It was a usual morning for Farmer Ingermann: fresh piles of hay were ready to be bundled into bales, corn and grains were going to be fed to the awaiting chickens inside their coop, and vegetables planted either on the earth or on troughs would be tended to. His boot soles made soft crunches on the gritty earth as he moved from the barn to the main house. Two figures stood by the door; both had bags either held or clutched.

"Leaving so soon, Sister?" the aging man removed his hat and held it close to his chest.

"Yes, Mister Ingermann. We feel that we are taking advantage too much of your hospitality, and it is also time that we should be on our way again. Thank you so much for all your help." Euphemia eased and slid her bag strap off her shoulder. "If there is anything I can do for you before we leave, please tell me."

"I... would like a humble request from you, Sister." Farmer Ingermann's eyes looked to the ground and afterwards shifted to the old house. "Will you, pray for my house?"

"Certainly." Euphemia nodded.

She led the farmer to the doorstep before pulling out a small book of scripture from her bag. Euphemia's free hand was placed over Ingermann's bowed head; she closed her eyes and began reciting:

"Lord, we believe You welcome us all to Your banquet.

May we open our arms to embrace You,

May we see You in the face of a stranger,

May we welcome You in the love of a friend.

Forgive us for we have counted You unworthy of our love,

For we have been indifferent to Your cries.

The blessings of God be upon this place, with plenty of food and drink,

With plenty of beds, with much riches and much cheer

With many kin and length of life, ever upon it.

Amen."

Ingermann's eyes welled up; a sleeve went past and wiped his eyes before looking at the cleric.

"Thank you, Sister. It has been a long time since I last felt this. What you have done means a lot to me."

"It is but a small effort compared to how you have helped us. We would like to see you again should our path lead us to this town."

Euphemia returned the book to her bag and rested its strap on her shoulders. She gave the aging farmer one last nod before she returned to Rook; a pair of eyes looked at him with an obvious sense of wonder.

"Euphemia, was that 'praying'?"

The cleric nodded.

"Can you pray over me too?"

"That will be no problem Rook, but I don't think we would like to do it in the middle of the road." Euphemia looked at the boy whose load of bags took both of his arms; they were standing beyond the bounds of Ingermann's property. "Don't worry; it won't be too long before we can get another room for us to stay."

"Where are we going next?"

"There is a city a little north of this town that has a large library." Euphemia looked at the outline of Altrecht's gates that was becoming clearer with each step towards it. "There is something I need to know about those creatures that we met that night."

Rook asked no more on the matter; he followed Euphemia until they have reached Altrecht's western edge. There were a pair of booths before them; behind the booths was a small waiting platform. Rook smelled the scent of vapor as he stepped up the waiting area. A low whistle, followed by the tolling of small brass bells alerted everybody of the approaching machine that slowly chugged to a halt in front of the awaiting people.

This train looked different from the ones Rook used to see back at Severniya. It was well-polished in a sleeker and more colorful paint scheme than the uniform, sharp-nosed maroon machines that operated up north. Everyone on the platform went aboard the steam engine and Rook found the interior to be a pleasant surprise. Ahead of them were seats that were divided among small rooms that could house up to four passengers each. Euphemia found them a room that was seven steps from the right of the train car's doorway. Rook got in ahead of the cleric and jumped to the long leather seat nearest to the window.

"Quite the excited one, aren't you?"

"I've never been in this kind of train before. The ones I've been aboard don't have these cars... or I've never ridden one before."

"Then you will have enough time to enjoy this journey. It will be another three hours before we reach our destination."

Rook watched houses, hills and trees come to his eyes and fade as the engine moved forward. This scenery was very different from the snow-capped environs he grew up with. They were calm, more alive and colorful than the ones in his memory but they were too distant; he could not feel this place he was in. He would remember them again.

How were they now? Were they still alive? Would they be happy to see him again when he returns?

The train rolled on, and Rook saw two towns and a village when the engine finally stopped.

†

"We have arrived at Aurelburg Station. Please take care of your belongings as you alight from the train." A boxed speaker talked in a cool yet formal tone.

Euphemia and Rook were at a domed structure that had stalls and restaurants beyond the receiving gateways. It was far more complex than the structure at Altrecht, and also much noisier because of the people in and out of the place.

Outside the train station was a large community that had modest buildings, but Aurelburg did not have the bustling crowds that were normal in Blaurosen. There were no relics of years past like the redoubts that sat before the Schild Estate and much of the city used unfamiliar horseless carriages Rook never saw in action before.

"Wow. Amazing." Rook's sight followed a moving vehicle that disappeared after making a right turn.

"They are wonderful machines, but they are rare and cost a lot." Euphemia smiled at Rook. She pulled out a small map and looked at certain sections of it; her eyes tightened to a discerning look upon scanning its right-hand side. "I truly need to read this map from time to time. I did not expect that the city has changed again – only seven years passed though..."

"Where are we going from here Euphemia?"

Rook's question snapped Euphemia's attachment from the map. "We are going to visit the Imperial Archives. It's a large library not very far from here. First of all, we need to rent another room."

The boy nodded and followed Euphemia as they moved northeastward from the train station. They found a hotel not too far from the business stalls that populated the path before the Imperial Archives. Rook found the place too lavish for his taste: the room was larger than the one at Altrecht, and the beds were kept clean and covered with fresh white sheets. Rook went for one of their luggage and took out a bag of biscuits, which he started eating in fast and crunchy chewing.

Meanwhile, Euphemia unloaded some of her bag's contents; among those was a small box of miniature cakes that she would eat one at a time.

"Let us go, Rook."

"Coming, Euphemia." Rook crumpled the top portion of the wrappings and set the remainder of the biscuits on one of the tables.

The restaurant block before the Archives had a customer base formed mostly of soldiers and government employees; this was not only a large library, but also one of the Empire's defensive installations in the city. They were near the entrance to the archives when Euphemia caught sight of a sign at the entrance gates:

"Due to unscheduled building maintenance, the Imperial Archives will remain closed to the public until further notice. We apologize for the inconvenience."

"Oh, it is closed for today. I don't think there will be any books for us to read Rook."

"Why is clo-..." Rook's question was cut when Euphemia raised an open palm near his face. He quickly understood that the cleric was focusing her attention on two soldiers who passed by. She moved three steps parallel to where they were walking .

"Damned monsters. I can't believe they took down Thomas that easily. That guy would have wrestled and won with other bigger men."

"Quiet now, Private. You know we have orders about this, right? The commanders will have our jobs for this."

"Ah, I forgot. I hope I wasn't too loud."

"Let's go you oaf."

The soldiers were out of sight when Euphemia approached Rook and said:

"I guess there is no reason for us to stay longer here."

Both returned to their hotel room and waited for dinner to be served by the personnel. It was a balanced combination of roast and steamed vegetables. Rook took most of the meats as Euphemia settled for a smaller cut and ate more of the greens.

Night fell fast on Aurelburg , and Rook retired to bed early. Euphemia was left to the silence of the room; it was also the time when she recalled everything that happened during the last few days she had set out. She produced a pen and a clean sheet of paper from her bag and spread it wide on one of the tables. Euphemia took one of the lamps and checked for a nearby outlet from her chosen worktable.

The cord was too short to reach one of the wall sockets.

She gathered a small charge from her fingertips and produced an orb of light roughly three-fourths of an inch in diameter. Euphemia let the charge be absorbed by the inert crystal bulb of the device; she then had a good spotlight to use for her work. She took out the pen and began scribbling words as her thoughts started working.

"Now there are two attacks: one on Altrecht, and the other at the Archives."

"I've seen how the warehouses burn back at the town, but the attack at Aurelburg certainly happened when Rook was recovering from his wounds."

"Those at Altrecht used mechanical soldiers for the task. There were rumors of monsters that were behind the assault at the archives. May those loose tongues forgive me for taking advantage of them."

"Is it possible that these events are connected?"

"Let me list down the reasons if these were not done by the same people. First, the targets at Altrecht were not the local constabulary, but a group of armed men. Aurelburg's assaulters did not exactly come for the soldiers garrisoned there, but they were after something else. But... what was hidden in the Archives in the first place?"

"I'm not getting anywhere with this..." Euphemia saw the inkblots formed by her constant tapping of the point. She lifted the writing implement and resumed her thoughts.

"It's obvious that the attacks were done with a purpose in mind... and considering that the groups involved had such capacities to even brave a heavily-guarded government building, I would deduce that those behind Altrecht and Aurelburg's attacks belonged to one group, if not the same people."

"I think I'll go along that conclusion. I still need to know the motives, which are..."

Euphemia's thoughts were derailed – she could not move anywhere beyond that possibility unless she knew what was the motive behind the attack at the Archives.

"I can't go beyond that sadly, but... the events happened in only a span of days, which means that whoever was behind them would have a base of operations nearby. The question first is if they do have one..."

"Let's say they don't, which means they have to move from one place to another. Supposing that the Altrecht incident cost them some of their forces, and Rook was able to reduce their number of fighting machines by four... I wish to not think of that right now..."

Euphemia drew two points: at the lower righthand side of the paper was a small circle representing Altrecht, and a larger blot to its left was Aurelburg. She drew a line and then thought again.

"The distance between Altrecht and Aurelburg was eight to ten hours by steamcar. It would be impossible for a group of such size and armament to reach the city without being noticed by the military outposts placed before the city gates, unless if they had effective disguises at their disposal."

"Also, moving in-between places to stage another attack would prove to be wasteful and will not let them be in their best fighting mood. Then it may mean one of two things: they have mobile facilities than allows them to move their mechanical warriors from one place to another, or their base of operations is in either one of the communities between..."

Euphemia then drew a rough diagram of the towns, villages, and cities surrounding the Antikwald. Connsbruick on the right, Aurelburg a little far north followed by the three towns of Wulfstadt, Echscholz and Altrecht on the southern bounds of the great forest.

"Aurelburg and Altrecht may be out of the question here since it is unlikely that the attackers will stay in one place after their task was done. There are two towns and a city to check, but it is impossible for me to check all of them immediately. If they are on the move, then I cannot be fast enough to keep track of them..."

"Well, the soldiers mentioned monsters during the attack. I do not think being on the move will help them stay unnoticed. This means they need an effective base that is both near and hidden."

Her eyes did not focus on the other three locations but were instead glued to the Antikwald itself. Euphemia's writing hand moved as if it had its own will and drew a large circle at the forest itself.

"This is a fair possibility. Given that the forest is vast and there are many caves and tunnels left from the Grand Invasion, the Antikwald would be an effective refuge for the controller of the machine soldiers. But there will be another problem..."

"I only have Rook to accompany me, and given the chances that I'll come across any of the mechanical soldiers or those 'monsters' in the forest, I risk getting lost in the Antikwald, and also bringing Rook closer to peril, again. I will not let what happened in Altrecht befall him this time."

Euphemia broke off from her thoughts and saw her once clean sheet of paper now filled with all sorts of writings and maps. Rook was still asleep, unmindful of the soft white glow of the cleric's lamp.

"Father, I feel that I am moving closer, and yet I do not know where to go from here. Please be safe."