A Soldier's Life

Chapter 110: Konstantin Returns

The soldiers for the countess were at attention and waiting for orders. They were all sneaking glances curiously at Maveith. Brutus looked to have been working with the Citadel gate guards. Brutus looked tired and asked, “I am done for the day. Do you mind if I spend some time with you in the alchemist tower?”

“You are welcome to. Maveith hauled up an old table and some seating a few days ago. Why don’t you go steal something from the kitchen for us.” I smiled knowingly at Brutus.

Brutus laughed at me. “Lareen still has the kitchen staff after you?”

I shrugged. “Well, Lareen is upset I have been avoiding her, and her anger has bled over to the kitchen staff. Last time I went for a snack, they just gave me the scraps they normally give the pigs.”

Brutus laughed. “I will get us something good. I am guessing the kitchen staff will be focused on dinner for the esteemed guests.”

I went to the stables to unsaddle Ginger and rub her down. As I finished with her, I told her, “Sorry, girl. No apples today.” I held up a large yellow carrot. “Will this do?” Ginger sniffed it, considering the betrayal. She eventually took it from my hand, seeing that no apple would magically appear today. Apples had become hard to come by because the refugees had taken them all, clearing the small orchards.

Finished, I went up to drop off my harvest with the alchemist. Decimus’ skin was just a light pink now, and he was hopeful in another two weeks, his skin would be back to normal. Decimus looked up from his work as I entered. Last night, he had fallen asleep and had blown up a boiling container. We had rushed up the stairs to find a mess, and Decimus was pulling shards of glass out of his skin. It allowed him to test his first batch of healing salve on himself. It worked, and our company would be getting the first healing paste from the alchemist soon.

Decimus smiled, still creepy even with pink skin. “Did you get it?”

“Yes,” I said tiredly. I emptied my legion box from my dimensional space. Decimus eagerly sorted through the harvest. As the days cooled, some things were getting hard to find fresh in the woods. Decimus took the ginseng roots that had taken me three days to find with the help of Maveith.

The wild herb root was rare in the area. It was one of the ingredients Decimus needed for the lesser healing potion. The giant bee honey had arrived from the capital just yesterday, along with the special white leather Maveith needed to finish my manticore pouch. I knew he planned to finish it in secret and surprise me, so I pretended not to be aware it had arrived.

Decimus inspected the roots. “Amazing. This one is over thirty years old! This other one is about ten years. Great job. The peppermint wash is over there,” he waved his hands, shooing me away, focused on the root.

I went to the table and found a glass container with odd-shaped jagged holes. Decimus had a spell form that could repair items. The alchemist had tried to repair the exploded glassware but had not found all the shards yet. There were also four sealed containers of the peppermint wash on the table—about sixteen doses in total. The wash freshened breath, whitened teeth, and restored gums and teeth as a minor healing potion—dental hygiene at its finest.

By my estimation, each dose lasted three to four days and could be spaced out even further. My agreement with Decimus was he would work on the peppermint wash on the side if I helped him for a few hours at night, supervising the extraction of peppermint and lavender oils. He had too much work for the Duchess and Castile to work on my wash. Well, he was also working on a number of processes for his own work to sell eventually.

I descended the tower to find Mavith munching on a ration bar and sitting on a bench at the large oak table. He really did like those bars. A took a seat and slid him one of the peppermint containers. “This is it?” Maveith asked.

“Yeah, it should remove the yellow from your teeth and fix the toothache you mentioned,” I replied. “Don’t swallow it. Just swish it a bit and then spit it out the window.”

Maveith broke the wax seal and sniffed the wash. His nose scrunched at the strong, minty wave that hit his nose. He took a pull, taking a double dose to fill his sizable mouth, and started swishing. His eyes went wide as the wash worked. After I counted to twenty, I said, “Go spit it out.” Maveith walked to the window and spat out a mist of used wash. He looked down and quickly closed the window.

Maveith looked guilty. “A pair of guards were walking the wall below.”

I just burst into laughter as Maveith slowly smiled. I commented, “Your teeth do look look much whiter. How is the tooth?” I inquired while still letting loose my mirth at the unfortunate guards.

Maveith sucked his teeth and tested them with his tongue. He found the one that had plagued him. “It doesn’t hurt. My mouth feels cold and fresh. Thank you, Eryk.” He pushed the remaining half of the wash toward me.

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“Keep it. Use it again in four days. Decimus thinks the efficiency will fade in five days, so use it before then. He is slowly working out ways for better purity of ingredients, too,” I said, letting him keep the remaining wash. The other three jars were secured in my dimensional space for use.

Brutus arrived up the stairs carrying a pack. Mateo was behind him, bear-hugging a small cask. Mateo had a grin on his face “Got us a cask of ale.”

Brutus thumbed his direction in the Mateo. “Found this one moping about no longer having a servant to tend his needs at night and having to do his own laundry. Hope you don’t mind.”

Mateo put the heavy cask on the sturdy table. It was maybe ten gallons. Brutus put his own heavy pack of food on the table. Mateo looked around the room. “Nice place. Are we going to play cards or dice?”

“Checkers?” Maveith offered, hopefully. I had found the checkers board and taught Maveith to play, and now he wanted to play every night. Flavius had corrected the rules I taught Maveith. Once a piece was ‘crowned,’ it could move one or two spaces instead of one I was familiar with. It created some interesting strategy in the end game, as the crowned piece was unkillable on the edges.

Mateo nodded. “Sure, Maveith.” Maveith gleefully went to get the board and pieces.

Brutus had walked around the room and looked out the windows. It was his first time up here. He eventually came back and unpacked his bag. He pulled two loaves, ceramic and glass jars filled with interesting jams and pickled vegetables, a whole roasted chicken, four goblets, and six plates. I was left with tapping the small cask of ale. I only had to remove a round plug on the cask, which took me a few moments. I filled the top-heavy goblets, spilling some ale on the floor, and distributed them.

We started to eat the pre-dinner snack. As we ate, Brutus asked, “How is it living with Flavius up here?”

“Fine, we talk a little at night about his day’s hunt, but he keeps to himself mostly,” I noted, cleaning a greasy wing.

Brutus shrugged. “Did he go through your things, too?”

My perplexed vision had Mateo chime in as he lost the first game to Maveith. “Felix caught him going through Brutus’s pack while you were getting the alchemist.”

Brutus stated confidently, “He was looking for Durandus’ collector. I confronted him after. Don’t know why he thought I had it. Thought he might have searched your things as well.”

I shrugged, unconcerned, “Maybe. Most days, my pack is left by my bed. Haven’t noticed anything out of place.” A lot of thoughts went through my head. Was Flavius working for Sebastian to find the collector? Was the goblin hunt a setup to catch me using the collector? Was being placed to live in the tower to bunk with him a chance to keep an eye on me.

We ate, and we all got defeated by Maveith at checkers. As the sun set, Flavius returned from his hunt. He looked over our little group, and Mateo asked, “What did you get today?”

Flavius noted indifferently, “Just a small buck. Kitchen is butchering it now.” He helped himself to the cask of ale, taking Brutus’ cup. “Are you two now bunking up here now?”

Mateo answered, “Wouldn’t mind it. Benito snores, and Kolm’s boots smell like an overripe block of cheese.”

“You should have him see the alchemist. Decimus has something for that,” I said, standing. “Are we going to head to the barracks for the evening meal with the company?”

As we walked to the barrack’s dining hall for soldiers on the other side of the Citadel, there was a lot of activity, with servants running everywhere to host. I asked, “A lot of work for just two people. The duchess must really want to impress her mother.”

Mateo smirked. “Not what I heard. The duchess was not happy about her mother coming, but there was nothing she could do.”

Brutus added, “She was even more upset by her brother coming. At least, that is what Saphron told me she overheard. She hates her brother fiercely, and he is her parent’s favorite child. I doubt he is happy that his sister now has a higher rank than himself and their parents. Her father is a baron who oversees some farming villages but did not travel with the Countess because he has a mistress he prefers.”

Flavius was walking behind us and overheard, “You shouldn’t be spreading rumors about First Citizens. It is a good way to gain their ire.” Brutus just shrugged, as gossip was the best entertainment the men got.

We reached the dining room, and the company had already served the meal. I noted that Castile, Adrian, and Delmar were not here. My small group sat with Firth and Wylie. They welcomed us as we sat.

“Any news?” Flavius asked Firth.

Firth had a habit of knowing things he shouldn’t know. “Bit of a spat with the duchess and her mother. The countess wants to quarter her personal guard in the Citadel, but both barracks are occupied.” He smiled. We all laughed at the table as we occupied one of the barracks, and the Citadel guard we were training occupied the other.

Firth drank and added, “The countess also brought some twenty attendants with her, and there is a major scramble in the kitchens to feed everyone. The influx of some sixty mouths into the Citadel is causing the kitchens to go into a frenzy with lack of staff.”

Blaze joined us from another table. “The countess’ guards are still standing in the courtyard. Poor sods.” No one at the table mentioned there was plenty of room in the barracks for both Castile’s company and the household guard for the countess. We had all recently been evicted from our luxury accommodations to accommodate their arrival and were not about to do them any favors.

The conversation turned to the training of the city and Citadel guards, and I only half paid attention as I ate. I was still puzzling out how much interest Flavius might have in me. After returning his coin and the goblin job, I thought we were on good terms, but now I was not certain. I was getting ready to head back up to the alchemist tower when a runner from the Citadel gate came in.

The runner was one of the young guards we were training. He had just run here and was breathing heavily. “Come quick! One of your men has returned, and he needs help!”

We all stood immediately and rushed out of the dining hall, not needing another word. We all thought that maybe the men guarding the hole diggers had come under attack, but instead, we found Konstantin at the gate, slumped on the ground inside the archway. His arm was in a filthy sling, and the right side of his face was burned, blistered, and cracked. Dried blood marred his armor and face, making him a grotesque site. His armor was completely blackened on the right side.

Konstantin was barely conscious as six men carried him back to the barracks. Someone went to get potions from the alchemist. Wylie was sent to get Castile, and we waited. Just what in the hell had happened to Konstantin?