There was an awkward silence over the Wall, as both armies recovered their dead and considered their positions. For now, the Montaigne advance was broken. In the early evening, Henri felt the tickle of a Handing Off, and opened a hole to retrieve a small wooden box. Unblooded, it contained a small pouch of Guilder notes, and a letter from his brother Reynard. He read of his family's concern, father's displeasure with rumors from Casa Blanca, and a request for guidance: how should the family respond to the inquiries of a M. Ivan de la Riche de Paroisse? He read how the war was being reported in Montaigne itself, of brilliant victories over fleeing cowards, and felt annoyance begin to grow into a terrible determination.
The Heroes spent their morning in routine tasks, and made ready to ride for Falcon's Point. General Montoya summoned Lt. Franzesca, with an assignment to deliver word of the army's success and requirements to San Cristobal, suggesting she travel with the recent recruits to her company. Henri bade farewell to General Montoya, securing their release from service once they'd reached San Cristobal and delivered the Lieutenant safely to her destination. The general would be eager for their continued assistance, but left that up to them.
Having said their good-byes, the Heroes rode south, becoming reacquainted with the pains of prolonged equitation. Asgard seemed nettled with Quinn, mostly due to a pronounced snore which the Avalon Knight displayed after drinking (and due to a particularly fiendish practical joke which J.R. had played on his sister Sierra-- she had had to work on the Sunday afternoon on which we played The Wall Endures, and the players had mentioned that J.R. could always tell Sierra that Asgard hadn't survived the battle. J.R. joked that he'd see how long through character generation he could keep a straight face-- turns out that he only told her as she was sitting down to the table to play last night! I thought she was going to faint, or strangle her brother, or both!) but travel was for the most part easy. As the Heroes luncheoned, Castillian riders from the north met them. Wounded soldiers being sent south to Falcon's Point for reassignment or discharge, they traveled and camped with the party.
The night was a quiet one, though an odd green fog did appear towards the middle of the night, troubling Asgard's sleep (and were we ever glad for Reputation Effects on Intimidation-- there is not much chance of that Night Terror surviving its stay in Asgard's body). In the morning, Henri and Lt. Franzesca helped treat the wounded, changing dressings and cleaning up the patients, and then rode south. Quite soon, the good Lieutenant realized that she was missing some things-- General Montoya's letter among them. With a curse, the Heroes wheeled about, checked and loaded their muskets, and raced north toward their erstwhile campmates.
As the little caravan of wounded hove into view, Franzesca bellowed at them to halt and surrender. Suddenly, one of them broke from the quite bewildered group, as though riding for his life, and the chase was on. Henri and Quinn led the pack, and were drawing close, as Quinn's horse threw a shoe, forcing him to rein in his mount. As the rest of the Heroes closed, Henri leaned in against his horse's neck, drew his sword, and dug the spurs deeper.
The woods thickened ahead of the fleeing rider, forcing him to seek a new avenue of escape as Henri closed in. A lone shaft of light played along the blade of his rapier, highlighting the wicked, waved pattern of its blade and promising exquisite pain to any who felt its sting. Something dark and terrible echoed in his voice as he ordered his quarry to surrender or die. (Intimidation was Henri's first action once he'd Caught the fleeing spy. Adding and keeping his reputation to his Resolve gave him a grand total of, um, 58 after the explosions stopped. His opponent's 11 wasn't going to help him at all, and with three raises, Mr. Spy was minus 4 dice against Henri, which is good, because Henri is next to useless in a stand-up fight!).
Wheeling about, the fellow went tumbling from his horse, and begged for mercy as Henri approached-- in fluent Montaignais... Henri frowned, and held out his hand. The letter recovered, he deposited it in his jacket, and heard his companions drawing near. Henri advised the fellow to make his peace with Theus quickly, returned the letter to the Lieutenant, and stepped away, sick at heart.
The man, Laurent Aur de Verre, found his hands bound, and returned to the caravan of wounded Castillians. They were informed that the Heroes had pressing business and could not stay to deal with the prisoner, that the prisoner was a Montaigne spy, and that they would be trusted to deal with him in an appropriate fashion. Henri hoped, secretly, that Laurent would die quickly.
Toward the end of the afternoon, Falcon's Point could be seen, and beyond it the masts of Castillian ships. The Traitor of the Wall, and Scourge of Montaigne turned to Quinn with a faraway look in his eyes.
"Tell me, Quinn... do you write?"
"Of course. You've seen me composing ballads and such before. Why?"
"Oh... I have a little project in mind. If we can get paper in Falcon's
Point, I'd like you to help me write a little something while we sail... "