Blissfully unaware of the events that had shaken the kingdom, Alexander looked around the walls of the fort that covered the mithril mine. Here the precious ore was mined by open pit method, and therefore the open pit where it was done was outside the walls of the fortifications, behind which they only kept the convicts and stored the mined goods. The journey to the place of destination was uneventful.
The only mounted rebel troop they encountered was more frightened of them than they were of him, and everything ended not even with a slight commotion at the guards, but only with the soldiers reporting the fact of the meeting. The magess didn't complicate the road either, hardly interfering with the officers' orders. Only once did she order to keep moving and choose another place to camp, but otherwise she behaved like a good woman who should obey men.
- Shall we offer to surrender? - Martha approached completely silently, and if the vampire hadn't smelled her beforehand, he would have been taken by surprise.
- Of course.
- And do you think they'll surrender?
- Yes," Alexander was absolutely sure of it.
- You say that so firmly. There are two hundred garrison soldiers and two magicians in the fort. What is the secret of confidence, Your Grace?
- Elos took all the mages from other places to Zalon and left them here," the knight hinted, allowing Martha to understand the reason for his confidence.
- Mages are the backbone of any defense, - the girl obviously didn't understand the hint of her interlocutor, or even didn't want to do it.
- The vampire made one more attempt.
- Apparently they were more important here.
- I think they stayed in the fort because they were not the most loyal to the rebel. Elos preferred to weaken Zalon's defenses, but not to take them to the fortress. Not even one of the two," Alexander finally voiced his thoughts bluntly.
- Two ordinary mages will not strengthen Zalon with their presence," the magess snorted, "And here the inhabitants of the Cursed Forest can appear.
- I'm sorry, Martha, but the Cursed Forest is too far from here. Even Zalon is closer than this place.
- Really? I didn't know that," she said, genuinely surprised, "But I still don't think the fort will surrender to us. I'll go prepare for the attack.
- Would you like to bet? - The knight snidely asked.
The phrase made the mage freeze. Gambling was one of the weaknesses of her character, and sometimes she gambled, such as recently in the city, when she lost caution and allowed herself to be robbed by an unknown thief in the slums of Savoyardi. It was good that everything happened in a dirty hotel, but not on the street, otherwise the consequences would have been quite nightmarish.
The girl shuddered at the thought of what could have been done to her senseless body in a poor neighborhood. But now it seems that there were no tricks, and the watchman, either a mage or a knight, was only offering her a chance to see who was more astute and farsighted.
- What's the bet? - Martha's eyes gleamed greedily.
- A favor.
The stipulation of the wager made the magess tense up again. This strange Valerian was not an easy man to deal with, and his behavior was out of the ordinary, sometimes baffling even her.
- No," Martha shook her head, "This is too much for such a petty argument. I suggest one gold piece.
I've got more interesting stuff on patreon
patreon.com/Chill76