The knight, the dragon and the necromancer. Daert dilogy-1

— You didn't call me here just to bring me up to speed, milady, — Rosa said at last. She looked up, smoothing her trousers over her hips. — You could have told me all this before.

— Yes, — the red-haired donna didn't argue. — I'm sorry, I didn't have time for you. You were doing a good job yourself. But now... I need help again, — Vittoria's face broke into a familiar grin, — from my battle-tested team of agents.

— I'm listening, milady. — Rosa leaned forward. She thought she looked like the head of a mercenary gang taking an assassination order.

— The Republic of Erdo is a potential ally. No less valuable than the elven principalities. Since the outsiders have made their nest in Iolia, it would be harder for them to infiltrate Erdo, the Iolians' main rival. Auguste has no power at all. — The necromancer stopped playing with her quill and drove its tip into the gap between the boards of the tabletop. — According to some reports, Armando's group headed to Erdo after the portal was destroyed. Sending the Iolian fleet into Republic waters may have something to do with it. I've written a number of letters to Chancellor Ryuu Irutava. He replied only once, saying he would send a delegation to negotiate with us. A secret one, of course. Recently, the delegation did indeed land in the Erdo continental domains and travelled towards the mountains. My men tracked it to the junction of the three borders, not far from here. Once the delegation passed the border of the kingdom, they disappeared.

— And... we're supposed to find them?

— They had already been found. — Vittoria broke the quill with two fingers and tossed it onto the stack of letters. — My spies scoured the area, found signs of battle, interviewed witnesses in the surrounding villages. I collated the testimony and reconstructed a picture of events. The embassy was attacked by the Iolians. The ambassadors' guards were slaughtered, and they were taken to some defended place in Iolian territory. Given the proximity of the fortress to the portal to the other world, I'm pretty sure that place is the main base of the outsiders, captured by Auguste. You must infiltrate it and extract the ambassadors. As soon as possible, before they're eliminated after interrogation.

— We'll need Toad, — the young sorceress decided at once.

— Of course. — The necromancer nodded. — Toad, Don Marius, Jeanne — they will all go with you. But that's not enough. You also need a skilled tracker and marksman. Do you think Toad will take to the air with an extra elf on her back..?

Chapter 19

"Cross the mountains on a dragon" were words taken from an old fairy tale or a novel about dragon knights. In the books Rosa had read, the dragon usually soared near the clouds, and the heroes admired the beauty of the snow-capped peaks below. The books rarely mentioned the cold, the gusty winds, and the thin air that was unbreathable at such heights. Of course, it was out of the question to pass the ridge directly. The path of the rescue team was along the same trails used by the smugglers' caravans. Toad followed them, often not even by air. Whenever possible, the dragoness would drop to the ground and walk, giving her wings a rest. The passengers would dismount and walk beside her.

The group consisted of Rosa, Jeanne, Marius and Captain Lytel. They took the bare minimum of equipment: clothes, weapons, a few blankets, camping supplies, and a set of amulets and potions for Rosa. Nothing more, even food. A flask of water for each of them, a sack of breadcrumbs, a bag of tea, a kettle — the rest was obtained on the breaks. Rosa received from the captain a marvellous elven crossbow — light, but powerful. The girl put it to use at her first overnight stay, shooting a snow partridge. Lytel herself was busy gathering some herbs and lichens, which were then sent to the soup together with the bird. The resulting broth tasted spicy, and Rosa's nose itched, but she ate it and didn't complain. After all, during her time at the Academy, she had tasted chowder made by alchemy students. During the whole meal the sorceress felt the curious gaze of the fair-haired elf. When she finished and blotted her lips with a handkerchief, the lady captain suddenly clapped her hands:

— It's amazing.

— W... what? — Rosa didn't understand.

— Look. — The captain jabbed her finger at Marius. — Sir Knight sneezed as he ate. Lady Jeanne grumbled and asked if she would have prophetic visions after such soup. And you just ate.

— Shouldn't I have? — The girl asked warily. She liked the elf, but Rosa still didn't understand what was going on in her head. Behind the aloof and cold facade was a very eccentric person.

— Not with that combination of spices, no, — Lytel wrinkled her chin. — Surprising.

The woman could not give any explanations — she just shrugged her shoulders and promised "not to do that from now on".

After supper Jeanne went on guard duty, Lytel stayed near the dying fire, and Rosa and Marius sheltered from the wind under the side of Toad, and talked about everything for a long time, sitting shoulder to shoulder, wrapped in blankets. The young sorceress was surprised to realise that she missed those days when they had wandered together. Then it had been their adventure — theirs and Toad's. Now it was as if the world had become bigger — armies were moving around, conspiracies were being hatched, the fate of cities and countries was being decided. And the two young people were lost in the vastness of the world. Rosa could not remember when she had seen Marius for more than five minutes — he was always in a hurry for a report or a flight, and there was always someone waiting for her, a mentor or a marshal. Now she was trying to make up for lost time, bitterly aware that such moments of peace and solitude might not be theirs again. Of course, she showed the knight Signor Jacques, not forgetting to explain how difficult it had been to create him.

— Energising a dead body was the easiest part, really. — Rosa held the mouse in the palm of her hand, occasionally poking it with her finger. The touch caused the mouse to move its legs, lying on its side. It looked like it was walking on air. — Then the delicate work begins. The construct has no consciousness and can't do anything on its own. You have to weave a web of control spells around it. Like a puppet with strings, only the strings pull themselves according to the principle of "if..., then...". If the construct sees a shovel, it takes it. If the construct has a shovel in his hands, he stabs it into the ground. If the shovel goes into the ground, then... You understand? And you need a lot of spells like that, whole chains of them.

— Are you talking about a construct made from a human corpse? — Marius frowned. He touched the mouse too, but it didn't react to the young man's touch. — If it has hands...

— Er... no, of course. — Rosa hesitated. Donna Vittoria had given her the shovel example, and the girl had not thought of it in that way. — From a monkey. Like Luca. Luca really is a masterpiece, by the way. I've managed to discern all the threads that control him — there are over a thousand of them, can you imagine? Signor Jacques doesn't even have a dozen.

The young man smoothed the sparse fur on Jacques's side with his fingernail. He shook his head and smiled faintly:

— I'm trying to remember now — have we discarded the last formalities a long time ago or did it only happen today?

— Oh... Oh! — Rosa clasped her mouth with the palm of her hand. — I... I mean, milord....

— No, I really don't remember. — The knight laughed softly into his fist. — I may have even started first. Knights' castles are not bastions of ceremony. Formalities are for parents, guests, commanders... And you and I are... friends?

— Yes. I think so. — Rosa had the self-control not to blush, but she looked away and awkwardly stuffed the mouse into her purse.

— I used to have enough of Toad's company, — Marius admitted, still smiling. — It was nice to talk to brothers and sisters and cousins like Minerva. But I didn't feel the need for it. And the last few weeks I've been exhausted, wanting to discuss every piece of news with you first. To hear what you had to say. You have an opinion on everything. And Toad's attached to you.

— I missed you, too, — she said. She adjusted the blanket and grinned slyly, feeling the embarrassment recede. — I don't know who I miss more. You and Toad are inseparable to me, and I'm in love with Toad, in case you haven't noticed. We could... Er... Do you hear that?

For some time now it had seemed to Rosa that their conversation was accompanied by a gentle melody, as if it were woven into the conversation — every note of it lay perfectly on the words, emphasising the intonation, following the mood. Now the girl realised that she was not imagining the music. She leaned forward and looked for the source of the sound. Of course, who would have doubted it... Lady Captain Lytel was no longer sitting by the fire, but standing at full height, with her violin and bow in her hands. She was looking somewhere far away, into the darkness of the night, but the elf's ears were perked up, showing that she was listening intensely.

— Captain! — Rosa called out, not really raising her voice. — What are you doing?

— Me? — The woman turned round, putting down her violin, and the melody faded away at the same moment. — I'm helping. Consider it an apology for dinner.

— And what exactly are you helping? — Don Marius asked, his face darkening.

— Not what, but who. — The captain swung her bow. — You, my friends. You know, people tell their children that they are found in nettles, and elves tell them that they are born from the warm conversations of their father and mother... The latter is closer to the truth, isn't it?

The young knight coughed, choking on something. Rosa mentally counted to five, reminding herself that elves are not humans. And some things are much easier to deal with. She smiled almost sincerely and said:

— Thank you, but we can handle it, lady. We don't need any help.

The elf's ears drooped, dropping to her shoulders. She waved her hands guiltily and silently went to her bed, made of blankets and dry grass. The young men looked at each other. They did not want to continue the conversation...

They spent one more night in the mountains, and it was an anxious one because of the rising wind. On the morning of the third day, Toad climbed another pass, and from it the group had a view of the plain.

— Almost there, — Marius said, rising from his saddle. — The gorge to our right is the same one where the fortress with the portal to the other world was. The bright streak in the distance is the border river. From the gorge to the river is the lands of the kingdom. Beyond the river are Erdo's continental possessions. And to the west, along the mountains, was the Republic of Iolia.

— Don Armando's group, after destroying the portal, should have travelled to the river, according to Donna Vittoria, — Jeanne nodded. She and Lytel spent the whole journey in the hastily made leather seats behind the saddle. Rosa had to look over her shoulder to see her friend. — The Erdos diplomats, on the other hand, were taken west to Iolia. The outsiders' base must be there, and not too far away. I've got to get to work before my legs fall off.

The place indicated by Donna Vittoria's agents was found without difficulty — from the height of the dragon's flight it was convenient to check the map with the terrain. Don Marius dropped the women off a little further away and lifted Toad into the air again. Lytel led the group onwards.

— Yeah. Here, — the elf said as they climbed out of the bushes and onto the narrow, dusty road. — This is a good spot. The bushes are thick, coming right up to the side of the road. You can hide a platoon of shooters. Stay where you are, I'll take a look around.

— Are you sure there's anything to be found here? — Rosa asked incredulously, looking round too. — It's been a few days.

— It hasn't rained, so it's no big deal, — the captain assured her. — Wait.

Lytel spent the next half an hour exploring the neighbourhood, moving in a widening spiral. Rose gnawed on some dried bread, leaning against a tree, while Jeanne kneaded her tired muscles with fencing exercises. Finally, the elfess returned, shaking dry leaves out of her blonde hair. Reported:

— There's a trace. Here were professionals. Tried not to leave anything behind — took away the corpses, covered the blood pools, covered the horseshoe prints. But it takes a lot of men to take out a whole squad. You can't hide something like that safely. They were hardly afraid of anything, though, just used to caution. Let's go. First, they moved back along the road.

Rosa thought she could read animal tracks, but she was not as good as Lytel. The lady captain showed her companions the powder-burned leaves, the bent branches of bushes, the bald patches of ground where blood-splattered grass had been torn out, the bullet mark on a tree trunk, and many other tiny signs of the recent fight. King Auguste's men were moving out of the way like hares, but the elf was right — a couple of dozen men with prisoners and a load of dead bodies simply could not move through the thicket unnoticed. Eventually the women found themselves in a circular clearing.

— The horses were waiting for them here, — Lytel said confidently. — And here they thought they were safe.

The trail became wide and straight as the kidnappers stopped hiding. From the clearing Rosa could track them down. After an hour of following the horse's hoofprints, the women signalled to Marius to descend. It seemed unlikely that they would encounter casual travellers away from the tracks, and Toad was more visible in the sky than on the ground. Now Lytel walked ahead, pointing the way, and the others followed her on the dragon's back. When the elfess grew tired, she was replaced by the sorceress. By sunset, they crossed the border of Iolia without being caught by the border guards.

— We'd better not be late, — said Rosa, spreading a blanket for the night. There was no fire, and they had nothing to cook, so they ate a dinner of breadcrumbs. — The Erdos have been held captive for a week. They might be killed or transported away.

— Republicans are tough people, — Jeanne reassured her. — They know how to keep quiet. And even if they split up, they will squeeze the information out of themselves one drop at a time. Believe me. There was one of the lady's killers. I got to him, but I never got him to talk — he died silently, this bastard.

The Guardian's words did not make the girl feel any better — all night she tossed and turned under Toad's warm side, and in the morning she met with red, watery eyes. The trail diverged towards the mountains. The terrain was becoming more and more deserted — trade between the republics and the kingdom was mainly by river, and the land was not suitable for crops, so the party did not come across even abandoned fields or hunting lodges. The sun had just passed the zenith when Lytel, who had gone ahead, came back at a run and said that their goal was "straight ahead". She had picked up the expression from Utlt.