A relatively mild but still cold day for the time of year dawned. The sun shone in through the glass and Wenzel woke up quite soon. He went out into the main room of the cottage and washed his hands in the small bucket he always had ready for this purpose. Then he cut himself a piece of bread from a loaf he had started and spread butter on it. As he was eating his breakfast like this, Brahm came back in at the door. He was already up, but he and his colleague Ferenc had been shovelling away the snow that had fallen from the sky overnight. "Morning!" he greeted the still sleepy chap. "Good morning to you, too!" the recipient replied, high fiving his friend. "Since it's snowing again, I'd say we should cut training short again today," said Brahm. His pupil agreed with him. The fair head then went to the table and cut himself a piece of bread.

  "Boss, I think we have a visitor!" Ferenc informed them. "This early? Who is it?" came the question. Before the bodyguard of Kashar descent could answer, however, there was no need for a reply anymore. The towering field marshal could already be seen approaching through the open door. He was dressed in thick furs, which was more typical for the Kashar country than the area they were in right now. He knocked off his boots and entered through the doorway. He cut right to the chase. "Good morning, lads! Wenzel!" The others returned the greeting. "We have something very important to do that will take a few days. And I'd like your support, Brahm." The man addressed replied: "Um, okay. What's it about?" With his usual stoic demeanour, Theodor replied: "A noble house has contacted us to negotiate their defection to our side!" This was excellent news; no one knew why Theodor was so unemotional again. It also put Brahm in the best of moods.

  "It's the Duenitz." Upon hearing this, however, all the cheer seemed to leave his body immediately and gave way to a cool temper. The Chosen One’s bodyguard stood silent for a moment and Theodor just looked at him without speaking. Finally, however, he raised his voice: "And you really want me to help negotiate this?" - "Yes," he replied briefly and succinctly. Brahm let out a sigh. "I can see why you’d want me there." He paused briefly and looked over at Wenzel, who gave him a somewhat lost look, as he had no idea what the reason for his hesitation was. "All right," he finally gave his consent. As soon as the field marshal had been given his consent, he didn't waste a second. " Get yourselves together as quickly as possible. We’ll ride off right away!" he immediately called the tune. "Wait! Who will look after Wenzel then?" the man asked his legitimate question. "He'll just come with us," was the simple solution the leader immediately offered them. "And put on warm clothes! It's going to be a long ride to Cislimesia!"

  And it was indeed a long ride south. It took the four of them almost three days to reach the Duenitz manor. When they arrived, it was afternoon and once again many thick snowflakes were falling from the sky. In front of the resistance fighters stood a huge castle and everything that goes with it. So, a moat, a castle wall, embrasures, a keep further inside, et cetera. The territory’s and the country’s flag were hoisted on a flagpole. When they arrived at the gate, Theodor introduced himself as the Field Marshal. The gate was immediately opened for them. Entering in the courtyard, they got off their horses and went in on their own through the entrance of the main building. It was only when the four of them were already inside that a couple of servants hurriedly came to meet them. They nervously pointed out to them that "you are not allowed to carry weapons here", but the revolutionaries refused to hand over their swords. There was a huge commotion in the building after their arrival. The four simply waited standing and without even sitting down, but were soon ushered into the hall of the lord of Cislimesia.

  It was an unexpectedly small reception room. His Serene Highness Prince von Duenitz sat on a slightly elevated chair at the end of a long table. He had hair that was almost too long for a man, some of which was already beginning to grey. He was wearing relatively unceremonious robes, which was probably due to the fact that the guests hadn’t known exactly when they’d arrive, because of the weather. Seated at the table were several other members of his household. "Good afternoon, my esteemed guests!" Only now did the invitees remove their hoods from their heads. Immediately afterwards, astonishment could be seen in the eyes of all those present, including the master of the house. Brahm was the first to raise his voice: "Hello, Father!" The old Duenitz immediately pulled himself together and replied: "The world is full of surprises, isn’t it! Neither of us would have expected to meet again under these circumstances." - "No, definitely not." Theodor then introduced his small entourage. When he introduced Wenzel as the Chosen One, the whole group, who had started to mumble this and that, suddenly froze. Absolutely none of them would have expected this person to be here today.

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  Then the lord introduced himself as Robert von Duenitz. A name that Brahm had obviously abandoned. As was usual with Theodor, he wasted no time and immediately began the negotiations. As Robert now revealed to them, the Martyrs’ Brigades had obviously caused massive problems for the house in their territory in recent years. They would no longer be able to hold out, if things got any worse, which was clearly bound to happen given current developments. However, this was not the main reason for the contact with the Martyrs. The coup in Greifenburg had finally ruined the legitimacy of the regime for them. The lord of Cislimesia explained: "We know that the royal house has not been interested in the state of Cislimesia or the House of Duenitz in recent years. They have only ever been interested in power and control. The greatest sacrifices had to be made on our part in order for us to be ' sufficiently pious and ethical ' for those in Greifenburg." Brahm scowled at him very menacingly as the man was saying this. If looks could kill.... "But anyway, submitting to His Majesty and the Alethic Church even more and giving in to their demands hasn't helped us. In the end, the situation got worse and worse anyway."

  Now Theodor took the floor: "The matter is quite simple. You stop fighting against the Martyrs. Instead, you’ll co-operate with us and give us complete freedom to operate and recruit openly on your territories. We will also ask you for a few raw materials necessary for the war. That is all. In the meantime, taxes in the form of money are suspended until a fully-fledged new government is in place. A government of ours, I mean, of course." The lord-paramount frowned. But then he replied: "We've already lost far too many of our subjects in battle with you in recent years, so we can't provide too many through a draft for the time being. You made a very good offer. You know our country and our circumstances quite well, don't you?" The field marshal replied boastfully: "We have quite good reconnaissance and great informants."

  Wenzel essentially played no role in the negotiations. Rather, he was there to make an impression and because Theodor didn't want to provide him with a temporary bodyguard, for whatever reason. After all that, Brahm still had one condition! He looked his father, who was sitting far away from him at the other end of the long table, in the eye and said: "But the Martyrs’ Brigades are demanding a return to the practices of the Old Believers throughout the country! And all churches and spiritual possessions must revert to the Old Believers' Commune." Theodor intervened: "I agree with my comrade, but in the current situation these steps are difficult to implement at once. I suggest we don't set an exact timeframe for when this must happen. Current events will throw many unforeseeable factors into the mix." This was the first time Brahm gave his commander a dirty look and huffed in offence. Even Wenzel recognised, that they had obviously had a major family rift over what had happened.

  Theodor immediately turned to Wenzel and said: "What do you think, Your Highness?" The boy was a little taken aback at first. The field marshal had never addressed him like that before. Despite his dislike of this, he’d probably have to accept it. He simply agreed with him on the deal then, as he didn't understand too much about these things anyway and trusted in the wisdom of his allies here. "Then the matter is settled," announced Theodor. "What do you think, my lord? Are these terms acceptable to you?" Robert von Duenitz then discussed the issue with his advisors for a while. They didn’t leave the table, but were as quiet as possible so that they wouldn’t be overheard. Finally, he announced in front of everyone: "We accept your terms." The field marshal stood up and walked over to the gentleman. Then they shook hands. It was done. Cislimesia was the first country in the Ordanian kingdom to join the rebellion!

  In the end, he hadn’t needed Brahm’s support. On the contrary, his coming along had probably caused resentment among many here. But Theodor couldn’t have known this. Regardless, the noble house of Duenitz had reached the limit of what they could bear. They had not defected out of solidarity or enthusiasm for the cause of the resistance, but out of sheer hopelessness and disillusionment. Officially, they would wait until the end of winter to announce their rebellion against the ruling house. The reason for this was the great project that the Martyrs were preparing at full speed. The day winter ended would be the big day of rebellion!