Chapter 6: The Long RoadI was sized for my legion armor. The tailor was a bit handsy as he made up a mannequin to match my size. “If you don’t want to be bleeding from a hundred chafe marks, stand still!” he warned me a huimes.

  “Don’t you just have premade armor?” I asked while he checked my chest.

  “Inhale as much air as you ,” he ordered. When I did as told, he answered my question, “The regur army gets the lesser gear. Men of the Liohe best. The armor is made of auroch hide and soaked in a boiled resin. I then fit it to your likeness here.” He taped the mannequin with his measuring stibsp; “Of course, if you want to sit in for the mannequin, I am more than willing.”

  “No, keep measuring,” I grumbled as he checked my inseam for the third time.

  Three days ter, my armor was delivered. racticed in pieces of the armor before, but now I had the plete kit. It reminded me strongly of Roman legion armor. Besides the rivets, the helm was the only other metal on the armor. We learned in our training that the resied hide was just as hard as metal. The resin also had a red pigment in it. I guessed the red was for intimidation.

  I decided to try on all the regalia. Our undergarment was closer to a diaper with a drawstring, but it supported the package well. The dark red padded tunic was , and I felt like I was in a dress and ready for a danbsp; Heavy woolen socks, followed by bck leather boots, covered my feet. The regur army only had sandals and had no socks to boot. I had heavy linen pants that did not o be worn if the weather was too hot, but the pants helped with the chaffing of the buckle-oo shin greaves. The greaves had some padding, but it o be repced regurly.

  Around the waist was a heavy belt that held up the skirt. The skirt was posed of soft overppiher straps, allowio run easily in full kit or ride a horse as well. It also had hardened leather strips to cover the groin, which I was happy about. The buckle-on vambraces only covered the forearm and wrist. In training, our instructors had stantly stressed the vulnerability of the elbow joint and the armpit.

  The scale mail chest piece had overpping pieces of the red leather resin ptes. It looked extremely badass and would have bee, if I was not relying on it to save my life. It was actually easier to get on than you would think. I put it on like a shirt and used the ches to get it fortably snug. The back was the only solid and inflexible pie the chest armor.

  The kit came with a beeswax and mink oil mixture so it could keep its luster and shine. I wished I had a mirror now that I was fully kitted out. The other members of the barracks just looked on in jealousy. I ighem.

  The strong odor of leather and beeswax filled my nose. It was also unfortable, and I would have to thank the armorer. I spent time adjusting the leather strips in the helmet to get a good fit. Truthfully, it felt like I was dressing for cospy and not about to go out into a world filled with creatures of fantasy and legend.

  A day ter, the ander pulled me from training. I was unceremoniously promoted into the Legion of the Lion seven weeks ahead of my training css. Damiaime with me in the m, reviewing my duties to Mage Castile. “You are to be a porter for potions and the unit funds. Since dimensional spaces do not have time progression, you will carry various potions for the mage’s pany. You will still be expected to fight, but only at the mage’s discretion.” He smiled weakly. “There is good news. I hear each man in the pany is allowed to use his preferred on.”

  Most mages in charge of a unit had everyone wield specific ons, so they looked uniform and could fun in unit formations. Castile apparently wanted her unit as effective as possible, so she allowed men their preferred on to fight with. The rest of the news was not good. Mage Castile typically replewo to three legionnaires a month—a high fatality rate in my mind.

  My orders came, and I was to make the best speed to the Western Boutan front to ect with Castile’s pany. I would be traveling with part of a regur army detat headed to a fort located there. I would be the only legionnaire in the group.

  Two days ter, I was marg alongside 124 men down a dusty road. I was wearing my new leather armor; soon, the polished leather was covered in dust, and my sweat and body odor muted the fresh leather smell. The captain of the army unit moved to walk beside me, aalked for most of the first day. He informed me we had about a week of marg before reag our destination. He also freely shared what he knew.

  “The Western Boutan front is the border of our kingdom and ords, with the troll s nds sandwiched between us. It isn’t the trolls that required stant subduing, though, it is the marsh goblins and troglodytes. The trolls bred slowly while the other two races bred prolifically, and surging poputions have attacked the border every few months,” Captain Lu lectured me.

  I asked, “Why don’t we eradicate the source?”

  The young captain shrugged. “The nd was mostly ss, making it useless to humans. It also serves as a barrier to the Boutan orbsp; Also, there were so many underground marsh settlements. Eliminating them would be dangerous, and they would miss some, and they would breed back to a nuisance over time anyway.”

  Every night, we made camp, and I set up alone. My legion had a small personal tarp tent, a cook set, rations, and a bedroll. All the equipment in the backpack weighed over fifty pounds. Walking in the new leather and carrying the backpack had me experieng new pains and chafe marks in pces I didn’t care to discuss. We always camped outside of small towns at the end of a day’s march. I wao fill up my dimensional space with my kit, but thought it best not to advertise my ability.

  I was able to eat from the soldier’s meal cart and serve my hard rations. Due to this, after setting up my tent the first night, I moved the ten pounds of rations into my dimensional ste, lightening my paicely for tomorrow’s thirty-mile march. The food wasn’t too bad, some type of sweet cabbage with potatoes and celery. There was minimal salt seasoning, but it was still filling. None of the soldiers seemed ined to talk with me, even at meals.

  I and packed at first light everyday, well before the soldiers. Even though they were not carrying backpacks, they were in much rougher shape than me. pints flew freely when the officers were out of earshot. I just kept to myself, not wanting to put in the effort to make friends I would never see again.

  The captain chose to walk with me again on the sed day, and I tried to make versation by asking him about himself. Captain Lu was the third son of a career army officer; his father anded a garrison in one of the rge cities. He was young, and this was his first and. He was going to and the ht watch at one of the smaller forts on the border. It was an easy assig, acc to Lu. After one year, he would be recalled and promoted. I asked Lu what he sidered a hard assig. He told me about the active war fronts. There were stant skirmishes with the other human, elven, and orgdoms. Defending and expanding those borders was a stant sink of soldiers.

  I asked him if women were allowed in the army like the Legion. His response was calcuted. It had been tried, but always failed eventually. The Legion had more discipline and did a much better job of polig themselves. That was all he said on the subject.

  The days on the road started to blur. I spent my nights alone in my tent, oiled my armor with the beeswax mixture from my kit, and sharpened my two spears and short sword. I practiced what Damian had taught me for aether manipution, wishing I had another spell form to work on. I had enough high affio try to ma a new ability; my dispt affinity was at 61. The problem was Damian had told me teleportation magic took a lot of aether to use, aher was ohing I did not have.

  Ohird evening, I started practig with the spear. I figured it was best not to get too rusty. Captain Lu came over and practiced with me. He was good from ten years of experience, but I was still able to hold my own. When we switched to bdes, his sword skills far outcssed me. Thankfully, the captain en to teag me, which I appreciated. The soldiers watched us as we practiced, but if they were not ordered to train, they would just rest from the long day’s march.

  After six days and nearly two hundred miles, the sprawling fields and woodnds transformed into dead wood and foul-smelling stagnant pools. We had reached the edge of the Agorian S. We reached a square wooden fort on the m of the seventh day, but the soldiers I was marg with were going ter tral fort aen miles down the road. That was where my orders had also told me to report.

  The pace picked up as the destination grew close. The e rest to the men. The tral fort was massive, with forty-foot-high stone walls. Stone walls in a s indicated there had been a lot of expense in building this fortification. It was massive inside as well. The bailey was filled with two-story buildings that were civilian businesses. On the road, Captain Lu had described the lower part of the fort as having enough variety to keep a thousand soldiers happy and collect their free .

  Captain Lu pointed out a smaller stone buildihe citadel on the far side of the bailey. “That is your destination, the Legion offices for the fort. Every military fortification has a Legion office, but this region rarely sees members of the Legion, so I am not sure what is inside.”

  I walked past the shops slowly before heading up the earthen ramp to the Legion building. I passed two brothels, a general store, three taverns, and one inn. The businesses were active with off-duty soldiers. I had no , so I moved to meet my new mage ander.

  The symbol of the Legion of the Lion was on the door. Wheered, a middle-aged woman was in oner clothes behind a long bar. A few tables were in the room, and only oable had two men in worn and faded Legioher armor. One graying man poi me. “Are you the new porter?” He asked gruffly.

  I hat described me pretty well. The man stood, knog his chair to the floor with a thud. He drained his tankard. “About time. Magus Castile left two days ago for Formica, a rge mining towled south of here in the Ironspine mountains. Wylie will get the horses ready. We will leave shortly.”

  Still a little in shock at the informality, I was silent. The older man looked at me, evaluating me. He finally said, “Name is Firth. Eina bring you back to the ste room. Resupply your pad take anything else you want. Castile is not someoo be kept waiting, so be quick about it.”

  I did not tell them that I did not know how to ride a horse. I figured I could figure it out on the way—I had gone on a trail ride or two as a kid. The woman motioned me to the ba, unlocked a heavy door, and the me. I went inside and found two rows of deep shelves stocked with everything a soldier could possibly want. I turned back, and she was gone. Could I just take anything I wanted? Would I be charged for the items like my armor? Was there some type istry? I slowly closed the door and started walking the aisles. One aisle had just foodstuffs, and the other aisle had clothing, gear, and ons.

  I didn’t have much time, and I was told to resupply. That seemed like an open-ended order…