— Did anyone see you?
— Are you insulting me, sir? — the gendarme feigned indignation.
— Hand it over, — and snatching the offered flask from his hands, took a sip.
So this is what you're like, Valeria, the homeland everyone attributes to us.
Two days of travel under a perfectly clear sky would test the patience of any vampire. And two vampires even more so. The vast fields worsened the situation since there was no way to escape into the saving shade of the forest. But Alexander and the accompanying gendarme braced themselves and tried not to show their displeasure.
The second gendarme had been sent back home on foot to speed up the process, carrying three flasks of blood from the Valerian guests as valuable cargo. They had visited the merchant and his clerk at night and drained their precious fluid. By morning, they would be tired but alive. By the way, the merchant was a smuggler who had come to Kas for moonstone.
This information was surprising because there was hardly any black market for this precious metal. It was too valuable. But the merchant was convinced that the person he had come to meet in such distant lands would manage to obtain it. He would need to remind the scouts to check, although Sergey would figure it out himself. He should.
The man riding to Alexander's right examined his companion's discontented face, almost hidden by a wide-brimmed hat. Landless knight Leopold Tari had served the Dukes of Kas for a quarter-century, and the position of deputy combined with the rank of lieutenant was his pinnacle. But the grey-haired man was untroubled. He had lived a rich and interesting life, received nobility and knighthood, but had not acquired land or a family.
However, he had seen the world, both in campaigns under the Duke's banners and in performing his secret missions. When given the captain's order to take a hundred men and punish the bandits, he took it as a matter of course. Hearing that he would only be assisting and another knight would be in command, he was initially offended, but the knight's name made up for it. Upon hearing it, the old warrior prepared twice as quickly.
Alex Blood. Arriving in the duchy last year at the head of a squad of strong warriors, he had made quite a stir. Several victories over orcs in the fall, goblin hunts in the spring, and suppression of a rebellion in the barony—now he had turned the entire capital on its head in just one evening and was now on his way to carry out a personal assignment from the lady. It was hard not to be interested in such a person.
Especially when it turned out he was as handsome as a divine envoy and as young as a pagan god. Although what does age mean for a mage? Just a number, nothing more. They say archmages can live for three hundred years. The real age was revealed only by the eyes, whose youthful sparkle did not hide the fact that they had seen far too much. The man was taciturn and, having assumed command of the squad, gave only one order:
— During the march, you are in charge, lieutenant. Pay no attention to me unless I ask you to.
Having spoken these strange words, the knight mounted his magnificent horse and, without waiting for the others, set off, accompanied by a single guard. Easy prey if you didn't know that the knight was a mage of great power. And his companion was a paladin. They were caught up with just outside the city, while the pair was resting. And it seemed that they had stopped for a rest precisely to allow the main squad to catch up.
The men showed no signs of fatigue, and with two lively horses each, they were guaranteed to continue their journey until nightfall. Such mysterious behavior left no chance to pass by without unraveling the mystery that seemed to hang in the air around these people. And Leopold very much wanted to solve it.
— This clearing looks convenient for setting up camp, and there's a stream ahead, — the lieutenant spoke into the space before him.
Such spoken statements had become his norm over the past two days, although there had been no such habit previously observed in the knight. Of course, it was a polite way to inform his superior of plans for the near future.
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