Quote Originally Posted by Sieghard
He considered the size of the force that had been mustered "Do you expect to encounter anything more than bands of raiders without traveling further south? Has the Caerfort road really gotten so bad?"
"Far as I understand it we are heading further south," said Gunther. "Not that I can tell you much as far as the plan goes. All I'm in command of are these wagons."

Quote Originally Posted by Viggo
"And what about the Caerfort to Mirino stretch?" Viggo asked, tagging his question onto the end of Sieghards' "You lads likely to be sending any patrols out that way?"
Gunther shook his head. "That's the Tilean's territory," he said. "Caerfort's always been the halfway mark. Some've been saying we shouldn't even march that far."

Strutting over to deal with a badly-loaded wagon, he called back over his shoulder to the party: "We should be setting off in an hour or two. Make sure you've got all your things ready for then. Column won't wait for you if you don't."



Festag, 29th Pflugzeit

The column moved slowly compared to the time the party had been making on their own. There were wagons to pull, camp followers to corral, formations to keep. Bernhard and the two young knights were a constant presence, riding up and down the line to keep their small force in order. Bernhard's frustration at their plodding pace was plain to see.

It took them four days to reach Caerfort, the dry grit of the Iron Claw Hills working its way into their boots. They met no resistance from the greenskins, but signs of their presence were plentiful - another burned-out farmstead near the border of the Thornwood, dust plumes on the horizon that Gunther said were wolf rider packs on the move. Morale among the soldiers seemed low - the numbers of the enemy they were marching to face seemed completely unknown, while many questioned why the bulk of Evatt's forces had remained behind. The most cheerful among them said it was because they had been sent as a raiding party, to strike a decapitating blow rather than to engage in a war of attrition with the greenskins. The more pessimistic said Bernhard had pushed the old man too far, and this mission was the next best thing to exile - or a death sentence.

When they reached Caerfort at last, Adelbert saw the village was somewhat changed. The old tower still loomed high above the hovels on the edge of the marsh, but low banks of earth had been raised around the village's southern perimeter, studded with sharpened stakes. Sieghard didn't think they would stop a sustained assault, but as a deterrent to mounted raiders they certainly looked the part.