Chapter 368 An Exchange (1/2)
”You planned this all along, didn't you?” Arran asked
He sat with Kaleesh and Sassun, the three of the a bottle of wine as Arran's eyes wandered around the mostly empty camp around them
The mercenaries who'd accepted Rannoc's offer had left just a quarter-hour earlier, accompanied by both Muna and the priest, with three carts full of precious gemstones behind the up in the mines, the captain had said
And now, the camp that had been abuzz with activity only hours earlier was eerily silent, with those who still re in muted voices
”Of course I did,” Kaleesh replied to Arran's question ”I never had any intention of forcingwhat they would face”
”I' theroup, wasn't it?”
Some fifty mercenaries had chosen to re for Arran to realize that while the group had lost th
To a hters the Wolfsblood Company counted And many of them were older than the others had been, with the experience to match it
”That was a part of it, too,” Kaleesh adroup will move faster and draw less attention Not to hters would be difficult”
Arran narrowed his eyes ”Properly equipping them?”
He knew that the mines held starmetal, and that Kaleesh had requested the assistance of Kadun's blacksmiths That he intended to arm his troops as best he could was obvious, but still, Arran wondered what the captain was planning
So soed
A small smile crossed the captain's face ”Come with me,” he said ”While you were occupied with your studies, the rest of us were digging And our labor was most fruitful”
Arran followed as the captain led the the ht
It wasn't long before they reached a network of tunnels that was unfa, the tunnels spread far beneath the h that Arran briefly worried that Kaleesh ers' caverns
Yet his Sense told him that wasn't the case While the tunnels ran deep, they had not gone deep enough to create danger
Still, surprise flashed across Arran's face when he Sensed what lay at the end of the tunnels — surprise he quickly hid, to avoid revealing his Sense to the captain
A quarter-hour later they reached their destination — a large chamber, filled with starmetal ore And after they stepped inside, the captain turned around, a sness
”So what do you think?”
”No wonder you were so generous to the overseer,” Arran replied, staring at the massive pile of starmetal ore ”A fortune like this… you could buy your own city, if you wanted to”
Kaleesh sighed wistfully ”We only get to keep a third of it,” he said ”The rest goes to Rannoc Still, it should be enough to equip fifty fighters”
”Fifty?” Arran raised his eyebrow as he faced the captain ”This would have been enough to have a starmetal sword made for everyone in the Wolfsblood Company”
”True,” Kaleesh said ”But in the Desolation, swords won't be enough”
”Then what else do we need?” Arran asked
”To start, we'll need spears,” Kaleesh replied ”Long and sharp, so the troops can pin down our ene that we'll need arht you wanted to avoid drawing attention?”
The captain nodded ”Of course But if we dirty the weapons and ar nobody would expect fifty outsiders to all have equipers”
At this, Arran shook his head ”That won't work Knights will know the difference”
Kaleesh gave him a curious look ”They will? How?”