Chapter 94: Back in the Saddle

"Wake up legionnaire. Lucien wants you down in the stables," A gruff voice said, standing over my bed.

It was still dark, but the voice was familiar. I asked, "Adrian, why didn't you knock?"

"Tace wood door. And I got a set of keys to all the legionnaire rooms," he jingled the keys as emphasis. "Get up and help prepare the horses. Say your goodbyes. We should be back in two weeks." He walked out, having issued his orders.

Lareen had one leg draped over me and was snuggled into my side. That had really happened last night. She came to me and had been an enthusiastic participant. It had been enjoyable for both of us. "Are you awake?" I asked.

"No. I don't have to wake until the first light." She pulled her body in closer, seeking my body heat as the room was chilly with no fire.

I extracted myself but left my prized griffin down pillow behind. I quickly dressed with the light of a glowstone. When I was in my full gear, I looked at Lareen, who had fallen back to sleep, hugging the griffin pillow. Should I wake her to say goodbye or just leave? I leaned in and kissed her until she stirred some. When she was semi-conscious, I broke the kiss. "Thank you. I will be back in a few weeks," I whispered. Her eyes were closed, but she had a smile on her face.

I left the room and went to the stables. Lucien was there in the predawn saddling horses. "Eryk, good. Adrian and Blaze are bringing out the saddle packs. Get those two mounts ready," he indicated two gray mounts; one had a black mane, and one had a white.

I was a little out of practice but quickly remembered as the muscle memory returned. Lucien inspected my work and nodded, "Good work. Now let me tell you why I selected these mounts for our trip. We must travel forty miles daily to get back to Sobral on schedule."

I thought about it momentarily, "Are the alchemist and scholar going to be able to ride that many miles?"

"Probably not. Adrian will try to push the horses on the way to Lorvo. After that, he will back off," Lucien said after a moment. "Now long-distance mounts have three features you want to look for: age, body type, and temper." For the next thirty minutes, Lucien showed me the signs to identify the age of a horse, whether its body was conditioned for endurance riding, and a rehash on finding a horse's temperament. Blaze arrived with two heavy packs, and then Adrian did as well. We all got them onto the horses and secured our weapons.

I was taking two short swords and a spear. That did not include the hidden arsenal in my dimensional space. Blaze had four small quivers with his bow and short sword. Lucien had a mace and a short sword. Adrian had his long sword. As soon as the sky turned gray with the first light, we were riding out of the gates of the Citadel and then the city. We tested the horses at a light gallop for a mile and then walked them for a mile. We repeated this four times before stopping and letting them drink. The road was packed with clay and dirt, which was easy on the horses. I slipped each horse an apple and praised them for their work. My horse was dark gray with a black mane and tail. He was also the biggest of the four since I was the largest man among us. I decided to call him Atlas since he was carrying my heavy ass around.

After the break, I was riding next to Adrian. "We will reach the city of Loule tonight. Castile asked me to work with you on your new spell form. An air barrier of some sort? Can you demonstrate while we ride?" he asked as we were at a walk.

"Yes, air discs." I almost made one appear in his path but did not think knocking Adrian off his horse would endear him to me. "They are stationary and can take some abuse before being destroyed." I halted Atlas and dismounted. I was standing two feet off the ground, holding my reins.

Atlas was looking, and I think he was confused. I mounted and continued to ride. Whenever we were on a walk, Adrian asked questions much as Konstantin had puzzling out uses in combat for my spell form. We had a quick spar at our second water break for the horses.

"Is that Delmar's runic sword?" I asked as he unsheathed the silvery blade.

Adrain smirked, "Yeah, he loaned it to me after losing at dice. When we return to Sobral, I must return it to him." He slashed the air. I didn't know Delmar and Adrian gambled. They rarely mingled with the company. "Come, let's see how you fare," he commanded impatiently to use the loaned weapon.

Adrian's sword cut through my barrier much easier than a regular sword. It still slowed its progress, but I thought it was unfair that he had an extra advantage.

"If your opponent has an artificed weapon, Eryk, you just need to place it where they are not likely to strike it. Your biggest advantage is your opponent can not see the disc while you can." Adrian advised after a few engagements. The break was not long, and Blaze was eager to try shooting arrows at my barrier, but Adrian said there would be time for that later.

The trip went surprisingly quick, just nine hours of riding and breaks to make it Loule. My healing spell form made the soreness fade when it got too unbearable. My companions were uncomfortable as their bodies remembered how to ride, so I mimicked their stiffness and aches to keep my healing ability secret.

Loule was a walled city surrounded by farms. It looked prosperous and had a high degree of activity in the late afternoon, easily twice the population of Sobral. We rode into the city unobstructed and made our way straight to a Legion Hall. We got looks but no stares. The Legion Hall was not impressive. A granite building with an attached wooden stable. The Hall had four bunk rooms with twenty beds each. An old hunch-backed man ran the Hall. Adrian talked to him before returning to talk to us.

"We are the only company here. We are free to take what we want from the weapons and food stores. Eryk and Lucien, stable the horses and then meet us in there."

I went with Lucien, laid out the straw, and helped him rub down and check the mounts before feeding and watering them. Lucien left first, and I gave them each mount an apple for their hard day. I could tell they had already started to expect it. I missed Ginger, but Atlas seemed like a fine mount.

Adrian and Blaze were in the storage room going through shelves of equipment. Much of it was rusted and not cared for. Adrian, seeing me, commented, "Mostly trash. A few legion companies came through here on the way to the eastern front with the Bartiradians. They took anything useful for the campaign."

Blaze was holding a pair of throwing knives, "At least we don't have to pay for it." Blaze referred to the fact that when conscripted legionnaires took new equipment, we had the debt added to our accounts. If equipment were just replaced, we would not have to pay for it. Castile had paid for any equipment, so the men did not need to, but her accounts had been seized as punishment for the losses in Macha as determined by the Tribunal, and she had not replenished her funds yet.

Blaze picked up some throwing knives, checked their sharpness, sheathed them, and added them to his pack.

I went to the foodstuffs. Much of it was bulky items, ceramic jars of items like fermented cabbage or pickles. As I was searching, the others left, and I was alone. Not that there was anything I really wanted in here. I broke the wax seal on a ceramic jar labeled fermented cabbage. One whiff and I was definitely not taking this. I tried the pickles next. They looked normal, just smaller than I was used to. I tried one. It was a bit soft but tasted like a sour pickle. I pulled two five-gallon ceramic containers into my dimensional storage.

I was about to leave but noticed an old jar in the back. I pulled it out, and it was heavy. It was labeled fermented carrots but did not swish, and the container did not match the other fermented vegetables. I broke the wax seal to find a thick sludge inside. I touched it and realized what it was. Honey! This was a lot of honey, maybe three gallons. It had crystallized some, but it was still good. I moved it to my dimensional space.

I still had a lot of food from the first Legion Hall I visited, but a little more couldn't hurt. I also took a massive cast iron cauldron with a lid—maybe weighing seventy pounds. It was more for a kitchen but could cook for the company in a pinch if I ever revealed my storage. It could also be a weapon if dropped from the proper height.

I would have liked to add arrows, but there were none here. I found the others eating pies Adrian had purchased from the tavern next door. "We need to return the dishes, so don't break them," Adrian warned, handing me a pie. I started in on mine, but it was terrible. The meat was not identifiable and was chewy and fatty. At least the lard and flour crust was decent.

Adrian reminded us, "We will get an hour of training in the yard behind the Hall before sleep tonight. I know you are all sore, but we should get some practice fighting together. The next stretch of road has been known to harbor bandits occasionally."

"How far?" Blaze asked. He was also not pleased with his dinner as most of the gristle chunks of meat remained uneaten.

"One hundred and forty miles to Telhas. I want to make it in three days. From there, we have to take the old road west to Lorvo, another hundred miles. It is a wild road, not well traveled, and could run into any number of creatures. Since we are on horseback, I plan to run and not fight if anything finds us," Adrian advised us.

We went to the training yard, which was overgrown with many weeds and bushes around it. The old man who administered this Hall did not maintain it well. The practice session was focused on me and my air barriers. I found Lucien's mace was slightly more effective at disrupting it than a normal sword. I also learned how quickly Blaze could shoot arrows. He fired thirteen arrows in less than thirty seconds. The scary thing was he did not once miss his target at thirty feet. I did notice that his eyes looked a little hollowed. From that, I guessed he must be using a spell form to help with his aim, draining his aether. I was not sure if he even realized what he was doing.

I got my own bunk room and was already missing my pillow. I had left it in my room in Sobral with Lareen. I hoped Lareen at least appreciated it. I used the amulet for just two hours, focusing on learning the time affinity spell form of slow aging. When I left the dreamscape, I did not have a headache at all. I was sure I had figured out part of the device. As long as I did not add things to the dreamscape, I would not get migraines on leaving.

The next question about the amulet was if what I created was permanent. Would the maps, chair, Oscar, and everything else still be there if someone else used the amulet? Maybe when I found someone to trust, I would find out. Adrian had us up before dawn again and on the move.

The next three days of travel south to Telhas were long days in the saddle, interspersed with practice. The variety of attacks and facing multiple opponents helped me develop my use of the discs in combat. We did not encounter any bandits, but a farmer did try to recruit us to kill some giant vermin eating his crops. We told him we would post the request to the Adventerurs Hall in Telhas.

There was an Adventurers Hall because a dungeon was about ten miles south. The farmer cursed us, calling us, "Useless Legion Scum Who Couldn't Wipe Their Arse Without Approval From the Emperor." Adrian took the insult without retort, and we left the farmer screaming at us as we rode away.

Adrian commented irritably, "He just wanted us to solve his problem for free. If we had time, we would have helped. Now, he will have to pay a few adventurers some silver."

We reached the city of Telhas. Telha was the glorious capital city of the Empire. Telhas was the ugly sister she did not want anyone to know about. The city had wooden walls and very few stone buildings. Adrian commented, "The region is bereft of stone, so all the stone was quarried elsewhere and transported at great expense."

We soon learned there was no Adventurer's Hall in the city. Adrian was angry that he had to pay a silver for a message to the Adventurer's Hall to deliver the posting for the farmer. There was also no Legion Hall in the wooden-walled city, so we got rooms at the best inn in the small city. The room smelled funny; it smelled like someone had vomited and not been cleaned well.

We spent the prior two nights in an abandoned cabin and a farmer's outbuilding. So, I was looking forward to using my amulet for a few hours tonight. I was sharing a room with Blaze, who complained about the mattress, "This mattress has more lumps than Lysander's gravy. I would rather be sleeping on the ground." But he eventually fell asleep anyway.

I retrieved and placed the amulet on. A happy Oscar barked and circled me, and I paused to give him some attention. Oscar followed me as I walked into the first dungeon room with the ankheg. I created a copy of Konstantin, Blaze, Adrian, and Lucien. I had practiced fighting with these men often, so I felt their manifestations would do them justice. I started with Adrian...