Kunigunde and her men had lost Conrad in the night. When morning came, she sent a messenger back to Viapacis with a report and instruction.

Two days after Bregorn returned to Viapacis, another of the honor guards entered the clinic. Bregorn laid in his bed and Mâr sat in a chair beside him.

“Good evening, Prince Bregorn!” Said the honor guard.

“David! Tell me everything you know. Is my sister okay?! Has Conrad been found?!” Bregorn demanded.

David reached out his hand and approached Bregorn. He handed him an envelope sealed with beeswax. “Your sister is well, milord. But you should read this first.”

Bregorn took the envelope. His hands were shaking.

“About ten miles north of the Blue Pillar, unknown certain location, 10th of August, 1903rd year of the Flower.

Bregorn,

There is ill news. Conrad has escaped. I lost his trail shortly after the sun fell. He was last heading north. I am splitting my men into search parties. Sergeant Asher is going to stay at a base camp where I write this. The stewardship of the throne is yours until I return. However, I have instruction. You must place patrols on every road and highway. You must also place patrols around the Blue Pillar and alert the Burning Ones of the threat. I have left five of my men on the Pillar. They are climbing back up the mountain as I write this. Send relief for them. This is to make sure that we are prepared if Conrad circles back. Deploy the Viapacian Men at Arms for this task. We also require the nose of a Deorling to track him. Spread the word around town that the crown will pay well for a Deorling’s services. Send them to us with plenty of relief and provisions. Tell them to look for our smoke.

Peace and love,

Kunigunde Viapacis IV, Princess of Viapacis”

“What is the date today?” Bregorn asked as he read over the letter once more.

“The 12th of August, milord.” Said David.

Bregorn stopped for a moment to think. He took a deep sigh and said, “David, tell Commander Dathan that I need to see him and then you may be relieved.”

“Yes, sire. I will pray for your fast recovery.” David said before he walked out of the clinic with urgency.

Bregorn handed the letter to Mâr and placed his hands over the face. Mâr read over it intently as a moment of silence passed.

“What are you going to do?” asked Mâr.

“I am going to do my best to end this. I have never felt such anger. How can we fix this?” Bregorn responded.

“We just have to do what we can, my love,” Mâr said with compassion. She felt pity for Bregorn. Anger filled her mind when she thought about her own sadness. She too, along with the rest of Viapacis mourned the Queen’s murder but she felt it unfair for her to express her own sadness in front of the man who had lost more than her.

There was another moment of silence that passed. The question of his mother’s funeral came to mind. He wanted to request his sweetheart’s opinion on the matter. He was reluctant, however. Perhaps he was again trying to convince himself that his mother was still alive. Even he did not understand why he was afraid to ask.

“When should we bury my mother?” Bregorn eventually forced himself to ask.

“Oh. Kunigunde deserves to be there. Should we not wait for her.” Mâr responded after a moment of thought.

“Well, that is the dilemma. If I know Kunigunde, she would be mad with me if we waited. She would not wish Mother to be rotting in the morgue!” Bregorn said with a burst of frustrated depression and a buildup of a tear in his eyes. He punched the bed with the side of his fist, accidentally causing pain again in his side.

“Aye! Careful Bregorn! Do not hurt yourself.” Mâr exclaimed.

She again put her hand on his shoulder. Bregorn quickly responded by shoving her hand away. “Do not touch me!” Bregorn said with another burst of anger. He held his hands to his chest, flexing his muscles in his fingers as hard as he could. He closed his fists and opened them. After a few seconds, Bregorn opened his hands and relaxed them. He wiped the tears from his eyes.

He turned and looked at Mâr. She was clearly hurt by this; and this was on top of the queen’s death. “I am sorry,” Bregorn said with regret.

“I know you. You are in pain. I know you did not mean anything hurtful.” Mâr said.

Bregorn took the next few minutes to breathe calmly. This was not the proper time to mourn, and it is not right to feel self-pity, he thought.

Commander Dathan entered the room. “Greetings, lord Bregorn.”

Bregorn, afraid to answer with the voice of a weeping man, gestured to approach.

“Are you recovering well?” The commander said.

Bregorn nodded ‘yes’ in reply. “Where is the letter?” Bregorn asked, looking at Mâr.

Mâr reached behind her and retrieved it.

“Read this, Commander,” Bregorn said.

Mâr handed the letter to Dathan. He read it carefully and slowly as Bregorn closed his eyes. “Do you want me to take care of this, sire?” Dathan asked.

Bregorn again opened his eyes. “Yes. You have permission to deploy as well. When you have done so, return to me and inform me of what you have done.

“Yes, milord. Shall I go?” Dathan said.

Bregorn nodded. Dathan left the clinic with similar haste do David. Dathan ordered his sergeants to gather as many men as they could by the end of the day. Most of the sergeants were able to achieve about twenty men. They met in the stables where they placed on the horses as much as they could carry. Dathan also had messengers yell in the streets of Viapacis for a Deorling. One was willing to give their time.

The next morning, Dathan’s sergeants and their men departed to find Kunigunde’s base camp and over the next few days, they sent out patrols to make rounds around the Blue Pillar, one patrol clockwise, and the other counter-clockwise.

It took three days for Dathan’s relief to find Kunigunde.

“About time!” Kunigunde said smiling a laugh with her arms wide as they approached. Her face was dirty and the undersides of her arms were stained with sweat. “How many are there of you?” She asked.

“Eighty-four, milady!” The man on the lead horse shouted.

“Excellent! Now, I know that I have met you before, Sergeant…” Kunigunde said.

“Isaac, Milady.” He said.

“Ah yes. I remember now, but let us get to work. Unload your cargo over by my tent and make yourselves at home. There is no telling really how long we will be out here. My men will take their goshens home.” Kunigunde said. “Were you able to find a Deoling’s services?”

“Yes, milady,” Isaac said. “I shall bring her to you?”

“Nay. Your men should rest. Let us base first.” Kunigunde instructed.

Dathan’s relief dismounted their horses and led them to various spots where they pitched their tents. Kunigunde’s men gathered and left in a group, leaving with Kunigunde’s new force as many supplies as they could. The tents were fairly large for a single person and were imported from Deorgrad. The deorlings, the fine craftsmen that they were, made large tents for their collapsed size. They unsaddled their horses and let them roam among plains.

Around two o’clock in the afternoon, Kunigunde commanded a meeting of the captains and sergeants. Soon after they gathered in a tent that was larger than others. The canopy was stretched over a central pylon with three supporting pylons on the perimeter. There were beautifully painted scenes on the walls of the tent; Deorgrad, the Blue Pillar, the Viapacian Citadel, the Gulf of Miryam, and the Fields of (Paxtecum).

They sat in a circle. Kunigunde hastily ignited the petals packed into her pipe as one of the captains, with great care, extracted a large parchment from a leather tube. As he unraveled it, a corner of it cracked off. “Damn!” he exclaimed. No comments were made by the other men or Kunigunde.

He placed the parchment in the center and delicately placed several coins to weigh the corners down. “Do not touch this. This map is very old.” The captain said.

“How old?” Kunigunde asked quickly.

“It is dated 1850th Year of the Flower, milady.” He responded.

“Do you know how accurate it is?” Kunigunde asked again.

“I’m afraid I do not know, Milady.” He said.

One of the Sergeants interjected, “For the land north of us, it is likely that it has changed. These are the latest surveys we could find.”

Kunigunde did not react. “Well,” she said, “Eighty-four men you say? I would suggest that we split into parties of five and leave a few of us behind. Dathan, summon the deorling. I apologize. I should have asked you before to bring her.”

“Yes, milady.” He responded

They waited for several minutes until Dathan returned to the tent followed by a tall and athletic deorling. She wore a long brown dress-like tunic with a cowl. She entered with reverent confidence. Kunigunde stood up and walked around the circle and exchanged the kiss of the marks with the deorling.

“I am Princess Kunigunde Viapacis, I am glad you could help. I compensate you well as promised when we return. What do they call you?” Kunigunde asked.

“Sibylla tü Turœkänst, ma’am. I am most honored to meet you. But I am confused, nobody has informed me of why you needed someone like me.” She responded. Her voice was deep and somewhat masculine.

Kunigunde placed her palm on her back. “You all plan search patterns and spare me, ten men.” She said to the captains and sergeants as she led Sibylla out of the tent. They walked into a smaller tent, adjacent to the command tent. Two of the pylons that held up the canopy were small trees and a hammock was between them. This was Kunigunde’s tent and like the command tent, had very detailed paintings on the canvas. It was otherwise empty save for a small table with a lantern sitting on it and a bag in the corner.

“I apologize for the unusual question and that you have not been told about the task. Do you have any ailments that inhibit your sense of smell?” the princess asked.

“No, ma’am,” Sibylla said with a momentarily confused look that she quickly put away. She began to suspect the reason a deorling was needed.

“Good. And I also apologize for our awkward request. You will still be compensated for your time if you cannot do this.” Kunigunde said. She then turned around and picked up the bag that was in the corner and handed it to Sibylla. “We are looking for the man whom this belong to. I believe he is somewhere to the north. My hope was that you could help find him with your nose. Do you believe that you can help?” Kunigunde asked.

Sibylla glanced her eyes between the bag and Kunigunde a few times before sniffing the bag. She spent several minutes smelling it with quick inhales, slower than a dog would, but faster than a human or a domaeling would. Her nose made deep near growling nose with each inhale.

“I am afraid that I did not smell the person who used this bag on my journey here, ma’am. To find him I would have to come across near where they have been. Am I to go look for him?” Sybilla asked completely unaware of the danger that might be.

Kunigunde was befuddled, however. She had been trying to keep who it was secret so people could feel less betrayed and therefore focus on their work. So far, people only knew that the queen was dead and there was a fight somewhere. She was also surprised that Sibylla knew that it was a man they were looking for. “How do you know it is a man?” Kunigunde asked.

“Men and women have a distinctly different smell, ma’am, just as deorlings and domaelings have a different smell,” Sibylla replied.

“Fascinating,” She said. “Well, so far, our plan is for you, ten other men, and I are going to head out North with several days provisions and you will be our guide, so to speak. Other sergeants are planning a more organized search pattern as we speak. Did you bring any more durable clothes?”

Sibylla nodded ‘yes’.

“I hope not to scare you, but do you have a weapon?” She then asked.

One could tell that this frightened Sibylla as her eyes opened wider slightly and her throat tensed. “No, ma’am.” She said.

“Very well, not to worry. We will leave tomorrow morning so we have plenty of time to find you a weapon, we have plenty of spares. And the likelihood that you will need it is very low. But it may be wise to have one. You can take the bag with you and take tonight to rest, talk to Sergeant Asher. He will have a tent ready for you. He will be the man with the sword on his left side. Get plenty of rest and eat hearty tonight. There is plenty to eat. I will see you in the morning. Come back to me if you have any other concerns.” Kunigunde said. She empathized and sympathized with Sibylla. She did not know what she was getting into when she came here and as Kunigunde’s guest, she wanted to be as hospitable as possible.