To the Capitol

The caravan moved slowly in the darkness. There was barely a sound heard beyond the wind whistling through the trees and the occasional, distant howl from a wolf. Everybody were exhausted after a long day with battle and searching through the remains on the battlefield, many of them having lost someone they knew and cared for in the skirmish. They were tired as well, but also eager to get away from the field where the soldiers ambushed them, where the constant thought of more soldiers haunted them.

Matthias was on horseback, riding along the caravan to make sure everything was in order, calling out a few encouragements to people slowing down to keep them going for a little while longer. Tino went with a new group of scouts, but he rode by to confirm that Berwald was indeed in on the mission they were planning before he headed out. Torleif rode by a few times to make his own check on the people, looking more haggard every time.

They only stopped for the night when they had travelled in darkness for several hours and most of them were about to pass out form exhaustion. Matthias fell asleep the moment his head hit the ground. The exhaustion kept the nightmares at bay until morning when somebody started clanging a few pots and pans together to wake them all up and get moving.

Matthias took a round between the rebels when everybody was eating a meager breakfast to ask if they were interested in the mission. He expected them all to turn him down flat, not even listen to his proposal and call him crazy. He could scarcely believe how many of them were not only willing, but also eager to participate. In the end, he even had to turn a few people away when they sought him out after the rumor spread throughout the camp. He believed a big group would seem suspicious and he picked carefully a few of them to join. It turned out that Berwald was the toughest sell of them all and he had caved the moment Tino asked him to come along.

When breakfast was done and people began packing up again, he sought out Torleif to have him approve of the group he put together. It consisted of the originally planned trio, and three others he believed could get through the city gates as refugees, but were still physically fit and could put up a fight when necessary. There was older farmer named, Gorm that looked like he had seen far more winters than he really had, but he had been a soldier in his youth and skilled with a blade. There was a girl a few years older than Matthias, named Vilje, with a burn across one side of her face after the last battle and a wicked determination. The last one was a trapper named Trym, who liked to spend weeks in the wild at the time while hunting and was and expert at survival in any kind of weather.

They grabbed a few weapons each, but decided it was best to leave the higher quality ones behind. If they were going to pretend being refugees searching for shelter or jobs then the finer weapons they had stolen would probably give them away to the city guards immediately. Most common farmers did not even own proper swords and made due with axes instead. It was with regret and a heavy heart that Matthias abandoned the battle-axe he had used in every single battle and was comfortable with wielding to replace it with a simple and much smaller one. Torleif smiled sadly at him and wrapped it up in a piece of cloth, promising to keep it safe until they met again.

Berwald also left his finer sword and replaced it with an old but sturdy blade. Tino decided to keep his longbow. Since he was a hunter, it would not be suspicious for him to bring such a weapon to the capitol.

All of them packed a bag of ragged clothing so they could change before they came to close to the central cities and made it look like they had not made a journey to seek shelter dresses in clothing that was far beyond what meager refugees would possess. That meant they would later have to hide the thicker winter clothing. Luckily, the weather closer to the capitol would be warmer, even in winter. It would be cold, but the risk of losing a limb to the cold was practically gone. They decided to take horses, but took the oldest and sickest ones so they would not cripple the rebel caravan any further. Then they could sell them or let them free once they reached the capitol since refugees was unlikely to have such luxury, especially if they had fled from their home quickly.

Matthias kept glancing backwards as they rode off, until the rebels were out of sight and earshot letting the forest close in around them. Tino took the lead and headed off in front of them to scout ahead for a few kilometers before he came back, travelled with them for a while and headed back out again.

"I hope you know what you are doing" Berwald muttered quietly in the evening so only Matthias could hear him. The two of them were roasting a small hare that Tino had shot earlier in the evening while the others were busy setting up camp for the night.

"As do I," Matthias whispered back. He turned the spit slightly to make sure the dinner did not char on one side and to keep his hands busy and avoid fidgeting while Berwald gave him such a firm glare.

"I only came because Tino believe so strongly in this plan," Berwald stated matter-of-factly, not in the slightest bothered by his own harsh tone.

He was about to say more but Matthias interrupted him. "Let me guess, you believe it is rash, ill-planned and doomed to fail. You said so the last time I brought it up and I know this already, but remember that this rebellion was not exactly planned to begin with either. It happened because it had to. I'm just trying to find a way to end it where as many of us survive as possible."

Berwald snorted in annoyance and he leaned in closer to hiss his reply, "So we head into the capitol dressed as poor commoner that lost their town when rebels attacked and ask for sanctuary or jobs or want to join in their army. We had better pray they´ll fall for it and that they have not closed down the city for refugees in fear that people that need food and shelter will overrun them. There are so many ways for this to go wrong."

"That is why we ask to join in their army and not just ask for shelter," Matthias countered. "Even if the city is full of refugees, they will be foolish to refuse people willing to join in their army. They have lost many good soldiers to our forces. They probably think they need every man available to defeat the rebels and quench any further uprising in towns that have no actively joined the rebellion yet. In addition, they probably feel a need to defend the capitol since they know that is our final target. They need more soldiers."

Berwald narrowed his eye skeptically considering it for a while and finally muttered, "You might have a point. They do need more men, might be willing to take in just about anybody."

"That's what I'm hoping for" Matthias grinned at him, hoping to face confidence, but Berwald still did not look convinced.

They packed their things in the morning, and Matthias saw the perfect opportunity to snatch a handful of ashes from the long dead campfire and scooped it into a small leather pouch when the others were busy saddling up their horses. He decided to stick it in his backpack for now, feeling quite silly for listening to Eir's words of old wives' superstition. He dusted off his hands on his pants and mounted the old and lazy horse Torleif gave him for the journey while chuckling sadly and telling him he was lucky if the damned thing survived another week.

The rest of the group waited for him to be ready and stared at him expectantly until he kicked the horse into a trot and took lead of the small path leading southeast. Tino rode next him for all of two minutes before he rode ahead, gave them all a happy grin, a wink and rode off in a light gallop disappearing among the trees seconds later to scout ahead.

"At least he manages to keep in high spirits," Trym commended.

"I'll be in high spirit too, once this damned snow stops," Gorm growled in return as he tucked the cloak tighter around himself. "I'm freezing my junk off."

Vilje, as the only girl in their group laughed loudly. "We'll suffer no loss then" she yelled mockingly and Matthias could not hold back his own laugher when he looked back and noticed Gorm's insulted and shocked expression at her words. The other soon joined in, with all their worry forgotten for a moment.

The forest around them eased up after a few hours of riding and opened into a flat, desolated plain with a few windblown bushes that stretched out almost as far as the eye could see. Somewhere, far in the distance a mountain chain reached for the skies. The wind picked up the moment they stepped out of the shelter from the trees at the edge of the forest and tossed snow up in the air around them. The group wrapped their scarves closer around their faces to cover it from the harsh wind and snow as they stared out over the plains.

Trym rode up beside Matthias and Berwald in the lead and he had to yell above the howling wind. "Those are the Windbreak-mountains we see. They stretch on for miles and miles, separating the northwestern part of the kingdom from the south." He waived one of his arms in the direction of the mountains. "There is a pass made for the trading route somewhere we can cross, but I don't remember exactly where it is and this road is usually only travelled during summer. I have not been on this road since I was a young boy and went with my father to sell wares in the southern cities. It will be one hell of a climb if we do not find it though and we can forget bringing the horses along if that is what we want to do."

Matthias held one arm up to shield his eyes from the wind as he squinted towards the mountains. "We can only hope this path leads towards the main road then" he yelled back.

"We won't see the path once we ride out there" Berwald commented. "The wind is kicking up all the snow and there is no telling road and terrain apart out here. There is no shelter until we reach the mountains either."

Matthias wanted to curse at Berwald's pessimism, even if he was right. Everything looked the same out there on the plain and it would be several hours of travel to reach the foot of the mountain, even longer with the current weather. "We should rest here for the night, wait for Tino to come back and begin the crossing at first light tomorrow."

"I'm not going to argue with you on that idea," Gorm sighed in relief as he stared out over the unfriendly field before them. "It will be nasty crossing that field. I thought it was cold in the forest, but out there, we are completely exposed.

"Then let's build a fire so we can keep warm, it might make it easier for Tino find us on his way back if he can see it. I doubt he will head out that far on his own." Matthias dismounted and led his horse into the shelter of the thinning trees to make the animal it a little more comfortable. The others followed his lead, stepping into the slight shelter. Gorm and Trym went off in search of firewood to last them through the night.

Matthias and Vilje began preparing some food. They were lucky that both Tino and Trym were good hunters. They had set up snares and caught another hare before they went out for the morning. It was not a lot of meat, but it improved the quality of their meal significantly. They made a thin soup with small piece of cabbage and an onion on the verge of rotting. Vilje wrinkled her nose in disgust as she cut up the piece of vegetable. "I swear, if I wasn't so hungry I would bury that damned thing and pretend I never set eyes on it to begin with." She dropped the pieces of onions in with the cabbage and hare, smelled it and sighed. "I would also give a lot of money for a bit of spices right now because that is depressing."

Matthias shrugged. He had seen a meals a lot worse than what they were currently putting together. Last winter was the first without his mother and he tried to manage the farm on his own, failing miserably. He had eaten whatever he could get his hands on that winter just to keep the hunger at bay for a few hours.

Vilje sighed again. "I'm sorry. That might have seemed ungrateful. I know my family was lucky before this thing started. I never had to go hungry before. We were not rich by any means, but we never had to go hungry until the soldiers came and took everything before the rebellion."

"You were lucky indeed then" Gorm grumbled as he dumped an armful of firewood on the ground before her. "You are from Myre, are you not?" he waited for her affirming nod before he continued. "I have lived in Rorthside all my life on the very northern outskirts where you might think nobody wanted to go if they had a choice not to, but the soldiers came every year to collect taxes. We had no idea the outline districts paid much more than the inner cities. We barely made it through winter every year. We lost dozens of people in the winter months, every year."

Vilje looked down in the snow guiltily. "We never knew" She whispered, her voice thick with building sorrow and guilt.

"There is nothing to do about it now" Matthias interrupted. "We are all in this together."

The both nodded in acceptance and Gorm even offered a quick apology to Vilje for snapping at her for something that was not really her fault.

Just as the soup began to bubble, they all startled at the sound of hooves and noticed a rider approaching. Instinct after the previous attack, most of them reached for their weapons, ready to draw them in case the rider turned out to be anyone but Tino. Trym Let out an audible sigh of relief when the rider dismounted before them and tossed his hood back to reveal Tino, his skin flushed red from the cold and a slight smile on his lips.

"Nothing out there?" Berwald asked.

"Nothing living at least," Tino replied and he went to tie up his horse between the trees along with the others. He came to settle down next to the fire and warmed his hands over the flames. "The plains are empty, not a sign of anything living out there. I think the soldiers we met earlier must have taken the long forest route to get to where they found us. It is dangerous to cross with winter upon us. And the mountain pass will be difficult to find."

They all stared to Trym who claimed to have travelled the mountains before. "I already told you I don't know where the mountain pass is, or the safest route there," he quickly defended himself before they even asked him the question again. "It has been years since my father took me over the pass, and we did that in late summer before the snow set for the winter."

Berwald cursed softly and turned to Tino. "How long do you think it will take to cross the plains like it is now?"

Tino pondered the question and stared towards the mountains mocking them in the distance. "In this weather I will say two days at least maybe more, but I don't think we should stop before have crossed. We might not survive a night out there without shelter.

"Then we should follow the original plan and rest here until first light tomorrow. Then we walk until we reach the mountains or we cannot walk any longer. We bring as much firewood as we can carry so we can get warm if we have to rest before we get over, but we should not sleep until we are in shelter by the mountains." Matthias said thoughtfully. The others nodded.

"I agree" Tino said. "It will not be pleasant, but it is the safest way to do it, unless we want to do as the soldiers and take the forest road south and avoid the mountain pass completely, but that will probably take weeks to do. I think that is what Torleif might consider when he gets to this point. The group will lose fewer people taking that route and there are a few more outline towns they can visit too, maybe get more people to join or get more food."

"That sounds logical," Berwald said.

"I hope you are right," Matthias said thoughtfully. "That will get us more time to infiltrate the capitol and we can be more careful about it. We can get to know the city a bit more, learn their defenses and have more information for Torleif and the others when they arrive. We should try to leave a message behind and hope they see it. Tell them that it is better for them to take the longer route."

"Well. There is a chance they might not even find anything we leave behind, but it is worth a shot and better than nothing." Tino rubbed his hands a bit together, trying to get some more warmth into them. "We can tie a piece of cloth around a tree and attach a letter to it, or maybe carve a message in the trunk of the tree."

Matthias began pouring soup into the bowls and gave one to each. "It is better than nothing. But it has to be a message that can be understood easily, but not information that can be used by any soldiers should they by some chance stumble upon it." He took a spoonful of soup and burned his tongue severely in the process. The rest of the meal would taste nothing, but that was probably an improvement and the warmth that spread from his stomach made him feel a lot better.

The wind picked up around them as darkness snuck upon them. Berwald tossed a few more logs on to the fire and it hissed at the snowflakes it whipped up. "I think we better get some rest while we can since we will not get any more until we've crossed the plains."

The rest of them nodded in agreement, and Trym offered to take the first watch and they quickly agreed on the order thereafter.

Matthias ended up stuck with the middle shift and Berwald woke him up with a grumble when it was his turn. The darkness was heavy around him and only held at bay by the soft glow from the embers of the campfire so he tossed a few more logs on to it to keep it going for a while longer.

Berwald fell asleep quickly, tucked into a heavy cloak, resting close by the others so they could share all the heat that they could. Matthias tucked his cloak tighter around himself and sat close to the fire, staring into the night, listening closely for any sounds.

He sat like that for an hour, where the only sounds came from the crackling of the fire, creaking of the snow when one of the horses shifted and the occasional snore from one of his companions. Then he thought he heard distinctive whispering coming from the plains. At first, he thought he was imagining it but then the sound continued and he even thought that he recognized it. From weeks ago, in a dream.

He quietly got to his feet, picked up a log from the fire by the unburnt end and raised it in front of himself as a torch. The whisper got louder and he swore he could hear his own name on the wind now. His skin burst out in goosebumps under his shirt and he had to resist a shiver. He stepped out from the trees and out on the plain where the wind immediately tore at his clothes and whipped his hair around his face.

He continued a bit further, keeping one hand on his axe just in case. One glance behind and he could see the campfire was already just a faint glow through the blowing snow. He looked ahead again, and that is when he noticed the dark silhouette just a few steps in front of him and he almost dropped the torch. He was about to yell out a warning to the others, because that was the logical thing to do when facing potential danger in the middle of the night, but something made him keep silent and he was frozen in place.

The figure stepped a bit closer into the light of the torch and Matthias held his breath. The stranger only had a thin cloak to shield him from the elements, but it did not seem to bother him the slightest even when Matthias was shivering in several layers of clothing and a thick cloak. He reached up with ungloved hands to throw back his hood from his face and revealed the face of none other than Lukas.

Some part of Matthias suspected it immediately when he heard the whisper in the darkness, but was afraid to believe it was real. He had almost hoped it was a soldier, because then he would know exactly how to react. With Lukas, he was never sure if he should kill him or trust him and cursed quietly at himself when he realized that he could never find it within himself even to wish harm to the creature before him.

"Matthias." Lukas tilted his head almost curiously to the side as he observed Matthias stranding frozen in silence before him. His eyes glinted almost dangerously in the glow from the torch as he stepped forward. "It has been a while"