You decide upon taking up the Doge's offer of a meeting. While Raymond may have the largest army on the island, barring the Mithradians were they to come in full force, the Alotorans control the seas around the archipelago. Hearing him may be worth the time, if nothing else. Though you do have second thoughts about his own plans for the region. Powerful or not, men like him only care about the flow of trade, upon which the merchant princes are dependent.
Before leaving for the meeting, you write one more letter to the bandit headman, Maurus. Though you did not know if he could read or not, in it, you put various flatteries, congratulating him on keeping the precious iron mines out of the hands of the infidels and asking him if he were willing to resume the iron shipments to you; you also put in offers of a general pardon and clemency if he were willing to join you in the next campaign come the next spring.
You did know much about Maurus, but hopefully, he is more like the merry outlaws who steal from the rich and give to the poor or the likes of the outlaw bands who would wage a war of shadows against the tyrants of the past rather than a common brigand. You had enquired about his past with the Eparch, according to whom Maurus was either a deserter from the imperial army, who turned to a life of crime after his unit was killed. Or the son of peasants, who fled to the mountains after he was caught rustling goats and sheep.
You would deal with Maurice later; for now, you were content with meeting the Dodge. You set out with a good escort of horses, for you would ride for a few short days before reaching the coast.
