As for the mercenaries causing trouble outside the capital, Lina was at a loss about what to do with them. She had spent a fortune recruiting and maintaining those men, and her entire plan depended on sending them out to conquer new territories. How could she simply have them slaughtered? They were supposed to die on the battlefield fighting heretics, not waste their lives causing trouble among the nobles.
Yet the complaints kept pouring in, each letter filled with accusations and exaggerated accounts of how badly the mercenaries had been treated. Reading them made Lina's teeth itch with irritation. In the end, she decided that if she couldn't resolve the problem immediately, she could at least vent some of her frustration on the person responsible.
Without another word, she headed for the dungeon, a place she had visited often enough to know her way around. She took a leather whip and went straight to the cell where the mercenary leader was being held.
