A Soldier's Life - 375 - Premonition (minor edit 4-13-25 +250 words)

Chapter 375: Premonition

I allowed Lexi to heal Anika, as she was slightly bow-legged from the long ride. Then, I followed Anika to an area mostly free of rocks. I couldn’t tell if this challenge was an attempt to prove that she was useful, or if she just wanted to see how good I was. Her face was emotionless, but held curiosity in her eyes. I tossed her a roll of tacky cloth from one of my belt pouches. I took a second and wrapped magebane. I had chosen magebane because it was already on my belt and was lighter and matched the length of Anika’s saber, so it should be a fair contest. 

“Buckler?” I asked, preparing to give her a small shield.

“I prefer to fight without a shield,” she replied confidently. I nodded and didn’t produce one for myself, but I thought not using a shield when you had the opportunity was just foolish. She was quickly doing a series of stretches, and I held my tongue as I knew what Konstantin’s response would have been something like: “Do you think your opponent is going to give you time to stretch?” 

Her body was lithe, but she was still much too thin. She looked healthier than when I found them. As she stretched, I asked conversationally, “So you were a lawyer? Why did you choose that profession?” 

The dirty-blonde woman nodded, “Mostly pro bono work for people versus the government cases. When I was a child, my uncle’s farm was seized when he couldn’t pay his taxes. I don’t think I have ever been angrier about anything in my life. It motivated me all throughout university.” She stopped stretching abruptly, “I am ready,” she turned sideways in what looked like a fencing stance.

I nodded, positioning myself, and her feet danced blindly fast forward as she ended in a lunge, the tip of her saber darting for my sternum. I parried her blade easily enough and reposted before she could retreat, slapping her hip with my blade to indicate a disabling strike. There was a look of disbelief on her face. She was smaller than me, wirier, and probably thought she was faster. My body was thick with muscle, but I had an incredible range of motion, and my speed and reaction time were fortified with essences.

I heard Benito trying desperately to finalize a bet with Lesna, but the halfling wasn’t biting, just staring with her mouth agape. The two girls looked crestfallen that their champion had failed to win the first engagement. I could see Anika processing her failure and deciding on her next attack. “You can go all out; I promise I won't hurt you.”

“My first boyfriend told me that it wouldn’t hurt the first time, too,” she retorted with a smirk.

She had been trying to throw me off, and it worked as my mind processed her words, causing me to freeze. She came immediately with a double feint before lunging. I recovered quickly, and pretended to defend against the first feint, reset my footing with her second, and by the time she lunged on her true attack, I was able to deflect her blade, step inside her defense, and grab her wrist. My other hand had drawn my dagger, and it was at her throat. She was frozen, and her eyes were wild as she tried to process what had just happened again.

I tried to sound as polite as possible. “This is not a game, Anika. You are fast, and maybe you could get a killing blow on 90% of the swordsmen you would face in Desia, but that other 10% have practiced their entire lives and would kill you easily enough. If you had a shield, and were competent with it, you might be able to draw out a fight with that 10% until someone could come to your aid, but you would eventually lose. Without a shield, if you faced two swordsmen by yourself, you would be dead.” Her jaw clenched, and I could tell she was holding in a rebuke. 

I sheathed my dagger, and a buckler appeared in my hand, and I offered it to her. She took it reluctantly. “Couldn’t you have at least cleaned it?” I shrugged and couldn’t recall what creature’s still tacky blood was on that particular small shield. As she cleaned the shield on some grass, she asked, “How long have you trained with a sword?”

“I never picked up a sword before I arrived here. So less than three years,” I replied casually.

“Bullshit,” Anika exclaimed accusatorily, staring up at me. “Your reactions are too fast—too ingrained.”

I sighed like Konstantin would have said, “It is truth whether you accept it or not.” I started to explain what she did wrong, “If you covered your forearms, I would find it more difficult to read your blade work. But your footwork is straightforward, and your eyes betray your intentions.”

“Bullshit,” she repeated. 

“You should get used to saying dragon shit,” I grinned. I was then forced to demonstrate our two engagements and precisely what she had done to telegraph her attacks to me, allowing me to react so quickly. I then started to make a few suggestions to her on how she could obfuscate her intentions and incorporate a shield.

As Castile had said, Anika was a fast learner. She was trying to overcome the muscle memory that had been ingrained in her by thousands of hours of fencing practice so she could incorporate a shield. I patiently explained a few simple defenses and how to angle the shield to deflect rather than take a blow. When her strength recovered, she could upgrade to a regular shield.

Benito sighed, and seeing that the fun was over, he moved to a better sightline for his sentry duty. I was entering teaching mode, but didn’t channel Konstantin and remained patient. Lesna took the time to entertain the children with her illusion magic. The halfling was more than a foot shorter than Lexi and Evie but enjoyed their wonderment at her simple spells. The camp settled in, and when darkness fell, I stopped the lessons. “You could have been an Olympic Champion of Earth,” Anika said between gulps, draining a waterskin.

I chuckled at the absurdity. “Unlikely. This world has changed me. Before I was abducted, I was out of shape, unmotivated, and the only marathon I could do was on my couch watching Netflix.”

Anika laughed at that, “We all like a good binge marathon.” She sobered, “Don’t think that will happen anytime soon. If ever again. You don’t know who brought us here?”

“When we are safe, I will tell you what I know, but as I told Karina, I don’t have the answers you truly want. Right now, you have people chasing you, and you are headed into hostile lands,” I said pointedly. She winced but didn’t retort. I must have said something wrong because she thanked me and went to sit with Castile and Selene to work on her language.

I took a few hours of rest, before joining the watch. I smirked when Blaze and Selene were on the watch. At least Blaze had gotten enough courage to talk with the woman as they were whispering to each other. I paused at their post, “I am going to circle the hill once or twice and climb it.”

“Helena said it was a moderately difficult climb, and she didn’t see anything concerning up there,” Blaze reported softly.

“Don’t you ever sleep?” Selene whispered. 

“I sleep enough,” I retorted, irritating the mage. Blaze was about to say something but looked at me for permission, and I nodded to him as I slipped into the woods. He would tell her about my ring of sustenance and earn a few points with the young former First Citizen.

I circled the hill once, and then, on my second circuit, I climbed the backside of the hill. It was far too rocky to bring the horses up for the night to camp on top. The bald summit offered a great view of the surrounding woodlands, as it was just above the tree canopy. An earth pulse told me this hill once had an ancient watchtower, but the only evidence was the large stone foundation buried beneath the shrubs.

Only endless stars hung in the sky tonight, barely giving any light. I could see flashes in the far distance that were probably will-o-wisps or pixies in the forest’s canopy. Even over the insects, I heard a distant roar. I didn’t catch what direction it had come from and didn’t hear it again as I strained to listen.

A chill passed over me as I relaxed in the cool night air, and the crickets suddenly went silent. I crouched and scanned the skies for danger. The insects always knew danger was coming first. My spyglass was out, and I searched fervently for the danger but couldn’t locate anything. I moved to look over our camp below, using the spyglass to scan the tree line. Benito and Helena were currently on watch, but I didn’t see anything unusual in the camp.

Then, I felt heat spreading beneath my armor. I placed my hand on the obfuscation stone hidden under my armor. Damn it, someone powerful was scrying me—and hopefully failing. It reminded me of the Titans—just not as powerful. Dragon shit, I raced down the rocky, some rocks rolling after me, to reach the camp quickly. Benito let out a short, low whistle, and the camp came alive. As I got closer and identified myself, Benito cursed at me, “Damn it, Eryk, I almost shit myself.”

I looked for Castile, who was just gaining her bearings but ready for a fight. “Castile, what is the range of a scrying spell?” 

“What?” She focused on me, processing the question. “There are dozens. It depends on whether it is air, illusion, displacement, or clairvoyant magic. It also depends on the mage’s affinity strength and how much aether they can draw...” 

“It was the clairvoyant affinity, and it was something strong enough that the insects detected it, and thought it was a predator,” I replied hastily.

I could see Castile’s mind churning as she recalled her training. “The strongest battlefield magic in the clairvoyance affinity is called flawless window. It is a more powerful version of my all-seeing eye. While I can see only in my mind, flawless window projects the images in the air in front of the mage.”

“What is the range?” I pressed anxiously. I had a premonition whatever was spying on us was not a weak adversary. 

Castile’s shook her head, not recalling. I slapped the dreamscape amulet into her hand. The entire camp was now huddled around us worriedly, not understanding what was happening. Castile nodded and quickly sat cross-legged and activated the amulet. She was standing a moment later, confusing everyone on what she had done. “It takes a sixty affinity to inscribe that spell form, and the range is ten miles, doubling in distance every scaling 10 points.”

I nodded my thanks as I took back the amulet. Castile released it reluctantly, and I could tell she wanted to use it again. All she had to do was ask. I turned to the group, calling Benito closer since he was still watching the woods. “Someone has found us—a powerful mage. Lesna, were there any powerful clairvoyant mages in the Adventurers' guild in Yuetsen?”

Lesna shook her head, “None that advertised it.”

“Centaurs?” Blaze asked, thinking of the previous night’s encounter.

My blood ran cold at the possibility of being overrun by a herd of centaurs. “Perhaps, but that's unlikely. Centaurs possess weak magic, from what I've learned. Even the bestiaries I studied noted that they only had a weak nature and healing magic. Whatever cast the spell searching for us is powerful. I have an artifact that alerts me when clairvoyant magic is used on me. I am certain they located us.”

In my mind, we had only two choices: set up a defense here or run. It could be some powerful hermit in the woods, but my instincts told me otherwise. “Castile, start scouting, and everyone else, pack up the camp. We are leaving. Lexi, heal the others. Karina, you will ride Ginger. Lexi, you will ride in front of Helena. Evie, you will ride in front of Sylph. Anika can ride a pillion with Benito.” 

“Who are you riding with?” Karina asked, perplexed at the quick assignments.

“No one, I will be scouting ahead on foot.” If we were going to be moving fast in the dark, I needed to lead the group with my earth pulses to search for danger. Lesna, can you sustain casting your night vision spell on everyone and the horses?”

Lesna nodded fiercely, “Yes, they just need to get close so I can renew it.”

When the camp was packed, Castile shook her head. “Nothing. Some wolves far to the south chasing a deer, and a large bear to the west.” 

By her look, I could tell she doubted I was making the right call to run. My hand slid under my armor, and the stone was still warm. Powerful magics were still trained on us. “Ride three abreast and stay about twenty paces behind me.”

As we abandoned our campsite, I took the lead, with the group following me into the dark woods. I was pulsing earth speak frequently as that feedback had a better range than my aether sight. There was just no way for our group to be quiet in our flight from whatever had found us. Without the sun to guide me and the stars obscured by the canopy, I was not even sure if I was leading us in the correct direction.

About two hours into our flight, the first complication arose. I smelled it before I located it. The ogre was just getting to its feet when my earth speak outlined its body. We didn’t have time to deal with it, so I rushed the creature before it could get oriented on us. Certain that no other creatures were within sixty feet, I did a little dimensional surgery on the ogre's brain—he didn’t survive.

I noticed Castile’s shadow chains reaching out just before I lost my night vision as my aether bottomed out. “It's dead!” I barked back at the group as the ogre collapsed to the ground. 

“How?” A confused voice came back, and I thought it was Sylph. No one answered her as I got Lesna to cast her night vision spell on me so I could see until I recovered my aether. We rested just long enough for me to collect a minor strength essence from the young ogre before continuing. Even though the group waited a distance from the foul-smelling beast, I was certain everyone had seen the collector as the blue wisps were pulled from its body. 

During the short rest, Castile searched again with her all-seeing-eye, but still hadn’t detected any pursuit. Everyone was tense in the group, and I once again questioned my urge to run. I also got the brilliant idea to use the blood compass. I had samples of someone very far away, who was mostly northwest of us—Renna. I was relieved when the compass had a pull to it, meaning she was still alive. With the compass, I could now keep us on a straight line.

When morning came, I broke into a jog, leading my companions away from the unknown threat.

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