Putting thoughts about the kingdom's fate aside, the vampire went to his tent. Dukon would be drinking for a while. It was necessary to keep the mercenaries occupied, as soldiers left idle and unsupervised are like a ticking time bomb.
Archmage Elos stood on top of the tower and was nervous. It had been several days since he sent the assassin, but nothing had happened in the besieging camp. There had been no assassination attempts, no commotion or chaos from the capture of the stranger. Nothing! Only occasionally did the drunken Dukon appear from his tent, usually just to urinate on the walls; it seemed he hadn't reached the stage of wetting himself yet.
— The stiletto was initially mixed up, but now it just lies in the forest, — the officer who had appeared behind him began the report without waiting for permission.
— That bastard let himself be eaten by wild animals?! — The archmage looked irritated.
— I can't know, sir! — The captain preferred to stand still and not move.
— Send a reliable person after the artifact.
The well-planned scheme had failed for the first time. Luckily, the weapon had tracking spells, so its location could be monitored. It would be retrieved, and another assassin would need to be sent.
The man lying face down in the forest clearly differed from the previous one. But again, he didn't resemble anyone in particular. Upon receiving an invitation for a stroll, Alexander hurried to the gendarmes' camp and experienced a sense of déjà vu.
— And who is this?
Leonid silently tossed the flask, but he was grinning from ear to ear. The triumvir took a few sips of blood and savored it. Good! Mage's blood. Tasty and informative! It turned out they were after the artifact. It should have been anticipated that such a valuable item would be equipped with a locator.
The current prisoner was no minor character like the previous assassin; this mage had been part of the governor of Zalon's retinue several times and had heard about the archmage's plans to kill Dukon and impose his own terms on the king. There was no doubt that those terms would consist of one point — don't touch me. Though it didn't matter; vampires still didn't want to get involved in local disputes. Alexander was pulled from his thoughts and evaluation of the information by Leonid's question.
— What to do with him? — The nod toward the body left no room for interpretation.
— Feed him to the beasts! — The triumvir didn't hesitate for a second. The mage's blood was not just on his hands but up to his elbows; the miners had a very peculiar understanding of the kingdom's laws and an even more peculiar way of enforcing them.
— And then we sit quietly and keep our eyes open? Wait for the next courier for the stiletto?
Alexander had no doubts about the first question, but the second caught him off guard. Knowing that the artifact was equipped with a tracking spell, he hadn't thought they would come for it again. So he responded only after a couple of seconds.
— Everything as before. Just now, expect guests! — and smiled, — It's nice when the food comes right to your hands. Maybe we'll learn something else!
Leonid fully agreed with the directive and simply nodded in satisfaction. The situation where information fell into one's hands so easily pleased him greatly. Let the inhabitants of the fortress, like moths to a candle, fly to the signals of the tracking spell. They would be in for a surprise!
— A secret exit from the fortress, I'll place a trio of gendarmes there! — The voivode looked pleased; he was very fond of his own idea of waiting for guests right at the dungeon exit.
The triumvir, cheerfully whistling to himself, went back. As he walked through the camp, he happily surveyed the fresh construction. What can a few hundred people, unburdened by any duties, accomplish? For example, build a bathhouse, with water personally supplied by Alexander, thanks to his newly acquired knowledge of Water Magic, which made it easy to do.
The rest was done by other mages, and the steam room was up and running. Upon learning about the construction, people began to visit the small camp at the edge of the forest. Now there was a serious competition for a spot in the bathhouse, though it was still only financial.
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