Chapter 81: Willpower

"He looks like he is having a good dream," a familiar voice broke my light sleep.

"I was till you came in my room without knocking," I grumbled and opened my eyes to see Konstantin standing over my bed, his young servant at his side. He tossed some clothes at me, and they landed heavily on my stomach.

"Put those on. We will go and explore in commoner garb. Your fancy clothes will bring too much attention to us," Komstantin advised. He addressed his servant, who had a pained look I know is all too familiar. "You can go. I will return to my room in a few hours."

"I didn't have any other clothes," I said while rolling out of bed with the bundle of clothes in my hands.

"While you have been napping, Eryk, I have walked this Citadel. It is one of the oldest I have ever seen. Dozens of additions over the centuries. It was probably a capital of some relic Empire before the First Legion," Konstantin sounded a little excited. He then looked me seriously in the eye, "You should always familiarize yourself with your environment before you rest. What if the place burned down? Where should you go?"

"A fire escape plan? But isn't this entire building stone? Seems unlikely," I commented while changing.

"The First Emperor was killed when an entire wing of the palace was turned into molten rock by a massive ritual, Eryk," Konstantin said while walking through my room,doing an inspection. He even ducked into the large fireplace, expecting there might be something hidden up there. When he came out, he had a black soot mark on his cheek and forehead. I just hoped he didn't use the mirror and walked around with it. He went to the massive window and looked out in the gardens. The sun was setting, and I realized we might be caught in the woods tonight.

"What are we looking for on our trip around the area? Is this like the time you made me walk around the city of Macha?" I asked, pulling on my boots.

"Exactly!" He had seen his reflection in the window and was rubbing the soot out; so much for embarrassing him. "As a scout for the company, our job is to know the best ways to retreat from danger. This place," he spun, indicating the Citadel, "is a trophy castle. It looks beautiful, but," he tapped the glass behind him, "is terribly indefensible. I would bet a large gold that each addition to this palace added a few secret passages." So that was what Konstantin had been looking for in the fireplace, a secret passage.

Konstantin walked to the door, and I followed him. We took a narrow stair at the end of the hallway. A servant stair brought us to a storage room outside the kitchen. Some cooks looked mildly interested as we passed through their work area. Konstantin grabbed a loaf of bread, and I did likewise, as it was warm. When we were out of sight, my bread went to my storage for a later snack.

We exited into a courtyard, and Konstantin moved quickly to the wall. Far across this back courtyard were the stables—horses mixed with milk cows and, I think, a few goats. I did not have time to determine if the Duchess maintained any heavy horses for a cavalry. With only two hundred soldiers under her command, it seemed unlikely. At the wall was a passage guarded by two men in the Duchess's dark green livery. One was young, a teenager with greasy black hair, and the other was much older, with almost completely white hair and a pot belly. They did not stop us as we exited through the passage they guarded in the wall.

On the other side were two more of the duchess' guards, both middle-aged men. One yawned as we passed, and the other looked us up and down before looking out into the city. As we entered the streets, Konstantin asked, "Impressions?"

I had been waiting for his question, "They do not bathe regularly." Konstantin gave a sour expression at my joke. "Fine, the guards on the outer wall were the more competent. Or at least look more competent. The inner wall was a lazy veteran and a new recruit. No one questioned us or asked about our business. We could be assassins leaving after a mission and getting away freely."

"Good. I knew you were not a lost cause. What was the dominant hand of the old guard?" Konstantin asked.

I searched my memory. He had a spear, and his short sword was on his right hip, "Left-handed, his blade was on his right." I said after thinking for two steps on the road.

"Excellent," Konstantin smiled brightly. It looked wrong on his face. "But you should have also noted the boy was right-handed, and they should have been on opposite sides of the passage." I wanted to chirp that he had not asked me that question, but I held my tongue and nodded.

We moved among the wooden structures, "Now we are going to walk through town and see how well they are patrolling the streets. Crime is rampant in the city, cutting the Duchess' taxes."

We walked the streets and found patrols taking food from vendors without paying. Responding slowly to requests for help. Taking long breaks in alleys—sometimes napping. A few guards were even in incomplete uniforms. When it was completely dark, Konstantin had me follow him outside the city to circle the Citadel's walls.

I asked, "It would only take a hundred trained men to take this city. Why has it not happened?"

Konstantin looked behind us, "It is on a main road in the center of the Empire. There are probably companies of regulars that pass through weekly. Also, if the city was threatened, the Emperor would send a dozen mage companies and two thousand regulars through a portal in a nearby city. It would only take half a day for them to arrive. The Duchess, however, is responsible for keeping her city in order and has not been doing a great job."

The blue moon seemed larger tonight, and I looked up at it and quickly looked away before Konstantin could berate me for ruining my night vision. We moved through the woods, and Konstantin stopped constantly to examine plants on the ground. After the twentieth time, I asked, "What are we looking for?"

"Common alchemy ingredients for healing ointments and simple healing potions," Konstantin informed me while kneeling on the ground.

"You are an alchemist!?" I exclaimed, extremely surprised.

"Gods, mercy, no. I would never have the patience to spend an entire day purifying ingredients, combining them in exact proportions, and then activating them with a touch of aether. However, I do know the basic ingredients, and Delmar asked me to look. When it is light out, I will show you them and how to harvest them. We need to make more use of your dimensional space. Most ingredients need to be fresh, so you are an asset for that." Konstantin studied some red-brown grass before getting up.

"So everything an alchemist needs will be out here?" I looked into the graying woods.

"Maybe for the healing ointment. It only needs a base and two aetheric binding agents that are common. The simple healing potion requires honey from specific flowers that giant bees harvest. That will have to be imported from the south. Finding a trader should not be difficult."

We circled wide into the woods, and Konstantin found numerous well-trodden paths in the blue-lit woods. He did not want to use the glow stones because the moon was bright enough. He guessed the paths were from hunters from the city or woodsmen living in the wilds bringing their game in for sale in the city. I made sure to relieve myself in the woods so Lareen would not have to clean the chamber pot.

Even with looking down all the time, Konstantin still pointed out numerous animals as we moved. We returned to the city and the Citadel well past midnight. The two guards outside the passage entry halted us. Konstantin patiently explained who we were and our purpose outside the gate. One of the inner passageway guards was summoned and ran to confirm with their captain. At least this seemed more secure.

The runner returned, and we were allowed in. I could tell Konstantin was not happy the captain did not come to see for himself. At the kitchen entrance, Konstantin turned to a hallway on the first floor and left me without a word. Was this another test? I was heading to my apartment and getting some sleep. He could report our findings on his own. Besides, he had done very little talking after we left the city.

The stairs were dark, so I used my glowstone and found the correct door to my room shortly after. I opened the door and found a small fire in the massive fireplace. On the massive bed were all my clothes, cleaned and dry. My armor was neatly placed on the floor, with my pack at the foot of the bed. I kicked off my clothes, stripping to just my my trousers, and fell into the bed face down, pulling my griffin pillow to me.

The sound of a door click had me roll over. I was expecting it was Konstantin coming to say I did something wrong. It was Lareen coming out of her small room. I pulled the glowstone to see her, and she had on just a long shirt—a nightgown. She spoke, "Your clothes are clean." She walked forward to point at the arrangement on the bed. Her oversized green dress gone, I could see her more clearly.

She had her light brown hair down and looked more attractive than I had expected. It was hard to tell someone's age because everyone was so much shorter than I was accustomed to. Lareen was barely five foot three. I planned to follow Castile's orders anyway and shook my head, clearing my impure thoughts.

"Thank you, I would like to get some sleep," I muttered and rolled over. I was sure if Konstantin was here, he would yell at me for turning my back to a potential assailant.

Her soft voice came back, "Do you need anything to drink or eat, Eryk?"

I rolled back over to look at her. She had taken a step forward. "I am fine; just wake me for breakfast." I waited, and she stood there and didn't move. She looked expectantly at me. I came up with a dozen excuses to ignore her, the chief being I did not want to anger Castile. "Anything else?" I asked, ready to reject her.

She bit her lower lip, "Did you clean the tub? I mean, I know you did, but why?"

"Oh, that. Yeah, I took the bath, so it made sense that I was the one to clean up," I immediately regretted saying that, as I did not want to have to clean up after myself. I added, "I am not used to having a servant. I will make sure to leave my mess behind from now on so you have something to do." She smiled a little at my remarks.

"Well, you only did an adequate job anyway. I had to clean it again," she said, grinning and taking another step toward the bed. Her features became clearer, and her nearness roused me.

I did not want to show her my body was betraying me, so I said, "Thank you. Sleep well tonight, and wake me for breakfast." I rolled away from her and had to wait five minutes before I heard her door shut. If she had pressed further, I might have caved like a sand castle to a wave. It seemed inevitable if she was going to be persistent every night, and we were staying here for months.

I needed to focus on something else. I pulled out my amulet and wore it. I needed some sleep, but I think I was close to my spell form. I entered the dreamscape and was immediately greeted by an excited Oscar. I should come here just for puppy therapy. The chair was still present, and I relaxed with the spell-form book and started studying.

About four hours later, I felt it lock into place. I rushed out of the dungeon entrance, exiting the dreamscape, to go and try out my new spell form.