Chapter 173: Trust

  I watched everyone sleep, snore, a various ftutions. In a way, I felt at home. I felt much safer being with the pany and sharing the danger—not so much the smell. I secretly popped an apex earth essence, and it roiled my stomach for a bit. I leaned against the wall, squatting as my body ed the essence, and sweated through the assimition.

  I o give myself more time between ing affinity essences. I was finding that the magic affinity esseneeded loo acclimate than physiental ones. After about ten minutes, I was able to stand.

  Castile stirred as my armor scraped against the wall. She was the quietest among us since she did not wear the hardened legion armor. She surveyed the room and moved close to speak with me. She asked me a question for which I was unprepared. “Do you think we should exit the dungeon and run after eg with Fvius?”

  She was essentially asking if we should abandon hope of findio, Lirkin, Lu, and Pavel. Lu had patiently taught me to ride and everything anyone could ever want to know about horses. I had helped Lirkin cook and had eaten the food he had prepared for months. Benito was like my clueless younger brother. I sidered Pavel a friend as well. I locked eyes with Castile. “Is this a test?”

  Castile looked impassive. “If you were in charge, what would you do?” she pressed.

  I realized I did not want to leave them. “We could always e back for them,” I hedged, thinking we could escape aurn with support.

  “Unlikely. As soon as we reach a legion hall, we will be called to the capital to report and at for our extended absence. Most likely, when we leave the dungeon, I will have us rush to Parvas, and then I expect we will be ordered to portal to Telha to report to the Legatus Legionis,” Castile expined. “We will not be allowed to return to Sobral City.”

  My first thought was of pinger. She was going to wonder why I never returned. Castile interrupted my thoughts. “So, you would leave without knowing their fate?” I uood that Castile was solig advice for her own immi decision.

  My mind raced for an answer. “If I were in and, I would map the entire first level of the dungeon looking for them. That way, I would feel I put in an effort to find them, and my sce would be clear.”

  Castile looked much older as her stern expression rexed. “There are y-nine safe rooms on the first level of the Shimmering Labyrinth. We learhat much from the elven scrawl on the walls in the safe rooms. That is, as long as this dungeon has not grown i fifteen hundred years. The elven writing also indicated there are seven different dests to access the sed level of the dungeon. We found one of those stairs but did not desd. We do not even know if there are levels below the sed. If you arrived on the sed level, they could have done so too.”

  I thought Castile wanted me to tell her it was okay to leave the others, but I could not be responsible for that decision and spoke without de. “Benito had a broken wrist wheered the dungeon, but he’s tough. We shouldn’t give up on them until we know for sure.”

  Castile’s face soured slightly, and she did not get the answer she wanted. She nodded but then asked, “Where did you get the apex earth essence?” My surprised expression made her smile slyly. “All-seeing-eye,” she expined how she knew. She must have been using the spell while pretending to sleep. “It is a fight with the duo use it past the current room, but I am gettier with it. It was just luck I saw you e it.”

  I decided to tell her the truth. “From the earth drake.” Her eyebrows arched. I had firmed what she already knew—I had Durandus’ collector.

  “The big one Maveith mentioned?” she asked in disbelief. I nodded. “Do not tell me more. We talk after I am questioned in Telha by the Truthseekers.”

  Konstantin stirred and stood, suspiciously eyeing us he corridor—or maybe irritated that I had woken before him. He stood noisily, waking a few men. “I will sit on the shadow bear room,” he annouo Castile, and the off down the corridor with his pack.

  Soon, everyone was stirring, and it was Mateo’s turn to cook. They had only harvested meat, mushrooms, and nuts. They had a little salt from a room with a saltwater ke but had not have enough wood to evaporate much water to cim the salt. We moved as a group to join Konstantin. He was sitting in the corridor, whittling a stick. He looked at us. “Still not time, maybe an hour or two.”

  Huddled in the corridor, our smelly group watched the room ily. The skinned shadow bear was barely visible. Bze was the one who noticed the reset first. “It’s gone!”

  Adrian started issuing orders. “Stay away from the shadoies. Draw it to the perimeter. Pair off and work together.”

  Maveith and I were left as a pair. Konstantiered with Firth at his side. A bear’s roar sounded from the ter of the chamber. I entered and moved right with Maveith. The shadopeared far to the left, emerging like a nightmare out of the shadows on the ground. It was an odd visual as it charged at Mateo and Wylie. Mateo yelled angrily, “Ah, shit, not again. I must taste good.” He braced for the bear’s charge with his dented and damaged shield.

  The twang of a bow sent an arrow into the bear’s neck, halting its charge. Its paw swatted the arrow, snapping the shaft. The bear dove into a shadow, disappearing as if into a pool. Konstantin moved forward. “It will not be able to hide for long. Be ready.”

  The shadow bear emerged on our side, and Maveith stepped toward its emerging form. His hammer swung down on its skull as it artially out of the shadow. A loud crack resounded in the room, and the bear slid bato the shadow, disappearing. Everyone remaiense, ready for the bear to return. Konstantin finally said, “I see the reward chest. It must be dead. Search the trees for the corpse.”

  We searched in groups of three, but the bear’s corpse was nowhere among the trees. Adrian set about losing the bear meat. Castile thought the bear must have been trapped in the shadow and died from Maveith’s strike.

  Adrian directed me. “Eryk, you are responsible fanizing the harvest of wood and nuts.” These were the same bitter nuts we had at breakfast. I sent four men to chop wood, and I joined Maveith in pig up the nuts on the ground, or he would hit a tree with his hammer to get the nuts to fall.

  It was disappointing not to get a, but no one bmed Maveith. Instead, they gratuted him on his impressive killing blow. When we had a moment alone, I asked Maveith, “How are you doing?”

  “It is good to be back with the others, but I miss Raelia,” he said as softly as he could.

  I cautiohe goliath. “Castile has a spying spell, Maveith. Be careful what you say, even if you think you ’t be overheard,” I advised. He nodded in uanding.

  “I have not said anything, even though Konstantin and Adrian have pressed me for details of our time in the dungeon,” he replied quietly as he gathered nuts into a pile.

  Castile expected me to track the pany’s food and supplies. I had fotten that I was taking over for Delmar. The hree hours were spent reviewing each man’s pack as I ioried what we had. The biggest problem was that the dungeo o be smoked or eaten, or it would go bad in just two days. They did not have access to a dimensional space to preserve their meat, and many rooms did not have wood that burned well.

  As best I could project from what I ted, the group had four days’ worth of food. It was not a banced diet, but it was enough for plentiful meals. Each man was also now carrying a bundle of firewood from the shadow bear room. The reward chest had yielded only a few silver s and a single lesser healing potion. I was now quite sure the dungeon had reduced the reward because there were nine of us.

  I asked Castile this question. “Do you think the dungeon reduced the reward? There were nine of us when there should not have been more than four.”

  Castile thought about it while crag nuts. “I do not know. This is not my first dungeon, but it is much rger than any of which I have ever heard of. The rgest dungeon I know of ielhian Empire has nine rooms total. Perhaps you are right. We test your theory in the weaver room.”

  We spent half a day in the shadow bear room, and I learned how poorly off the pany was. We had just three arrows left between Bze and Konstantin. Many buckles and straps on the armor were in bad shape. Half the men had holes in their socks and boots. Clothes were soiled and frayed. Bodies were filthy and unhygienic. Wylie had a nasty cough and a minor iion on his leg. Firth had two broken fingers, but at least his arm had been healed with a potion. But not a single one of them pined. Another apple for everyone could not hurt, so I added it to the meal after the work was done and before we moved out.

  Konstantin happily ate his apple and casually asked, “How many more apples do you have?”

  “A few, but I was hoping to save them finger rather than waste them on you lot,” I retorted with good humor.

  Adria out a rare chuckle. “Damn, Eryk, you like your horse better than the men you fight alongside.” Adrian had been with me when I found Ginger injured, and the horse trader was going to use her for breeding stock. Adrian had allowed me t her back to Sobral and to have her healed.

  “Ginger just appreciates me more than you all,” I grunted dismissively. That got some ughs, and everyone professed that they appreciated me very much—as long as I had more apples.

  We moved on to the weaver room. Konstantin caught a glimpse of one of the bck spiders. “The room is set. Same pn?” He looked at Castile.

  “No. It will just be Eryk, Maveith, Adrian, and myself. Eryk thinks we will get better loot with fewer people.” She me. “You draw them out.”

  I was going to be bait again. Maveith was behind me as I moved into the room, my boots stig as I stepped forward. A nce of fire shot over my head into one of the cos. I turo see Castile holding a new ebony wand. I set shields to hold the spray of webbing from reag me or Maveith as Castile burned each co. The spiders crashed to the stone floor as their webbing was destroyed. Adrian moved past me to attack the stunned spider.

  Maveith crushed a spider, and I killed my own, stabbing into its array of eyes. Ihan a mihe weavers were dispatched. Castile was smiling as she slid her fire wand batarments. She struggled to move across the floor to the chest. “Maveith,” she indicated the chest. He moved to Castile’s side with sticky steps and tapped the chest, shattering the stone.

  Castile studied the tents. “Definitely more silver, and a levitation potion. Last time, we got a spider climb potion that we used to check the cos.”

  “Was there anything in them?” I asked, looking up at the sm balls.

  “No,” Konstantin said from behihe others moved into the room, and it got very loud as they moved across the sticky floor. Firth swore as the sole of his boot came off.

  “Are we going to harvest the spis?” I asked Castile. Castile was removing her collector from her pack. I could hear it scraping oal of the kettle of souls as she took it out.

  Adrian was almost to the opposite corridor. “No, they o be preserved. These spider legs o be boiled, too, and we do not have the water to do that.”

  Castile hissed in disappoi as the first spider yielded nothing with the collector. I asked, “Do you wao hahis while yetting everyoled into the safe room?”

  Castile locked her eyes on mine and nodded, uanding in her gaze. “Yes, Eryk, hahe spider harvest. We got three essehe first time through. Hopefully, you have the same luck. Everyone else, let’s get to the safe room.”

  I preteo have difficulty getting to the spider to make sure everyone had left and was out of sight. I used my collector, and a minor coordination essence was formed. I then proceeded to get three more. I experimented with my dimensional space, cutting the chitin abdomen in half with the thi worked, and the ans oozed out of the bisected weaver.

  I dug out the spi and collected twiviotal of five in my dimensional ste. I washed my hands of the evidend joihe others. It looked like it was Konstantin’s turn to cook. I handed Castile’s collector back to her along with the three of four coordination essences.

  She smiled as she took the collector. “Firth, Konstantin, and Wylie, these are yours.” Morale was high with the ease of the st two fights and essences.

  As everyoled into the room, Castile, Adrian, and I talked in the corridor.

  “How are we getting past the sand scarabs?” Adrian inquired.

  “I will go with Eryk and Maveith and assess the situation,” Castile decided. “You are in charge of the men until we return.”

  Adrian did not look happy. “Bring a fourth man. Konstantin or Firth.”

  Castile shook her head. “The three of us are fine. Have Konstantin scout the raptor room a everyone fed aed. We are close to reuniting with our panions.”

  Maveith and I walked with Castile to the sand room. When we reached it, she looked at me expetly. “I o know what you do, Eryk.” I looked at Maveith, then stepped out onto the sand. The dust devils moved toward me. I waited until they got close, and targeted one of them. A puff of sand and the swirling sand above the scarab dissipated, and I stepped bato the corridor before the others could reach me. Castile looked from me to the sand a few times, processing it. Maveith was watg to make sure the scarabs did not attack.

  “Did you put the entire scarab in your dimensional space?” Castile asked in disbelief. “Do not ahat. you and Maveith clear the room by yourselves?”

  “Only if I drink my aether restoration potions. Otherwise, I have to wait about forty minutes each time,” I revealed.

  Castile’s jaw dropped, her eyes wide. “You have aether potions!? As in plural!?”

  ? Chted 2024 by AlwaysRollsAOne

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