A Soldiers Life - 369 - Closing In

Chapter 369: Closing In

As we rode, I realized the attack had been the fault of my leadership, mostly because of where we had decided to camp. This river was the only water source in the plains, so naturally, the herds would stay close to it. That meant the predators would not be far away either. I should have anticipated nocturnal predators would find our campsite a mile from the river.

Although no one had died, I felt the need to do better. I moved our path to parallel the river but at least a dozen miles away from it from now on. When I explained my failure to Castile, she rode beside me for the next two hours, recounting all the times she had made a mistake. Sometimes, the recounting was humorous; other times, it had fatal consequences.

When Castie finished her educational tales, she said seriously, “The burden of leadership is just that, a burden. You only worry because you care about your companions. I knew far too many mage commanders who only thought of their legionnaires as tools and shields. Never become like them, Eryk.” I nodded in affirmation and offered my thanks.

Our pace was brisk, and during our brief rests to water the horses, I was scanning with the spyglass while Castile scouted with her spells. On one rest, while Selene was watering the horses, Castile spotted a campsite, to which we diverted. Everyone waited while I inspected the camp. The campsite was in the middle of some shrubs and one petrified tree. The bushes looked like they had been hacked for firewood. 

I sent out an earth pulse before entering the camp. There was an aquafer about forty feet below the surface, but no danger. The coals that marked the old fire were cold and old. I found where one of the campers had defecated a dozen yards from camp, which was powdery when I stirred it with my dagger. I returned to the group and shook my head, disappointed, “At least a month old.”

We continued the rest of the day, with the only interesting encounter being a pack of blink dogs. Blink dogs had a short-range teleport ability but were otherwise not a threat to our group. Even though the possibility of a displacement essence was high from the creature, they never approached closer than a mile.

We continued well beyond sunset until I decided to stop, at which point it was nearly completely dark. Lesna was complaining about saddle sores and feeling like she was being split in two. I noticed Benito slip her one of the lesser healing potions I had brewed and given to him. The little halfling had Benito wrapped around her finger after just three days. I pulled Blaze aside, “Can you keep an eye on Lesna for me?”

“I have been,” he confirmed. “Although she complains a lot, she is friendly and mostly helpful.”

“Should we be worried about her influence over Benito?” I asked seriously. Blaze had known Benito for much longer than me and knew his vulnerabilities and proclivities.

Blaze considered his answer as he studied the pair, “I think it will be okay. I think the halfling is looking for a protector, and since you are off the table, she has chosen Benito.” I watched the halfling and Benito interact for a time with Blaze before I just nodded. The illusionist had a unique set of skills and didn’t strike me as dangerous. Even back in Godok, she had only used me to try and irritate the dark elf curator at the Adventurer’s Hall because he wouldn’t let her peruse his dungeon archives.

I checked on Helena and Sylph setting up their tent before moving to talk with Castile and Selene. “Are we any closer?” Selene asked preemptively.

I palmed the blood compass, getting a feel for the pull. “Yes. But I don’t think we will catch them before they reach the border if my estimates are right.” I produced a map and unfurled it in the light of a glowstone for them. “We are about here…this is the path of the compass. We should pass between these two rivers in three days. When we do, we will be 80 miles from the border of Shiunyuet.”

“How far ahead are they?” Selene asked, leaning into me to examine the map. She smelled of the outdoors, a mix of strong sweat, and hints of a long-faded perfume. 

“A hundred miles, maybe a touch less. The compass is by feel, and I have only tracked one person before who was over a hundred miles away. We are making fifty miles a day, give or take. We cannot ride recklessly in this country,” I explained unnecessarily. The oversized chimera was enough of a reminder.

The night passed uneventfully, and I kept watch with Castile, and she had recalled a few more amazing stories to share. Everyone was fed and moving even before the sky turned gray. The following two days were hard on the horses of my companions. With no healers available, the brutal sun and heat worked against us. I was using lesser healing potions at an alarming rate, even administering them to the horses to keep everyone healthy. Ginger was unhappy with this journey, even refusing an apple to show her displeasure. 

At least the grasslands began to show more trees, providing shade to offer our brief rests some relief from the sun. Since we had been heading north, the temperature should also start to mellow. At least our group was large enough to keep the lion prides and packs of blink dogs and hyenas at bay. We were significantly closing the distance each day as well—we might catch them in two or three days. I was already contemplating what I was going to ask them after I introduced myself. 

“Vultures,” Castile interrupted my thoughts.

I looked where she pointed, and vultures circled high in the clear sky to our right. “It could be a kill, but we can check it out.” We got a vantage point from a few miles away and focused my spyglass. Several giant vultures were already on the ground. The lesser vultures in the air waited their turn to feast on whatever creature had died.

I made a decision. “Castile with me on foot. Blaze, follow us twenty paces back.” Blaze nodded, preparing his bow.

“I will come too!” Lesna's high-pitched voice perked up.

I looked down at the eager halfling. “Fine, but stay invisible,” I said, as I didn’t want to have to protect her if there was a threat. We quickly handed off the horses, and I gave Selene the spyglass to watch as we approached the last few miles on foot.

On foot, I could continuously send out earth pulses to scout. The vultures were as tall as a man and started a racket of warning caws as we approached their kill. Not kill—kills. At least three mostly eaten horse corpses and four men. One vulture made the mistake of hopping toward us and trying to intimidate us to leave. 

As soon as it was in the range of Castile’s shadow chains, they flowed up its body and around its neck. I thought Castile was trying to strangle it, but as the avian panicked at being restrained, its neck suddenly snapped. As the bird was silenced, the other four flew off to circle with their smaller cousins above as the bird was.

I looked over at Castile, surprised. I didn’t know her shadow chains could kill. She shrugged, smirking, “They have weak necks, and it could have flown away.”

I motioned Blaze to join us and Lesna appeared between Castile and myself. “I think I know them!” the halfling said excitedly. With the vultures above, the halfling remained tight to my side as we advanced. The scent of death got heavier as we approached the baking bodies. “Yes! That is Melkyal, and that over there is Cadriel…that might be Mattia, but her face was eaten.” She got a little braver, taking a few steps away from me. “I don’t see Samael. I hope something else already ate that bald bastard.”

“This is an adventuring team?” I asked, searching the nearest body. I found the medallion in short order and read the name and his guild number. Melkyal Rainfist 23-620698. “Do we collect and turn these in?” I asked Lesna.

She spat on the ground, “No one is going to miss them. But yes, the guild does give a large silver for returning them so the next of kin can be notified.”

As I collected the four guild medallions, I tried to piece together what had happened here. The vulture had done a number on the horses and bodies, but based on the rate of decay, I estimated two days dead. Clearly, they had been in a fight—possibly with the otherworlders or another group tracking them.

I pieced together the fight as best I could. A group had been camping under a nearby tree and been attacked—probably at night. The attackers were the dead bodies and had ridden their horses in… I stopped as I walked toward some freshly churned earth and sent out an earth pulse. Damn. An adult woman’s body was buried two feet under the soil. I looked back at the bodies—it wasn’t the adventurers, or they would have buried the rest of their dead.

I had been kneeling over the grave for a time when Blaze came to stand over me, “What is it?”

“One of the otherworlders is buried here,” I replied as I tried to remember a prayer from Earth. When I turned thirteen my parents let me decide about attending church. I only went for two months more before stopping altogether. “It is not one of the children, at least, but still, she didn’t deserve to be hunted like an animal.”

Blaze gave me a minute, and when I stood, he addressed me. “Lesna thinks there were three others in Samael’s group. At least his group typically had seven members.”

From what I had pieced together with the bodies and tracks, I speculated on what happened aloud. “I think they attacked at night and dumbly rode in bold instead of trying to surprise them. The otherworlders put up a more intense fight than expected, but lost one of their members. Samael and his companions rode south. They are likely going to cross the river and head to Tsimshan. They will either reinforce their number to try again or cut their losses and sell the location of the otherworlders.”

“Samael will come back,” Lesna warned. “He will be doubly angry. Mattia was his woman, even though they fought like two alley cats in the common room. I think he actually liked her.”

“I guess it's a two-day ride to Tsimshan from here. If we're lucky, the crocs might have gotten them when they tried to cross the river.” 

“How do you think they were tracked?” Castile asked aloud, Lesna crowding in her shadow for protection.

I shrugged. There were other magical methods beyond a blood compass to track people. If they had been good trackers, it wouldn’t have taken this long to find the otherworlders with the head start they had. I gestured to the mess. “Do you want anything from the bodies or saddle bags?” I asked the group. 

Lesna bit her lip before shaking her head in refusal. Castile showed no inclination either. Blaze wasn’t as virtuous, and he searched the bodies but didn’t find anything of value, and we assumed the otherworlders had picked them clean.

We returned to the group and continued on our path north to catch up with them. It should only be two more days until we overtake them. I was confident they were not mounted, as the only horse tracks leaving this site were headed south. Even though they showed they could defend themselves, I wanted to get to them before Samael. 

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