My dreams started pleasant enough but did not end that way. I was riding a giant weasel into battle. The soft fur and rhythmic ripples on its body beneath me as it ran across the field were powerful, invigorating, and mesmerizing. As we ran through the woods, I saw Konstantin hanging from a tree tangled in rope and trying to extract himself. I laughed at him as I raced past. After seeing Konstantin, things quickly went downhill.
I soon found myself fighting a dozen elven archers underneath the aqueduct in Macha. My weasel mount was mewing and squeaked in pain as it was incapacitated with a dozen arrows. I desperately tried erecting an air shield to hold off their assault and cursing as I had not practiced enough and kept placing it in the wrong spot. The archers kept yelling in their language that they wanted their comrade back. Not the elf rider, but the woodsman scout still in my dimensional closet.
Then Konstantin was on the aqueduct above me, not to help but to give me directions on how I should be fighting when outnumbered. I tried to run while swearing at Konstantin and took an arrow to the back. I woke in a sweat.
Lareen was standing over me at my bedside in her nightshirt. I jerked back in surprise, “Eryk, are you well? Should I get a healer?”
I cleared my head and wiped the sweat from my face on the sheets, “I am fine.” I regained myself quickly, not liking I had been found so vulnerable. The concern on her face was welcome, and I suddenly longed to be able to talk with my parents about my problems. I brushed it off and stood on the bed’s other side, away from Lareen. “When is breakfast?”
“Sunrise is not for three hours. Do you wish for me to bring you something from the kitchens?” She asked conciliatoryly.
“Please. Can you have them make me an omelet with sharp cheese, diced sausage, and green onion?” I asked, yearning for some comfort food. Growing up, we had chickens, and my mother made the best omelets.
“What is an omelet?” She asked, confused.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})“It is something from my homeland,” I replied and then told her how it was made.
I dressed and locked myself in the bathroom. I then practiced my sword forms, incorporating my air shields until I ran out of aether. I exited the bathroom expecting to find Lareen with my breakfast, but she had not returned from the kitchens. I started doing some static stretches to relax. I had dated a yoga fanatic and health nut for a short time, and to placate her, I had joined her in the mornings. Back then, I was going through the motions to ensure she would stay the night, and now, it was relaxing. Maybe it was more relaxing that she was not here constantly correcting me.
I was fitter now, and stretching my aching muscles felt good rather than healing them with aether. Lareen entered with a plate and pitcher while I was in the cobra pose. She looked at me strangely, then explained her lateness. “I am sorry they burned their first attempt, and I made them cook it again.” She looked around the room. “Do you want me to bring a table and chair into your room? Will you be taking meals here often?”
I looked around at the spartan room. “Yes, two chairs and a small table. I will take some meals here, and when I do, I would like you to join me.” She smirked a smile briefly and then hid it and nodded happily.
I sat on the bed and ate my overcooked omelet. “Next time, tell the cooks to add a cream splash and whip the eggs together. They cooked this too long, and it is too dry and crunchy.”
Lareen looked a little upset and blurted, “The first one was burnt…I told them to cook it again.”
I held up my fork, “It is fine. I have had worse.” I continued eating while she just stood there. She filled a glass from the pitcher and handed it to to me, taking the empty plate. The pitcher had a very weak wine, which I guess could be called grape juice. I started dressing, and Lareen rushed into her room to change into her dress. I was done well before her and was already walking down the hallway. Maybe I could wake Konstantin like he liked to wake me? I paused at two doors across from each other and realized I did not know which was his.
Both doors were blue tace wood, so I could not hear anything on the other side. I guessed he would have chosen the room facing the gardens and tried the door handle. It figures that it was locked. Lareen was fixing her hair back as she caught me in the corridor, “Is this Konstantin’s room?” She nodded, finishing her hair. “Do you have the key?”
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})“No, only the Citadel steward and Marie, the servant assigned to him, do,” she said regretfully since she was not able to help.
“What about Castile’s room? Can you show me where it is?” I asked.
“It is in the Duchess’ wing of the Citadel. I can show you,” she smiled at being able to help. I followed her down some stairs and into another wing. The hallway had more furnishings, but it was still fairly sparse. She stopped and indicated the door, and I was about to knock when the door swung open.
A middle-aged male servant with messy black hair was standing there. I was not sure who was more shocked, me or him. When he opened the door, the distinct smell of sex hit me as warm air rushed out of the room. Castile was on the bed inside the room, her lower body under covers but naked from the waist up. A modest fire was burning in her fireplace. There was dead silence as no one moved or spoke. Then Castile, who made no effort to cover her chest, said, “Breakfast, Alder?” The servant ran off to the kitchen at the reminder.
Castile stood, still naked, and I was too shocked to do anything but stare. Nudity was not a taboo in the Telhian Empire, but it felt wrong. I averted my eyes as soon as she started dressing, “Yes, Eryk. You are here quite early. Sunrise is not for another hour.” Her tone held a tinge of mirth at my embarrassment. I think she was showing off her body intentionally.
“Sorry. I just…I wasn’t sure what I should do today.” It sounded lame to visit her before dawn just to get orders, so I added, “And thought we could start working on another spell form for me.”
Castile stopped dressing, still somewhat exposed, and she was hiding a smile at my shyness. Lareen stirred behind me, and I suddenly felt like a child. I looked up and met Castile’s eyes. I just focused on her eyes, nothing else. After a pause and a small smirk, Castile pulled over a blue shirt to cover herself completely before speaking, “Not something to be discussed in present company. Leave us,” she said firmly at Lareen.
Lareen scurried away, shutting the door behind her. I was sure the Duchess was going to know I was learning a new spell form before too long and kicked myself for mentioning it. Spell forms were not uncommon, and Castile was smart not to let the servant know what I was specifically working on.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})I moved to sit by a large window. The view had the gardens below, and at least Castile had curtains in her room that could be drawn for privacy. A table, covered in stacks of papers, was here. Castile sat across from me and moved the papers, “We are trying to develop revenue streams for the Duchess. Her province does not have much. The only thing we came up with was opening the trade road,” she frowned at the idea or our company clearing the dire wolves and other dangers. “It would add Sobral as a merchant stop but still not turn the tide of her financial destitution.”
I sat there quietly, still uneasy about seeing her naked. Castile seemed content to ignore my intrusion and, seeing her naked, and moved the conversation forward, “Eryk, how has your training with your new spell form come?”
I eagerly created a disc above the table to change the focus and put a stack of papers on it. Castile felt the edges out, and the disc popped before the twelve seconds. My mouth hung open in surprise. Castile smirked, “Counterspell, remember? I just disrupted the aetheric weave holding the air together. It is a good spell form. Can it support your weight?”
I nodded confidently, “Yes. I can stand on it, and I have been practicing using it in combat with Konstantin’s help.”
“Good! Find out how much weight it can support. It should be around five hundred pounds, but it depends on the strength of your protection affinity. Are you ready for a time spell form?” Castile asked seriously.
“Yes, what are my options?” I asked, relaxing in my chair.
Castile smirked and stood with purpose. She went and retrieved a tome from a chest that was locked. She walked the book to me and said, “There are three standard volumes for each spell form for each affinity at the Telhian Mage College. The Duchess has a remarkable library, and all three time affinities are bound into this one rare tome. She is unaware I am borrowing this one, so keep it hidden in your space when not studying.”
“Thank you,” I pulled the book closer and opened it to an index. My Latin was much improved, and I quickly read off the spell forms.
Time Affinity Lesser Spell Forms
Hasten Mind
Seize Momentum
Echo in Time
Compress Sleep
Time Affinity Major Spell Forms
Hasten Self
Slow Aging
Age Target
Probable Future
Time Apex Major Spell Forms
Slow Bubble
Flashback
Ageless
Stasis
Castile explained, “There are more time spell forms out there, but these were the most utilized a hundred years ago when the book was copied. Time is a very rare affinity to have and you are lucky this compendium was in the library. The lesser spell forms are for affinities between ten and twenty-five. The majors are for twenty-five to forty. And the apex forms are from forty to seventy.”
She did not ask which range I fell into. Based on my protection spell form, she was smart enough deduce that I could at least add a major spell form for the time affinity. There might be something stronger out there for my ninety affinity in time, but I could not access it with this reference book.
I paged through for a few moments, and Castile announced, “Learn this on your own, and do not share it with anyone. You should store it before Alder returns with my breakfast.” I nodded in understanding, closed the book, and moved it to my dimensional space.
There was a brief silence before I intoned, “Thank you for preparing me for—life after the legion,” I hedged. Castile gave a curt nod, but I sensed maybe something else there as well. Maybe she was planning on fleeing the Empire, and I was going to be her escort.
I turned the conversation away from the topic of the Empire, “What does Konstantin suspect of me?”
Castile laughed, almost musically, “A young man with too much potential to waste it. He talks about you like you are his own son. He believes you are from some backwater village on the edge of the Duchy of Tsinga and awed at city life. You are lucky he knows very little of the Duchy. He used to teach the history of the Telhian Empire. Did you know that?”
“No, he never told me,” I said, interested in learning more about the man.
“He knows more about the emergence and formation of the Telhian Empire than anyone. He taught a truth that a duke didn’t like about his ancestor and ended up in a cell. He was acquitted at trial, but no one would hire him as a teacher after that. He eventually chose to serve as a legionnaire,” Castile explained Konstantin’s fate in three sentences.
“Which duke?” I asked, thinking it was Octavian, and that was why he supported Castile.
Castile was holding back a smile, “Duke Soren. Duke Soren had an accident a few years into Konstantin’s service while he was with the Hounds.” I wanted to ask but didn’t need to, as Castile continued. “He passed questioning by the Imperial Truthseekers.” Castile’s slight smile told me it did not give her much assurance that Konstantin was not involved somehow. I already knew Konstantin was dangerous, but if he could orchestrate a Dukes’s death, doubly so.
A knock came at the door, and Castile allowed her male servant to enter. Alder cleared the table and served Castile a breakfast of sliced fruit with a small side of boiled oats covered in black syrup. Maybe chocolate? He also had a pot of hot mushroom tea. As Castile ate, she gave me orders, “You are to continue gathering herbs outside the city. Konstantin is going to join the men digging the markers. I need him to scout the woods as they move deeper into the forest. Sell what you can in the city, and let me know when the market is saturated. There is some demand, so it should be weeks.”
“So, I am on my own? No supervision?” I also wanted to say there would be no partner if I was attacked. She nodded, and maybe being with Konstantin was not so bad. He was a formidable warrior, and I felt safe under his care. Maybe Castile was seeing if I would try to run. I was given the opportunity, and it was at the forefront of my thoughts at this moment.
“Do not travel too far from the city and return before sunset,” Castile added, sipping her hot tea with satisfaction.
I stood, “Do you want me to give the coin I make to Delmar?”
Castile arched an eyebrow and thought for a moment. She picked up a sheet that clearly had notes on what I earned from my harvest, “Thirty silver a week. Anything earned beyond that you can keep, Eryk.” She held up the sheet, “Your week started yesterday, and the sixteen silver coin counts. Ask the sisters where else you can sell the bounty of the woods in the city.”
“How did you know about the sisters?” I asked, and Castile smirked. I just shook my head and figured she had been checking in on me with her all-seeing-eye. She probably wanted to be sure I was being honest when I turned in the coin.
I left Castile’s room and headed back to my room. As I passed Konstantin’s door, he stepped into the hallway. “Eryk, I am only going to be with you for the morning. After, I will be heading to help with the survey markers.”
“I just talked with Castile, and she told me,” Konstantin looked slightly surprised and amused, realizing what time it was. I decided to sway his suspicions, “She was occupied with her servant but spent some time talking with me.”
He immediately understood. “Good, she needed some stress relief. You should do the same.” You have to be the tightest-wound legionnaire in the company.
“But Castile said…” I started to say.
Konstantin shook his head, disappointed, “You need to listen to orders more carefully. She said not to force or abuse the servants. If they are willing…” He paused before continuing, “If you are too bashful or your servant is unwilling, join Firth at the Nasty Nymph. I will be ready after breakfast, and we can review everything I taught in hopes you do not do anything stupid to get yourself killed. It would not please me after all the effort I have gone through in training you.” Konstantin walked arrogantly down the hallway, leaving me with a lot to think about.
