The morning met Eric light and fresh. Broths that made his companion, worked just miracles - no headaches, no dryness, no lethargy. As if I did not drink in the evening. They had risen before the Italian, but they waited while the man, with enough sleepy guards, departed on his way to Milan. After that, at a considerable distance, they followed them. Although the plan was both risky and complex, but it worked like clockwork. Three hours' drive, on the shore of a small lake, surrounded by willow thickets, they found the emissary's camp. The only person who was still alive was Stefan himself. He grabbed the air hoarsely, trying to breathe, but the rapidly developing throat swelling surely killed him. Eric approached, crouched down and smiled sweetly. Stefan recognized him, pulled his hands to him and wheezed:
" The murderer! "Assassin!
To which the Baron replied, in the most affectionate tone:
- Sleep calmly dear friend, - and squeezed the throat of the poor fellow, speeding up the process. Tom sufficed enough crumbs, and, twitching for a few seconds, he fell silent forever.
Mindful of what happened last time, the embarrassment, Eric ordered the Irish to follow the horsemen's horseshit steeds, and he himself began to study the prey. At the same time, she had to follow the terrain and, in case of danger, to warn ahead of time. This time he immediately began to look for a place to accommodate bodies and excess property. I did not want to drown corpses in the lake, as this would spoil the water in the district for a long time, so I had to walk seventy steps along the coastal thickets before the ravine of the correct size turned up. Having squealed and pohav from anticipated happiness of rough labor activity, the baron began to undress the guys who had laid down their wild head for the glory of his purse. And now, when there were already twelve bare corpses lying on the beach, the idea dawned on him. The difficulty in implementing the idea was that it was difficult to load a horse on a horse, so it was necessary to build a kind of flimsy semblance of harness with a leg loop from the belt belts. Ten minutes of trouble with straps were fully paid for by the ease with which the bodies went to rest in the ravine. Having dealt with the company of the commercial emissary, Eric took charge of the property. Ten full Haubeks of riveted rings and a short mail made half chopped, half of riveted rings. Next came the lamellar armor of the emissary, ten late spangelhelms, one helmet of the "pilot" type and one Phrygian cap with a sinker and a barmaid. All armor is well-groomed and in excellent condition. Then there were ten Hungarian recursive bows, ten copies, twelve excellent swords, which Mr. Oakshot in his time would define as type XII. In addition to this, twelve round shields, a pair of sets of bracers of a "board" type, eight knives and a whole bunch of excellent arrows. Traditionally, I decided not to take clothes. With cash, too, everything was in order, even more so. In addition to ninety-eight denarii and one hundred and thirty-two obolov, which was shoved across belts, pads and purses, travelers found a bag containing fifteen stamps of silver and a pair of handfuls of quality river pearls, the total cost of the same number of stamps. All the property was difficult to fit on six horses. The entire small herd of twenty-four heads will not be able to lead them, so only the best horses were selected, which can then be sold. In general, and in general, if they do not themselves befriend good people, then you can live, there is little of it, now you can live well. They were able to pull out only towards evening. They did not stop for the night, and, having skirted the old town along the outer radius, set off towards Vienna. The two remaining days they quietly drove their own way. A couple of times they were harassed by the patrol, but unsuccessfully, because several denarii and a small speech about the local rulers, whose assignments they no doubt fulfilled, were very convincing. Although not for everyone. Already not far from the purpose of his journey, a small detour of four completely uncultured commoners so consumed with a desire to take away the stolen property that Eric had to put a bolt in the face of their leader and a sword to kill the horse under his brazen helper. Why he fell and broke his leg in his thigh. This very tonifying effect on the remaining rascals. Feeling extremely uncomfortable, these gallant extortionists decided to flee from him in the most insolent way. The horse of the first such turn of events could not digest and stumbled, just a few steps away, throwing the poor fellow out of the saddle, and the second himself fell out of the saddle when he tried to turn around quickly, for some reason he took his feet out of the stirrups. Only out of pity he finished off the woeful, so that they would not suffer. They did not take their horses, just like the ragged, old coats of mail, so as not to arouse suspicion. The axes and spears removed from the shaft added loads to the horses of the improvised convoy. Well, and bought a little coins, only three denarii in obol. Here the main thing is not to choke snatched piece of pie, and then the guys and so his too fatty took.
" Morrigan, why did you go with me? "I offered to continue on my own, and for a reason - you would have a horse and some money for the first time.
"I owe you my life and do not want to look in your eyes like an ungrateful bastard. "
- Come on, I told you myself. My path will be very dangerous and literally flooded with blood to the last extreme.
" Eric, do not you understand? "You are the only person in this world, a man who treated me kindly. Few of this, did not solicit. After all, you, Mr. Baron, perfectly understand that I could hardly resist your interest for a long time.
- Oh, what are you talking about? I'm only fourteen years old, what kind of interest?
- Little boys on girls do not run at night, and all the more in the hay after cute cooing does not return.
- Here's another. At least I am poor in exile, but of noble birth.
" But does that change the fact that you're a woman? "Admit it, you went with me, including because I liked you.
"I'm older than you. "
So what? Does it affect sexual desire so much?
- Eric, stop, please. I am ashamed to discuss such topics. You, in the first place, a person who can protect their people, and very decisively. And I'm tired of running and hiding all my life, because I want a little peace of mind and confidence in my future. You give confidence.
And what kind of brother is running after you? You're sort of like the throne Desmond can not claim.
- I - yes, but the one who will take me as a wife, through marriage will have all rights to the throne. That is, after the death of his brother, by our right, the crown will pass to him. And Donald wants to retain power for his children. Therefore, in order to eliminate misunderstandings, he decided to kill all relatives, which can create problems.
" How very nice of him. "And let's do him nice?
"InMeaning".
" Well, he's asleep and dreaming about dismembering you on the block. "Am I right?
- Let's admit.
- Therefore, you need to make sure that his dreams become more saturated and beautiful, but extremely short. On the nearest farmstead, I must send him a letter on my behalf, in which I will inform you that I, the baron von Lenzburg, is engaged to his sister. Well, what's with your eyes widened? Calmly, it will just be written in a letter, it's a joke that he can not test. A little such a dirty trick that will deprive him of sleep and appetite.
" Yes, my poor brother. You know, I even feel sorry for him.
