The confusion on his partner's face said more than anything.
- I forgot..." the vampire seemed ready to blush from head to toe.
- Okay. You're a strategist, not a fighter. You're allowed to forget things like that in hand-to-hand combat. But you better start going to the range and for personal training, not just practicing tactical schemes.
- Oleg keeps telling me the same thing. He's been talking my ear off. Now I see that it's not for nothing.
- Oleg never opens his mouth for nothing, you know him! - Alexander circled the small room with his hand, - With these we will do what?
Leonid got up and looked around.
- We drink blood, scatter the bodies into ashes and go to the citadel at a pace. Changeover in an hour and when the penetration into the fortress will be detected, we must be at the target.
And so we did, except we couldn't get into the citadel. Behind the door, which had been removed the previous night, was not an exit, but the same tunnel, which was soon blocked by another door. The vampires were busy disarming the signaling threads on it.
They were so engrossed that they didn't keep track of the time. They were torn away from their work by their magical senses. Upstairs, quite significant magical forces came into action. The fortress went into battle mode and all the defense artifacts were activated. The power of the action above their heads was staggering.
The vampires looked at each other and continued their work. The purpose of their visit was still far away and they needed to work hard, not be distracted by trivialities. And then the air around them seemed to tingle and just physically felt the magical power, generously spilled in the surrounding space.
Such was the realization of one of the most effective search spells in the world. "Tactile sense," which only mentalists could create, was not just effective, it was unbreakable. It was impossible to take cover. Fortunately, the mage who created this spell was completely absorbed in it and could not contact his surroundings.
He did not even perceive it, completely controlling the search spell and literally being in it - the spell replaced all his senses. That gave it a chance. With another glance, the vampires ran back down the tunnel without a word.
- Tell me. Why did we go into the fortress like two morons? - Leonid, lying on the roof next to Alexander, was tapping his fingers briskly on the tiles, - Couldn't we have sent someone later? It will be easier to get into the fortress when there is no enemy army under its walls!
- We could kill Elos later, of course.
- But it is better to capture him! - corrected the triumvir, the voivode.
- Or capture... - Alexander corrected himself philosophically, - But we are already here. Why should we retreat now? Earlier we should have thought that Seryoga's (Sergey) eagles would have done better than us!
- That's right, too. We were foolish. How do we proceed?
The vampire didn't have time to answer. The attention of both saboteurs was attracted by the movement on the streets in the neighborhood. The neighborhood they were hiding in was clearly cordoned off. Not only by soldiers, but also by mages. Among the usual armor, glimpsed the robes and capes of battle mages.
- How did they find us? - Alexander looked at his partner.
Instead of answering, Leonid pulled out a scabbard with an artifact, which was planned to kill the archmage. Apparently, the alarm made one of its creators, or even Elos himself, check where their creation was and, having found it in the middle of Zalon, give the necessary order.
- Damn it!
Both vampires jumped to their feet and jumped from rooftop to rooftop, hurrying to leave the dangerous place. They succeeded, but by their flight they de-masked their presence and were soon pursued by three paladins. The pursuers may not have been as elegant as the fugitives and the movement itself was new to them, but it would be difficult to hide from them.
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