A Soldier's Life

Chapter 175: Gangs All Here

Lirkin entered the room, all smiles, to talk with Castile. He looked malnourished, but his eyes were filled with the joy of seeing us. I joined them to learn how they had connected with Flavius and the others. Castile immediately asked, “Who is with you?”

“There’s a safe room down the corridor,” he pointed behind him. “Flavius, Brutus, Donte, Benito, Linus, Kolm, and the Scholar are there.” The men moved into crowd Lirkin, even the naked Mateo and Firth, who had not bothered to dress.

Blaze interrupted and asked earnestly, “What about Pavel and Lucien?”

The joy left Lirkin’s face. “I don’t think they made it. I know they didn’t make it.”

Adrian moved to stand in front of Lirkin, grabbing his pauldron firmly. “What happened?” he demanded softly.

Lirkin collapsed a bit, overwhelmed by the memory. “A few days ago, maybe four. It’s hard to tell time in this cursed dungeon. I was resting in the safe room where we arrived from the tavern with Lucien, Benito, and Pavel.” He took a deep breath. “We didn’t leave a watch and were all sleeping.”

Konstantin rebuked him harshly from nearby, “Why not!?”

Lirkin defended himself aggressively, “Every day was the same. After weeks, we just assumed we were safe.” His anger fell, and he softly added, “We got complacent.”

Castile calmed everyone with a look and then encouraged Lirkin to continue. “Tell us how it happened, Lirkin.”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“A troll. A crusty-ass, shit-brown troll. If it hadn’t been so loud storming down the corridor, we would’ve all been killed right there. Benito, even with his arm broken and useless, confronted it. He gave us time to form a defense but took a nasty slash to his face.” Lirkin paused, recalling the nightmarish incident.

“We formed up, protecting Benito with the dungeon exit behind us. We hoped to trick the troll into the portal, but an ice drake emerged from the corridor, and an elven wizard was just behind the drake.” Someone inhaled sharply at the confirmation the summoner had joined us in the dungeon.

“It was the summoner then. He has an ice drake under his control. I have seen it,” Castile confirmed calmly to everyone.

Lirkin nodded at Castile. “We figured fighting the specters was better than fighting the troll and the ice drake. We were going to enter the dungeon again together right after exiting, but the troll followed us through the portal.”

Everyone was silent as Lirkin continued his retelling. “There were a lot of specters on the other side—and frozen body parts of legionnaires. The troll pushed us back from the gate, and Benito tried to hold off the specters with his good arm but could barely stand.”

He sighed as he replayed the final part of his tale. “Lucien said he would distract the troll away from the portal so we could get back through together. Pavel joined him without being ordered, telling me to drag Benito back in. Pavel got two arrows into the troll, and it charged him and Lucien. I saw specters swarming Pavel, and the troll tackled Lucien to the ground near the collapsed tavern. That was the last I saw of them before I got Benito back into the dungeon. Fortunately, we arrived in a safe room close to Flavius and the others.”

There was dead silence as we all absorbed the mental weight of more losses to the company. Adrian broke the somber mood. “Let’s reunite with the others. We can mourn our fallen comrades together.”

“Make use of the pool first,” Castile said numbly. “Everyone bathe. Two legionnaires at both corridor entrances. Lirkin, Konstantin, and Adrian, go bring the others here.”

It was not long before the pool was filled with men splashing each other like children while trying to catch the bobbing fish. Adrian returned with the others. The Scholar and Kolm were supporting Benito. His cheek and neck had a filthy bandage with dried blood. Linus had a splinted leg but was walking under his own power. It looked like Donte had recovered from the spider’s poison.

The groups mingled, and smiles and laughter were all around, pushing the reality of our lost companions to the back of our minds. When I got close to Benito, he smelled like death and ammonia. He was still smiling, even though he was obviously close to Pluto’s realm.

I patted Benito on the back. “It looks like a troll got a hold of you and took your maidenhood.”

Benito’s eyes were a bit glassy as he replied, “I gave just as good as I got, Eryk. You wouldn’t happen to have any wine left to numb the pain a bit?” he asked hopefully.

I pretended to think about it. “I do have a bottle left, but I thought you might want this instead.” I held up one of the greater healing potions I had left. His eyes had trouble focusing on it, and I do not think he understood.

Castile snapped at him, “Drink it if you want to live, boy. That’s a greater dungeon healing potion.”

“Ah, you don’t happen to have another for me?” Linus asked jokingly.

Maveith moved to retrieve one of his potions, but I gave him a look, and he stopped. I retrieved the lesser healing potion I had gotten from Raelia’s bags and offered it to Linus, who was flummoxed as I handed it to him. He rasped out, “It should work as long as the bone is aligned closely.”

“How many healing potions do you have?” Mateo intruded on the gift-giving, thankfully clothed this time. He pretended to pat me down.

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I knew revealing the potions had risks, but neither Benito nor Linus would be able to flee with us once we left the dungeon. I pushed away the handsy Mateo. “Just one left now. I’d prefer to save it for a real emergency if you don’t mind.”

I watched as Benito got help from Scholar Favian to drink the healing potion. A loud pop had Benito wince as his forearm bones aligned properly. He started coughing up yellow phlegm and tearing off his crusty bandages next as he seated himself on the ground. He soon lay spread-eagle, breathing deeply, as if it was the first time in a long while he’d been able to do so.

Benito’s skin was filthy with sweat, dirt, and recently flaked scabs. The first words out of his mouth were, “I am famished. What’s for dinner?” A tingly feeling of satisfaction went through me.

I missed Linus taking the other potion, but he had also removed his splint and was practically skipping around the coffee berry trees. For some reason, I channeled my inner Delmar. “Okay, now that everyone is mobile, I need a full accounting of the provisions. I want four men picking berries and four men fishing.”

Everyone looked at me strangely for a moment before Castile backed me up. “You heard Eryk. Everything needs to be harvested before the dungeon reclaims the room, and I want everyone to bathe. I am sick of my eyes watering from your stench when I try to sleep.” She let out a slight smirk and winked at the men before returning to her usual demeanor.

As the men paired off and started to work, I did not like that Konstantin and Flavius moved off to guard one of the corridors at Adrian’s orders. Adrian began making the rounds to check on the men, and I joined him. Adrian had always been more interested in morale than Delmar had. But I was not Delmar, and I wanted to know how everyone was doing.

We still had a number of injuries among the men. Firth had broken fingers, Donte was weak from the after-effects of the poison, Benito still had a fever even though his body was healed, and Kolm had bruised ribs, but Wylie’s leg infection was at least clearing up.

I gave Benito one of the two cure disease potions I had purchased at the Adventurer’s Guild in Telha. That immediately normalized his temperature and apparently healed his mouth, as Benito suddenly could not stop talking. Several people noted privately that I should have waited a bit longer before saving his life.

Soon after, we abandoned the harpy room and made the walk to the safe room Flavius and his group had been using. Everyone smelled mildly better, and we were mostly in good spirits. I stood, listening to Flavius report to Castile once the group had settled in the familiar-style safe room. The dungeon exit loomed nearby, enticing us with its offer of freedom. The lump in Castile’’s backpack was the key to that freedom.

It might have been just me, but Flavius’s eyes kept roaming to me while he talked. “There is a large earth drake room down the other corridor from the harpy room, but I assume Eryk has already told you that.”

“He has,” Castile said firmly. “What is this way?” She indicated the only other exit from the safe room.

“Wolf spiders in the first room. They are just large, hairy bastards, but their venom lingers for days. Beyond that room are giant centipedes. They have a paralyzing toxin, but there are only four of them. Beyond that is the safe room where we arrived. Neither of the rooms offered a decent food source. We have been killing the harpies every two or three days for the fish. We did not know the berries were edible. Linus tried them whole and ended up vomiting an hour later.” Flavius waited while Castile considered the information.

“And what is beyond that safe room?” Castile questioned.

Flavius held up his hands to draw a map in the air. “Two other corridors. One goes this way to a ferocious owlbear with glowing red eyes.” He shifted his hands. “The other goes this way for a long distance to a water-filled room with giant snapping turtles. We considered trying that room, as the turtles might have been too slow to pursue us in the corridor. I decided against it, thinking there might be other threats in the murky water that could follow us.”

“This dungeon is a bloody menagerie,” Adrian spat.

“I don’t think it is worth exploring those rooms,” Castile decided. “We will rest for a day and then make our exit.”

“To where?” Flavius inquired. Castile looked a little irritated at the question.

“We will try to return to the under city and back to the library to avoid the concentration of specters in the city. From there, we can clear the snow to the gates and get outside the aura of the city.” Castile explained.

“What about the elven summoner?” Flavius pressed.

“He made a mistake following us into the dungeon and dismissing his elementals. Without his constant control of the weather, I am guessing the snow is now passable.”

Flavius was not as certain. “We cannot be sure of that.”

Castile’s patience ran out. “Enough, Flavius. You and Blaze can watch the wolf spider room for the approach of the summoner. Do not engage if you see him or his creatures. Just retreat here to report so we can prepare.”

Adrian added stiffly, “Be aware. He has been using goblins as scouts as well.” Flavius nodded curtly and turned away from our group. Once he was far away, Adrian spoke to Castile and me. “He’s been leading the men for weeks and has become bolder. Clearly, he has won over Brutus and is working on Konstantin.”

“Do you think he will be a problem?” Castile asked.

Adrian hesitated a little. “Maybe. Konstantin told me he was asking about how Eryk and Maveith reconnected with us.” Adrian had an amused look on his face. It made me look to Castile and back to Adrian. Castile had obviously shared something with him. I should’ve realized it when he was no longer suspicious of me. Shit—I hoped this would not bite me later.

Castile watched Blaze and Flavius move down the corridor. “Blaze will let us know if he’s up to anything.” She turned to me. “Do you and Maveith want to scout the harpy or earth drake room? We will be leaving the dungeon when you return.”

I was puzzled for just a moment. I was pretty sure she was asking if I wanted to harvest more essence. I considered the offer. I had dozens of essences in my dimensional space. But magic affinities were rare. Charm or earth essence? “We can watch for the summoner in the earth drake corridor,” I finally said. Castile nodded approvingly.

A short while later, as I was getting ready to leave, Brutus offered to join us. Thankfully, Lirkin suddenly needed help preparing meals, so Adrian volunteered Brutus to help. Maveith and I walked back down the corridor to the earth drake room. We stood at the entrance to the chamber. The familiar draconic beast stirred and thundered a challenging roar at us, like it remembered that I was responsible for its past deaths.

Maveith grunted, “I don’t think it likes you very much.”

I looked down the long corridor behind us and then back at the drake. “It’s going to like me a lot less in a few seconds.”

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