friends, and I thought he could keep my secrets if I had to reveal them.

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Adrian didn’t announce the last team, Castile, Blaze, Konstantin, and himself. It was implied. “Get with your teams. Eryk is responsible for dividing up rations and gear.” My head snapped to Adrian, but I guessed that was my job now that Delmar was gone.

I spent time with Lirkin, dividing up the fish, smoked, and dried meat. I had the Scholar divide the wine. Everyone got seven bottles, with two extras that I took for myself. I sent all nine bottles of wine into my dimensional storage; everyone else would have to carry their allocation.

“I gave you the deepest reds, Eryk. They have been the tastiest and densest wines we sampled,” Favian whispered to me conspiratorially. “If you can manage to resist the urge to drink them, they will be worth a king’s ransom to a First Citizen.” The old man was ever the optimist.

I patted the older man on the shoulder, “Thank you, Favian,” I said, dropping his Scholar honorific. “I chose you because your language skills will be extremely useful in the dungeon.”

He nodded sharply, “I will do whatever I can to help.”

A lot of the men were packing and repacking their gear out of nervousness. It was not like we were not going to take everything we possibly could into the dungeon with us. Brutus came and sat with us. “Maveith, I hope you are bringing your checkers’ board. I think we are going to have a lot of free time.”

“Most assuredly,” Maveith said, tapping the bag with the board inside. Maveith hesitated before asking in his baritone, “Eryk, do you have your dreamscape amulet?” I just nodded. Maveith either wanted to see his sister again or bash some orcs by his happy nod.

Lirkin was busy cooking and smoking as much as he could before we were ordered into the dungeon. It wasn’t long after sunset that Castile suddenly stood. Her abrupt motion caused everyone to be quiet and turn to her. Her eyes were staring off into the distance. “Enter the dungeon!” she said sharply. “We do not have much time. No questions. Just go as soon as your team is together.”

No one hesitated. Men raced to shoulder packs and grabbed items with their free hands. Remus, Soren, and Cyrus were the first to head into the snow tunnel. Adrian barked at them, “Remember, you need to be touching each other when you enter!” Being the smallest group made it easy to organize and go first. My group was helping the Scholar pack the books he had been perusing.

Firth, Wylie, Mateo, and Felix were next to enter a less than a minute later. I stepped near Castile to hear what she was saying to Adrian and Konstantin, “The crazy elf summoned two wyverns. He is trying to control them now. We do not have time to waste.” Damn, the summoner liked his wyverns.

Konstantin stepped closer to Castile, “We should go next.” He was impatient as they were ready.

Castile looked at him sharply, “No, we will go last.” Flavius was shepherding his three charges into the tunnel at the moment.

“We are ready!” Brutus yelled to me from near the snow tunnel. Lucian had his group head into the tunnel, cutting in front of us as Brutus looked angrily at me, missing our opportunity to go next. The building shook as I took a step toward the tunnel. Dust spilled from the rafters, and the building groaned at the added weight of a wyvern.

Brutus entered after Benito, “Go, I yelled from behind Maveith.” Brutus was the first in my group to enter, followed by Favian.

A hunched Brutus raced down the tunnel, with Maveith having difficulty keeping up as he was forced to crawl behind Favian. I was hunched over, pushing Maveith’s ass to move faster.

Blaze was behind me, the first member of the last group, Castile’s group, “Move faster!” he anxiously yelled as the snow above us suddenly thudded with debris as the wyvern destroyed the building. Chunks of wood and stone rained down, thudding into the stone tables that served as the tunnel's ceiling. Some bricks even made it through the snow to our sides. The gate seemed so far away in the light of a dropped glowstone midway.

A specter appeared right in front of me from the snowpack on my right. There was no way to draw my sword, but fortunately, I had the elven runic dagger. Maveith howled as the specter plowed into his hips. I stabbed repeatedly until the specter faded from existence. I realized Castile had the kettle of souls, so leaving the dungeon without it would be a problem. But that was a problem for future me.

“It is a rush of specters out here!” Adrian’s voice rang back in the tavern.

The wyverns tearing the tavern apart had attracted specters in the city to rush the building! This was about as bad a scenario as I could think of. A large number of specters might remain around the dungeon entrance even after the wyverns left. “Move Maveith!” I pushed him harder, and a moment later, the black surface of the doorway to the dungeon embraced him, and I followed.

Maveith was sprawled on his belly in front of me. The familiar stone surrounded us. We were in an oval chamber with only the dungeon exit and a single corridor. I breathed a sigh of relief. “Maveith, are you ok?” He groaned as he rolled over onto his back, rubbing his hip where the specter had contacted him. “Wait, where are Favian and Brutus?”

Maveith sat up slowly, a pained, apologetic look on his face. “Sorry, Eryk. When the specter hit me, I lost contact with Scholar Favian. I shoved him forward through the portal, thinking we would be overrun.”

I was not sure if I should be angry with Maveith. We had made it into the dungeon. I hoped the last group with Castile and the kettle of souls also made it. Maveith stood and had trouble putting weight on his leg. I knew the effect of the specter’s attack would fade in a day or so.

I pulled out the elven food from my dimensional space. Maveith’s eyes went wide at the variety and amount, “Where were you keeping all this?”

I divided the elf rations in half. And handed it to Maveith, “I kept a little in reserve. I need you strong to help in this dungeon. Eat what you can. We can harvest more food from the dungeon.”

I walked the outer wall, finding the elven script I was searching for. I focused on it, translating the script.

Unknown quadrant. Two shapeshifters in the room at the end of the corridor. Extremely dangerous.

Well, shit.

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