As soon as the light of the morning sun gently illuminated the room, touching the closed eyelids of the mercenary with its rays, he woke up. Over the past night, Claude had a wonderful rest and blissfully stretched, dressed. The brother and sister slept in the next room on the second floor, but he waited to wake them up. The dining room was also empty, even the snakes that habitually sprawled everywhere were absent today. As soon as the treacherous thought crept into his soul: “Alita, deceived him by running away while they were sleeping,” as light steps were heard behind him, forcing him to turn around. Near him stood Alita, and at the same time not Alita. The face of the woman in front of him belonged to the queen of snakes, but she was transformed beyond recognition. The features of the face have retained their attractive charm, but have lost their former brightness, and if earlier it fell into the soul, bursting like a fiery hurricane, now she charmed me with the soft steps of

- Don't panic. Don't make a fuss, I came to talk! - Claude said in the very ear, closely clinging to the voluminous body, which did not prevent him from trembling, like a leaf in the wind. If you understand, nod and I'll let you go. Nodding obediently, the man exhaled heavily, showing no signs of resistance, so Claude, removing the blade, sank into the nearest chair, not waiting for the invitation of the mayor's right hand. Thorng, rather quickly moving away from the first shock, sank into a chair opposite and even pointed his finger towards the decanter, with contents unfamiliar to Claude, which the mercenary did not dare to drink. To which Thorng shrugged indifferently and poured himself a full glass. - Tell me where they took Andren, the old man from the gatehouse? And I won't believe that you don't know. Claude began confidently, having no doubt that Thorng knew perfectly well where to look for his grandfather. The man caressed his glass with a thoughtful look, drownin

When the strength of five warriors remained circling around them, Claude glanced up the stairs at the foot of which their battle was taking place. Ivanos was still there, but he no longer looked so self-confident, his lips were tightly compressed, and his eyes followed their group with close attention, and something in this look Claude desperately did not like. He recognized that look, which the mayor had bestowed on him the first time they met, when he was testing his stability. Apparently then he realized that Claude is not quite a man. Intuition sounded a desperate alarm. Turning sharply in the direction of the only person in their squad, Claude barely managed to dodge the blade of Caer's knife, which passed a few millimeters from his neck, with an extinct look, looking straight ahead. "Not!" Claude snarled, dodging a second attack. He didn't want to kill the boy but it was difficult for him to be torn between him and the soldiers of the mayor. Deftly dodging the blade of one of

Having thrown open the ancient wooden door, he rushed inside like a hurricane and grabbed his warm neck, drowning in a silky mane, enjoying the native smell of his friend. His friend. His Elusive. "Good boy. He came to Andren himself. He didn't disappear. His faithful companion. He also sent help. Why can't people be so reliable. Like you?!" - he whispered tenderly, affectionately sorting through the hairs, tickling behind the ears with a habitual gesture, stroking his head and shoulders. How he missed him. Claude didn't even realize how much he missed him. He didn't know how much time passed as they stood so close to each other. Yes, he didn't care. As if realizing that they needed to be alone, a mercenary with a horse, no one interrupted, even Andren, somehow quietly disappeared, returning to the house. For which Claude was grateful to him. As the mercenary was in no hurry to leave Permit, they still had to stay at Andren's for a couple of days, waiting for Caer to come to his sens

Among the mercenaries, there was such a tradition as "taking an obligation", that is, to perform a service in return for the one rendered to them. Mercenaries did not like to take obligations, and even more so to remain in debt. This event was always fraught with risk, if the mercenary did not fulfill this word, he immediately fell into the list of mercenaries with a bad reputation as a debtor and a dishonest monster hunter, and this was fraught with the fact that orders stopped coming. Therefore, everyone tried to follow the fulfillment of obligations very carefully. Perhaps this was the only moment in the work of the monster slayer when the mercenary was shackled by rules and requirements.- What's the matter? - Rolk suddenly came to life, - after all, you are going to the capital through Vogra, and the Trollgin just sat down near this tract. So, whether you like it or not, you're going to have to face him, but you see, the two of us will quickly deal with him.Claude was in no hurr