They had left the nameless village on horseback before the break of dawn.
Surprisingly, they had been seen off by the villager’s children.
Yelling and screaming, the adolescents wished them good fortune in the battles to come.
However, not a single adult had joined them in their well wishes, as was expected.
When the Grand Devourer would inevitably come for them and their families, Dieter thought, they’d sing his praises at last.
He had splintered off his force even more so than before.
They could not afford to be seen travelling in big groups while they remained in hostile territory, so like they came they left, in small detachments of four and five.
His own detachment consisted of himself, Lukk, Fernand, Richter and Lukk’s new ward, Cornelia.
He would have gladly picked a strategist over her normally, but Lukk had insisted they’d travel together.
As the crow-keeper, Richter’s winged beasts kept them safe and informed regarding the whereabouts of potential hostile forces, and allowed him to give commands and keep track of the other sub-groups.
It was apparently a prerequisite for a keeper to be small, unkempt and funny looking, while bearing a most repulsive smell.
Or, at the very least, it stood as the reason why they’d prefer the company of beasts over men.
Rather than return to Nieuw Reikstaat, Dieter had decided to stay within the now flexible borders of the city-state alliance.
If the great beast’s nature is to lay ruin, let it be here amongst his own, he thought.
After all, those living here all bore the shared responsibility for their government’s policies by meekly accepting them, something he had refused to do himself.
At no small cost to himself and his family, he had stood against the evils which New Beginnings would impose on the world at large.
That said, he would risk no more innocent lives than absolutely needed in his quest to lure the cannibal away from the front, even though it would be of great strategic advantage to let the Devourer make a run through its own cities.
They were, after all, the lives he was so desperately trying to improve and enlighten.
So instead, he had chosen temporary exile.
He would go to the snow-covered mountains of the northernmost province, to hide and to hunt, far away from the more populated areas.
For however long necessary.
But they had a stop to make first.
For supplies, for rest, but also for something else.
Reinforcements.
Numerous enough to match the dreaded behemoth, apparently.
In Dieter’s experience, numbers did little to quell the beast’s hunger, if anything, it would only serve to strengthen its bloodlust.
Although it would most certainly be useful against the Third Legion itself, Dieter would once again have to constantly face Abalon by himself to avoid the monstrous thing laying waste to his whole army.
They would be stationed in the large, apparently thriving city of Den Zollum, patiently waiting for Dieter’s arrival.
Dieter was surprised to hear that their side had already infiltrated their lands so deeply, as he had heard no reports of any armies moving around in these parts, nor of any battles to prevent such a thing from happening.
These inconsistencies had greatly fueled his growing distrust in Nieuw Reikstaat’s guiding voice.
If things went sideways, he would be hounded by not just Abalon, but Reumann to boot.
The latter’s Legion was the only one he wished not to fight, out of sheer principle.
At last, the fortress-city of Den Zollum was visible on the horizon.
The forests around it had been cut down for maximum visibility, the ground instead made into farmland, while the white walls of the city were perfectly round and without so much as a crack, layer on top of layer, five high, like a noble’s extended birthday cake.
Men walked on top of each of those layers, along the battlements with spear and shield in hand.
Numerous small window-like holes were present throughout each of the stacked walls, to allow archers from within to shoot those that would foolishly dare siege it without fear of repercussion.
Surrounded by a moat, entrance was only permitted through one of five bridged gates, all lowered, like an unbound pentagram.
According to his studies, the city hosted more than fifty thousand men, women and children.
He had heard its name before often enough, but this was the first time he had actually laid eyes on the awe-inducing, brutal city himself.
But even this city would not stand against the wrath of that which followed them, given enough time.
So he needed to conduct his business with haste, not wanting to drag its unknowing population in a needless, undoubtedly bloody conflict.
Lukk was walking next to him in silence, while the rest followed behind.
‘I struggle to see it from here, brother, but those walking the ramparts do not seem to wear our colors.’ ‘No, they do not,’ Dieter sighed.
He looked at the keeper.
‘Richter, has command given you any updates or further information regarding our rendezvous spot?
I am not keen on walking into a den of hostiles, just because command is unable to read a map.’ Richter looked gravely offended, almost as if he had gotten insulted himself.
‘I assure you that command was quite clear on the matter.
Inside the city you will find the reinforcements needed to repel the Great Destroyer.
Word for word.’
‘I dislike this uncertainty,’ Dieter responded irritably.
‘Send a message to command, and tell them Den Zollum is still under city-state control, and ask them if we are to proceed regardless.
Until then, we will remain stationed inside the nearby forests.’ He glanced at Cornelia, who, like the others, was listening in on their conversation.
‘And tell them the girl is still with us.’
Fernand strode forward on his horse, and put his aged hand on the keeper’s shoulder.
‘Before you do so, might you consider the consequences of directly disobeying the orders of our betters?
Their ire is easily earned, and we have no reason to doubt the validity of their plans.’
‘I concur, Lord.
It might take days to get a response,’ said the keeper in his shrill, ever irritatingly pitched voice.
‘So, what do you say, Lukk?
Should we just barge into this well defended hive of enemy combatants and see where fortune leads us?’ Dieter mockingly asked.
Lukk yawned and stretched his arms while he responded.
‘I know you well enough to see that you have already made up your mind on the matter.
I won’t put your decision into question.’
And so they had set up camp deeper into the woods, far from prying eyes.
They remained split up from the others, and had informed them to do the same until further orders were given.
They were meant to look like ordinary travellers, so like them, they had simply lit a campfire and had spread their belongings around them, sleeping bags at the ready.
Night was rapidly approaching, while Lukk and the girl were talking about something unimportant and unrelated to him or his cause.
Unwilling to start another pointless discussion with the venerable Fernand, and certainly hesitant to talk to that disgusting rat of a man that was playing with his crows as if they were his equals, Dieter decided to take a long walk instead.