A Soldier's Life

Chapter 174: Good Cooks Are Hard to Find

Castile was staring at me, her jaw practically unhinged. I asked innocently, “Are aether potions good?”

Castile found her voice. “Dungeon aether potions are almost impossible to get. Aether potions brewed by alchemists start to lose their efficacy immediately, and most alchemists lack the aether to infuse them properly! Yes, they are good!” She rasped vehemently.

I pulled out the potion from beneath my armor and handed it to her. Her eyes widened even further, if that was even possible. “You do realize this is a greater aether potion, Eryk!”

Once again, I asked, “Is that good?” with mock innocence.

“Is that good?!” she spat incredulously. “This is a greater aether potion that could restore my aether four times over!”

“Yeah, when I tried one, I felt a lot of the aether bleed off into the environment,” I said casually. Based on her reaction, these potions were obviously a sort of holy grail for mages.

“You drank one of these? Wasted it? A sip could have restored all your aether!” She reached for the potion like I was not deserving of it, and I let her take it. She turned it over in her hand, as if trying to determine if it was real.

I shrugged. “Well, I needed to know how it worked.”

“How many of these do you have?” Hunger was evident in her eyes. “Which dungeon room did you find them in? Is it close?”

“No. It is not close. It was a fire bear room deep below, on the third floor,” I admitted. Castile regained her composure, her childlike excitement fading. She started to hand back the potion, but I declined. “Keep it. You can make better use of it than me.” I had another anyway, and the gift should endear Castile to me a little—or a lot—, just like the essences did for her and the company.

Castile relaxed slightly. She held up the potion and explained slowly, “Once the seal on a dungeon potion is broken, the air will degrade it. Use a little and seal it quickly again. It should last at least a few hours...” She looked at me, considering. “Or if you store it right away in your dimensional space, it shouldn’t lose any of its efficacy.” She made me feel foolish for not realizing I did not need to drink the entire potion. “You need to be careful when using these. It restores your aether but does not increase your aether resistance. Channel too much aether too quickly, and you will burn out your channels.”

Maveith watched the entire exchange and brought our attention back to the dungeon room. “Are we not fighting the sand scarabs?”

Castile focused on me again and looked at the spot where the scarab dust devil had disappeared. “The scarab?” She wanted an answer.

“I didn’t put an entire scarab in my dimensional space,” I said vaguely. I was trying to give her an out from lying to the Truthseekers if they asked her about this. Castile seemed to understand my piecemeal information. She looked at the sand where the scarab had been. A small crater of sand remained. I could tell she was trying to puzzle it out.

She finally said, “Impossible.” She had not directed it at me but simply spoke to the sand. Castile was still deep in thought when footfalls behind us announced Adrian’s approach. He came and stood with us, looking into the sandscape room.

“Did you come up with a plan to draw out the scarabs?” he asked while watching the mini tornados with us.

I waited for Castile to answer him. “Eryk and Maveith have some interesting ideas. It should not require anyone else in the company. Get the men ready to clear the raptor room. I will join you in a moment.”

Adrian looked at all three of us in turn. He did not say anything before nodding to Castile, turning on his heel, and returning to the group. Once he was gone, Castile spoke. “It will take us three hours to take down the three raptors in the room. We will be gathering water from a stream there, but the raptors have very little meat.”

“You want us to remain here? To figure out a way to handle the scarabs?” I asked rhetorically. Castile nodded and moved to follow Adrian’s path. She slipped the aether potion inside her garments as she left us.

We watched her go, and Maveith’s deep voice rumbled quietly, “She was stunned, Eryk.”

“Yeah. Now that we are back with the group, I can’t keep it from her. I don’t think she’s going to be able to shield me from the others for long. Konstantin is clearly curious how we managed to wander the dungeon by ourselves, as is Adrian.” I sighed heavily as I watched the swirling sand move in the room.

We were quiet for a while. I was relieved that most of the company was well, and that the Kettle of Souls was close. We both watched the sand because the scarabs could leave the room at any time since I had already killed one of their number. A few times, the swirling sand got close but never breached the corridor.

I stood as soon as I had enough aether to use my dimensional space again. I waited while the nearest scarab dashed toward me, and I killed it at ten feet. I quickly stepped off the sand and onto the stone of the corridor. The other three scarabs rushed to the scene and past their dead comrade. This time, we did not have to wait to kill a third scarab as all three left the protection of the sand to attack us in the corridor.

The dog-sized, six-legged beetles rushed us, two abreast. Maveith crushed the first one while I fenced with a second. The beetle was using its mandibles to prevent my black blade from scoring a piercing strike. The third beetle was crawling over Maveith’s foe while I struggled with mine.

“Deal with the third one,” I barked at Maveith. My opponent matched my reach, and I did not want to overextend myself between its mandibles. Maveith had superior reach, and I was soon splattered with clear fluid as Maveith’s hammer descended on the third beetle. It was not long before Maveith’s hammer also finished off my stubborn opponent.

I looked at Maveith, who did not have any splatter on him. I had thick, clear mucus all over my armor. “I just got all the webbing off, and now I am slimed,” I complained, wiping away the goo. The first time we fought the scarabs, I got through unscathed. At least the fluid was odorless.

Maveith could not help but chuckle at my overreaction. “Go dig the two scarabs out of the sand. We need to stage the area,” I growled without malice at the goliath.

“Stage?” Maveith questioned.

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“We’re going to make it look like we tricked the scarabs out of the sand to kill them.” Maveith nodded in understanding and set to the task. I kept an eye on the corridor while the goliath worked. I waited until my aether recovered to pull the collector to my hand.

With my eye on the corridor, I first used the collector on the scarab that gave me the most trouble. A major earth essence formed. The other three scarabs yielded minor earth essences. With the scarabs freed from the sand, I had Maveith crush them with his hammer near the corridor. His ferocious attacks concealed the fist-sized holes through their exoskeletons.

Maveith surveyed the work. “It looks like I killed all the scarabs, Eryk.” That was true, as his hammer had crushed each of them. He was also eyeing the stone chest in the center of the room.

“We’ll leave the chest for when the others get here. That way, they won’t think we took anything. And tell them you smashed all the scarabs, Maveith.” This chamber was hotter than the others, and we were both sweating profusely. I was also covered in sand. As the clear scarab blood dried on my armor, it became embedded with sand. I looked ridiculous.

Maveith agreed, but after half an hour, he asked, “Should we go check on them?”

“No, Castile gave us three hours to get the scarabs. They should be here soon.” We would just wait. We had some apple slices with apple-berry jam.

Half an hour later, Konstantin arrived first. He grunted from the corridor, announcing his presence as he inspected the scarabs in the corridor and then the two remaining sand scarabs in the room. He walked over to Maveith and me, lounging by the unopened stone chest.

He looked down at us. “How did you get the scarabs to come out of the sand?”

I squinted at him, as this room was brighter than most. “I lured them out. They could not reach me if I stood on my air shield. Maveith smashed them with his hammer.” Maveith said nothing but showed Konstantin his hammer, backing up my story.

Konstantin considered my statement, probably assessing its legitimacy, before nodding. “Smart,” was all he said before landing in the sand next to us and taking an apple. Wylie and Firth were next into the room, commenting on the size of the scarabs between them.

Firth noticed the stone chest first. “Why didn’t you crack this open?” He sauntered up to it, doing the honors. “Huh?” he voiced loudly, causing me to twist and look. Among the typical silver was a black stone goblet. The last time we got a spellbook, and I had assumed it would be something similar this time. Firth picked up the silver coins and the goblet.

Castile and the others arrived, impressed with the room already being cleared. Firth announced as if he had cleared the room himself, “Found a black cup in the chest. What do you think it is?” He held it out to Castile. Castile arched her eyebrow at Maveith and me before taking the cup.

She turned it over in her hands. “No visible runic script.” She studied it for a moment while the company circled around her. “I believe it is made from a single piece of black jade. Goblet artifacts typically transmute liquids placed in them.”

“Well, let’s try it out,” Firth said eagerly. “Maybe it gives us some quality ale.”

Castile looked over at me. “Maveith and Eryk cleared the room. It is theirs to do with as they please.”

“As long as the Dukes do not find out he has it,” Konstantin announced to the company. It was for our benefit to make sure they kept the secret.

Castile handed me the goblet. It was quite heavy and shaped like a large wine cup. Firth held out his water skin and began pouring water into it, uninvited. It overflowed and splashed on me. I channeled aether into the cup, and it greedily took my offering. It took more aether than I needed to open my dimensional space to activate. Firth was leaning over me, sniffing loudly, and studying the liquid in the cup.

“How can you smell anything when you smell that bad?” I pulled the cup away from the nosy legionnaire. It was hard to tell if the liquid in the chalice had changed color since it was black. I sniffed it myself. The water had definitely turned into an alcoholic beverage—not beer or wine, though. I tipped the goblet, spilling the contents into the sand. It was an amber liquid.

“Don’t waste it!” Firth moved to stop me.

“Leave it, Firth!” Castile barked. “It could be poisoned. Eryk, it is best not to sample it until a scroll of revelation is used on it.” She nodded at me, and I made the empty black chalice vanish.

Still bent over, Firth picked up the wet sand and inhaled deeply. “That is whiskey, or I’m a goblin’s sire.”

Konstantin looked over. “I’ve seen the women at some of the brothels you frequent, Firth. That statement might just ring true.”

“Ah, if only this dungeon had a brothel room, then I could be content spending the rest of my days here,” Firth said in jest.

Some of the men chuckled at the back-and-forth, and Castile took out her collector and went to work on the scarabs, but she didn’t get a single essence. Adrian lamented the lack of luck. “Those were elemental creatures. Would’ve had a chance at an affinity essence. Next time, get Castile as soon as all the creatures are killed.”

Castile rallied everyone. “Come on, the work in this room is already done. Our companions are close!”!

The group of us were soon moving down the corridor toward the harpy room. The deadwood trees and coffee berry trees were familiar as Adrian, Castile, and I stood at the entrance to the room. The two hideous harpies hopped from branch to branch upon noticing us, their perfect chests bobbing. Adrian muttered, “We should just stick Firth on them. They’d run away.” His uncharacteristic attempt at humor fell flat.

Castile ordered the men behind us, “Two harpies. Block your ears with what you have. This should not be too difficult. I will disable their wings.”

The company started going through their packs, shoving bits of cloth, nuts, and other objects in their ears to mute the harpies’ song. It wasn’t long before we were ready. Castile stepped into the room first. Wisps of black smoke unfurled from her extended hands. The harpies did not even get close before Castile entangled their wings, and they crashed to the ground. Konstantin was the first to reach one of the harpies, and Adrian and Firth reached the second.

A few well-placed strikes, and it was over. Wylie tried one of the coffee berries on the trees and spat in disgust. “I hate this ogre’s ass of a dungeon! Berries should not taste this bad.”

“Don’t jinx us,” Blaze said, picking one of the berries himself. “It’s a cava berry. Don’t eat the skin or the seed. Just eat the flesh.” He demonstrated this by squeezing the berry to shoot out the seed. He then consumed the flesh and discarded the skin. “Not bad. The seeds are used to make a drink called cava from the south.”

“Do you know how to prepare the beans?” I asked as I moved to try the berry’s flesh myself. It tasted like a mix of cherry and watermelon—extremely refreshing.

“No, my father had a small shop in Brapo. He traded in cheap exotic goods. I’ve seen these before. I know the seeds need to be roasted for cava, but I’m not familiar with the process.” Blaze was picking and eating the fruit, and soon the entire company was. Castile moved to the harpy and produced her collector. She eyed me briefly before using it and getting a minor charm affinity. The second harpy yielded the same.

Firth had once again taken the opportunity to shatter the reward chest by the pool. “There are fish in this pond!” he noted as he excitedly dug through the coins. “Just some silver in the chest.” I thought that was odd since there had always been something in addition to the coins in the chests. If Firth had taken something, no one noticed.

I moved to the pond myself and was glad to see the dungeon had cleaned it since my last dip. Firth was already removing his armor. I think he was more focused on the fish than taking an actual bath. He might actually have success catching them since they had to bob to the surface to breathe. Mateo was stripping his armor to join him.

From across the room, Lirkin exclaimed joyously, “Are you all having a party without us?” Everyone went silent and turned to see the cook standing by himself. He probably came to check on the harpy room for his group.

Mateo, already swimming in the pool, laughed. “You’re only invited if you do the cooking.”

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