Chapter XVIII Patrols

After a conversation with this strange woman, I realized that I had overestimated her age a lot.

She looked so depressed that she had a thick layer of eyeshadow under her eyes, which made her feel like a ghost as she walked through the woods. She untied the rope from my wrist and applied a layer of plaster.

As she healed me, I looked closely at the branches on top of her backpack and recognized one of them. The twigs can be boiled with wild herbs to make the soup sticky. When the farmers around the barracks couldn't afford to buy oatmeal porridge, they would collect it. I suspect even more that the person in front of me is a forest witch, or even a female druid or something.

Among the barbarians, the status of women was generally very high, and it was not uncommon for women to serve as clergy. There were many witches around Varankov, who took food or money from the soldiers, and then divined or cursed others for them. Rumor has it that Giovanni once had a witch curse Varankov day and night when he was at his worst, but of course, Giovanni himself would never admit it.

My fingers gradually became sensible, and at the same time there was more pain. The swollen fingers resemble transparent sausages – some of the Valans who are fond of fatty meats often fill sausages with a lot of fat so that they get oily when they bite into them, which they find invigorating. The grass on the roadside had already felt the scent of spring and began to grow under the dead branches, and the rotting branches and leaves would soon be swallowed up by the new plants, making a crackling sound when stepped on.

The woman's name was Bella, and she said that she was a Rhodoc herself. Naturally, I don't believe it. Rhodok has only a handful of men in the eastern territories, let alone a woman. Of course, impersonating Westerners happens from time to time, and I have no reason to debunk them.

She looked back at me several times, afraid that I had run away. Then she fed me a special bitter wine, which she said would scab over my wound within a week, and then put on a wooden wrist handle, so that I wouldn't have to itch it when it healed. Bella kept talking, and I didn't say a word, because I didn't know what this woman's purpose was. She seemed to think of me as an acquaintance, perhaps her dead brother, or her child. Many poor women hallucinate after the war and consider completely unrelated people as their closest relatives.

"Who the hell are you?"

I asked her as we walked out of a wooded field to a meadow that had been burned by fire.

There was a completely burned farmhouse, deserted, wooden fences had been removed, and a few dead people were hanging from the woods in the distance.

She looked back at me, "I've known you for a long time. ”

"Nonsense," I touched my wrist and gasped in pain, "I've never seen you, and I only saw you for the first time today." ”

"I've seen you for the first time this morning," she said, "but I know it's you." ”

Her tone seemed to be the words of the cook when she beat Jack, "My cake is missing a cherry, I know it's you!"

"Are you crazy or stupid?" I heard movement in the woods, looked up, and saw that it was a squirrel jumping up another tree, "How did you know me when you first saw me?" ”

"I don't know." Bella said, bending down to pluck some grass, "How do I know?" ”

I judged that she was indeed a poor madwoman, and decided to divert the subject. For a while, I wondered if this woman was someone I had forgotten about, and asked if she had been to Zenda or Northern Swadia generation, especially in the Suno region. But the woman said that she had stayed in Rhodoc since she was a child, and when she grew up, she went straight to the Holy City. Her incoherent words made me think that this could only be a lie, and I thought that she had been in Rhodoc from beginning to end, perhaps because she only knew about Rhodok as a foreign country.

"Alright," I licked my lips to get some water, but I found that she was thirsty and didn't look for water, so I gave up, "Where are we going?" ”

"White Dan Harbor," Bella said back to me, "to the Valans." ”

"We'd better go at night." I said to Bella, "The Valans are now red-eyed. In the morning, they were just abusing and abusing the prisoners or something, and just now they directly killed the "civilians" wandering on the battlefield. How about quietly going to Baidan Port at night and avoiding the soldiers? ”

I'm embarrassed to say I'm a captive, because that's what people look down upon. I don't know what this Bella is, who knows where she's going to take me? But she's just a thin woman, and if I find out she's trying to trick me, I'll run away.

"No," said Bella, "it is the cavalry of the Iron Shield River who kills people, who are bandits and robbers in the first place, and besides, the Count of Kalinin is free to let them go, and it is normal for them to kill. But the Valans won't. ”

Bella's words seemed to be speaking for the Valans, which made me wonder what she was trying to do.

I've been through too little to guess what other people are saying.

"Count Kalinin is a good man." I complimented Count Kalinin while quietly looking at Bella, "He's very talented. ”

"A crow fighting for meat," Bella immediately retorted, "you are a descendant of a pigeon, and you should not be close to Kalinin." ”

She started talking crazy again, and I had to hum a few times.

A horn sounded in the distance.

My scalp was tingling.

"There are soldiers ahead!" I said to Bella, "Be careful. ”

"There's the port of Baidan ahead," Bella said. "We'll be home in front."

It didn't take long to leave Valankov, but I didn't dare to approach these people anymore. Everything had to be done with caution on the battlefield, and I suspect that even Giovanni's soldiers, if they didn't recognize me from a distance, would not hesitate to shoot me with an arrow.

The sound of trumpets and barking dogs came again, and it seemed that a small group of soldiers was clearing the jungle. My legs trembled, and I was terrified by the cold eyes of the Iron Shield River Cavalry and the clean slash at the end.

"Let's hide." I proposed, "I'd rather be in the village."

He was captured and did not want to meet soldiers on the battlefield. ”

Bella came over and grabbed my hand, ignoring the pain I was in, "You just boasted that you were a boyar, why are you even scared of your own soldiers now?" ”

I was annoyed, "You know what, you crazy woman. ”

The dog barking is already very close.

It dawned on me that this woman named Bella must have colluded with these soldiers to trick the soldiers or captives who had been scattered on the battlefield into a fixed place for people to arrest. This was done by many of the outcasts of the Riverlands, who stood around the battlefield, captured the soldiers of the losers, stripped them of their armor, and sent them to the victors.

"Bella, look!" I said, pointing to a grove of trees.

When Bella turned her head to look, I withdrew my hand, turned and ran.

But as soon as I turned around, it was like I was on a wall. A soldier wearing a Vekia-style water bottle helmet stood in front of me with his chest straight, I sat down on the ground and ran to the other side, a strong man of Varan with a rope on his shoulder came out with two dogs and blocked me, and at the remaining exit, several farmers came out with spears.

It's over, I thought to myself. My last chance was to tell them that I was a nobleman, that my wife was Catherine, and that I had dinner at the same table with Count Kalinin not long ago. Ha, my own mouth is full of bitterness when I think of this, these people will probably think of me as someone even crazier than Bella.

A soldier in a helmet approached me, and I saw an opportunity and crawled under his crotch. Behind him, the Valans let out a shrill laugh.

But I was looking in the wrong direction, there was a tree in front of me, and the roads around me were blocked, and I had no way out. I saw the Valans with a rope on their shoulders smiling and patting Bella's bag - they were indeed a group.

The soldier drew his saber. Finished. After a day of running, I was so tired that I was ready to die.

The sword was stuck in the trunk of the tree near my left ear, and the soldier ripped off his helmet.

"**, who should I be," a Valan's face appeared underneath, "it turned out to be the son of the old loach family." Boy, I saved your life, how should your Law of Lords reward me? ”

I looked at him carefully, and then remembered this man, whom I had lectured at a banquet in Varankov. He was a servant of the Lucasino family.

I was in a trance, and suddenly I felt that this man was the most gracious person in the world: I wasn't going to die. Bella didn't lie, she did take me to Baidan Harbor. Seeing that I was unresponsive, the Lucasino servant reached out and patted me on the face, "Are you stupid?" ”

"You're from the Lucasino family." I say.

"If it's fake," the man spat out, "but are you from the Romanovs?" This one is questionable. Bastard. "He pulled me up and slapped me on the back on the head. The punch sent me staggering a few steps forward. "Bella, you've found a treasure. The old loach will reward you, but if your Tom finds out about this little east

Nishi didn't die, so it's probably a pity. Really, Bella, don't follow Tom, follow me, Lord Lucasino admires me very much, and I will be a nobleman after the war. ”

"Tom?" The words of these people reminded me of everything about Valan, as if someone I knew was suddenly still there, and a great sense of luck came flooding back, "Isn't Tom dead yet?" ”

"Nope." The servant said, with a look of reverence on his face, "If there is any old loach that has been brought into Varankov's people, and who has some ability, it is Reverend Tom." He prayed to God for a magic that the ancient angels used to blow up the gates of hell so that demons could not harm the world. ”

The man with the rope on his shoulder said, "It's obviously Valkyrie's dandruff, and the power is endless, and she can only save a small pile without washing her hair for a year." It is only thanks to Pastor Tom that we are given. Tom is ostensibly a priest, but I think he's supposed to be a priest in the Forest Temple. Believe it or not, he's never embarrassed Bella, and he's obviously not the same as the idiot priest of Baidangang. He is the son of our forest! ”

A few people around didn't know who to listen to, and they echoed in confusion.

"All right," said the servant of the Lucasino house, "go back and reminisce." We saved the people of the lord's family today, and the old loach will show something. Guess there was wine and meat, and then give Bella to me! ”

Bella came over and touched my face, "Don't be afraid, I said it, the Valans won't hurt you." ”

Bella still had that somewhat demented expression, as if she didn't care at all about my suspicion of her and her desire to escape, and I felt a little guilty.

"How far are we from the camp here?" I asked the servants of the Lucasino family.

"It's just a little more than an hour's walk, and when you walk a little higher, you can see the tower of Baidan Port. Let's go, we're done checking here, and we're good to go. ”

Home, Soup, Messira.

These warm words poured out.

The two spear-carrying peasants closest to me were glad to hear that they could return to Baidan Port early.

"Master Victor," one of them greeted me, "I remember the time you walked out of my lord's house with a female doll, and the female doll beat you to blood, haha." ”

The other smiled and swapped the spear for a shoulder, "I remember too, at the time"

An axe split half of the farmer's face. At the same time, several pike darts flew out of the woods.

The Lucasino servant slapped me to the ground, then kicked the stunned farmer down, "Get down, you fools!" ”

From the woods came the roaring and shouting of savages. We didn't hear any of these people at all, that is, they weren't going to be a small group, at most a small group that had infiltrated and attacked. It is also very likely that the remnants of those Iron Shield River cavalry were defeated just now. Sneak attack so close to Baidan Harbor, these barbarians are really bold.

The Valans were hunched over and scattered among the trees, the servants of the House of Lucacino commanding his few men. Tile with a dog

The Lan people let go of the rope in their hands, and two huge hounds roared into the woods, looking for the sneak attacker. Soon the screams and beatings of the barbarians were heard in the woods, and the dogs became more and more terrible.

The farmer holding his spear blushed and shivered nervously as he leaned against a tree.

The servant of the Lucasino family threw him a knife, "Lose your spear, I said it earlier, this thing is used in the woods to find death!"

I fell on the ground and crawled up to the servant of Lucasino's house, "Give me a knife." I'm with you. ”

That's the bravest thing I've ever said in a while.

The boy looked back at me, grabbed me by the hair, and said, "Master Kolkota beat you like a dog, what can you do to help?" Boy, we need someone to tell the news, and Bella needs someone to protect us. Like a man! Go back to Baidan Port! Hurry up! Something happened to my Bella, I'm going back and skinning you! ”

Bella came over and grabbed my hand and ran behind her.

The barking of the hounds in the distance became a whimper, and I wonder if the barbarian had seriously injured the two hounds.

The dead branches of the bush hit me in the face, and I turned back to avoid the oncoming foliage, and when I turned back, the Varan men clung to the tree, ready to make a last stand.

I feel like I'll never see these people again. (To be continued.)