An interesting twist on the theme! I can definitely see what you were going for, but the execution feels overly contrived. Why did Verona make that specific wager? Did she foresee the scenario the story portrays? And what drove the Dwarf to accept? I think that's the real story here, and I'd be tempted to rework it around the scene of Verona gambling. I did appreciate the restrained scale of the conflict - I always tip my hat to worldbuilding that keeps the size of fantasy armies to believable levels; even in the fantasy middle ages, 6000 troops is a formidable army. (Unless, for example, you've set up a world where agriculture is literally magically a hundred times more productive, but that's another conversation.)