The old-timers could have told that the last time such a large army left the walls of Savoyardi was sixty years ago, during the time of the current baron's great-grandfather, but there was no one in the city older than fifty. There was no one left to recount how sixty years ago, a punitive expedition of the Radiant Church, supported by royal troops, attempted to take control of the cave exits.
Therefore, the citizens compared the departing army to the one that had left for the Cursed Bridge the previous autumn. The current army was distinguished from the previous one not only by its larger size but also by its much better magical support and artifact weaponry. However, the citizens usually measured everything merely by the number of soldiers.
Archmage Dukon had gathered over seven thousand soldiers under his banners. Naturally, the main role in the forthcoming victory was assigned to the mages and siege artifacts; the ordinary soldiers were to simply replace the rebels in guarding the fortress and forts protecting the mines. Horses cheerfully dragged the numerous wagons taken along.
Despite strong recommendations and attempts to dissuade him from this idea, the commander took cavalry with him, and the cargo was hauled by heavy draft animals rather than porters. In response to all the statements about the imprudence of such a move, the mage reasonably argued that Sir Blood was accompanying him, who had already demonstrated his ability to detect goblins in advance, and there was no point in taking porters instead of the usual draft animals like horses.
Sir Blood himself, who was present at that meeting and was one of those who advised taking people rather than animals, merely shrugged at this statement and confirmed that he would be able to detect a large number of goblins in advance.
As a result, the plans had to be revised somewhat. Leonid, who was supposed to go with Alexander as another observer, now led a squad of ten gendarmes to escort the army along the road. This small detachment, traveling on foot through the forest, was to shield the Elurian troops from unexpected goblin ambushes and, when the army reached Zalone, to set up camp and secretly cover the triumvirate, who traveled "alone," being the only vampire among several thousand people.
Konstantin had made a name for himself in Kass, and the detachment provided by the free village on behalf of Sir Blood was the third strongest after the Duke's and the Archmage's troops. Yes, the commander of the punitive army did not come empty-handed but brought along a solid detachment hired personally by him. Almost two and a half hundred mages formed the striking core, intended to capture Zalone.
Each baron of the duchy deemed it necessary to send his court mage on this campaign. Even Marta Tap was sent, whom Savoyardi had literally torn from his young wife's heart, as the girl had become indispensable to her. The baron himself did not join the campaign again. If it had been anyone else, they would have long been accused of cowardice, but the ruler's reputation was unshakable; in his youth, he had distinguished himself in three battles before taking up administration.
Alexander sat in the Archmage's carriage, opposite him. The seat next to the commander was occupied by Mage Marta, who had also charmed Dukon. The vampire found himself in this unfamiliar mode of transportation not because the day was clear or because he wanted to travel the entire distance in comfort. The reason was more important. Dukon was a water mage.
Such a rare sphere of magic for northern mages attracted more attention to the Archmage than anything else. Water, like air, was in demand in coastal areas and almost never found in the depths of the land. And what would they do there? Fire mages were superior to any other elements and skills in combat. Earth mages were used in agriculture. Weather manipulation was only of interest in the capital; other areas of any kingdom could not afford such divine interventions. However, in the sea, air and water were unmatched.
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