BELLRAM V02 - Ambivalence of Light and Shadow II

BP002-P02 - The Bridge 2

~Good that the girl is inside now. If someone's visibly sitting around outside, it'll only make things more complicated.~

"Send the carriage over alone. We'll both stay with the wagon."

"Um." Yuri nodded and set off directly to send the horses off.

~No questions asked. I don't know if they did themselves any favors by giving her to me.~

Violet had a problem with this bridge. Lyr was in the air and would notice if anyone approached the carriage even in such weather, but they would have a hard time defending the convoy on the bridge and would be easy targets. Of course, they could still have simply run over and each stayed by one of the wagons, as they had done so far. But someone who was really after the queen would surely know who would protect her. Out of caution not to be ambushed with both wagons on the bridge by someone who could afford it, Violet had decided on a simple strategy: she pretended the carriage was bait and stayed with Yuri at the covered wagon. As soon as the carriage was on safe ground over there, they would accompany the covered wagon to the other side.

Violet had wondered what this approach would look like to others. An unprotected carriage and a covered wagon protected by two people. Where would they think the target was? Robbers probably wouldn't even think it was bait. They would attack the supposedly defenceless carriage anyway and then plan to use hostages to extort the goods from the covered wagon. However, Violet didn't need to be afraid of robbers. With Lyr in the air, they wouldn't even make it onto the bridge. Someone really dangerous would certainly take into account that it could just be a bait. Accordingly, this person would also have to assume that if he attacked the carriage, there was a chance that he would have fallen for it and would now be attacked in his unfavorable position. If the carriage was empty, it would be a death trap with Yuri not on the bridge. So would the enemy now think the carriage was a bait or realize it wasn't a real bait? Would they trust Violet to send the carriage with the queen across the bridge unprotected? In the end, it was a bet and it wouldn't be good if the Queen found out she was sent across the bridge alone.

~If this was just a normal river, then we could just keep going...~

The rain was getting heavier. Violet stayed with Yuri by the covered wagon as the carriage rolled slowly towards the bridge.

Yuri was also giving Violet a headache. Again she stood there in a neutral posture and didn't say a word. Again, she just stared out of her mask. Violet had already explained to her what she would have to do if they were attacked, but she was still quite young or rather inexperienced. Did she really understand the seriousness of the situation?

"In the event of an attack, we only protect the carriage."

"Um."

Violet sighed. She had hoped for a little more.

"How's your normal work going, anyway? Is the princess okay?"

"Um."

Violet noticed a faint tonal change to positive. ~Was it just an act again? ~ Probably not.

"And the pipsqueak? You know who I mean? The little runt with the green cloak."

"Um, I don't know."

~Sounds more like 'I don't care.'~

"Actually, I wanted to take him with me, but I wasn't allowed. I was given a very limited choice, unfortunately. I had to take you. You're the best."

"Um."

~No reaction. How disappointing.~

"Well, we still have some time while the carriage is on its way. There's something I've been meaning to tell you for a while now."