The party, now with two men, or rather two gnomes less, continued on their way. The journey to the Eagle Mountains was almost coming to an end, and the only thing that lay between them and the dwarven village at the foot of the mountain was a river with an average width of almost a kilometre wide. The river had been given the name Styx. Contrary to a local myth, the river was not named after the river of death, but after a local fisherman Reinard Styx who had the river named after him due to an administrative error. However, the story of the myth had taken on a life of its own. What certainly didn't help was the fact that Death had made it his home. The Grim Reaper sailed back and forth across the river every day, taking people from one side to the other. It functioned, as it were, as an eerie ferry. That was also one of the reasons that the Eagle Mountains and the local villages rarely saw tourists every year. People had become afraid that they would enter the afterlife when they crossed the street. Although this chance was small, you never knew for sure with Hein.
"The Styx is already in sight," Robert said to Leo. He had been rather quiet for the rest of the trip, thinking about everything that had happened in the last few days. His perseverance was still strong, but he still had doubts. Alex's words echoed in his head again and again without stopping. Who was the notorious puppeteer Alex was talking about who wanted to use the winning king candidate for his own plans? The image of the king's counsellor reappeared in his mind, but he pushed it away. Maybe it's actually Dirrek Waldeman, after all he was prime minister of UPOSD (unrest, panic and other social disorders) or the faster pace, although Robert could not imagine that he could commit himself to anything other than measuring and recording times. He also found it strange that the two brave gnomes had now been eliminated when they had just shown true courage, a wonderful quality for a king. They were now being punished for their good deeds and that hurt Robert.
Leo brought Robert out of his musings.
'An impressive river indeed. If you look at it that way, you understand the stories'. She looked at the water in amazement. The Styx was wild and uncontrolled, and the river was so wide that the other side was barely visible. Gnörk grunted a little worriedly. It seemed that the piglets belonged to the animal species with a panicked fear of large amounts of water.
"We'll have to cross the water anyway," Nod Jack Burton. The half-giant was very quiet and stoic after his second loss to Alex Tikker. His ego had apparently received as heavy a blow as his head.
"The village of Visgaroff Zoltanev is close by when we reach the other side. He can then lead us to the mountains." His beard waved in the crisp morning wind.
After the incident with the witch hunter, there was a tension hanging over the group, but no one knew exactly why. Only Robert knew more. He was often the man who kept life in the group with his clumsiness and his cheerful appearance, but now that he was a bit quieter, the group seemed to suffer. Still, he couldn't bring himself to share the possible truth of Tikker with the group. Robert's train of thought was interrupted by the cracking gravelly voice of a man in the distance. He was in a rickety boat on the water.
"Do you have to go to the other side?" the voice sounded. From a little closer it became clear who the man was. He was bone-thin and pale, as if he had been dead for 150 years but hadn't quite figured it out himself. The man was none other than Heijn. He smiled kindly, as if that was probably supposed to be the case, and so it could be seen how there were hardly any teeth left in his mouth. A scream sounded from the pigs. They had hidden behind Jack's massive body to hide from Death, although Death here seemed to be an old fisherman rather than a supreme mythical creature.
The old man laughed when he saw the fear in the piglets.
'I see that my stories have come a long way. However, I am just a simple fisherman who lives nearby. For convenience, you can take the boat to the other side. ’
Robert looked doubtfully at Arian, who in turn shrugged his shoulders.
'If we have to be on the other side, I think it can be done the easy way', Leo said. She had, as usual, remained her cool self.
"The boat seems a bit small, though," she frowned. Reaper stood upright on the front boat bench with a long rudder trowel in his knucky hands and behind him were two more wooden benches, barely wide enough for one person.
"I suggest we send Jack first," Leo concluded. "He's most familiar with the area. Then we let the piglets cross, followed by me and Robert and finally Arian. The jury will follow suit, if they feel like it.'
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Her proposal was apparently convincing enough, as the group agreed. Reaper then helped the half-giant into his boat, ready to set sail. Jack sat on the back bench with his legs tucked up so that his feet fit between the first and second benches. His colossal arms dangled from either side of the boat with his hands in the water. The rest decided to set up camp, as the crossing would probably take some time anyway, and wished Jack a safe journey.
Most travel companions used this moment as a resting point after a long journey, but Robert had other plans. He had sat down along the water with a stool made from a piece of tree stump. There he had put together a fishing rod with a stick, a rope and a piece of wire. He felt the need to take his mind off things and at the same time be useful. In this way, he could also keep an eye on the increasingly distant boat from his position. When Jack and Reaper had just left, he saw how the boat at the back sank deeper into the water due to the weight of the semi-giant and how streams of water flowed in. In the meantime, they were no more than a wobbly speck in the distance with the beginning of the extensive Eagle Mountains behind them. At the same time, it was clear from the weather that they were getting closer to the mountains, even though you couldn't quite see them behind a thick layer of fog. A cold north wind arose and small flakes of snow swirled from the sky. The snow landed on Robert's nose, causing him to sneeze so hard that the fishing rod clattered into the water. Robert cursed under his breath and heard laughter behind him. It was Hörk who had come to sit with him.
'With that rod I hadn't caught a lot. So swach that it was just smashed on the first try'. Robert had noticed the accent of the piglets before, but he didn't really know where it came from.
"Thanks for the tip," he laughed weakly. "While you're here, tell me, where are you three from? Somewhere where fishing is common, I assume'.
Hörk flattened the grass on the bank with his hooves and plopped down past Robert.
'We are simple farmers from Salado. Essen ist our passion and so habben we learn to fish. Aber our mother and father came from far away. They came here for better Essen, and we kept looking. As king, we have an infinite number of Essen.' Hörk laughed loudly. Even after all the setbacks the piglets had experienced along the way, the trio's cheerfulness seemed as strong as before. Robert thought it was a crazy argument to become king, for the food, although he had to admit that this was always delicious thanks to Liliane's catering.
"Ich sie dat er iets is er, Robert," he said, leaning towards him. "Whatever it is, Du bites through it. Keep glauben in dich selbst, and everything will come gud.'
He pushed a sturdier rod from a thick branch and brass hook into Robert's hands. Even if Robert could not understand everything Hörk had said, the essence had arrived. He felt a certain warmth inside, despite the icy weather. And so they both started fishing with the same stronger rod, while chatting pleasantly. There wasn't much caught that afternoon, but the group finally had a well-deserved moment of rest and some hot food.
Jack sat in silence along Grim Reaper. His self-confidence had taken a serious hit in the last week. His greatest quality, his strength, was completely humiliated by Tikker and that not once, but twice. The half-giant began to doubt his own abilities. He was torn out of his thoughts by the icy water running into his boots. The water came from the outside almost to the edge of the sloop, and at the slightest wave it flowed in. Reaper didn't seem to notice and bravely pushed the oar back and forth through the water. The journey continued in utter silence, something that clearly made Reaper uncomfortable. Every question he tried to ask was answered with a grunt or just a nod. After an hour or so, which felt like an eternity for the rower, the boat docked on the snowy shore of the other side. Heijn, who was clearly not a fan of the giant, immediately turned around without a word, leaving Jack alone. The fisherman then left for the other side to pick up the next candidate.
Next in the boat were Hörk, Pörk and Gnörk. Hörk and Pörk crammed themselves into the back bench, Gnörk reluctantly sat down in the middle, close to Heijn. The trio was clearly not yet completely at ease with the very old fisherman, but he did his best to put the piglets at ease.
"You know, I've been doing this for years, cruising on the Styx. Quite soothing.' His voice was soft, less crackling than before, but difficult to understand because of the wind. Still, Hörk, Pörk and Gnörk seemed a little more reassured by Heijn's experience with feeding.
"Jawul, the rocking is very disturbing. You're almost mistaken about your nausea," Gnörk said, and no sooner had he finished his words than Hörk was half over the edge of the boat, spitting the freshly caught fish back into the water.
"You'll get used to it," laughed the old fisherman. He smiled with his mouth without teeth at Pörk, who then hung over the edge again. Slightly indignant, the fisherman continued the journey, which, like Jack's, had fallen painfully silent. Grim Reaper began to doubt what he had gotten himself into with this group. Again an hour later the piglets arrived on the bank of the other side, where Jack Bulton was already waiting. The three piglets stumbled out of the boat, nauseous and beige instead of pink, and plopped down in the snow, while Reaper turned around to pick up the next one.
The other candidates crossed with fewer problems. Robert and Leo had a nice conversation with Reaper about boats and fishing and Arian even helped with rowing. As a result, they were all safe and sound on the other side by evening. Here the party prepared to head for the mountain village at the foot of the mountains in the morning. Robert looked at the Eagle Mountains, which now stood ominously among the clouds. A shiver went down his spine as he thought about how she was going to climb the mountains.