Chapter 82: A Walk in the Woods

My room was still dark and quiet when I opened my eyes, and I brought out my glow stone. I quietly moved into the bathing room and barred the door. A strong, lemony scent was hanging in the room from Lareen's cleaning. Was the Empire aware of disinfectants? With magic, they probably knew about bacteria, maybe even viruses. I took out two more glowstones for added light.

I held out my hand and searched for the new spell form on my aether core. It took a moment, and I found it and pushed aether through it. A low pop sound, like someone clicking their tongue with their mouth closed, rang softly in the room. A disc of blurry blue air appeared in front of me. I guess Castile was wrong about it being invisible. The disc was a yard across and a hand width in thickness. That was all the measurements I could take before the disc of compressed air vanished without a sound.

I created the next disc and oriented it parallel to the ground. I counted this time and waited. It was roughly twelve seconds before whatever held the disc together lost cohesion. I tested this twice more and rotated the disc each time as I pushed aether through the spell form. The time the disc remained the same size each time. I was casting the disc through my hand and could place it in any orientation from my hand with a thought. I could not change the disc shape at all, though.

I then tried casting two discs at once. There were no issues, as it was anchored and independent once the disc was cast. One thing I could not do was dismiss the disc after it was cast. I had to wait for it to expire. In my estimation, each disc was taking a little over a unit of aether to cast, draining my small aether pool, but I needed to figure out the utility of the compressed air barrier.

I pulled out a short sword and attacked the disc. Hitting the disc was like striking dense rubber. The sword stopped and rebounded very slightly. It took three full-force swings to break the disc before the twelve seconds expired. With less enthusiastic swings, it took five or even six hacks to break the disc.

Next, I tried a spear. I took a running start with a spear and tried to pierce it. The disc held, and I was impressed. The tip had stopped abruptly, and it was a little jarring, and I had to heal a sprain to my wrist. Two rushing attacks using my body weight did manage to break the spell form, as my second attack was only slowed momentarily. All my experiments had drained my aether, so I sat and waited, thinking of other tests I could do.

My next test was for an arrow. The arrow actually stuck into the wind barrier, looking like it was suspended in the air. I fired four more arrows quickly before the time elapsed, and the fifth broke the disc, and they all clattered to the floor. The disc could take a certain amount of disruption before failing.

I waited again for enough aether to cast a disc a foot off the ground. Then I stepped up onto it. It held my weight and lasted the entire twelve seconds. This would look amazing if someone did not know I was using magic. After another long wait, I tried to cast the disc from my foot instead of my hand. It was disorienting, like trying to write words upside down, but it worked. I had been worried about wearing boots, but the disc still manifested. I assumed it meant I could wear gloves as well and still create the wind barrier.

This spell form had a lot of utility, and although it was not quite as Castile had advertised, I was quite happy with my choice. I opened the bathroom door to find Lareen standing there in her nightgown. I was only wearing my trousers and boots. There was an awkward pause that I filled, "I was doing my morning training." I had been grunting and making a fair amount of noise in the bathroom. Her eyes narrowed slightly in skepticism, but she nodded and went about her duties, checking the latrine first, which was empty. I still had an aversion to someone cleaning up my shit for me.

"Breakfast will be in one hour," she announced. "If you will allow me, I wish to change for the day."

"Dismissed," I said uncertainly, and she nodded and left. I dressed myself as well. I was eager to tell Castile of my success with the spell form. Lareen came out in the same bulky dark green dress, hiding her figure. I followed her to the dining room. About half the company was already here trying to eat as much as possible. I took the same seat I held at dinner last night and found Lareen bringing me a glass and a plate of food.

The plate had a portion of oatmeal blended with chunks of dried fruit and nuts. The rest of the plate had something like French toast with no sweetness to it. Just eggs soaked into bread and then baked down the table, according to Kolm, explaining the crunchy bread.

My glass was a very weak ale, probably watered down. Lareen asked me three times if there was anything else I wanted from the kitchen. I asked for bacon but just got fried ham steaks. Maybe they did not cure and smoke bacon. I did not know the process, but it could not be too difficult.

Castile, Delmar, and Adrian arrived as I was eating my third ham steak. The Duchess was not at breakfast. Castile sat beside me, and I leaned into her, "I imprinted the spell form last night." Castile nodded but did not show the excitement I had expected or the praise I was hoping for. I retreated back to my plate and ate the rest of my ham steak. It was not long before the entire company was eating.

The Duchess did not show up to breakfast, and Adrian and Delmar had their own private conversation across the table. Castile ate the oatmeal and cut up some apples for her breakfast, ignoring the egg-baked bread. Adrian spoke to Castile, "I think we are ready." Castile nodded, and Adrian stood. The table went silent as Adrian usually gave assignments.

"Well, it appears the Duchess is spoiling you men. Personal servants, anything you want for breakfast, individual rooms. We can not have you getting soft. We are going to be here for months," cheers broke Adrian's planned speech, and he waited for it to die down. "We have numerous tasks to get completed, including digging and placing eighty miles of markers." Everyone was silent. "We are also going to be training the province soldiers up to our standards," some boos rang down, and Adrian grinned. Legionnaires thought themselves superior to the regular army, city guard, and provincial soldiers.

Adrian waited for everyone to calm down, "Delmar, Brutus, Kolm, Blaze, and I will be staying in the Citadel to work with the soldiers." Boos echoed in the dining room as our two leaders took a job in this castle's comfort. He held up his hand, "Just to teach them discipline how to do their jobs. You will eventually be training them with the spear and, later, the sword so they don't accidentally stab themselves. We will rotate men to supervise the training."

"Konstantin and Eryk are going to scout the lands around the Sobral city for the next two weeks," I audibly groaned. And some men chuckled at my misfortune. Konstantin was wearing a grin. "Castile and Felix will be working with the Duchess." A surprised Felix spit a little of his beer. "Everyone else will start on the markers by the road east of here. Two men from the Duchess and one agent from the Imperial Surveyors will supervise you."

Wylie commented, "Why not just have the plebians dig the holes? We can guard them while they do it."

Castile stood, "We could have them do it and finish in a month. Or we can do the work ourselves and finish in five months."

Benito asked, confusion in his voice, "So, isn't one month better?"

"Idiot!" Firth muttered, understanding the implications. "We get to make use of the Duchess' hospitality for that much longer."

Benito's eyes went wide, "I don't mind digging a few holes if we get to eat like this at every meal." Everyone laughed, but one or two of the others had been thinking the same as Benito.

Adrian finished, "You all will be leaving in an hour. Kolm to me." The men shoveled food into their mouths before leaving. Kolm was called over and sent out on a mission to find a leather worker to replace the missing pieces of armor among the company men. I sipped my ale and stared down the table at Konstantin, who stared back with a grin.

Castile stood and ordered, "Tell Konstantin of your new spell form, Eryk. He will help make it viable in combat." Then she was gone with a perplexed Felix in tow.

Konstantin soon stood over me, saying, "Let us go Eryk and get some camping gear. Make sure your storage space is empty. I will want to fill it with flora for the future alchemist."

I went to my room to pack my backpack with the standard legion gear. Lareen was standing by, waiting to assist, but I did not have anything for her to do. "Will you be gone long?" she asked as I finished.

"As long as Konstantin wants, I guess. I was told two weeks," I told the young servant. She seemed disappointed as I left and met Konstantin in the courtyard. We circled out to the woodlands, and I asked, "Konstantin, is this safe? Just the two of us?"

"We will not go more than five miles from Sobral. Take the opportunity to learn as much as you can and get comfortable in the woodlands on your own. I will teach you to spot the serious dangers that should be avoided," he said confidently.

"And what if we don't avoid them?" I asked skeptically.

"We see which of us is the faster runner," he laughed aloud at his joke. That did not make me feel any better about this training—or the fact Konstantin laughed, he never laughed.

We walked for a time before I revealed my secret, "Castile told me to let you know I have a new spell form."

"Perfect! She told me you were working on something. What is it?" he asked, looking at me as we walked.

I created a barrier directly in front of him and had the satisfaction of him walking into it and falling flat on his ass. I just kept walking, smiling as I heard him scramble quickly to his feet. He spent time inspecting the air shield behind me. I had to slow my steps and wait for him to catch up. I was thinking what horrible things he would do to me, but I decided it had been worth it.

"Well, that is useful! Have you tested it?" Konstantin asked, intrigued and not angry. I nodded, "Well. I am certain I can come up with some things you have not tried yet." I suddenly got the feeling the testing was not going to be pleasant.

The mission was just as Konstantin had said. We were out to get her flora. I was taught how to harvest a number of ingredients. Blood grass needed to be taken out slowly by the root. Blood grass was very common. Mandrake was not as easy. It needed to be dug up and was like a hairy carrot. Borage was a bush with red fruiting berries. The berries were the easiest thing we collected all day. The fresher they were, the more potent they would be for an alchemist.

Draffe was a pink flower and hard to find. Fireleaves was another pink flower that we found. Unfortunately, it was eaten by bugs. Konstantin said it was not used in healing brews but extremely valuable on its own since it was hard to find, and bugs consumed it almost immediately after bloom. One of these small flowering plants was worth almost an entire gold to the right alchemist. Konstantin did not know everything either. I would ask him about a plant here and there, and half the time, his response was, "Don't know. I suggest you don't touch it, or put it in your mouth." It was like he was talking down to me like a child.

I could tell we were zig-zagging as we moved away from Sobral. As we stopped for lunch, I asked, "How long are we going to be out here?"

"Until you fill up your space, Eryk," Konstantin muttered through chewing on a sugar weed. "Castile wants you ready to impress whatever alchemist the Duchess can find. The Duchess was right; any decent alchemist is not going to want to come to this backwater city."

We spent the rest of the day working on developing my herbalism talent. We were focused on seven plants that Konstantin knew could be used for making curatives. He also had us collect a few that he knew were rare but was not certain of their uses. My arms were scratched, and my nails clogged with dirt from the day's work, but the knowledge was rewarding. The box I kept for legion goods in my storage was already more than half full. It would not take long tomorrow to fill it.

The night was setting in, and we had ventured far from the worn paths. Konstantin had us stop, "We will not train tonight. There is no one to guard us. We are going to sleep in that tree," he pointed at an old gnarled tree with a massive dark green canopy.

I was happy when he pulled out a rope and looped it over a branch twenty feet up. "Sleeping in a tree means you can not run, but if you are alone and in a dangerous country, it is the best way to get sleep on the run." We climbed the tree and secured ourselves with rope at ninety degrees to each other on different branches.

Konstantin smirked, "This will be the worst night of rest you have ever gotten. Every time an animal passes underneath us, I want you to tap my shoulder and point it out."

"How am I supposed to get any sleep?" I asked as night was settling.

"You are not," he heaved a chuckle. He was chewing on his ration bar and sprinkling some of the mycoid powder below to mask our scent.

I was a little upset with his training, so I pulled out the loaf of warm bread I had taken from the kitchen yesterday and began eating. Konstantin was immediately aware of the delectable smell, and I chuckled, "You did tell me to empty my dimensional space." I ate the entire loaf slowly and happily. I was certain I would pay for not sharing tomorrow—but it was worth it.