The attack left everybody in Weisshart shaken. Over the course of a single night the village, despite the presence of visitors and additional soldiers, suddenly felt quieter and more lonely.

Children, who were usually either allowed to play or were made to help out in the field were now either interned within their homes or deposited within the blockhouse or the church, where they would be under the supervision of both the village’s augmented garrison and a couple of old widows who had volunteered to be chaperones.

Many men, including those who were not a part of the village militia, had chosen to arm themselves. The burden of carrying a short sword or hatchet on one’s belt while working in the field was considered to be a fair price to pay for the small amount of comfort it brought.

A similar number of women had come to the same conclusion. Zita Gerst took a hatchet that she and her husband used to split firewood for their oven and placed it into a basket that she carried with her whenever she had to leave the house. Her neighbor, Jessika Rottmann, Zita’s friend who was the daughter of one of Wilhelm Metzger’s creditors that would eventually assume ownership of his butcher shop, carried a meat cleaver in a similar fashion.

Even Markus Althaus, who was far too frail to properly handle a weapon, left the blockhouse at the crack of dawn and went back to his home to arm himself. He found a dusty old short sword in a crudely-made leather scabbard at the bottom of a chest full of his late father’s old belongings. The old man found the heavy sword hanging from his belt to be rather uncomfortable. It wasn’t long before he began to wonder if his choice to arm himself was one made out of a genuine interest in self-defense or an act of penance.

Alexandra awoke after an uncomfortable night in the blockhouse. She ate a meager breakfast of bread and salted pork before she heard a commotion from just outside of the blockhouse. Fearing another attack, she looked outside of the structure’s entrance to investigate. To her relief, it was just a local farmer that had donated some milk from his cows to the soldiers in the blockhouse. The men garrisoned at the blockhouse were simply excited to have their rations supplemented with fresh milk. Alexandra, after her and Ekkehardt’s falling out with Althaus the previous day, decided that it would not be a good idea to take some milk for herself. Just before she turned to go back inside, she spotted Elsa Bauer walking down the road.

The middle-aged woman walked down the road towards the east end of the village. She held the hand of a young child; a little girl no older than ten with blonde hair. Alexandra could also see that she had a sickle tucked into her belt.

Alexandra thought that she might walk up to the blockhouse and speak with her, but instead she went straight for the church on the opposite side of the road and began to talk to one of the two guards standing in front of the entrance.

“Hello, I would like to enter the church, please.”

“Are you here to leave your child?” the guard asked. Something within Elsa made her produce a disgusted face for a brief moment before she regained her composure. It was like someone tasting their own vomit in the back of their throat before quickly swallowing it back down.

“No, Elfriede will be staying with my husband and me,” She responded, “I need to speak with Father Taggart.” The guard looked confused.

“Father Taggart? Well, okay I guess…” He said before opening the door for her. Elsa and her child entered the church. Alexandra watched as the door closed behind her. Just as the door closed, Alexandra felt someone tap her on the shoulder. She turned around to see Ekkehardt.

“Schwartzbaum is ready to see us now,” He said.

Alexandra and Ekkehardt met with Schwartzbaum, Bob, and Fahim. They were on the second floor of the blockhouse. A rough map of the local area was spread out on a table in the middle of the room. Everyone else had been forced out so that this meeting could be conducted in private.

“We’re ready to go over the plans for today,” Ekkehardt announced. Schwartzbaum nodded.

“Fahim,” He said in his raspy voice as he gestured towards the tan-skinned foreigner.

“Thank you, sir,” Fahim responded, “If I may, I would like to direct his highness to this map of the Frauenwald,” He explained as he pointed to the map.

It depicted Weisshart on its western edge and the Frauenwald in the middle. In the exact center of the map was a large hill labeled ‘Einsamer Hill’. While this was not a true topographic map, Alexandra could see that Einsamer Hill had a unique feature in its shape. For the most part, from the perspective of someone looking directly above the hill like some kind of bird, Einsamer Hill had a gentle slope and an oval shape. The sole exception to this was a strange deformation in the hill's south-eastern side. In this area, the hill had an extremely steep slope and it looked as though something had taken a bite out of the hill; marring its otherwise perfect oval shape.

The map also showed that there were three paths that went to the top of Einsamer Hill. They all curved around the hill to minimize their incline. There was a path that started on the north side of the hill and two paths that began on the west side of the hill with one to the north-west and one to the south-west. Naturally, they all steered clear of the deformed area on the hill’s south-east side.

The final notable feature on the map was an east-facing arrow on the east end of the map. It simply read ‘to the Eastern Passage’. Alexandra assumed that this was in reference to a narrow mountain pass on the eastern side of Nordfell. This little pass was what connected Nordfell to the endless steppes to the east and it was where the Bergmen first entered this land.

“As I am sure that you are aware, we are currently in the village of Weisshart,” Fahim said as he grabbed a stick and pointed it at the point on the map that represented Weisshart. “You are going to travel through the Frauenwald to Einsamer Hill,” He explained as he slowly moved the stick from Weisshart into the Frauenwald and towards Einsamer Hill. “There are no roads or pathways in this area. It is all just forest with no hamlets or houses. This will significantly slow the party’s advance. According to my calculations, it will take one day of travel to reach the base of the hill. Due to yesterday’s events, attempts to hire local hunters as guides and auxiliary security have been unsuccessful. Thankfully, due the relatively short distance between Weisshart and Einsamer Hill and the presence of easily identifiable landmarks, I believe that the party can make this trek using nothing more than basic wayfinding techniques rather than more advanced land navigation methods,” Fahim explained.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“...could you explain what you mean by ‘basic wayfinding techniques’, Mr. Fahim?” Alexandra asked without thinking. She didn’t realize her mistake until the words left her lips. ‘You idiot!’ she thought, ‘Alexander would know the difference between ‘wayfinding this’ and ‘land navigation that’!’ Fahim was visibly unnerved. It took him a moment to decide how to respond without offending Alexandra.

“Well, you’re highness… what I am saying is that the plan is to walk in a straight line towards the big hill… Since it is such a prominent geographical feature, it should be easy to use the hill as a landmark to aid in your wayfinding,” Fahim answered, “As for the return trip, you should just be able to rely solely on dead reckoning to exit the Frauenwald. Once you do that, you should be able to spot Weisshart and make any necessary corrections. From that point on, you will resupply, touch base with the garrison, and make preparations to get back to Neustadt.”

“That sounds like a good plan,” Ekkehardt commented. Alexandra nodded in approval.

“Yes, I agree,” I said, though she was completely relying on Ekkehardt’s opinion.

“Oh, there is another thing we need to get straightened out, your highness,” Fahim said, “We need to talk about the actual scaling of the hill.” Alexandra nodded. Fahim then used his stick to direct Alexandra and Ekkehardt to the three paths up Einsamer Hill.

“As you can see here, there are three paths up the hill: the northern path, the north-west path, and the south-path. While you were with Mr. Althaus, I spent some time talking to local hunters about the nature of these paths; how wide and steep they were. They were not very familiar with these paths, but they directed me to a farmer’s wife who described them to me. They are not paved in any way and they are not particularly wide. Therefore, I think it would be wise to divide the party when scaling the hill,” Fahim explained.

“Divide the party?” Alexandra asked.

“Yes. If you send everyone down one path then you will experience a great deal of congestion and possibly danger should someone get stuck or incapacitated. Furthermore, if the group is ambushed, then you wouldn’t be able to use all of our manpower in such an environment anyways. It would be too cramped for everyone to fight effectively. For that reason, I am of the opinion that you approach the hill from its west side, which is the closest side to the village. From there you can divide the party into equal-size two groups; one that takes the north-west path and one that takes the south-west path. Based on what I’ve been told, the northern path is of similar nature to the other two paths, but it is a few hours further away, so you shouldn’t use it unless there is an emergency. The two groups will then reconvene on the top of the hill. Once that has happened, Mr. Schwartzbaum and Bob will allow you two to… conduct the activities you came here to conduct. You’ll retrieve this sword, travel down the hill in two groups, and then deal with the dome. Does that sound reasonable, your highness?” Fahim explained. Alexandra made a quick, but subtle glance at Ekkehardt who did not appear to be bothered by the plan.

“I believe it does sound reasonable,” Alexandra answered, “Though there is one detour that I think we should make before going up the hill. I would like to see the dome and the area surrounding it. We’re going to need a basic understanding of that place before we open the dome. It is on the south-east side of Einsamer Hill, correct? ” Fahim nodded.

“Yes, your highness, that is correct,” Fahim responded, “Specifically it is just below the cliff-like area of the hill. I believe it is just as far away from the north-west and south-west paths as the northern path is, but your party could get there without any significant difficulties. All you would have to do is travel along the southern side of the hill until we see it and, provided that our information is correct, we will see it. I’ve also secured a week's worth of food and water for this endeavor. This will probably be unnecessary, but it would be extremely beneficial if you have to deal with unforeseen events. Theoretically, you could supplement your food supply through foraging, but I wouldn’t recommend that. I don’t think it would be wise to send small teams out to forage for food right now.”

“Understood.” Alexandra responded.

“I believe that, despite the… situation that occurred yesterday, you should be able to complete your objectives safely. I have a great deal of faith in the abilities and judgment of Mr. Schwartzbaum, Bob, and all the men under their command. I look forward to rendezvousing with you upon your return to Weisshart,” Fahim stated. Schwartzbaum then cleared his throat and began to speak in his raspy voice.

“Actually, I’ve decided to change my mind about that…” Schwartzbaum said. Everyone in the room looked at him in confusion.

“I beg your pardon, sir?” Fahim asked.

“I think it would be best if we left Bob behind at the village and took you with us. The attack yesterday has left everyone spooked. It would be best to leave the village garrison in the hands of someone who's a bit more intimidating and has more combat experience. We’re going to need a real bone-crusher if we want to keep order around here. No offense, but these people are gonna be more likely to listen to Bob instead of some foreign-looking poindexter. Also, if we do end up getting lost in that forest, I wanna be lost with the guy who once did land navigation for a king and not the guy who once wiped his ass with poison ivy…” Schwartzbaum explained. Bob’s face turned red as a tomato.

“Either of you have a problem with this?” Schwartzbaum asked as he turned to his subordinates.

“No, sir…” Fahim responded.

“Whatever you say, boss…” Bob answered after a brief delay.

“Well, then that settles it. Let’s head out…” Schwartzbaum concluded.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the Frauenwald

Nashorn looked up from his map. Everyone was looking at him attentively. Hienă was still covered in bandages, but was once again ambulatory. It would only be a short time before she was completely healed.

“So, just to make sure, you all know what the plan is and where you need to be, correct?” He asked. Everyone in the group, even Hienă nodded in approval.

“Excellent…” Nashorn said as he took one final look at the map. It was a map of Einsamer Hill and the Frauenwald, but it was much, much more detailed than the one in Schwartzbaum’s possession. Nashorn had added few annotations and markings to the map in red ink; blood red ink. He sighed lightly. Nashorn began to fold up the map as he spoke a few words to close out the meeting.

“Soon this will all be over and that royal brat will not know what hit her…”