Tatiana gave Elsa a look that seemed to suggest she didn't share her mistress' bravado. Setting her jaw, she gazed off into the middle distance.

While the others settled down to enjoy the dubious comforts of Bardhyl's 'cosy' cave, Grim filled his chief in on the more exact details of when and where they had heard of the wild man. He kept his voice low, though there wasn't much cause to - Ludo got the feeling he still didn't trust them.


Wellentag, 5th Sigmarzeit

They set out from the cave early the next morning, accompanied by three of Bardhyl's men. Grim's directions had pointed them south, through the foothills, and so south they went. The stunted trees quickly died away, giving way to a mixture of bare rock and poor, stony pastures.

They found their first farmstead a little before noon - a place where Afrim said they'd heard the first report of the greenskins. A crude hovel thrown together out of earth and timber, it stood next to a stream that still ran with a trickle of muddy water. A low wall of haphazardly piled stones encircled a tiny field next to the stream, where a faint fuzz of green shoots was starting to show between the dusty furrows. Outside the wall, a number of goats ranged to and fro, nibbling the yellow grass.

A woman of perhaps forty was watching them approach. Her face had the deep tan of someone used to working out of doors, and her hair was bound up under a faded red cloth. She was carrying a bundle of firewood she had gathered from further up the hill - as they came closer, she set it down, watching them with the kind of wary regard that anyone living out here on their own would have for large groups of armed men.

She recognised Afrim, and returned his greeting - though not with much warmth. "You back looking for them goblins again?" she asked.

When they indicated that they were, she turned and pointed up towards the hills. "My daughter saw 'em not two days back. Tried to snatch one of our goats. Our Rolf ran 'em off squealing. Even caught one of them. Isn't that right, Rolf?"

A very large and shaggy dog that had been sleeping next to the wall raised its head, and gave a deep-chested wuff

"Nailed it up to the old tree up there on the ridge," she continued. "Hopefully it'll make 'em think twice about coming sniffin' around our beasts."