Page 4 of 8 "Yet when he brought her back to Ælfinfort, it was soon realised that she was the daughter of Marc de Swandle. He denied them the right to be married, so my father challenged him to single combat to free my mother from her false father. Yet when the time of the trial came, de Swandle did not appear. He had ridden forth from Swandle that day, but never arrived at Cinque Damoiselles, where the combat was to be held before the Abbot. "Swandle's son accused my father of having him ambushed en route and then disposing of the body. None who knew my father would hear such a thing, of course, but he was declared dead and his son took his title. It would seem he fled to the Empire, and here was seduced by the allure of Chaos. Sir Orin thought that strongest of all was the desire that the Changer of Ways might change his doom and let him live, but then I appeared in Altdorf and now he flees from the doom that is overtaking him." "That's quite a tale." Johannes said, when Sir Robert had finished. "It must feel wierd having it all prophesied like that." "A bit," Sir Robert admitted, "but magical things happend more often in Bretonnia than in the Empire, and there's no guarantee of the accuracy of the prophesy now the gods of Chaos are involved so it's not something I can be sure is going to happen. I do know that I've got to do it in order to gain my knighthood though, and that's sufficient motivation." At this point their concentration was interrupted by the lookout's cry of "wind". Suddenly all was confusion about them as the crew swarmed up onto the deck and started hauling on ropes and climbing masts. They bolted for the hatches and got down below, out of the way of the sailors, as the ship started to sail once more. A few days later they were tying up at Bechafen. There had been some debate as to whether to continue north to Kislev - as favoured by Waltdorf - or to turn east for Bechafen, but Sir Robert had won the day. Now, they could see that he was right: Marc de Swandle's ship was moored in the basin not far from them. Before the ship was secured, Sir Robert, Johannes, Donal, and Waltdorf were ona boat pulling for the quayside. Waltdorf quickly made contact with the harbour master and, accompanied by his guards, they went to de Swandle's vessal. They were to be disappointed though. The vessels had arrived almost with the first light of dawn and de Swandle had departed almost immediately, six others with him. With Sir Robert's scroll from the Emperor, they had no difficulty swiftly aquiring supplies for the journey and, once their horses were unloaded, they set off after him, up the trail that lead to the Peak Pass. The forest here was dark even in the full light of day. As the afternoon wore on it grew darker still and they were forced to slow to a walk. Strange noises echoed around them, and they saw occasional movement in the gloomy undergrowth as creatures passed by.
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