Chapter Fifteen

"You are enjoying this a little more than necessary I think." Wilhelm told Ulrich as they walked through one of the crowded streets of the lower town. "We still have to find him in this swarm of farmers, townspeople, trappers and Gods only know who else, it isn't going to be easy."

"No, but we have more time, and I may be able to find some people who can help us." Ulrich replied. "First though we need to get some rest, I am barely walking. Let's find a place to lodge for a couple of days."

Several minutes later, the two young men found what they were looking for, a large tavern off a side street from the town square. It was a tall three-story building with solid walls and doors. Ulrich knew the Black Hound Inn from his occasional visits to the town with his grandfather; the place doubled up as exchange shop for fur traders as well, hence their visits.

As the two men adjusted their eyes to the gloom inside, Ulrich started to give a small introduction: "Welcome to the Black Hound Inn, not the most reputable or luxurious place in town to stay, but certainly the best place to come if you have furs to buy or sell. It's been a couple years since my last visit here but the place hasn't changed much. A few rough characters always hang around in here but so long as we keep to ourselves we should not have any trouble."

"If they have beds it's good enough for me." replied Wilhelm, then with some embarrassment added: "You know when I was riding with my unit, I didn't have too much time to collect my belongings, I don't actually have anything on me, not even a copper piece.

"Don't worry about that, I have some money with me. Let's get a room and ask if anyone else had been checking in recently."

Ulrich rested the long rifle against the bar and motioned for the barman to come closer. The barman must have been in his sixties, he was not particularly tall or muscular, but something in his stance told Ulrich he was a tough man and didn't always stand behind the bar. He recalled now that his grandfather had once told him the tavern was run by an ex mercenary from the empire.

"An unusual hunting rifle you have there young man." said the barman as he approached.

"It's an old piece, belonged to my grandfather, I am not familiar with its history it may be a dwarven piece, my grandfather often traded with the dwarves coming from the mountains. Our cabin was near one of the mountain passes they used for trade with Moraveny."

"If you'd like I can take a look at it, I have a colourful history myself, and I have seen many different makes of weapons in my time, I may be able to tell you more." replied the barman while his hands went through the automatic motions of cleaning and arranging metal tankards on the bar.

"Maybe later, we came a long way to get here and we are very tired. I'd like to get a room with a couple beds for a few days." said Ulrich, suddenly a little apprehensive about giving too much information away.

"Sure thing young sir, though I must warn you the Inn is very full on the count of the coming siege, I only have a couple of the more expensive rooms left, worth their price, private but a little more expensive. If you are short on cash though.." Here he looked at the state of clothes of both men pointedly. "…I can find a couple beds in one of the bigger bunk rooms?"

"No, we have money, and we prefer some peace to rest after the journey. We'll take the room."

"Right you are sir, peace and quiet are worth their price all right. That will be two silver pieces a day, but we'll throw in a good breakfast as well, and a couple of ales for a welcome drink." the barman smiled and turned to one of the barrels.

"Two pieces of silver is fine." said Ulrich ignoring the outraged look from Wilhelm.

"But we will take that ale this evening, after we have had some rest. One more thing my good man, can you tell me if you have had any other visitors check in recently? We are looking for a friend of ours who was supposed to reach Moraveny this very morning as well."

"Sure, what does your friend look like?" the barman inquired. Ulrich looked puzzled for a second then translated the question into Imperial for Wilhelm.

"Oh, medium built, dark brown hair with a green hunting cloak and imperial cut clothes." supplied Wilhelm.

"No, no one of that description, but I can keep an eye out, what is the name?" asked the barman looking Wilhelm straight in the eye.

"Name er, em… Hans, Hans Hofman." replied Wilhelm, annoyed with himself for not foreseeing the question ahead of time.

"Hans Hofman, ok I will keep an eye out for a Hans Hofman for you." replied the barman putting additional emphasis on the name and enjoying the slight cringe from Wilhelm each time he said it.

"Anna!" he yelled across the room.

"Show these fine gentlemen to corner room." he said switching back to Kislevite. Ulrich noted that when speaking Kislevite, the barman's accent was not unlike his Grandfather's. Despite living in Kislev for many years and speaking Kislevite fluently, Johan never lost his Imperial accent.

The barman had not been lying. The room was clean and well kept with comfortable beds, a couple of chests, and a large table. It also had a window with a good view to the street below, so if they needed to they could keep watch on the comings and goings of the tavern. Both men were asleep nearly as soon as the barmaid left the room and they had lain down on the beds.

Ulrich woke up first, he thought he heard someone moving on the other side of the door, but when he got up and checked no one was there.

"What's up?" asked Wilhelm who got up when he heard the door open.

"Nothing, I thought I heard something. It's getting dark outside." he added looking out the window.

"I think it may be time to head downstairs eat something and start searching the town tavern by tavern."

"Don't get your hopes up too much. This is a small town but he must be aware we won the fight or he would not have taken off. This means he expected to be followed and will be keeping low. We don't have much to go on other than a general description." cautioned Wilhelm.

"We could ask around for a Hans em, er, ah.. Hofman." Ulrich laughed.

"Shut up, I didn't see you coming up with anything better. By the way, I noticed the barman spoke with the same Imperial accent you have. A lot of people moved here from Hochland?"

"Never thought about it before I suppose. I did notice just now the barman has the same accent as my grandfather when speaking Kislevite, but I thought all Imperials do. Is Hochland a big place?" asked Ulrich.

"No. It is a small heavily forested province with a small population, and it doesn't border Kislev either." Wilhelm replied making clear why he thought it was unusual.

"Interesting". Ulrich replied giving it a moment of thought. "But we don't have time to track down everyone's story now. Let's start looking, few people travel through this town that are not local trappers or farmers, so even if he changes his clothes the mutant will still stick out if he speaks Imperial like the other mutants. We do have to be careful not to raise too many questions ourselves. The town watch does not take kindly to fights within the walls and they certainly do not take kindly to bodies turning up on the streets.

"We'll deal with that when we get there." replied Wilhelm putting on his boots.

"Speaking of questions, you better put this on." Ulrich threw a simple long sleeved leather shirt and linen pants at Wilhelm.

"We can get you some local boots later but for now that will help you stick out less. Also let me do all the talking, most people speak a few words of Imperial but it isn't heard very often here.

They spend several hours of the late afternoon and evening walking the streets and asking about the mutant in every inn and tavern they could find, with no luck. The streets cleared as the night set in, fewer people were walking around now. Instead of the crowds they now saw more of the city watch patrols eyeing everyone with suspicion. They were dressed in a rough approximation of a uniform, with plain shirts and pants but long blue coats worn against the chill of the night. They were armed with sabres and occasionally pistols. Wilhelm noted that unlike most towns in the Empire here the streets were not lit. The town watch carried lanterns; other travellers either used torches or got by the light from an occasional window where the occupants were still awake.

They had also tried walking the streets and asking in the taverns in the lower town, but since those were cheaper most had been full for a good few days now. The keepers invariably said they haven't seen anyone but farmers and trappers and everyone who was coming in now was either sitting in the main hall at one of the tables or sleeping anywhere there was floor space.

Finally they were ready to give up for the evening, and headed back for the empty streets of the high town. By now it was close to midnight and apart from the occasional patrol they didn't see anyone else. Just as they turned off the main town square to head down the street to the Black Hound they saw a beggar sitting against the side of the building.

"Wait." Ulrich stopped looking at the beggar. "He is wearing Imperial boots."

"And the same green cloak I had seen on the mutant." replied Wilhelm with exitment.

"Hey friend." Ulrich spoke in Kislevite. "Those are nice boots you have there."

"Mine! I found them fair and square!" replied the beggar abruptly with a slight slur caused most likely by some hefty alcohol consumption earlier in the day. His bearded face contorted in a look of drunk defiance and his hand gripping a thick wooden staff next to him.

"Relax." replied Ulrich with a consolatory tone. "I am not after the boots, in fact I have a few coins for you if you help us."

"What'ya want?" asked the beggar guardedly but relaxed his grip on the staff.

"We are looking for a friend of a friend of ours, who was wearing these clothes the last time we saw him, he had some unscrupulous people after him so we want to find him and make sure he is ok." said Ulrich dropping a couple of copper coins into the outstretched hand of the beggar.

"Right. And I am a respectable honest gentlemen." the beggar replied with heavy sarcasm after looking at the coins in his hand. "How do I know if you aren't the unscrupulous people after the kind man whose generosity resulted in me wearing these?"

Wilhelm moved towards the beggar with a grim look on his face, but Ulrich pushed him back and knelt down so his face was close to the beggars.

"All right, you got us. We aren't kindly gentlemen." he dropped a few more coppers into the hand. "But neither is the man we are looking for worthy of being a friend. This man you see behind me has travelled from the empire chasing the man we are looking for because he is a murderer and a mutant. "At the sound of the last word the beggar hissed a little and took a more careful look at Wilhelm, scanning his frame he noted the gun in his belt."

"Don't the witch hunters normally wear black?" he asked still looking with suspicion at Wilhelm.

Wilhelm couldn't follow the conversation but he saw the second lot of coins change hands and he heard the doubt in the question the beggar asked looking at him.

"Let me explain things to him properly!" he hissed to Ulrich in Imperial adding a couple of ugly expletives. Ulrich still held him back and turned back to the more frightened beggar.

"Now my friend, I am patient but you see he is not, he is traveling in plain clothes so as not to give himself away too easily to other mutants who may be lurking in town. So let's not waste time over trivialities." he said as he produced one silver coin and held it up. "Tell us where you got the clothes or my friend here will be the one asking the questions."

"I found them on the rubbish tip at the end of the shoe makers street this afternoon." The beggar looked from face to face to see if this was to their satisfaction. "Did you see anything else? Who dumped them?" insisted Ulrich. "No, no I am not lying I saw nothing else." the beggar said quickly.

"All right then, thanks for your help. And don't go talking about our little conversation here lest the mutant get's wind of the witch hunter." Ulrich threw a couple more copper coins to the beggar as he got up and turned to Wilhelm.

After explaining what he found out to Wilhelm they quickly decided there was nothing more to be done until the morning when the shoemakers shops were opened. As they turned again to walk down the street towards the Black Hound Ulrich thought he saw someone taking a quick look at them from behind the corner of the street, but when he run over to the corner there was no one there.

When they got back to the inn several people were still sitting around and drinking in small groups. Though most voices were kept down it was easy enough to pick up the general topic of conversation. Beastmen have been spotted at the edge of the forest in the afternoon. The town crier has been making announcements of a general recruitment to boost the town watch regiment. Most conversation was of the impending fight for the city.

Ulrich noticed the barman whom they had spoken to earlier was still behind the bar cleaning up after the busy day. He looked at them occasionally as they sat drinking their ale before they headed upstairs to sleep, but he said nothing more.

The next morning they were quite tired but managed to get up early. After a quick breakfast in the main hall of the inn they headed out to the shoemakers street. There they pretended to shop around for shoes for Wilhelm. To their surprise the second shoemaker they spoke to casually remarked he had sold a pair of shoes to another man from the empire the previous day and quickly produced a similar pair of shoes from one of the chests in the workshop. Equally quickly he proceeded to overcharge them for the shoes seeing their interest raised, and mistaking it for admiration of the workmanship. As Ulrich paid for the shoes he found out in casual conversation that the other Imperial man had asked him about a quiet out of the way inn or tavern to spend the next few days. The shoemaker told them he suggested a small inn called the White Barge which was at the end of the Sailors street towards the river. Since the entire fleet has left town that part of it was a little quieter then normal and it would be easier to find a room.

They proceeded to get Wilhelm some more Kislevite clothing, so he wouldn't stick out so much. Following his transformation Wilhelm and Ulrich headed towards Sailors street. They sat near a window in a tavern across the street from the White Barge, Wilhelm sat with his back to the room looking through the window keeping an eye on the small Inn while Ulrich sat opposite him facing the room. Ulrich spoke to Wilhelm at length in Kislevite, it was a long and torturously exaggerated tale of a trapping trip up slope of the nearby mountains. Wilhelm couldn't understand anything from the story but it didn't matter because it was being spun for the benefit of the other people sitting in the tavern and the occasional serving maid who checked if they need more food or drink.

They sat for several hours. Several people entered and left the small Inn across the street but they didn't see the man they were looking for. Finally they decided waiting across the street wouldn't work. The man they were looking for was clearly being careful about revealing his whereabouts. The inn provided food, drink and everything else he needed provided he could pay for it. They couldn't spend days on end sitting around and drinking without raising some suspicion. So they decided for a riskier strategy.

It was near sunset when they entered the White Barge Inn again taking up seats at one of the tables. They ordered ale and some food, though neither of them was hungry after spending the afternoon in a tavern across the street. Wilhelm sat with his back to the stairs, which led to the guestrooms upstairs, while Ulrich sat facing the room. This time they didn't have to wait long, shortly after they sat down a man came down the stairs, Ulrich could not recognise if this was the man they were looking for. But he fitted the general description and as he approached the bar he spoke in Imperial ordering food to be brought up to his room. As he did so he looked around the room at the other occupants of the inn. It wasn't a large room and he caught Ulrich's eye as he scanned the tables. A look of recognition than panic crossed his face. He turned and run up the stairs. Ulrich jumped out of the chair, Wilhelm stumbled out as well, as quickly as he could. They headed upstairs at a run, as they started to climb the barmaid screamed after them in Kislevite saying that only guests of the inn were allowed upstairs. They sped up, climbing the stairs they heard a door slam a couple floors above them. They run up until they were on the second floor of the building. Once there they could not see which door the man had closed but sounds of someone moving about in a hurry were easy to pick up from a room to their right. They run for the door, it was closed but not very sturdy and Ulrich kicked it down after a couple of attempts. The room was empty, the window open. They run to the window, which overlooked the roof of a smaller building at the back of the Inn.

"There!" pointed Wilhelm as he spotted the man running across a rooftop towards the river. They both scrambled out through the window and onto the roof to run after the man. He turned and looked at them then jumped from the roof down into a yard ahead of them.

"It's him!" shouted Wilhelm to Ulrich remembering the face he stared into a couple days earlier.

"Follow the rooftops down to the river and try to cut him off I will follow him here." Ulrich hissed to Wilhelm while running down the slope towards the edge of the roof where the mutant had just disappeared.

They had come to the inn armed and he pulled the pistol from his belt now as he prepared to jump down into the courtyard. He spotted a pile of wood not far from the roof edge he jumped down to it and slid down the side landing a bit unsteadily but keeping upright. Ten paces away the mutant was jumping over a low wall dividing the courtyard from the next. Ulrich run after him crossing small walls of several more courtyards kicking at barking dogs in some courtyards and stumbling through mud and pigs in others. After a couple of minutes he got closer to the mutant just as he was climbing over a higher wall, which divided a courtyard from another street beyond. Not knowing if Wilhelm had time to cut off their quarry Ulrich aimed and shot at the mutant just as the man was getting ready to jump down the other side of the wall. The shot hit his thigh and he went tumbling down out of Ulrich's view. Ulrich quickly scaled the wall ignoring the shouts coming from the windows of the house on his right. From the top of the wall he saw the mutant sprawled on the ground with his hands up and Wilhelm standing over him with a pistol aimed at his chest.

Ulrich jumped down, recovered his balance and approached the man they had been chasing. The man was looking at Ulrich with fear and hate at the same time. He reached into his pocket. Wilhelm shouted for him to raise his hands and pointed the pistol at his head. The mutant ignored him and quickly put something in his mouth biting down. The effect was instant, green ooze erupted from the man's mouth and his body shook violently.

"Who are you?! Why did you kill my grandfather?!" Ulrich shouted holding the shaking man by his shirt.

"Yyyou, can't… stop…stop… it." the mutant responded staring with a steel gaze into Ulrich's eye while the rest of his body shook violently. Then his eyes rolled back into his skull and his body stopped shaking.

"Who are you?!" Ulrich shouted one more time still gripping the man's shirt.

"He's dead. Check his pockets see if there is anything that will help figure out where he came from." Wilhelm urged as he looked up and down the street. "And hurry up, we don't have long before the watch come down and start asking questions."

They searched the body but found nothing but an ornate dagger, a money purse and a small metal medallion around the man's neck. Then hearing shouts up the street they left the body and run in the opposite direction. In the darkness they managed to evade any pursuit by turning a couple of times then hiding behind a pile of refuse in one of the near by streets. The guards run only a few feet from them but didn't notice. The two men quietly retraced their way to the previous street junction and walked off in another direction trying to look calm.

They returned to the Black Hound without further incident. Went upstairs to their room and looked over the items recovered from the body of the mutant leader. The dagger was of good quality and decorated, but it bore only a simple makers mark, without an indication where it came from they could spend years looking for the maker. The medallion was off a wolf head, worn commonly across the empire and even Kislev by people who worshipped Ulric, the god of war. Another symbol but less clear was on the other side of it, but the lines were so faded Ulrich could not make out what it was. The money purse was a surprise, it contained over 50 gold coins apart from several silver and copper ones, enough money to live well for a year in any city in Kisev. But it too contained no clue as to the man's identity. Ulrich and Wilhelm sat on their beds looking despondently at the items spread on the table between them, when they heard steps approaching the door of their room.

Chapter Sixteen

Both men got up to lock the door but before either of them got there it flew open with a loud thud as it hit the wall. Three men stood in the corridor with pistols pointed into the room. One of the men wore the uniform of the city guards the other two were dressed in plain stained clothes and Ulrich recognised them as staff from the bar room downstairs.

"Hands up!" shouted the man in uniform. Ulrich looked over to his bed to see where his pistol was.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." another, familiar voice said, the bartender of the inn came into view behind the three men with pistols.

"We need to have a talk about your conduct while on the premises. This may not be the most respectable inn in town but it is my inn and I will not have murderers staying here."

"Now hold on there, what is this talk of murder? We are simple travellers looking for a friend of ours."

"Right, with friends like that…" the barman left it hanging.

"Turn around and put your hands behind your backs, we will finish this conversation at the city guard station." They didn't appear to have much choice, both men turned around. Wilhelm looked at Ulrich discreetly glancing at the window in front of them, but before they did anything the world went dark.

Wilhelm regained consciousness first, he had a bad headache and a large lump on back of his head, which explained what happened. He took stock of their situation; they were both sitting in some kind of basement. From the barrels of ale, bags of grain and sausages hanging from hooks all around them he reasoned that they probably never left the inn. Their legs and hands were chained to an iron solid looking ring in the wall. The room was lit up with a single oil lamp on a small table about five paces from them. The table was up against one of the walls near the corner of the room. From what Wilhelm could see that was also where the only door out of the room was but it looked like a very heavy and solid piece of work too.

"Ouch." groaned Ulrich as he too came to. "Well this doesn't look much like a city guard station to me." he added as he rubbed his head.

"Seen the inside of a lot of them then?" a voice suddenly asked from the dark side of the room opposite the door. Both men looked around to see the inn owner getting up of a stool where he had been sitting quietly till now.

"Now look here, I am an Imperial officer and detaining me, or my companions, is a serious violation of the law, even here in Kislev you will not get away with it." Wilhelm tried a new approach.

"Imperial troops can get away with a lot in Kislev, that much is true, but even here the only penalty for murder is death. So you'd better stop whining about your rights and innocence and start telling me the truth."

"Truth about what exactly?" asked Wilhelm not giving up.

"How about you start by telling me who was the man you killed tonight and why?" replied the Innkeeper with an almost polite tone of voice.

"I don't know what you are talking about, I hope you have some proof of your accusation or the judge will throw you in jail instead of us, you insult an officer!"

"Enough." the innkeeper replied quietly. "In case you haven't noticed you aren't in the city guard jail, and it won't be a judge who passes sentence here. One of my sons followed you tonight and saw you chasing a man over rooftops. The same man was found dead shortly after by the city guard. So save us some time and start talking before we need to be more persuasive." with that the innkeeper looked over to the wall where various blacksmithing tools hang.

"I think perhaps I could try to shed some light on our predicament." said Ulrich, who had no interest in being persuaded.

"Please do. I'd like to get some sleep at some point tonight." replied the Innkeeper. "My name is Ulrich, the man we were indeed chasing tonight was a mutant, and a murderer, a few days ago he and a group of other mutants attacked and killed my grandfather in our cabin to the northeast of here."

"Which village did you come from?" asked the Innkeeper

"No village, me and my grandfather lived alone in a cabin up the valley of the Shoik river at the edge of the mountains. We hunted, trapped and occasionally my grandfather would also make some simple firearms for the local villagers or to sell here in town during market day. We mostly kept to ourselves, and until the mutants came a few days ago we did ok. When they attacked I was out, I followed their tracks later."

The innkeeper was silent and looked thoughtful for a minute. Than he got up, crossed the room and picked up the oil lamp. He came over closer to the two chained men.

"What was you grandfather's name?" he asked.

"Johan."

"Where was he from?"

"Koerin, a small village in the Empire."

"Your parents?"

"I never knew them, they died when I was very young, that was the reason we moved to Kislev."

The Innkeeper straightened up abruptly and walked over to the door.

"Uve, bring me all their luggage and the bag they were going over as well! Right now!"

A muffled response came from the other side of the door, they waited a few moments during which the innkeeper never stopped looking at Ulrich. The door opened and one of the innkeeper's sons came in with their luggage and weapons.

The innkeeper unwrapped Ulrich's long rifle looking it over. His eyes widened as they came to the makers mark Ulrich had found on the stock of the rifle.

"This belonged to your grandfather?" he asked turning to Ulrich again.

"Yes."

"Did your grandfather tell you much of his past? Or anything about what to do if he should pass away?"

"All I know is that he was a simple farmer and hunter, he never talked about the past much." Ulrich paused, a look of doubt crossed his face. "Once, just once when we narrowly avoided a troll he said that if ever I was alone I should come to Moraveny and look for the Drakwald Foxes. But he never told who that was and refused to talk of it again. But what has that got to do with anything?"

"And you? What is your role in this?" asked the innkeeper who now turned to Wilhelm ignoring Ulrich's question. Wilhelm looked at Ulrich first but decided it was time to tell the truth this time.

"Wilhelm Von Saltz, lieutenant of the fifth regiment of Averland Pistoliers in the service of the Emperor, I was separated from my unit in the north and fled through the forest to the south. Ulrich here gave me a break when the same group of mutants he spoke of surrounded me. So I took it upon myself to help him avenge his grandfather's death. But I was telling the truth when I said we didn't kill anyone, well not the last mutant anyway, he took some kind of poison."

"Did he tell you who he was before he died?" the Innkeeper was now looking over the items they took from the mutant.

"No, all he said was that we couldn't stop it, never said what it was that we couldn't stop."

"I have some idea, but first I must apologise, you can never be too careful and you two weren't exactly discreet about your activities in town. My son will open up the shackles now. You're both free to go, but first I have to tell Ulrich more about his grandfather, Wilhelm you can wait outside."

"No, he has helped me greatly so far and he can hear whatever you have to say to me." protested Ulrich as the innkeeper's son unlocked the chains behind his back. A few minutes later they were sitting in a much more comfortable room, which was part of the private rooms, the innkeeper and his family lived in at the back of the Inn. The room was quite small, with a square table and benches around it. The walls were decorated with weapons and hunting trophies, and must have been of solid construction because once they entered they could no longer hear any sound from the outside.

"This is where I do all my more private business negotiations." explained the innkeeper noticing the two men looking around.

"Where do I start?" the Innkeeper asked as one of his sons brought in some ale and food left over from the evening's dinner.

"Your name perhaps?" suggested Ulrich.

"Ahh, do forgive me. In all the mess I forgot to introduce myself my name is Andreas like your grandfather also from Koerin."

"I am, one of the Drakwald Foxes, as was Johan. The Drakwald Foxes were a secret regiment of sharpshooters equipped by and answering only to the Baron of Koerin. Koerin by the way is no village but a small castle, and town in Hochland, the seat of the Barony of Koerin. It isn't the biggest or most powerful Barony in the Empire or even Hochland for that matter. But it lies on a trade and transport route and is of some military importance. The castle is small but strong and the Baron was always well respected among his peers. But, I am getting off track." Andreas paused to take a sip of ale.

"You Ulrich, are the direct descendant of Baron Konrad Von Koerin whom I served. At this point Wilhelm whistled quietly, clearly impressed with the title. "Well, well the simple trapper turns out to be a Baron." he commented.

"What is this nonsense? My grandfather was no Baron." stated Ulrich incredulously.

"Yes and no, that is Johan indeed was no Baron, but Johan was not your real Grandfather, not by blood anyway." he raised his hand to head off another interruption from Ulrich.

"Your mother was killed shortly after you were born in an ambush by bandits. Your grandfather suspected the attack was no mere highway robbery. But he didn't know who was behind it so he turned to those he could trust: the Drakwald Foxes. We were not a normal uniformed regiment, nor did we officially exist or operate in the normal ways. Your Grandfahter had formed the regiment in secret to deal with mutants, chaos cultists and highway robbers. The Koerin Barony is nearly all forest, it is constantly in danger from beastmen and mutants. Even some townspeople too bear the taint of chaos. Regular units were ineffective against these dangers, the enemy was always warned first and gone by the time we showed up. Your grandfather then had an idea to form a new type of regiment. We did not wear a uniform; rather we wore plain drab clothing, which would fade into the forest well. We didn't use roads; we stayed in the forest for weeks at a time. Travelling quietly, stalking our prey. When we found a camp of mutants or highwaymen we wiped them out, we didn't arrest anyone or take prisoners. Our orders were always to wipe the enemy out to the last man. It worked well. For a while we gained the upper hand. Until the incident, that is. After that your grandfather lost interest in the affairs of the state, he could not figure out who stood behind your mother's death. He was afraid you were also a target as the marriage of his son and your mother was not popular in some circles. Your father was away at the time, so your grandfather made it look like you were kidnapped in the attack."

Andreas took another sip of ale, looking at the two men. Neither Ulrich nor Wilhelm felt inclined to interrupt this outlandish story. Andreas took one more sip and continued.

"He ordered us to take you somewhere safe from the court's intrigue and await orders to come back only when it was considered safe. The Foxes have spread out in the Barony keeping their ears to the ground. Only a few of us travelled further out taking you with us. Kislev seemed like the furthest possible place, and one where imperial spies would have much difficulty finding anyone. But…" he paused.

"It seems that it wasn't far enough. Take a look at the face on the silver coins the mutant had in his bag." Andreas put down several of the coins on the table.

"It's you. How did we miss that?" Stated Wilhelm to Ulrich in amazement as he looked at the coin.

"Your grandfather to be more precise, your features are very much in line with the family…" supplied Andreas.

"Wait, if this is true and you recognized his features than why did you still give us a bang on the head?!" Wilhelm burst out looking miffed and rubbing the back of his head to reinforce his point.

"Well..." Andreas managed to look a little embarrassed.

"The Baron had a brother and many cousins they had sons, there are plenty of Ulrich's cousins out there who would be happy to step in to inherit the Barony, I needed to be sure whom I am dealing with. Now, as I was saying, these coins were minted in Koerin. The barony has a right to mint silver coins from a local mine, but the deposit is small and it does not mint many of them, they are used almost exclusively to pay the local servants and any bills the Barony has to settle. It is very unlikely that someone would have several of them in his purse unless they came from or through the Barony. I believe these men somehow found out about your whereabouts and were sent out to kill you."

"No." Ulrich said quietly.

"No?" Asked Andreas, surprised Ulrich had anything to add to the story.

"No, I do not think they were sent to kill me. Your story makes sense, but the mutants were not expecting me. They killed my grandfather and left the hut, they could have waited around and finished me off too. Later when we fought them, they seemed surprised, almost outraged when they recognised my face." Replied Ulrich

"Hmm, if you are right than this may be to our advantage. Perhaps whoever sent them had found out about our existence, but not yours, and was just cleaning up odd ends. This means we still have a chance to take them by surprise. But we are going to have to be quick, and we are going to have to change the plan."

"Hang on a little. What plan? What are talking about?" asked Ulrich.

"The Baron did not mean for you to hide forever. He wanted you to take your rightful place when it was safe to return. Though, as the years passed we assumed he never figured out who wanted you dead. The mutants are not here by accident though, their arrival means something has changed in the Barony. I am afraid the most likely possibility is that the old Baron is dead or someone has gained access to his personal papers and he is in danger. We must make our way over to the Barony and reclaim your rightful place. We were were disconnected from the rest of the Foxes for safety reasons so that they could stay and keep an eye on the affairs in the Barony, they can not contact us but will help when we contact them."

A knock on the door interrupted them.

"Come in." called out Andreas, one of his sons came in to the room and whispered something to him.

"Well, it seems that any plans of going to Koerin will have to wait. The sentries on the walls have just reported that beastmen are coming out of the forest all along the town walls, I'm afraid it looks like no one will be going anywhere for a while. Go and have some rest now. When the attack begins the city guard will demand help from anyone who can stand and hold a sword."