Doctor Amandee entered the king's room for the umpteenth time. It seemed to be a quiet day and the sun was shining sharply through cracks in the curtains. The window of the room was open for ventilation. The king's situation had not improved. He was still lying motionless in his bed. On his right ring finger was the famous signet ring. It was a gold ring with a red seal in the middle that gleamed in the incoming sunlight. After attending to the king, Dr. Amandee was about to walk out of the room when he heard a rattling sound. It was a well-known, rather notorious sound. The doctor rushed to the window and tried to close it quickly, but he was too late. A female creature broke through the window, screaming. The scream was so loud that the doctor fell to the ground in pain. He pressed both his hands to his ears so as not to hear the screams. The sound came from one of the harpies from the Eaglemountains. Screaming, the creature flew to the king's hand. It most closely resembled a giant black bird of prey with the face of a woman. Doctor Amandee wanted to call for help, but no sound came out of his mouth. He kept his eyes closed until he heard no more. Hesitantly, the doctor peeked between his eyelashes. It was quiet in the room again. Doctor Amandee crawled to her feet, carefully plucked some shards of glass and black feathers from his doctor's coat, and then walked over to the king. The frost was sleeping peacefully. He didn't seem to have noticed the intruder's unwanted visit. The doctor sighed in relief. He was just about to fetch a turning brush to sweep up the shards when he saw the king's hand hanging limply along the bedside of the sick. Doctor Amandee gently took up the hand and placed it back on the king's breast. Then something caught his eye. The king's gold signet ring was missing, and the doctor immediately understood what the harpy had stolen. Resolutely, the doctor walked out of the king's room. In the corridor he walked towards a nurse who had heard the noise.

"Doctor, what happened? Are you all right, and is all well with the king?" she asked, grasping his coat.

The doctor nodded. "We got away with the scare. But arrange a contact with the king's councillor, Siel Eggers, I have something important to say."

The nurse nodded and quickly walked out through the doors. Not much later, Siel walked into the room. His cape fluttered for a moment. "You needed me? he asked in a bored tone.

"Yes, we have a problem," sighed Dr. Amandee. "The king's ring was stolen by a harpy. We have to send a group after them," the doctor continued.

"There's no need for that." Siel squeezed his eyes shut for a moment and then he looked straight at the doctor. "We have the royal candidates after all. Let's send them out. I'll schedule a meeting'.

The candidates were getting ready for the announcement of the next assignment. Everyone waited neatly dressed in the throne room. Only Arian was missing. The three piglets looked even pink again and were still eating some of Lilian's remaining pasties. Alex Tikker also had a healthy complexion. Siel sat down around his familiar chair and was just about to start his explanation. Then the doors of the hall flew open. All the candidates looked up to those who dared to arrive late. The pace-faster took diligent note of this. It was Arian, who was clearly still a bit tipsy. Despite the fact that he was stronger and smarter than humans as an arieman, he could not tolerate large quantities just as badly, especially if it was castle gin.

Robert tried to sit as still as possible and felt the tips of his toes push against the edge of his trusty yellow boots. He looked nervously to his left, where Siel's gaze spoke volumes.

"Well, now that we're all here, we can start," said Siel, who could already feel some irritation bubbling up because of the latecomer. He checked the color of his fingers just to be sure. "The next assignment is more dangerous than the last, so be prepared. It is a task to test your courage and insight."

"What does it mean?" asked Jack curiously. He had dropped Erva into one of the castle rooms and instructed her to help with the Courtly Functional Cleaning Crew. The rest of the group looked at Siel expectantly.

'Recently, our king's gold signet ring was stolen by a harpy. Your task is to find the nest, which is probably somewhere in the higher regions of the Eagle Mountains in the north, and bring the ring back."

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"Not an easy task," growled Alex Tikker. In his head, he was already making time calculations about the travel distance. The witch hunter was still ashamed of what had happened to the witches and wanted to restore his honor at all costs. The three piglets didn't understand what was so important about a ring, but decided to prepare themselves well for their assignment by first eating well. Above all, Arian had a splitting headache and hoped that he would be able to lie back in his bed soon. Leo grabbed Robert by the sleeve to go to the royal library together. Both of them had heard of a harpy eagle before, but had never seen one. Since Slander and Vlander had some difficulty with reading, especially with map reading as they had experienced from their own experience, they followed Leo and Robert in the hope of learning something about harpies as well. Thus, one by one, they left the throne room.

Dirrek Waldeman hoisted himself out of his chair. 'Since this is a very dangerous assignment, I think it would be a good idea to give the candidates some extra training by a number of experts.'

Siel shook his head. "And why on earth would we do that? Let them leave tomorrow. We are still in a country without a king, although I have to say that the country is in very good hands thanks to me." He smiled smugly.

Madam Haclaire carefully placed her hand, clad in white satin, on Siel's arm. "Sielie, my dear, that's murder. I have never seen a harpy eagle in real life, but even before they arrive at the nest, there are so many dangers in the Arendsbergen. Only a wise dwarf can stand there."

"Yes," the pace-fast paced agreed. 'It's best to send them out with a time measuring device, otherwise it will never work out.'

Dirrek shook his head. "I suggest we ask Abraham the swordsman. He's the best we have and can still teach the candidates a bit of self-defense skills."

"Perfect Dirrek," nod Madam Haclaire. "I will also ask Hector Bokduclingstorminshoven, the head of the Royal Order of Science. That man certainly has an invention that can come in handy along the way.'

Siel tried to disappear completely into the stand-up collar of his cape before straightening his back. "Okay, take care of it." He himself had a profound dislike for Hector Bokduclingstorminshoven. That man was the most self-righteous creature he knew, and his ego made Siel highly inflammable every time they met. He had only once lost his temper and burned Hector's hair when he had invented the metal shackles and helmet for the night elves. Siel thought this was a pertinent attack on his personal freedom, and if Madam Haclaire hadn't kept screaming in his fairy ears, Siel would have burned the poor inventor down to his toes. Fortunately, the damage was limited to Hector's hair and part of his scalp.

"I'll give the go-ahead for the training camp tomorrow," Siel said. 'And then I deliberately withdraw for a week until the start of the trial itself, I need some rest.'

He rose stately and walked out of the throne room. Siel planned to retreat to Amargo for a few days to walk through the gloomy streets. He would look for the ugliest, most neglected house in every street, hopefully it was empty or no one was home, and then unleash his riot fire on it without any warning. The past few weeks had tested him so much that he felt in his whole body and limbs that he needed to be discharged. At the same time, it would be a technical challenge to contain his riot fire enough so that only one house was reduced to ashes and not the entire street by accident. Siel cracked his fingers as he walked up the spiral staircase to his personal quarters. It was the challenge that made it all the more interesting.

'Harpies are exceptionally large birds of prey, which can grow up to two metres long from head to leg with a wingspan of more than 3.5 metres. They can be recognized by their female face and black and gray plumage. Harpies like to make their nests in almost inaccessible places and because they can fly, it is often in height. They often make one gigantic nest with several other members of their own species, where they take care of the hatching and raising of the young together. Harpies are visually impaired but hear exceptionally well. They are especially drawn to anything that glitters and sparkles. They often steal gold and silver objects and mirrors and hide them in their nests under their young or the eggs. They hunt small game and do not normally attack humans or other creatures unless their young or shiny prey is threatened. Then they turn into life-threatening birds of prey that will spread their sharp claws in anything that moves.'

"So," Leo said, stopping reading. She closed the heavy book. "What are we going to remember from this?" She looked expectantly at Robert, Slander and Vlander. Robert was surprised to find that Leo had surprisingly long eyelashes. He was momentarily distracted by Leo's brown eyes until Slander poked him in the ribs.

'That harpies are life-threatening?', Robert suggested.

'And that you have to keep track of all your valuables because they can see that well because it shines', Vlander added.

"Oh and that they mainly guard their young and then attack," Slander said.

"Yes, all of that," Leo replied. 'But above all, we only have to look for one nest, they probably can't see us, but we have to be very quiet and look under the eggs or baby harpies for the signet ring.'

"Let's hope the eggs haven't hatched yet," Robert concluded.