Chapter 13

Valria received her honestly lost slap on the eleventh morning of the trip. Fearing revenge, Carlon showed considerable guile. He delegated the slap to Sergeant Dallan. She spared no mercy for her friend...

The ten days that the elfess had envisioned passed unnoticed. The first week of the ducal cortege traveled through the lands of Elvart, from city to city, from castle to castle. There was virtually no overnight stay in the field, though Valria and Carlon agreed that it would be easier to ensure Her Highness's safety that way. Lady Emilia, after listening to them, agreed, but noted that if the new duchess avoided her subjects, it might make a strange impression. So the route was not changed.

The mercenaries faithfully earned their money, working side by side with the guards. At each stop, Valria calculated the positions where a shooter who wanted to get to Christina might be sitting, checked them out, placed secrets. Carlon set magical alarms, looked for traps along the route and in the staging areas - after all, there were other threats besides an alien immune to magic. Dallan simply stayed close to the duchess. The Master feared at first that the sergeant might have trouble with the guardsmen, but nothing terrible happened. When the green-eyed girl joined the escort, she simply exchanged nods with the other bodyguards and that was it. The mage began to suspect that the nods to the guardsmen had some hidden meaning, incomprehensible to an outsider.

On the eighth day, the mountains loomed ahead. The low, wooded mountain range that bounded Elvart to the south belonged to the home principality of Valria. The border of elven lands was not marked in any way, but before sunset the caravan was met by a group of elven riders. They gave Christina the Second greetings from the forest prince and offered to lead the people through the pass. The duchess, of course, agreed. Valria frowned as she watched their conversation.

- What, you don't like having someone older than you around? - The master wondered sarcastically. The elf riders looked his age, which meant they were about four hundred or five hundred years old. The captain only snorted in response.

And soon the journey for the mage was not only peaceful, but pleasant.

The pass that bisected the mountain range was well traveled, with countless trade wagons stretching across it from the seashore to the Empire and back year round. The elves, of course, had lavished the place with supplies of taverns, stalls, stables, and so on. The Duchess' train had made a long day's stop at the highest point of the pass, and Carlon took advantage of the respite to break his own commandment to never trade with elves. A shop adorned with a carved sign, "Gifts of Kan," caught his eye. Elven god Kan patronized healers, and his gifts were called all sorts of medicinal herbs, mushrooms, and moss by the pointed-eared forest dwellers. The mage decided for himself that the risk of going broke justified the benefit - here for sure he could find in fresh form some ingredients that are usually sold dried. Mentally preparing himself for a fierce bargain, the wizard crossed the threshold of the shop... and found that the bargainers inside were already bargaining without him. One of the girl guardsmen was arguing with the young, snub-nosed elf behind the counter. Carlon only knew her by name. Lady Maria was a tall but thin blonde with almost white hair, very pale delicate skin, and, unexpectedly, bright blue eyes. She was half a head taller than her sisters and had the longest hairstyle among them - her straight hair fell below her shoulder blades in a ponytail. He'd exchanged a few words with the blue-eyed lady over the past week, nothing more. Now, he was astonished to realize that she was trying to buy the ingredients for a simple heartburn potion. She didn't have enough money for the whole kit, solely because the elfish saleswoman had jacked up the price fivefold.

- Let me advise you, lady... - Carlon said politely, standing beside the guardswoman. The ensuing quarter of an hour was a battle, where the wizard had to use all his knowledge of alchemy, herbology, and continental pricing. Even so, the only thing that saved him was the fact that the elfess was slightly older than Valria, and not yet very experienced in her craft. In the end, the price for the Lady Maria was tripled, and the master had enough money to buy the rare toadstool root of the north. Outside, the Lady Mary, clutching the bundle of purchases to her chest, said to Carlon:

- Please accept my gratitude, Master. I... don't know much about trade. We rarely have to buy things ourselves. You've just helped me out.

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- It was nothing, - the mage smiled. - Pleasure to help. What do you want with the alchemical goods, by any chance?

- They are not for me. Sir Roland has a stomach ache, but he tries to hide it. I noticed, so I thought I'd sneak him a potion at the next resting place. Let him drink it while no one's looking.

The two old guardsmen from the dead duke's guard were now leading a cavalry escort. Each led half a hundred reithars - heavy riders, armed and trained at the expense of the duchy's treasury. Reithars were the pride of Elvart, in the last war the duchy fielded two cavalry corps of five hundred men each.

- And who will prepare the medicine? - The mage inquired as he and the girl made their way toward the inn, which was occupied by Christina's retinue. - Ask the court healer?

- If Sir Roland does not wish to involve him, neither will I. - A faint smile crossed the lady guardsman's pale lips. The mage barely noticed it. - It is not difficult for me to do myself. There will be time at night, after duty...

- You can make potions? - The wizard raised his eyebrows. His surprise might have offended the girl, but he could not help it. It was seldom that Carlon encountered a man capable of something of the sort, and who had never been to a medicine school.

- Only the healing ones. - Fortunately, Lady Mary paid no attention to his tactlessness. - All guardsmen are taught the basics of first aid from childhood, but I have studied medicine a little deeper than my sisters. I had no magical gift, of course. Combinations of herbs, potions, that sort of thing. It's even more interesting that way. Christina always encouraged my hobby.

In the lobby of the hotel, the wizard and the guardsman went their separate ways. However, when the cortege set off, they met again at the duchess's carriage. All the way down the pass, Carlon and Lady Maria rode head to head, chatting under Valria's mocking gaze. They had many topics in common. Both were self-taught in the healing arts, the difference being that the girl learned more from books and the wizard from the military healers of various regiments. Several medical treatises from the palace library the guardswoman carried with her, in her swag bags. She turned out to be a wonderful companion - more reserved than Lady Emilia, but well-read and friendly.

A day later, Carlon saw Lady Maria in the dining hall of another inn and invited her to share the table with him. Over tea and cookies they again talked about potions, herbs and decocts, but by the end of the meal they moved on to more personal topics. As a matter of fact, the Duchess' bodyguard had almost no personal topics, and Karlon was the main one to talk about - fortunately, he had something to tell. Before going to bed, Lady Maria looked into his room and left the magician a book on the treatment of skin ulcers. They discussed it all the next day as they rode side by side again behind Christina's carriage. Valria, who had been fidgeting nearby, listened for about ten minutes to what they were talking about and left with her face turned green and her ears pressed to her head. That same evening, the mage and the guardsman dined alone, not in the common room, but in the room assigned to the master. Day after day, Carlon found himself spending more time in the company of the duke's bodyguard than with the mercenaries. And when it became clear that the lady who was in charge of the duty Emilia specifically assigns Maria only day watch that she remained free in the evenings, the magician felt uncomfortable. Not for long, though. Valria and Dallan kept each other company, and evenings with Lady Maria brightened the mage's monotonous journey. At the end of the day that the elfess lost her wager, the train reached the borders of the Empire, and overnighted in a border town. The Burgomaster had set aside his own mansion for Christina's companions, and in the late afternoon, having finished setting up the alarms, Carlon secluded himself and Maria in a cozy room on the second floor. They were reading a book, sitting on the sofa and touching each other's shoulders, when the girl guardsman suddenly asked, without taking her eyes off the book pages:

- Carlon, do I seem beautiful to you?

- You seem beautiful to me, lady, - the mage replied without hesitation. In the first place, that's the only way to answer such questions, and secondly, he was telling the truth. Lady Maria carefully removed the book from her lap, laid the desired page with a cloth strip, and then hugged the master by the shoulders and drew him to her. Their first kiss was brief - the girl pulled away almost immediately, said earnestly, looking Carlon in the eyes:

- Please don't take this too seriously. We can have a good time, that's all. But it will all be over when the road separates us. We won't owe each other anything. I won't forget about you, of course. You're defending Christine, too...

- Don't tell me that's what you liked about me, lady, - Carlon grinned crookedly, feeling like a teenager on a first date again.

- Not only that, - the lady bodyguard answered him with a faint smile. - Don't you worry. But again, don't think about love. If it's difficult for you, we'd better not go on.

- Everything is all right. - The magician gently stroked the soft hair of the girl, not taking his eyes off her bright eyes. - I am hard enough to fulfill your request. But...

A new kiss prevented him from speaking. Carlon had only time to think that the sofa was too small for two, when Lady Maria yanked him to the floor, on the fluffy white carpet...