— Of course, I'll look for the mines. But what next?
— I'll tell you what's next. This pitiful assassin needs to be dealt with. And keep quiet.
— And you?
— I'll continue the siege.
— But this is a parody, not a siege! — Leonid exclaimed sharply.
— What do we care? — Alexander raised his voice as well. — We sit quietly and don't interfere. Vampires don't need anything here! And if you have ants in your pants, be so kind as to remove them and calm down. Sit still, look far, see everything, and don't get involved in anything! Is that clear?
— Understood!
— That's good.
With that, the triumvir considered his job done and returned to his tent, where he fell into a deep sleep until morning. No one disturbed him, and the well-rested and well-fed vampire took a walk to the central camp. It was time to determine the next strategy for the siege, after talking with the archmage and the duke.
Dukon was dead drunk. As his assistant explained, His Excellency hadn't sobered up since the evening. And it was completely unclear what to do; one could return. When he sobers up, he'll call himself.
— Ah, Master! Glad to see you! — the archmage slurred, attempting to approach the vampire, but his legs betrayed him, and the man ended up in the arms of the knight, who prevented him from falling face-first into the dirt. — Thank you! Let's have a drink!
Politely declining the offer of wine and company, Alexander handed the drunken body over to the assistant and gestured for them to take the archmage back to his tent. He then exchanged glances with the duke, shrugged, and headed for his horse. His face bore a look of distaste and disappointment, but his heart was singing with joy. He had held Dukon for long enough and managed to obtain blood, and with it, information.
The whole rebellion made sense now. Though, in a broader sense, it wasn't even a rebellion. It was merely a power struggle among the archmages of Elur, which had resulted in this confrontation. It all started when the position of the Supreme Mage of the Kingdom was taken by Dukon's old friend from their studies in Valeria.
Together, they had amassed much power within the state, but Elos didn't care about their affairs. As long as he commanded Zalon, he didn't care about anything! Not the jabs from the pair at him for studying outside the mage kingdom, the inconveniences caused by the new rules on artifact handling, or the pile of reports. Even the loss of influence over the king and his circle didn't matter. He had moon silver, and that made up for everything.
Then the old king died, and his son thought it would be a good idea to replace the governor of Zalon. For a few years, this was kept hidden from the public eye, with only letters carried by messengers preserving the heated verbal battles between the capital and the mines. When it became impossible to remove Elos quietly, a mercenary detachment was sent to replace the royal troops, whose officers were mostly on Zalon's side, thanks to the money and concubines that pleased them at the archmage's command.
Unfortunately, the detachment never reached the fortress, thanks to an unexpected intervention by the invading orodic army. Then, in response to the king's request for protective amulets, Elos sent an empty box. The young ruler was not pacified, and the rebellion was officially declared.
Moon silver was a panacea and a goal for the mages of the world. It also clouded their minds, making them act foolishly. And now, a dispute between a couple of mages over this metal had brought the kingdom to the brink of collapse, with the orodic army still around and preparing to attack the border fortresses again in the spring. The only problem was, there would be nothing to oppose it, as the archmages of Elura were sorting out their issues far to the north.
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