Chapter 128 Dire Feelings

  The dreamscape looked as I left it—I was half expeg to find strangers inside for some reason. reeted me with his bobbed tail wagging emphatically. I petted the excitable Australian Shepherd. I tihe dog therapy by talking to him, “Guess this secret is out in the open, Oscar.”

  Oscar barked and chased to get a tennis ball I had created for him. I ughed, “Guess it doesn’t matter to you.” I tossed the ball for him while I made copies of the elven books Schor Favian had me carry for him. I couldn’t read them, but there were some maps inside. Maybe the knowledge would have a use iure, so I would not mind the mental backsh wheed the dreamscape.

  With that task done, I walked into the first monster room, the ankheg chamber. My sparring partners were pying cards. Konstantin arched his eyebrow at me, “Going to get some practice today? Or are you going to sit and ze about all night?” He put down his cards, waiting for my response.

  I sighed, “Yes.” I maed my new bde. The group around the table eyed the bck bde curiously. They were waiting for me to choose someoo practice with. The table sisted of Maveith, Konstantin, Adrian, Bze, and Xavier. I nodded relutly to Konstantin as I had practiced with him this m and this evening as I adapted to the neon. With Konstantin’s help, it was now fortable in my hands.

  I was also fident I could beat the man in bat using my air shields. What I wao be able to do was beat him without the defensive air shield spell form. We moved to the ter of the chamber and began. The Konstantin in the dreamscape had improved quite a bit. I realized the magic amulet had upgraded Konstantin’s fighting style based on our practices today. It was learning from my new memories. It meant the dreamscape maions were imperfect but could be improved upon.

  I spent two hours with Konstantin and an hour with Xavier. Xavier’s maion was good, but I doubted it fully incorporated the sword master’s knowledge. I tried to bine Xavier’s skills with Konstantin’s. The results were surprising. Konstantin’s style had been blunter and simpler, while Xavier had an effit and artistic style moviween the sword forms.

  Konstantin’s new blended swordsmanship suddenly became uable for me. It was frustrating to fight his new effit form. I took repeated losses and decided I had enough. I returo the entry room and studied the spell form for slow aging. I was getting close to the tipping point, and I would finally learn spell form. After seven total hours had passed, I stepped out of the dungeon ahe dreamscape amulet.

  I opened my eyes to darkness and strained my hearing to uand my surroundings. Men snored ients, and the men on watch whispered nearby. The night guards were arguing over who had the better attendant at the Citadel. I could tell by the argument’s voices that it was Felix ao. If I remember correctly, Felix had a short, fat, middle-aged woman, ao, an older woman who stantly wore a scowl.

  I felt well-rested and sat up. My head spun with vertigo, and I id back down. The mental strain from adding to the dreamscape soon passed. Addi books had been a little mu one session, or maybe it had been upgrading Konstantin in jun. When I felt fortable, I exited the tent and o Maveith, hittling new checker pieces.

  Surveying the camp, there were two small fires. One had Konstantin stoking a fire, and the other had Lirkin preparing hot food for the pany’s breakfast. I could see my breath; it was one of the coldest ms I had experienced. I went and sat across from Konstantin, who was focused oing water in a small cup. The heat of the fire felt amazing on my legs. “How many days to Caelora?” I asked.

  “Two,” he sipped his tea tentedly. “We will be in the dire wolf territory after mid-m. I’m unsure if Castile will have us increase the pace or use caution. Positives aives to both courses of a.”

  Before he could expound on the positives aives, I asked him a question, “Have you fought dire wolves before?” I stirred the coals on my side to release more heat.

  “I have. Smart creatures. They will distract a group and then pick off the weakest member, dragging them away. Hopefully, our numbers will deter them from attag,” Konstantin said while ing his cup of tea leaves. He then took out his ons to , starting with his runic on. The silvery bde looked ethereal in the firelight.

  I took out my bck bde to sharpen and as well. “You don’t sharpen a runic on, Eryk. Did you notice it has no chips on the edge? That durability is why runic bdes are cherished. To it, just use a rag to the length, thehe on it. It will make sure it draws smoothly.” I worked in silence across from Konstantin. The he referred to was used for our metal helms to protect them from rusting. Konstantin cycled through his ons, and I did likewise. I was still carrying my short sword, a knife on my belt, and the legion utility hatchet in my pack.

  Seeing us finishing, Lirkin called us over for an early breakfast. Konstantin and I ehe dense bread that tasted like garlic topped with the berry preserves Lirkin had heated. Maveith joined us, bleary-eyed, after a short nap. He had watched over me while I slept all night, which is not what I had intended. I had just wanted him to rouse me if something threatened me.

  Maveith’s deep voice soon awakehe whole camp a little earlier than sunrise. Delmar called everyoo eat and announced we would start an early march. Maveith received some aares.

  Ba the old paved road, we walked till just past mid-day before a rest. I ended up w in my Elvish nguage with Schor Favian as a distra from the boredom of marg. My elven vocabury was growing, but the Schor was not impressed with some of my pronunciations.

  We set a fast pace, and Fvius and Konstantin were scouting only a short distance ahead. As we marched iernoon, the scouts started to find dire wolf tracks crossing the road. They were massive, rger than a man’s hand. We entered our first dire wolf ter in the day. A signal from the rear guard had everyourn, and ht men with shields quickly formed a wall.

  It looked like just a normal gray wolf at maybe two hundred yards back. Then, another darker gray wolf walked into the road to stand over the pup. Maveith advised the pany, “They are not hunting us. If they were then, they would not have shown themselves.” His statement didn’t make anyoense. I was shocked as the rger wolf was just as big as Ginger.

  Benito noticed the same thing, “That beast is as big as a horse. I wonder if I ride it.”

  Firth barked a harsh ugh at Benito, “Why don’t you go and give it a try a us know how it goes.” Some ughs and snickers from the pany eased the tension a little.

  Bze, behind me, asked, “I hit it. Should I release?”

  There were some whispers between Castile and Delmar before Delmar announced, “Hold your arrows. Firth and Mateo, you are added to the rear guard.” We tightehe formation, and Konstantin and Fvius were now only leading the pany by twenty strides so they could retreat back to us quickly.

  Adrian was stantly reminding individuals of their jobs if a dire wolfpack did attack. Half the men were for defense, and the other half were charged with killing whichever monstrous wolf Castile restrained with her shadow s first. It was important to eliminate one foe at a time as quickly as possible when attacked with numbers.

  Schor Favian robably the most nervous among us after we spotted the dire wolf. I tried to take his mind off our danger, “Favian, have you learned anything about the Shimmering Labyrinth Dungeon? What monsters are inside?”

  “The King trolled the dungeon, and it gave vast resources to the city. Iron ore and silver were mined from i as the craftsman iy used it i quantities. There are also a few refereo rarer metals—mithril for one.” He said giddily. “It also supplied vast quantities of meat to the city,” he paused to think. “Refereo dishes prepared with boiled spider legs, bear meat, and mushrooms from the dungeon have appeared in my reading.”

  While I was thinking about what horrors supplied those things, Lirkin, our pany cook, asked, “How do you prepare spider legs?”

  Schor Favian had a big smile, “I wohat myself! Apparently, you o boil the legs and crack them open for the meat. Not all varieties are edible, but I read it tastes just like crab meat, only saltier. The elves seemed to like the meat dipped in butter made from goat’s milk.”

  Delmar, at the front of the formation, replied, “Spider meat is a bit mushy but not bad. On long delves, you eat what the dungeon provides. It is not unon fer dungeons to support entire unities.” Delmar was our experienced dungeon delver. He addressed the Schor, “What else did you find about the dungeon?”

  “Nothing. Just the name appears in some texts I pieced together. It was called The Shimmering Labyrinth. I think it is extremely rge based on the references, but the Ki it hidden from the outside world as a treasure of his city and people,” Schor Favian replied with uainty.

  Firth announced from the back, “The rge wolf is following us. It is in the woods, maybe two hundred yards back.”

  Maveith offered his input again, “If it were hunting us, then it would have called the rest of the pack. It is probably making sure we are leaving its territory. Maybe it is teag the young one how to stalk its prey.”

  Brutus noted, “If we are the prey, then your words are not reassuring, Maveith.”

  There was some bad-forth among the men when Castile ordered, “Halt! Konstantin!” she called the scout back from further down the road. Wheurned, she ordered, “Go and che the wagons we found on our way here.”

  Konstantin rushed into the woods, and I realized we were approag the area where we had discovered the wagons. I remember pig up a g from the ground at the time. The money from the locked chest had gotten the pany rept armor. Konstantin whistled for Maveith, and the goliath went to support him. It was not far from the road, and we could see them as the leaves had all fallen from the trees.

  I checked on our furry follower, and it sat on its hind legs about two hundred yards babsp; I could tell Bze was itg to take a shot, but Castile held him back.

  When Konstantin and Maveith returned, “Just small animals have been by since.” Castile nodded, but she had apparently expected something else by her sternation.

  The short rest was over, and we tinued our march. There was a discussion on when we would stop for the night as we had covered almost forty miles today on the road. Castile told everyoo take out glowstones, and we marched into the night. Castile, beio me, I asked, “Are we tinuing because of the dire wolf?”

  Castile sidered her answer, “A dire wolf following us is not unusual. What I am fused about was the first smaller wolf we spotted. We have not seen it since. I even searched for it and other dire wolves; the rge one behind us is the only one.”

  Fortunately, the blue moon was bright overhead, and the skies were clear. We marched for three hours in the darkness before Castile finally ordered us to camp in the middle of the road. Konstantin objected until Castile told him she hoped the dire wolf would approach during the night so she could s with her shadow s and we could elimi. That got everyoed. Eliminating our stalker would be wele and boost morale.

  We set up a tight camp for the night, and the watch was doubled. Castile reminded Maveith to watch over me again. It was her way of tellio use the amulet tonight. I did not know how I felt about using the amulet with danger so close. I reminded Maveith, “All you o do is remove the amulet to awaken me. But get some sleep tonight yourself.”

  “I uood you the first five times you said it, Eryk.” The goliath seemed frustrated that I either didn’t trust him, thought his memory was terrible, or was tense like the others with the dire wolf following us.

  My tent was in the pany’s ter, o Schor Favian. When I crawled inside, I debated not using the amulet again. It felt like there was a building tension in the air to me. I think Castile felt it, too. I decided to spend a few hours inside and focus on the spell form for slow aging.

  With Oscar in my p, I spent two hours studying and theing the dreamscape. I listened, and men were whispering, but there was no arm. I could hear Maveith breathing heavily as he sat on a log and rolled over near our tents. I ehe dreamscape again.

  About three hours in, the familiar feeling of the spell form inscribing on my core was achieved. I had learhe slow aging spell form. I exited the dreamscape, excited to study it and learn how it worked. Nothing had ged in the camp, but Castile was agitated as the dire wolf arently still watg us but had not approached.

  I studied the spell form and activated it. It was supposed to draw a slow trickle of aether to slow my aging greatly. The trickle was so insignifit I didn’t even perceive it. I used some aether to cast some air shields and frowned. I had wao see how fast my aether recovered with the slow aging active. My best guess was that my aether was rec at half of normal. At least, that was the best I could estimate. It was still a det trade-off for being able to live for thousands of years.

  I smiled as I y awake for the rest of the night, listening to everyone and thinking about what I could do with all the time in the world. The sunrise came, and the dire wolf had never approached the camp. It had also remained vigint, unnervingly watg us the entire night.

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