Chapter 13

Three legionaries guarded the entrance of the cave. Inside, the men were all working to process the griffin. One man was sorting feathers, another cleaned the talons and teeth, and another cut meat into thin strips to smoke them into jerky. As I looked around, a feather pillow hit me in the face, and I caught it before it hit the floor. “He is back!” yelled my attacker. It was Lucien, the horse master. The soldiers parted to let me reach Castille and one of her lieutenants. The expectant soldiers watched as I approached. I took the pillow and placed it on the ground, and materialized the egg on top.

Cheers erupted. I felt like the hero returning from the war. Lucien was behind me and whispered, “The pillow was for you, dolt. Griffin down feathers. Already boiled and dried by Mage Castille.”

Mage Castille picked up the egg and held it to her ear, listening. A moment later, she announced, “It is alive!” more cheers.

Lucien mumbled, “Would have made a good omelet, though.”

Delmar snapped at him, “Expensive omelet, horse master. That egg is good for at least 2500 gold on the open market to a griffon tamer.”

“Good mounts should remain on the ground,” the horse master retorted.

Delmar gave him a hard stare and then said, “Agreed!” they both laughed.

Castille looked at me, “You did well, Eryk. Go see Adrian for a bonus.” She waived to the corner of the cave. “Take the pillow. Another reward the men granted you,” she smiled suspiciously.

I approached Adrian at a stone table with the potion racks and coin trays in front of him. He had the ledger open and looked up, “Eryk...you have a bonus here from Mage Castille. Two large silver.” he took two large pieces of silver and handed them to me. I was a little stunned. The egg was so valuable, and I got 20 silver.

Seeing my disbelief, he smiled, “Once the griffin parts are sold, you will get another bonus.” he checked the ledger, “Probably three gold. Don’t look surprised. The empire only lets Mage Castille keep 10% of the harvest. She will give half of what she gets to the legion members. That is after she resupplies the potions. Most mages give nothing to their soldiers, so be happy. That pillow you are holding,” he pointed. “That is a griffin feather down pillow. Worth a gold on its own.”

I felt the pillow and it was soft, and the case was silky smooth. As I felt it up, Adrian chuckled, “The men voted to give you the pillow because they said you moan and groan all the time. Although they gifted it to you as a joke, I suggest you hang on to it and sell it when we reach a larger city. Quilters prize the down feathers.”

I flushed in mild embarrassment, but I would lug the three-pound pillow with me if it was worth one gold coin. That was why I guessed no one wanted it. Three pounds was a lot of weight to carry out of the mountains.

“Go get something to eat,” Adrian said, smiling ruefully. “You are going to need it. Mage Castille wants you in the dungeon party. Put the potions and these trays back into your storage.”

My thoughts jolted. Dungeon party? Why me? I walked to someone cooking skewered chunks of griffin flesh over coals. He handed me two of them, and I started eating. The meat was amazing and took my mind off the dungeon problem. It was salty-sweet and melted in my mouth. The cook smiled, “We had some Kraken salt left and some spices. It is an instant marinade.”

“Kraken salt?” I asked while devouring the meat. I hoped to get more.

He laughed, “Yeah, it is distilled from Kraken’s blood. A byproduct of alchemists. One of Mage Castille’s vanities. She breaks it out when we celebrate,” he paused and switched his tone. “Or sometimes when we are about to do something that might get some of us killed.” He looked at me seriously, “A kind of last meal.”

I reached for another skewer, and he slapped my hand, “Two each.” Then he reconsidered and handed me a third skewer. I numbly walked to my tent and found Renna studying her book using some type of light stone.

Renna looked up as I sat. “Sorry to hear you are going into the dungeon in the morning. Mage Castille announced the six going before you got back.”

“Just six of us?” I asked, suddenly more concerned.

“They tested the dungeon entrance. It only accepts a fixed number of people at a time. After the number has entered, the doorway prevents others,” I sat next to her with my anxiety rising.

“Why are we evening going in? I thought the dungeon absorbed corpses after people were killed. If the baron’s son is dead, we will not find any evidence anyway. And it has been a month. He must be dead already,” I grumbled while finishing my griffin meat.

Renna had a sympathetic look, “Mage Castille is strong, and she is taking her best fighters. Well, her best fighters, not including you,” she giggled, trying to break my sour mood. “Delmar has been into dungeons before, and he is going. He said the dungeon has safe areas in it where the creatures will not attack you. I think the plan is to search the safe areas for the baron’s son.”

“So you are not coming then?” I asked.

“No. I have not learned any spells; my only spell form is flight,” she replied softly.

I finished my meat, relaxed against the stone wall, and Renna moved beside me. The cold stone on my back felt good. The looming oily wall nearby put a damper on my mood. Renna’s knees were touching, and I knew her closeness to me was a good sign. Maybe tonight she would visit my tent. I was not foolish enough to try and visit hers.

My fantasies were ended when Castille announced the dungeon team had four hours to rest up. A brief period of silence before I asked if Renna could read to me again. She took out the book, and I asked about affinities unrelated to me before asking about the time affinity.

Renna turned to the page, “Time…only one is listed for each range.” I waited expectantly while she read. The three ranges were affinity range up 20, 20-50, and 50 to 70. “The easiest to learn is something called time sense. It lets you always know what time it is. That is probably useful in dungeons. Did your affinity with time gem light up on the disc?”

“No, I am just curious. I like hearing listening to your voice. What are the other two?” She blushed at my words.

“The mid-tier time suggestion is called stasis. It allows you to halt the aging of an object or person. It fades over time. Wow, that would be amazing. Too bad the time affinity is so rare. I would guess the Emperor has a mage casting this on him all the time. He has been the Emperor for what, three hundred years?” She turned to me.

“I don’t know,” I replied. I knew absolutely nothing about the Emperor.

“Yeah, I think his three hundredth birthday celebration was three or four years ago,” Renna said, thinking. “I have never seen him in person,” she softened her voice. “I am meeting his eleventh son after I form all five of my spell abilities. We are to be married.”

The air was suddenly very thick. I did not know what to say. I wanted her to read on, but I also felt I should console her. She was probably going to live in luxury, so should I feel sorry for her? I finally said, “Three hundred years old and only eleven sons? If you are so important to Emperor, why did High Mage Dacien leave you.”

She huffed, “The Emperor has seventeen sons still alive. I do not know how many have died over the years. As to High Mage Dacien, he only cares about growing his own power. We came out here to get the apex earth essence from the bulette. It is the only way he can grow his earth affinity now, with apex earth essences.” She shifted uncomfortably. “The high mage is probably one of the five most powerful mages in the empire. He can pretty much do what he wants. As long as he answers the Emperor’s call to war.” She stared off into space, “I am sure if I die, they will just find another wife for the Emperor’s son anyway.”

She had a morbid view of her plight. “How old are you anyway?” I figured an Empire year was pretty close to what I considered an Earth year from my time here.

“Nineteen this December,” she replied. She looked younger, but I took her word. There were ten months in the calendar. Martius, Aprilis, Maius, Junius, Quintilis, Sextilis, September, October, November, and December. It was another clue as I remembered that there were originally ten months in the Roman calendar. I was pretty sure the alphabet was Latin. I thought I was transported to an alternate reality where the Roman Empire thrived in a world with magic.

I nodded at Renna and smiled, which she returned. “What else does it say about the time affinity?” I tried to return her attention to the book and killed the moment.

So reluctantly read the next passage and summarized, “The highest affinities can do something called time stop. It appears it creates a bubble of slow time around the mage, where the mage moves at normal speed. Anyone entering the bubble will be affected by the slow time. It takes a lot of aether to maintain the bubble, though.” My affinity was 90 in the time affinity. Was there another suggestion that was even more powerful than these suggestions in the book?

I nodded, “I think I should get some rest.” I left her, crawled into my tent, and got my new pillow underneath my bed. It smelled like the outdoors. I really did miss pillows. It did not take long to fall asleep.

It was too soon before I was woken up. It was Mateo, and he was gently shaking me, “Eryk. They are getting ready. I was told to wake you.” He was being too polite, and it seemed he felt bad for my fate. He left, and I moved the pillow into my dimensional space. If there was a chance it would be my end, then I was taking the pillow with me.

The other five people entering were Mage Castille, Delmar, Konstantin, Linus, and Firth. I felt out of place in the group of experienced older legionaries. They looked determined and not at all nervous. Mage Castille addressed me, “Stay near Linus and do whatever he tells you.” She walked into the black oily wall, and it seemed to stretch around her, and then she vanished, and the wall was smooth again. Everyone else moved through, leaving me standing there.

Adrian yelled, “Hurry up, legionnaire. They will think you are running away if you don’t show up soon.” I turned to rush into the wall, and it stretched around me. It felt like I was falling into a pool of warm jello. And then I fell face-first onto a stone floor.

“Watch out, raw recruit. The first step is always disorienting. Pick yourself up, put your pants back on,” Delmar said with some humor.

I stood, and my pants were on as I checked them, so I was confused. Konstantin laughed, “Boy, he was just referring to the fact this was your first time getting fucked by a dungeon.” I was not too fond of the attempt at humor.