He was silent for a few moments, then he announced thar from the time they left the city the company would be lead by Sir Leodegrance, as he would be remaining in Altdorf in order to act as Duke Tancred's ambassador to the Imperial court. With him were to stay two Knights of the Realm, Sir Mauville and Sir Terrance, and a young Knight Errant, Sir Robert de Giselles.

The week the company spent encamped outside Altdorf seemed to take an age to pass for Sir Robert. He was itching to enter the city, but while they remained members of a foreign force they could not pass the gates. They must wait and let traders come out and charge them hugely inflated prices, which Sir Orin rarely let them get away with, all the while watching for those who would sneak into the camp and 'liberate' their belongings. Eventually the week was done and as the Bretonnian company packed up to travel home, the four knights and their attendants prepared for their much shorter journey. Sir Orin saluted Sir Leodegrance as he led the Bretonnians away down the western road, then they turned and rode through the gates to enter Altdorf at last.

The streets of Altdorf were crowded like nothing Sir Robert had ever seen before. Everywhere there were people selling things, buying things, or just moving things around. Children ran between their horses and dodged under and around wagons, while street traders hawked their wares from road-side stalls. All around was noise and bustle, far from the quiet of his home at Ælfinfort, or even the Ducal city of Quenelles. He had not entered Nuln, and Bretonnias largest city, Bordeleaux, he had seen but not truely experienced as he had visited only the Ducal castle and the noble areas of the city, not venturing into the busy port itself. As it was, this was his first experience of a truly large city, and he was impressed to the point of fearfullness.

They wound their way through the streets, passing the entrances of large houses where armed retainers stood on guard and the great gates of the University of Altdorf, home of the Colleges of Magic. Eventually they entered a wide plaza that was kept free of street-hawkers, although it was still thronged with people, and saw the Prince's Palace stretched along the far side of the square. Close up it seemed truly huge, and the artistic workmanship and large windows that covered its face were in sharp contrast to the solid stone walls that fronted most Bretonnian castles.

The palace was separated from the plaza by a highly decorated ironwork fence which stood about four times a mans height, atop a low wall about ten yards in front of the palace. It was to a gate at the centre of this fence that they now rode, where a guard resplendant in the colours of Altdorf, challenged them. Sir Orin handed him a scroll, sealed with the Great Seal of Quenelles, and the guard went to fetch his captain. The captain broke the seal and read the contents, then saluted and beckoned the Bretonnians into the palace. They passed through an arch into a courtyard, where there horses were given up for stabling, then they were lead to the audience chamber of the Emperor.