Cave of the Lady, 50 kilometers from Couronne, Bretonia, 1. Brauzeit, 2532

The sword descended at speed and would cut deeply into Robert de Grail`s neck were it to connect. It was met with the flat of his blade, forced to the left and down by his parry and momentum. His move left his blade up high and he held it like a spear when he propelled it at his opponent. It would have penetrated the helmet and the head inside easily were the point not covered by a leather sheath. That way the helmet rang like a bell and rattled his opponent.

He brought his arms back and his left elbow connected with another attacker with enough force to smart despite padding and armor. That gained him the time to step forward and ram his shoulder into the first opponents chest armor. Still reeling from the hit on his head his enemy dropped and crashed. Another step brought his foot down on the chest and ended the struggles. He was facing the last opponent when a chime managed to be heard through adrenaline and blood thundering through Robert`s ears.

All fighting stopped immediately and Robert took the time to bow before his sparring partners. He did not make an effort to clean up, but removed his helmet. It would not do to face the Lady through a visor.

She awaited him in her chamber, sitting in her throne. She wasn`t physically bigger than Robert, but her presence filled the room. The Grail Knight made his way before the throne before going into full kowtow before her. He had lost the privilege to kneel when he lost the earther spy`s get that had caused so much trouble.

"You seem to have healed fully Robert."
"I am ready to serve the Lady in whatever capacity she needs me."
"Yes, you are. And serve me you will. I require an item taken from me a long time ago. Its retrieval would have been too costly before, but the circumstances mean I have to have it.
You will assemble a team of Knights, one of trackers and at least two of my aides. You will step through the portal I`ll open for you and will be transported close to what is mine. You will make your way to it, and when you have it in your hand you will use an artifact I rarely grant to make your way back to me."

"Mylady, how will I recognize what you seek."
"By this time tomorrow a picture of its container will be burned into your mind and you will be drawn to it. This is an important mission, one that might well decide the course of this war. Do not fail me Robert de Dubois."
"I live to serve Mylady."
"Yes, Robert, you do that. And tomorrow at this time you will serve me in the Chaos Desert that is around the south Gate."

Close to Deserte, Bretonia Backertag 2. Brauzeit, 2532

The tent was the same as many others in the Rebel army. It used to belong to German Disaster Management before they switched to inflatable, was a light tan color and pretty sturdy due to the metal frame and the rather heavy fabric stretched over them. A person could stand anywhere without brushing his head and 30 people could sleep in it if they were cozy. This one did not hold bedrolls and unwashed bodies galore, this was Andy Thrope`s command post. Mismatched collapsible tables and chairs allowed for staff meetings and occasionally some dinner.

The Group around the table was a mirror of the army that camped outside the tent. There was Andy Thrope, huge by Breton standards and clothed mostly in sensible outdoor gear, a uniform tunic hung around his chair. Several other "Earthers", including Walter, were clad similarly. There were several former nobles, led by the Marquis Jan-Luc and a clutch of commoners. They had kept some of their old garb on purpose, they were now fiercely proud of their ancestry. All of them watched Andy intently as he had called the meeting.

"Good to see you all healthy folks, let`s get to it. First off, this meeting has two rules: Nothing we discuss today will be spoken about outside of this tent and till this meeting ends there is no rank till we are finished. Am I understood?"
"Oui General."

"Well then. We had a nasty battle this week. We did not fulfill our mission, we are still on this bank of the Rapide river. Yes, we have hurt the enemy badly, but so has he done to us. Out there are more than a thousand lads who would say we should have done better if they were not dead. So we have not done our job. We need to find what went wrong, not to apply blame, but to do better next time. Let`s start with Walter: what worked and what did not?"

"The yeomen had two missions, gathering info about the enemy and denying him the same. We failed at least partially in both as we were too thin on the ground in this terrain. Normally we can cover a greater amount of ground as we see further, but here you are lucky if you can see a hundred meters. The same applies to counter-recon. We have to find the others, which is hard to do, and the other side isn`t short of good cavalry. In more open terrain we`d give them a few salvos before they close and we can skedaddle to repeat. Here we are in melee after the first two shots, one if my lads have a crossbow. And while the Royals are assholes, they are plenty brave and know how to brawl. Plus, they have heavy armor, mine have Gambeson. If we are to do better we need more people or better terrain, preferably both."

"Noted and understood. Jean, your turn."

"We tried to take the Orange and Rapide river fords by storm and failed. Both fords were covered by prepared defenses, earthworks with spikes. Their Tilean mercs still have some cannon and they emplaced them well. The rifle companies could not suppress the cannon or the defenders sufficiently as they were in cover. First Terico was still in the ford when the enemy used grape shot. The first ranks had serious losses and still closed with the enemy. The defenders were simply too good in this position, we could not break them. The real nasty surprise was when they flanked Liberte Terico, flanking a pike formation is bad. The Terico managed to reform and repulse the attack, but could not support First. Attacking such defenses is useless here Andy, at least with the weapons we have. We need something to breach them and take out cannon, then we have a chance. That way we get it in the ass."

"And right you are. Marcel?"

"The rifle companies are effective against enemies in the open General, sorry Andy. We can hardly suppress an enemy behind cover and throwing grenades is too dangerous when so many trees are around. A couple of lads tried and after the first rebound usually no longer did. You can get away with that when you are in cover, but not in the attack. And yes. We warned the troops not to do that, some of them did not listen. Some of these are dead now. The other problem is we are too few and need to be in too many places at the same time. We were to aid the breakthrough at the Rapide and had to defend Liberte Terico five minutes later. We cannot do that, especially not here were you have to get up close. We need more rifles and we need to be more mobile."

"Bears thinking about. Ok, now me. I had hoped that we would march so fast that we would be able to beat the Royals to the fords here and failed. In part as the other company gets a vote too, in part as our supply train is slower than us. And even if we would forage, here we cannot do, there is no one to rob. So we lost that race and battered our heads against prepared defenses. And I doubt that we can get our dynamite guns here, too clumsy. I also underestimated the problems of fighting in the forest. Now we have to see what we make of that. There are more fords down south, but that would mean retreating by 50 klicks or so and then having another go at it. We can try that, but if that fails we have to resupply at Castle Artois or even Fregune. And that would end things for this campaign season. So I suggest that we….

Close to Naizon, Bretonia

Every knuckle and every joint was bigger than the limb it belonged to. Skin as thin as parchment hung loosely from a frame that had never been fat, but was practically free of any fat by now. The only part were the skin was still taut was a stomach that bulged from water. Most muscles had been consumed by a body that had simply not received enough nourishment. Those muscles that were still there were insufficient to keep the patient upright or even keep the head looking forward.

The serf had been tall for his station in life, probably around 1.5 meters when he was still standing. Now it was hard to measure as he laid on the bed like a doll with broken strings. He had actually gained some weight ever since the Red Cross had arrived in the fortified village closest to Naizon. He weighted 29 kilograms, which was one better than last week.

The patients right arm was in a plaster cast, it had been broken before and Waltraut Derwalt was sure that the bones, broken or unbroken had undergone severe osteoporosis. For whatever time was left for her patient he would have glass bones, breaking at the slightest provocation. Yet that time was probably very short. An immune system that had no energy to run had allowed a nasty pneumonia to set in. Even the antibiotics that the Red Cross administered seemed to be unable to hold a death that some would call merciful.

The Red Cross nurse stepped from the tent to go to the next one. She stopped for the cigarette she knew to be stupid and dangerous. It also helped her with fatigue and gave her something else to think about than the cesspool of human misery she and the other Red Cross workers tried to save from slipping into utter disaster. The cigarette gave her fingers something to do, her mind did not take the hint. She remembered the furious row Dr. Müller had with the local Count who asked when the serfs would go back to the field. She also had to defend the food sent to Naizon by airship, the ruler wanted his share for his well-fed courtiers and his Knights. In the end an exchange of German-supplied conserved food against Bretonian fresh produce.

Waltraut knew that the Red Cross had supplied the Royals with valuable military supplies, but the aid organization had made such compromises in the past and would do so again in future.

A sickly smell caught her nose through all the stenches that suffused the village. It wafted on the wings of a breeze that passed the gallows. The bodies that adorned them were still recognizable, even when crows and per-execution mutilation had taken their toll. They might be the bodies of the former overseer and his aides, but there was nothing to prove that. And a couple of serfs had hinted of frying the small fish and leaving the big ones go free.

Waltraut saw the place where the stocks had been, the stocks on top of sharply inclined beams that had forced the serfs on them to keep a precarious balance amidst horrible pain. Some of these stocks had been child-sized and they had been visible from the nearby castle. Nobody could tell her the Count had not known.

There had been no "Arbeit macht Frei" signs, but Waltraut thought they would have suited this place well. She could hardly protest here and now, she and her colleagues had a responsibility for their patients. But all of them had cameras of some sort and slowly but surely the serfs started to talk.

Fassberg, Empire, Bezahltag 11. Brauzeit

Donald Trevayne sat in a surprisingly comfortable wooden chair, behind a massive desk before him. The two men before the desk were both middle aged and nervous. Sigmarslieb Wolf and Heiner Droste had served as Fassberg`s mayor and steward respectively. They had grown used to the absence of a noble and the new one wasn`t even an Imperial. He would be different, that was for sure. And there had been such tales of how the newcomers behaved, what strange ideas and what degenerated needs they had. And given the very different cultures they all came from they had problems getting each other`s measure. At least one thing they all could agree on and that was in their hands: beer.
Donald set down his stein first.

"That is pretty good I`ll say. Strong one too, right?"
"Yes Ser. This is what we do, good beer. This is what gave Fassberg its name, there were so many barrels leaving our town. I`ve heard some Germans compare this to Maibock, but I wouldn`t know about it."
"Then I`ll go easy about it Herr Wolf. So, now I got a first look at things and now we get to talk about this fair town and what to do with it. First off, I had a look at the books. The bookkeeping is ..interesting, I am not used to this style, you will have to convert it to double-entry format for the last years. I will look at them again end of Kaldezeit and then they should be converted so I can read and understand them. We`ll keep that style of bookkeeping then, a fresh start so to speak. Are we understood Herr Wolf?"
"Much obliged Ser."

"As long as you keep things less interesting from now on all is well. So you two, what do you two think I need to know about Fassberg?"
"Until this Weltensprung nothing special Ser. I mean we thought ourselves pretty lucky actually. We did not have many raids or something besides a couple of Beastmen now and then. The soil here is good and we rarely went hungry. And with the beer we were able to buy what we did not make ourselves. And that still goes Ser, not to complain. But ever since the Germans came people want more. They see these Raiffeisen communities, and they want better huts, even real houses. They want tractors, iron stoves and a communal TV. They do not know when they have it good, they don`t."

"Interesting Herr Droste. Something to add Herr Wolf?"
"The last Freiherr was in Altdorf much, he was. Ran up a pretty steep medical bill, he did, hard to do much here when we had to send so much money away."
"Yes, that and the interesting bookkeeping. Well, that is in the past and we have to see how we can improve things. I do believe the younger people already start moving to Middenheim and Altdorf, don`t they?"
"Fools and laggards, yes. They want to earn easy money in these factories…"
"That is their choice, they are free. We don`t have serfs here, do we?"
"No Ser, it is against the new laws and all that.."
"Then let`s make things so that people do not want to leave. Looks like we have some ground to cover. I see no new-style wells about, did I miss them?"

"No Ser, there seemed no need…."
"I`ll see if the GTZ still drill them for free. If not, this has priority. How about a primary school?"
"Err, the old Freiherr was not a great fan of them."
"I happen to be Herr Droste. We will write the application for one together, there is a sponsorship program by the Reiksbund."
"Yes Ser."
"I have seen your hops fields, I do believe you are doing well there, but I will still invite a DEULA consultant, maybe we can increase the production somewhat. But if we want to become a going concern we need to get mechanized. That means we need a Raiffeisen community, they will finance the upgrades."

"Ser, everybody here wants that, but we are not close to a Railroad."
"Raiffeisen offers their deal to communities not directly tied to Railroads by now and there is another offer from the Imperial Agricultural Bank. Seems the Empire doesn`t want all its farmers to be in German pockets. Be that as it may: we need to prove that we can bring our produce to the market and vice versa. And this does not look as good or am I mistaken?"
"Ah Ser, it was good enough in the old days. We have the road to the meadows, then we have the flatboats to the next road and from there it goes to the River Kristall harbor. But these days everybody wants a truck, and we cannot do that."

"Why not, the road seems ok and a Unimog can tackle them."
"Until you meet the meadows Ser. The shortest bridge you can make would be for half a mile, if not longer. And who could pay for that."
"Wonderful, simply wonderful If we want a Raiffeisen cooperative we need decent connection, without that money we cannot build that. This is…wait. Us three are having a stroll down that road, I have an idea. Maybe."

Road towards Castle Artois, Königstag, 28. Brauzeit

The Rebel army marched as fast as it always did, at a good clip for an armed force that relied on carrying a lot of their own supplies. The weather was moderately good, hot but not too humid and for the first time in several weeks the army had eaten well. All should have been well, but something was missing. The swagger in the march was less, there were fewer songs and laughter. This was not a beaten army, it was an army that found it could not do everything that it wanted to do. The fact that everybody was still doing their respective jobs was testimony of the long training, their motivation and the trust they still had in their leaders.

Andy Thrope had brought them to the "Palace de Justice" ford in an effort to flank the enemy. The Rebels had marched hard, had left some of their supplies behind and risked foregoing the fortified camps they normally erected whenever they stopped marching.

Without Walther Theodoric St. Helier`s Yeomen that risk would have backfired badly when Royal Knights tried to overrun the Rebels at night. They had been detected too far out and had been slowed at cost. When they finally arrived they found a forest of pikes inside an ordinary one. They tried their luck once, lost a score of their own for no gain and retreated.

And while the victory made the Rebels cheer Andy Thrope was far less happy. He was proved right when they arrived at the ford two days later. The Royals had managed to erect defenses again. He probed the Royals, he had read too much about the Peninsular Campaign to do otherwise.

His army paid for his curiosity with lives and limb and he had broken off the assault after the first attempt. This campaign season might see the fall of Larret and Merton, Couronne had to wait for next year. Next year he`d had more toys, he`d follow the River Sannez and they he might bring the Royals down. This year it was not to be.