III

- Well, shit.

Wasn't long before Willem discovered fires beyond the hills. It was a valley hidden between the heights, and someone camped there. Half a hundred people, by the looks of it. The pursuers from before, most likely. Officer couldn't spot any banners or really anything that could say about their identities. They weren't soldiers from the company, that's for sure.

Path Willem and Budevik used before lied parallel to the valley, well hidden in snow and shadows. Wind did a pretty good work hiding it too, silencing any noise coming from camp's direction. Was he to notice enemies when he traveled up to the Gates general might have still be alive. Well, it wasn't Willem's fault Budevik didn't send any scouts. Enemies other than Vespemalei's guards were unexpected.

- Are those the people that pursued us?

Willem flinched and ducked as he heard princess' voice right over his ear. She sneaked behind him, not making a sound. It was utterly horrifying to suddenly discover a yellow eyed giant standing there, as if materialized from the thin air.

- Th-their comrades, yes.

Maybe he lowered his guard a bit too much. He looked back towards the Gates. Princess led them to a place sandwiched between the tower and camp, and if pursuers wished to return they might as well choose the path general and officer used earlier. They should choose it, they'd be incompetent not to try and catch escapees running from them.

And Willem couldn't run properly with his wound. He desperately needed a rest, and just couldn't afford it. He's got slightly better after passing through the worm. Hot air, Willem being unable to quiet his mind down from the fear or something else, but unexpectedly he found some new strength to pull it through. He doubted he could keep it up for long, but still.

Meanwhile, Crow shown a keen interest in the camp lights she saw.

- You said you wanted to protect me from them, Willem. Yet you both smell quite alike.

«Smell?», – Willem frowned. Well, he and pursuers were compatriots afterall, but princess may have been less literal than that. «Quite alike», – he thought, calming down. Someone hired those guys, and if he to believe the voices he heard back in the tower there could be a rather handy way of dealing with this situation. He meant both Vespemalei and Razeneth.

Despite general having a pride all the mercenaries were quite alike, just like those who hired them. If the job's done, surely the contractor wouldn't mind all that much. Yet there was a still a question of who wanted to see princess alive. Bastard? As in «of the West»? «If that's the case then...»

- There is a mage hiding nearby. – She said. – And his smell isn't like yours, Willem.

That was a bit too sudden. «A mage?» Princess showed him the tree-hand mage chose to hide under. It was the closest one, meaning that this guy already noticed them, as expected of magic user. Willem wasn't particularly afraid, however: in Vespemalei's land no sorcery had any power. Willem could take on a frail mage even with weakened strength.

Willem didn't pull his sword out, but as he got closer to the tree-hand it proved unnecessary.

- So, he is with them? – Crow asked.

- Ah, he was travelling with us. – Willem replied, shrugging. – General was adamant on helping mages to get to your land.

He didn't know why, though. A tradition of old or something like that. Mages never returned from Vespemalei's lands, so he thought it was an act of kindness towards people who are going to die or something. In any case, princess knew what was going on.

- Our treaty with Rosans is still remembered, I see.

This implied something sinister Willem wasn't quite ready to accept.

Mage left tree's shadow when officer came close enough and looked at Willem with cold, calculating stare. Southerner had tan skin and wore strange arcane robes, smelling of dyes, spices and perfume. Apparently the cold was getting to him harder than to anyone else in the company and he was wearing more than one set of them, although his clothing looked so bizarre it all looked the same.

- Why hello there, Nevethan. – Mage's voice was so sweet it melt in the air. – How was your trip to the Gates?

He dropped the act however as princess did the same kind of trick she have done to Willem. Mage's shocked expression was rather satisfying to see. He clearly tried to do something here, but soon southerner realized that magic doesn't work here. Immediately he bowed his head and dropped on one knee.

- Vespemalei, – mage said, – Vespemalei.

Now it was Willem's turn to become pale. If he could be any more pale, that is.

- I see you recognize me, mage. – She said, smiling.

His name was Ekkem of Ashghan, which implied that there were more Ekkems. Unlike Willem, mage dared not look at princess. Officer long suspected sorcerors were in some kind of a league with Vespemalei, but until now he had no idea how close he was to the truth. Afterall, magic wasn't working in this blighted land, as if someone could order it to stop listening to anyone else's words.

After exchanging pleasantries, mage finally dared to stand. He then procured a gift, a small box with spices and jewels, saying with his most sweet voice that he could only hope to meet Vespemalei one day. As repulsive this behaviour looked to Willem, however, the Crow's reaction was somehow more troubling. She liked it, clearly.

- So then, Ekkem, I have a favor to ask. Help me decide.

Mage answered with a bow. As Crow explained, Ekkem watched Willem with cold stare.

«Budevik wouldn't tell mage of all people about the mission, right?» It was the continuation of his and princess' talk from before they met the mage. If their smell is the same she couldn't trust Willem. So, she wasn't literal about her smelling. «Thank goodness». Willem wasn't sure with Vespemalei, they are just too ridiculous, as was expected of the overlords of all things evil.

Ekkem as a neutral party favoring Crow over both has been made a judge. Willem had to say something as a mage could not be trusted. He couldn't let everything be decided without him.

- We are an army and they are not. They are just civilians driven to banditry, doing any work they are offered. We on the other hand are one of the few remaining legions of the Rosan Empire. Would you prefer them to be protecting you, princess?

Crow looked at him seriously, then her gaze drifted somewhere else.

- I would, if they have what I need. – Princess smiled. – You shouldn't hide from answering me honestly, Willem. You are mercenaries, I get that, and you are working for someone who needs me. I will not kill you for that. – She turned to Ekkem again. – Now, what do you have to say?

Her stance on those things looked like a trap, though. As if she was playing him into doing something stupid. Finally, it was Ekkem's turn to say something.

- Company clearly has a better backer. Less informed, sure, but that isn't a negative for you, isn't it, my lady?

Princess nodded, and Willem felt sweat rolling down his spine. Somehow this small victory wasn't fulfilling at all.

- I need an army, Willem. If I am needed by someone it means I have a power over them, and like I said, I need an army.

Officer shook his head in disbelief at himself. Can't lower guard around her. She's just too dangerous, she preyed upon his weakened state of mind. Princess not even once shown any hostility towards him, but that was all an act. Vespemalei, despite being evil and all that, somehow always managed to find willing minions to do their bidding. Just like Ekkem. There were tricks up their sleeves.

Willem didn't want to serve anyone. And yet there were degrees of him not wanting to serve. Like, Bastard of the West and Crow seemed less repulsive than Razeneth.

- Then our interests go toe in toe. Here's my offer, Crow. – He said. – You will look for yourself if the legion is to your liking. However, general is dead and captains will have to decide on the contract once more. I will do anything I can to help you see our hirer. No other promises there, and if captains decide to be hired by you instead then so be it.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

The last one was a lie. A lie in some sense. Willem won't let captains accept princess' offer. Most likely he wouldn't need to do anything as captains weren't a dumb bunch.

- And all I need is to not do anything rash? – She faced towards the mage. – I will require one more favor from you, Ekkem. Help Willem along the way, else he will collapse before we get there. For your help, – and your gift, – you will have my blessing to behold the greatness you yearned to see so.

Mage readily nodded, muttering «thank you, Vespemalei». Willem must have missed some words. The last favor wasn't as shallow as it looked at first. Mage didn't want to return to the camp as one of the captains – Lieuw, who clearly did the right thing – in general's absense forbid Ekkem to leave the camp. And yet here he was, talking to Crow and Willem.

Later Willem asked him:

- Why do you help me?

Apart from «she offered something of great importance to a mage», Ekkem's answer was pretty insane.

- Besides, Vespemalei never wanted to have humans as servants before. Sure they had some, but those were very rare cases. But she wants them, she is hungry for them. – He said, smiling like mad. – You know that Vespemalei kill each other, never letting their power be divided? We, mortal men, have the chance to see this war from the inside, we can participate in it; doesn't that make your heart race?

- You aren't answering my question.

- She wanted you to see it, that's why.

***

Willem at some point must have fell unconscious from all that exhaustion he accumulated. He must have been resting now, his body being carried by the mage towards the camp. Nightmares weren't news to him at this point. He expected to see lots faces, yet, he saw something else entirely, which made him think if he really left the caverns under the surface.

He was lost in there and completely alone. It must have been nightmare. If it wasn't, Willem had no idea how to get back. Caverns were all exactly the same, wherever he decided to go it just never ended. And yet, there was a growing suspicion that something changed, or at least was about to change. The room Crow talked about before, Willem felt it somewhere on the horizon. He had nowhere else to go anyway. so he desperately sought for this place.

A nightmare usually consisted of faces of the slain. And as Willem saw a familiar picture of the path turning to the side he noticed a boy's head rolling ahead of him. It was the same room, with a giant pit in the middle. A boy, grinning from ear to ear, happily jumped into abyss.

- Now he can hear you, sirs. – Kherim said, stroking his thin beard. – I'll go and treat the princess, if you wouldn't mind.

Willem felt something very spicy in his nose, and something else squirming on his face. It took a lot of strength from him to tilt his head to see all captains gathered around him, as well as a couple of soldiers and their conscripted doctor. A fat learned person from the natives, company took him in after their own medic collapsed with insects worming out of his ears.

From outside the tent he heard Ekkem's voice. Mage was quite upset that he was separated from both Willem and Crow, but furthermore he was denied both the ability to attend captains' discussion and the ability to leave, despite «queen's» promise. In any case, Willem grasped the situation happening before him. Captains stood there, silent momentarily, and waited for him to explain what the hell got loose.

Willem grabbed his head, trying to get rid of the last bits of nightmare stuck in there.

- Where's she?

- Vespemalei is in her tent for now.

«I see». He rummaged through his pockets and didn't find a letter but lots of shredded paper instead. «Yeah, it worked». While they still were walking towards the camp Willem managed to get rid of the evidence by tearing the small scroll to bits. Neither princess or the captains knew anything. Dog, last piece of the puzzle, stood in the tent behind everyone else. Willem looked at him, showing that there was a talk they need to do after the meeting.

As Dog nodded, Willem told captains about everything. Well, more than that, but also he hid the fact company was hired by Razeneth. Instead, officer put Bastard as their contractor to the surprise of many. General would be quite displeased if he was alive, but Willem didn't care. Budevik had his faults, serving Razeneth being one of them.

As he was talking he prepared his new move. Putting words in such a way as to push captains into action. To switch sides they needed one thing, and their compatriots hiding in the mountains had it. For that reason Willem told about the princess first, saying that he left the most important stuff for last. Putting camp's discovery close to general's death and scout's heroic actions, he was ready to strike.

- There are fifty or so of them there. No defences, and furthermore, they are totally oblivious to our presense. – Willem said. – We have to avenge our general, aren't we?

Enduring the pain Willem stood up from his bad. Determination was the key. Not everyone bought that, though.

Now, Willem, tell us what really happened.

Kramer was a larga man with auburn hair. He looked as sturdy as a castle wall and was built the same. Yet in reality he was more suited for other, more bloody type of work, hence came his nickname Gutrip. He was trusted to interrogate people, and by that everyone meant torture.

- So, what happened? – Asked he again.

General greeted him into company's ranks even before the first war, so losing Budevik must have been a big hit to him. Willem could relate to that but there was no reason to suspect general's adjutant just because of that.

- I didn't do this. I wouldn't dare. – Willem replied. – Meanwhile, those who hid themselves behind the mountains called him «traitor». Not at Razeneth, but at our general. Send Kirin to scout ahead if you doubt my words. He will confirm what I said.

- That's right, we have to do something about them. – Said Lieuw, catching up fast. – They might run away unscathed if we are to be undecisive.

There were six captains total and Dog with his handful of scouts. Captains commanded around a hundred people each, company being six hundred soldiers strong total. Kramer commanded veterans, although he was more of a figurehead than a real captain with general giving orders to them directly.

Two hundreds would be quite enough to destroy enemy's camp. Everyone wanted to be the one to avenge the general, and so Willem's speech ended in captains deciding who was the most loyal to Budevik. Every other matter at hand was postponed until they destroy the enemy.

- Don't forget about Kirin. – Willem chuckled. – He will surely want to have his revenge.

- For someone having no guilt you are awfully interested in sending Dog forward, aren't you. – Kramer interwened once more.

- But he is right, though. Last time having no scouts around proved disastrous to our general.

Lieuw liked antagonizing Kramer for some reason. He was way smaller than his opponent, had lighter build and gave off a somewhat sickly impression. Also, he wasn't trustworthy at all. General had a good grasp of him, but Willem never had any hope of dealing with this guy favorably. Somehow that translated into respect for Lieuw, even though Willem tried to purge this feeling of camaraderie towards this particular person.

- So, you must be with them in this too, eh?

Kramer towered over Lieuw, yet the latter wasn't impressed. Definitely, both of them had some thoughts on what really happened, yet not even Willem himself suspected general to be dealing with Razeneth, and Kirin was really quiet about Budevik's secrets It was impossible for captains to know the truth.

- Veterans can't be allowed to do such a simple task and Lieuw is untrustworthy, as well as me. – Willem rubbed temples. – This leaves you four. I propose we send Kirin, Moesel and Greiff. For no particular reason, I'll be honest there.

It didn't matter all that much, really. Willem only wanted two hundreds and Kirin. Captains reached a somewhat shaky compromise: four remaining captains, Moesel, Greiff, Rais and Inges, each took fifty men. For the sake of trying out every possibility Willem offered his assistance, even though he didn't hope to do much by himself. He was put back into bed with his bad condition as a pretext.

But Kirin got through. Dog wasn't happy about it.

Soon everyone left, including Kirin. There were soldiers guarding tent from outside – Willem saw their shadows on the wall. «I'm not trustworthy now, huh» He heard captains gathering their men and marching off. Just as he started to fear Kirin abandoned him Dog entered the tent through the entrance, and guards did nothing. Officer noticed they didn't even flinch, scout completely evading their senses.

Willem had no idea how did general got a hold over such a person. And what Dog did wasn't a magic but something else, Vespemalei made sure it wasn't the case. Officer recognised this particular trick. He was dubbing it «body double» since Dog was present in multiple locations at the same time.

- You've heard that originally we wanted to kill the princess, haven't you?

Kirin wasn't denying this.

- And now you must want to know why I'm suddenly wanting to bring her somewhere, right? I'll tell you. – Willem said. – Because that the opposite of what Razeneth wanted of us.

- So... it was Razeneth.

«Counterintuitive, I know». To get through Alvirean blockade company didn't do anything at all. One would think that meant company working for Alvirea – meaning working for Bastard of the West – with alvireans silently letting them pass through. Since Razeneth and Bastard not being on exactly friendly terms it must have been some kind of magic or something.

- You should find Bastard's seal in enemy's camp and take it before anyone sees it. We'll take on their mission as our own and say to captains that Bastard is a bastard, hiring two companies at once.

«It's not treachery, right?» General only wanted good for his men, and Willem tried to save them from Razeneth. Afterall, it was Bastard's country that owned the lands of the fallen empire. It was only logical to try and get them back from the current owners.

Surprisingly enough, Dog was rather tame today. He must have felt Willem's good intentions, but more than that he knew full well that Razeneth could not be trusted, even if general succumbed to his power.

- What about the ratling? If there is one.

- I say he should die. – Willem shrugged. Bastard ofttimes sent his spies into mercenary companies he employed, and if that's the case it could prove problematic later on. – Kramer shouldn't get his hands on the rat, that's for sure.

Dog sighed in response.

- Honestly, I thought you served Bastard all along.

- Because he tried to contact me? You know I'm not the kind.

That half-serious attempt to recruit Willem, – or entire company, – for the Bastard's cause that happened way before they sneaked into Vespemalei's land could actually be beneficial to them now. Both Lieuw and Kramer as well as others might have known about that incident, and even if Willem refused to deal with alvireans before captains didn't know that, thinking of it as the beginning of their current contract.

- One last thing. – Said Dog, looking at the exit. – What about Ekkem?

That question was hard to answer. For now Willem wanted to put all this Crow business on hold and make sure Bastard's seal, – a paper signifying company's deal with the most powerful person of the Alvirean Empire, – was in their possession.