Klaus lasted another day. He could no longer sit in a stuffy tent and listen to increasingly ridiculous proposals. This is where the true ignorance of the population of his country is revealed. Most had spent half their lives in slavery, others in the fields and pastures, others on the battlefield. Each knew his job, but they were not good at more.
The peasant cared only about the harvest and the safety of his family. All their proposed changes were naive and short-sighted. The soldier cared only about capturing new territory. This made sense, because they could no longer fit everyone in this underground city. Action was needed, but Klaus, like August, was afraid to stick his neck out too soon. First, he needed to deal with the Council of Six.
That evening, Klaus burst into the captain's room without knocking and declared that he was going to see his uncle in the morning and his decision was not up for discussion. Augustus did not argue. He knew his brother well enough to understand from his facial expression and murderous aura that the prince was serious.
"Okay, I'll prepare everything. The portal ball will take you about two hours' walk from the estate, on horses you'll get there twice as fast."
"Great, I'm not eager to show myself once again. It's about a week's journey from here to your father's estate."
In the morning, he and Lilith were the first to leave the caves. Klaus had not seen Egor since their trip to the Twig family estate, so he was not sure that the young man would appear.
The girl next to him had been silent since the previous evening and was blushing all the time. Klaus guessed that this slave was lucky and no one had touched her yet. Maybe there was a plus in the fact that she lived the first seventeen years in the cellars of the More estate, and after that she did not have time to get to the house of pleasure. The prince decided not to embarrass her with unnecessary conversations and allowed the poor thing to experience her first kiss.
Soon August appeared. There was no usual sly smile on his face, and there were shadows under his eyes.
"What happened to you? Were you having fun and drinking wine all night again?" Klaus asked his brother.
"Last night I was exclusively busy with work," August answered seriously, and Klaus became wary.
"Something happened?"
"Several of my spies have been caught. Both in the royal palace. Of course, they can't blab anything valuable, but my untimely death may be at risk. Damn, how untimely everything is!"
'What do you mean? Can something like this even happen on time?"
"The problem is that you're going to Jiro, and if he finds out that I'm alive, it won't be hard for him to put two and two together. It's highly undesirable for him to find out about our meeting."
"You don't have to worry about that, I'm not going to give you up to him."
August looked Klaus straight in the eyes and put one hand on his shoulder, squeezing it lightly.
"Right now, I'm not worried about myself."
"You mean me? Ha, Augustus, what will he do to me? Smother me with a pillow in my sleep? Incite an entire army, like my mother? I'm not going to let my guard down on foreign soil."
"You don't know this slippery snake well. Let's just throw this idea out of your head and stay here. We'll figure out how to outsmart father. We can just send a message... I don't know," the captain shook his head.
"August, you're not acting like yourself," the prince was worried. "I'll be fine. Besides, you gave me an unfinished portal ball. I'll just add some dust from the estate itself to it, and if things get tough, I'll come back immediately."
August studied the prince's face for a few more minutes, then relaxed a little.
"I just don't want to lose you again, Klaus. We've only just made some progress," a familiar smile flashed on his tired face. "Just come back to me, and we'll continue where we left off last time."
A disgruntled cough was heard from behind. Klaus looked over August's shoulder and saw a frowning Egor and Gorald.
"I thought you weren't coming," the prince said instead of greeting.
"And I thought you didn't care whether I came or not."
"Egor…"
"Let's not waste time," the young man interrupted him and glanced at August, who was still squeezing the prince's shoulder.
"Sir, allow me to go with you," Gorald spoke up. "You could use an extra sword in case of anything, and Egor can't stop training."
"Training?" the prince was surprised.
"Gorald," "Egor drawled. "Well, why, huh?"
"What's wrong?" the big man was surprised "aren't you trying for him?"
Egor suddenly turned purple, Klaus only smiled furtively. So, Egor still doesn't plan to leave him.
Someone brought two horses for them, and Klaus looked at Augustus in surprise.
"Only two?"
"Firstly, four people and two horses are already risky to carry, and secondly, your worthless anti-magicians don't know how to stay in the saddle."
"Yes, you can't argue with that," Klaus drawled, remembering Egor's riding lessons.
"If you allow me, I'll take the girl," Gorald spoke up. "I'm big, it's better to seat someone small and light with me."
"No, I want to go with the master," Lilith spoke up for the first time in a long time, and August and Egor, without saying a word, rolled their eyes at the same time, which did not escape the prince's attention.
"Lilith, you can wait for me here," Klaus shrugged and the girl, frowning, approached the big guy, who was already petting the black mare and whispering something affectionately to her.
Still red, Egor approached the prince, who had already saddled his horse and extended his hand to his friend. After a little hesitation, the young man accepted the help, and the whole company passed through the portal.
"You didn't promise me to come back," August's voice was heard.
"I will try my best," Klaus shouted, but the captain no longer heard him.
August sighed, looked up at the sky and tried not to think about the fact that this might be the last time he saw Klaus.
Today, to distract himself from his dark thoughts, the captain decided to take his king's place at the audience with the inhabitants of the underground city, and as soon as he made this decision and entered the tent, he immediately regretted it. Klaus did not minimize the extent of his suffering, the townspeople really could have a competition for the most stupid proposal, and it would not be so easy to determine the winner.