To Escort a Lady part II

by Jill

Dear Diary,

The last few weeks I have been travelling through the forests and across the muds of sunny Eisen. I never thought I would find anyplace whose weather was more depressing than Avalon's. We have now reached Freiberg and have stopped moving for long enough for me to catch up on writing notes for my epic work Around the World with Book and Dagger. Dandelion has kindly lent me the use of his pen and notepaper.

In the last exciting escapade we had used the two Castillian brothers as a crude trap detector which sort of worked except that Franz was sorely wounded by his minor nemisisisis Berger, who got away again. Traveling on towards Freiberg our company has been greatly improved with the arrival of Hadu. Having a third lady in the group to have intelligent conversation with, makes the long miles pass more quickly. One day towards evening the weather grew far more foreboding. The wind picked up as the temperature dropped. Although winter is still some time off in more reasonable parts of the world it seems to becoming early to this part of Eisen. In the distance through the early darkness, we could just make out a small village which somehow had survived the thirty years war, a minor miracle!

But outside the village, on either side, were two military encampments, one Eisen and one Montaigne. It turned out that the Montaigne [Shat de door ( Hunter for the Golden Stream?)] unit were returning from Ussura and were being escorted by the Heilgrunds Eisen. As we reached the village, winter dropped on us in the form of a Blizzard with freezing sleet. With the two encampments and all the villagers huddled together in the only inn; the conditions looked just right for a "Dark and Stormy Night!"

Jill

(to be continued)