The tree was still again, then branches swayed and pitched and a shrill horn call rose on the wind with a blat like that of a frightened goat. The goats in their retinue bawled in answer. Their three dogs barked madly, and Sergeant Aronvald quieted them with sharp commands.

Bertha raised her eyebrows. She beckoned, and the sergeant—the captain was dead—trotted forward on the skewbald gelding.

"Be alert," she said.

"Yes, my lady." He called out orders.

The rear guard moved up to set a shield wall behind the three wagons. The men marching behind Bertha fell back to protect their flanks as the clerics ducked under the bed of the cargo wagon to hide themselves. It was an old routine, honed over months of travel.

Only a dozen horses remained plus the three stolid cart horses who got the best of the feed because without them they would have no way to pull those wagons. Three dogs trotted alongside, having been adopted by the soldiers as mascots and guardsmen. On the road, they had expanded their herd of goats from three to eleven and acquired stray chickens here and there whose bones and meat leavened the wild onion stew they often ate. It was on stew and goat's milk and cheese that they mostly subsisted. On their long journey, the horses had fared worst, goats best, and humankind somewhere in between.

"Beyond this village, what?" Bertha asked.

Hanna considered. "The village itself is at the end of that path. There's a small river twenty or thirty leagues downstream, that feeds into the Veser. The village lies within a bend of the river on higher ground, so water gives it protection on three sides. They have beehives. An orchard. A bean field. Oats. Spelt. No church, but a good carpenter and shop."

“And this way?" She gestured toward the other fork, which led north-northwest.

Rain trickled into Hanna's mouth through her parted lips. “Another day's ride or more to the palace at Augensburg."

"Best to go on, then? A palace sounds more appealing than a village walled with storm wrack."

"It's burned down, my lady."

"What's burned down? The village?"

Hanna shuddered. "The palace, my lady. It burned down a few years back."

"There must be a settlement beside it, a town made prosperous by palace traffic?"

Hanna shut her eyes. She fought as memories surfaced. She was hot all at once, sweating, but it was only the drizzle hardening into rain. "I don't know, my lady. There might be."

"Did it burn in the conflagration, too? Eagle, what ails you? It's not like you to—" Bertha was a steady commander, but she had a temper. "Give me the information I need!"

Hanna discovered that her hands were shaking on the reins, and she had to tighten her knees to hold her horse in one place as it caught her mood. "I pray you, forgive me, my lady." She spoke in a rush. "That town fell into the path of the army of the Quman. I don't remember. I don't know if any survived."