Chapter Four.

Meanwhile. In Granaria several convoys were despatched to different areas of the country, with the largest and most modern actively pursuing the object that was being brought gently to the ground by its two parachutes.

Within fifteen munts the rescue mission left the palace barracks in a small convoy of fourteen vehicles and six motorbikes. Five four-wheel drive personnel vehicles each containing six individuals, also in the convoy was one of the latest radio vehicles, two ambulances, two winch equipped heavy rescue and two crane vehicles apiece, plus two flatbed lorries for returning any wreckage that could be gathered for further analysis, all the lorries were six axle all-wheel drive.

As the convoy raced down the road in pursuit of the canister suspended under the parachutes, the motorbike outriders did their best to clear the road of non-essential traffic. Local emergency vehicles tacked onto the end of the convoy as they were overtaken, before long the convoy in hot pursuit of the canister consisted of almost forty vehicles of various ages and capabilities. At the front of the procession, the modern palace vehicles set a fast and steady pace of almost thirty toils an hora which, for a convoy of that size, was impressive, especially given the relatively poor roads and the fact that the internal combustion engine had only been introduced from Masonville as little as sixty annuals earlier and was still a relatively new technology. Most of the population who tended to work the land, relied predominantly on draught animals of various types.

Princess Aryn, in the lead vehicle was busy watching the descending canister and trying to determine where it was likely to land. As it became ever lower in the sky, it appeared as if it was going to land up in the hills near the market town of Riventon. Aryn after consulting her maps of the area indicated that the convoy was to head east and begin the climb into the foothills of the mountain range that separated Granaria from their aggressive neighbours in Masonville.

As the quality of the local roads worsened and became ever steeper, the speed of the convoy steadily reduced. Meanwhile, the cannister, with its attached parachutes eventually disappeared behind the hills. After eventually cresting yet another ridge of one of the many valleys that ran north to south, the red and white parachutes indicated the landing point of the piece of debris to which they were attached. The problem being that the valley floor looked to be extremely boggy with bullrushes, marsh grasses and stagnant pools being evident everywhere.

Aryn brought the convoy to a halt and surveyed the ground to see how she was going to get across the terrain. To her eyes it seemed they were going to experience extreme difficulty just getting to the object on foot with little to no chance of gaining vehicular access.

As she was stood in the lead vehicle trying to decide her next action, Caryn walked up to her with one of her civil defence personnel at her side.

“How’s it looking Aryn?” asked Caryn.

“Literally sticky, very, very sticky, it looks to be a mass of mud, and who knows how liquid or how deep it’s going to be, but we have to get across somehow or try to get at the wreckage from the other side of the valley!” answered Aryn.

“Well, Aryn, I may have the answer to your problem here” said Caryn pointing to the young woman at her side. “This young lady is a member of the palace civil defence corps, her name is Lrna, she grew up around here and knows the land well, come on Lrna tell my sister what you told me!”

Lrna bobbed a sort of dainty half curtsy and a half formal salute to the Princess Aryn, Lrna was obviously a little nervous and somewhat overawed to be in such company.

“If it pleases your Highness, I may be able to help you get across the valley floor to that thing over there!” Lrna said pointing across the valley.

“If you can Lrna, that would be brilliant, what can you tell me, and how do you know a way across that mass of mud?” asked Aryn.
Lrna fiddled with the hem of her uniform jacket she looked up to Aryn who was still stood in the footwell of the vehicle

“If it pleases your Highness, my sister Ayleah and I grew up here and in the next valley as our parents tended the flocks of bleskins that were brought up here to feed on the summer grasses and vegetation, so we learned where was safe to walk and where not to, I am sure we can get you and all your people across to that object and back again safely.”

“That’s excellent to hear Lrna, but please, just refer to me as Princess, or Princess Aryn if you want to speak to me and my sister or cousins are standing nearby, no needed to be quite so formal! So, where do we need to go from here, do we walk, or do we have to travel further down the valley first?”

“I’m sorry!” stuttered Lrna, “If we travel about another toil down this track, we will be almost opposite where that thing appears to be sitting, and I can lead you across the valley. Then if it would help, my sister Ayleah can take the vehicles about another toil or so further down the track and get them across the valley from there! They should then be able to travel up the side of the stream to get up to that thing, assuming you would need some or all the vehicles over there as well! The only problem is, is that will be dark in ten to twenty munts, and it would be too risky to try and navigate our way across the valley floor in complete darkness, it may well be safer to await the dawn!”

An almost speechless Aryn looked down at a shy young woman who had knowledge that was to her, almost priceless.

“Where is your sister Lrna?” asked an astonished Aryn,

“My sister is driving one of the ambulances Princess!”

“So, she’s here, now?” asked a stunned Aryn, “Oh!! Listen to me asking stupid and pointless questions, if she’s driving one of the ambulances, of course she’s here!” she chuckled.

“Ok, Caryn, can you get the transport part of this mission organised and get Ayleah to get as many vehicles as possible, across there as soon as maybe, preferably the heavy vehicles first as I think they’ll be more important than the personnel vehicles!”

“I’ll get right on it Aryn” with that Caryn headed back down the convoy to find Ayleah.

“Now Lrna, climb aboard and let’s get further down the track as soon as we can!” With that Aryn reached down with her hand to assist Lrna onto the vehicle.

With that the convoy once again got under way and a short while later Lrna indicated they should stop and the element of the mission that was to proceed on foot should gather together, ready for Lrna to lead then across the morass in the morning.

“Princess, this is probably a good place for us to camp tonight before we work our way across the bogs in the morning!” advised Lrna. “If you will allow me to speak to everyone who is to follow me before we set off in the morning and I will explain how we are going to get across” asked a bashful Lrna.

“Of course, Lrna, you are the expert here, so you tell us all what to do and if you see any of us, and I do mean any of us going astray, you stop us and tell us off, you’re the boss here!” replied Aryn.

The vehicles that were to head further down the valley before being driven back up the far side of the mountain stream were marshalled into place at the front of the convoy.

Lrna was stood on the bonnet of the lead vehicle almost incandescent with embarrassment.

“Can you all hear me because this is important!” seeing nods or affirmations that she could be heard, Lrna continued with her speech. “This ground is very boggy, but we can get across without too much trouble if everyone concentrates on where they are walking. If you look at the grasses carefully you can see where some of it is shorter and a slightly paler colour. Just under that shorter grass is a layer of stones, and it’s those stones we will be walking on, so watch where I walk, I will try and flatten the grass as I go, so just walk in the footsteps of the person in front of you and walk in single file. Now, if you should trip and fall into the mud, do not struggle and try not to panic! Try and lie on your back and we will pull you out, do not attempt to stand up, because you will sink deeper into the mud and make it that much harder to rescue you. This is safe if you all pay attention!”

Aryn looked around at the twenty-five people standing in a semi-circle around Lrna and herself.

“Any questions?” Aryn looked at her guide, “Ok Lrna, thank you, let’s all get some sleep, I want to head off at first light, but I will have you repeat your little talk in the morning. But no fires tonight I am afraid, I am not sure that we are alone in these mountains, so be quiet too if you please!”

The convoy spent a quiet, cold, sleepless night and as soon as the brightening of the sky to the East heralded the onset of another day, the heavy vehicles being led by Caryn with Ayleah as her guide set off further down the valley. After a quick breakfast Lrna reiterated her instructions to the personnel who would be following her on foot across the marsh.

After her short speech Lrna hoisted her backpack onto her shoulders and proceeded to almost shuffle her way across the valley floor ensuring she trod down a track for the others to follow. After around fifteen munts they were approximately one third of the way across the valley, Lrna kept glancing back over her shoulder to see all was well, the whole procession seemed to be evenly strung out but with no apparent difficulties.

“So Lrna, how long did you live up here?” asked Aryn who was immediately behind her guide.

“Well princess, my mother says I was born up here, then I came up here every summer for the next sixteen annuals, sadly my father died the following winter and my mother didn’t want the same life for Ayleah and myself, so, when they were recruiting for the civil defence force my mother sent us both to the capital to apply and luckily because of our fitness and upbringing we were both fortunate enough to be chosen, and that was five annuals ago. Our mother sold most of our parents’ flocks although she kept a small number of animals and as far as I know she still spends most of her summers up here, I suppose old habits die hard and it gives her a purpose in life.”

“You mean you haven’t seen her recently?” asked an astonished Aryn.

“No princess, although myself and Ayleah know our letters we can read and write, my mother never learned and because my sister and I have been so busy we haven’t had chance to come back and visit, anyway, we could never be sure exactly where our Mum was going to be!”

“I had no idea people’s lives could be difficult even in this day and age!” For a short while silence descended on the procession, when Aryn happened to glance up and exclaimed.

“Wait a moment Lrna, who is (SPLASH).”

And that is the moment her highness, the Princess Aryn fell in the bog!

Chapter Five.

A spluttering Princess was unceremoniously dragged up by her backpack and dumped back on the track by the sheer strength of Lrna.
“Wow is that cold or what!” exclaimed a sodden Aryn once she got her breath back and had exhaled the water she’d inhaled. “Thank you so much Lrna, wow, I don’t want to go back in there again and serves me right for not paying attention to what I was doing!”

The Princess Urna who was the younger daughter of Prime Minister Pellinore and was deputy Chief Medical Officer to Granaria’s population had been six people behind Aryn, and she’d managed to squeeze past those in front of her to get to her cousin’s side.
“Well, that was stupid Aryn you daft beggar, are you all right?” she asked.

“I’m fine thanks Urna, although I could do without the compliments thank you very much” replied Aryn with a bit of a smirk at her cousins teasing. “Mind you, I am blooming cold and more than a bit wet to say the least!”

“Well, what do you expect after falling in, and Lrna warned you to pay attention to where you were going!” replied Urna, “So what caused you to lose track of the track, literally?” she added as she extricated a blanket from her pack to wrap around her cousin.

“Well, because I am taller than most, I could see over those tall rushes and realised someone was walking towards us, and I was halfway through asking Lrna who it could be, when someone took the firm ground from under my foot and then I was base over apex and getting up, close and personal to the bog, too close and too personal, it tastes worse than it smells!” answered Aryn snuggling into the blanket.

“Well, next time stop walking and ask your question!” said Urna slapping her cousins back handing her some fresh water to rinse her mouth out with. “Come on, ups a daisy, let’s get you on your feet and moving a bit to try and warm you up, but for crying out loud, STAY ON THE TRACK!”

Aryn looked at a scared looking Lrna,

“Don’t look so worried Lrna, it was entirely my own stupid fault, and I can’t say thank you enough for pulling me out before I even realised where I was, anyway, as I was asking before I was so rudely interrupted, someone is walking towards us, and I wondered who you thought it could be?”

“Well princess, the only person I can think of is my mother or another shepherd, but until I can see over these rushes, I can’t be sure” replied Lrna.

“Ok then Lrna, lead on but let’s be careful until we can be sure of who it is” Aryn spoke to Captain Rith Shearaj who was the leader of the militia detachment, who, along with a few of the individuals immediately behind her and the Princess came to an advanced level of alertness, “Let’s be ready for all eventualities and keep your firearms ready at hand!” commanded Aryn.

The procession carried on in Lrna’s footsteps with Aryn slowly regaining some of the warmth she had lost in her dunking.

“Hold up Lrna!” hissed Aryn who was close to her shoulder, “I just saw a grey-haired individual coming this way, let’s wait for them here, just step aside a touch if you can!”

“Yes Princess” answered Lrna. Behind Aryn the Captain and a couple of her military personnel moved forward readying their rifles as they closed up on their Princess’s back.

A munt or two later.

“Mum!” shrieked Lrna as she moved forward to embrace the woman approaching them along the track.

“Lrna, oh Lrna, come here girl!” called the woman, all that could be heard were muffled sobs as the two hugged and the older woman swung the younger around. As they parted slightly, the newcomer looked at her daughter closely.

“Well I must say sweetheart you do look well, but what are you doing all the way up here? I sent you and your sister away from the valleys to have a better life than I had, and yet here you are! But I am so glad to see you lass, tell me, how is your sister?” asked Lrna’s mum and as she looked over her daughter’s shoulder at the front of the procession.

“But first off Lrna, who are your friends, what are you doing here and is that the daft beggar who fell in the bog!”

“Oh shush mum, shush, that is the Princess Aryn, she caught sight of you and you distracted her!”

“Oh no!” exclaimed the mortified woman who quickly bowed low, “Forgive me Princess, I had no idea who you were, I meant no disrespect, I never dreamt to see a Princess all the way up here, let alone one who has fallen in the mire, I am so sorry for my insult!” spluttered a deeply embarrassed and somewhat frighted Lrna’s mum.

Aryn carefully trod forward and clasped the older woman’s hands in hers

“Do not worry Lrna’s mum, I think the description of me being a daft beggar is quite apt given the circumstances, you have a very special daughter here in Lrna, and hopefully in a short while you will be reunited with your other daughter, Ayleah?” said a smiling Aryn.

“She is, at this moment, bringing some of our vehicles up the valley to that object over there. I am so glad to be able to at least reunite your family, even if it is only for a short while! And you will be introduced to a further three Princesses, so you see, we don’t just live in isolation in the palace!”

Aryn then turned to Lrna, “Now, if you please young lady, will you be so kind as to introduce me formally to your mother, as I cannot keep calling her Lrna and Ayleah’s mum now, can I?” she smilingly asked.

Oh, forgive me Highness, please meet my mother Rusan, mother this is the Princess Aryn!” responded a mortified Lrna.

“I am very pleased to meet you Rusan.” said Aryn.

“I am honoured and thrilled to meet a real live, if somewhat cold and wet Princess!” said Rusan, “I hope my girls have been doing well in your service and have performed their duties to the best of their abilities!”

“Well Rusan, I can’t say I know either of your girls all that well, but I am so impressed with what I have learned of them so far, and for this young lady here, I owe her my life, and for them to be chosen as part of this expedition, tells me that they are both highly thought of. But, if you don’t mind, could we get moving and talk on firmer ground as I am beginning to freeze my cheeks off, and not necessarily the ones on my face either!” Aryn answered with a smile, whilst stamping her feet on the spot.

“Of course Highness, forgive an old woman’s excitement of unexpectedly meeting one of her daughters, if you follow Lrna, I will go ahead and get a fire going up close to that object on the hillside” and with that Rusan turned tail and quickly disappeared from sight.

“Lead on Lrna, let’s get moving so I can start my circulation going!” said Aryn with slightly chattering teeth.

“Yes Princess, we can make better time as we can now follow my mother’s trail” with that Lrna moved off at a much quicker pace.
Within another twenty munts the whole file was stood looking at the cylindrical and blackened object with the huge flimsy parachutes trailed up the hillside. Small fires were smouldering in the scrub that the object had landed on, and these were quickly extinguished by water from the stream and by individuals stamping on other, smaller, more distant fires.

While Aryn warmed herself by the larger fire Rusan had going, the rest of Aryn’s team were carefully investigating the cylinder.
“Aryn” called Princess Ayne who was Prime Minister Pellinore’s eldest daughter and the Chief Medical Officer for Granaria who’d been at the tail end of the procession across the marsh.

“It looks like there’s a door here on the side of the cylinder, or at least it looks like there is an impression in the metal of about the right size, there are some markings I can’t read, but there is what looks a lot like a window, although it is blackened, there is also what looks like a lever recessed into the side here, do you want us to try and see if we can open it or do you want to wait until the vehicles get here?”

“Well, we came all this way to see what has been going on, and there may be help we can provide, still, if you move out the way, I’ll come and open it or at least try!” answered Aryn walking towards the capsule.

“No you won’t!” stated Ayne with some vehemence, “You are too important to our nation, I will try and open it, it is part of my search and rescue training, I have a mask here, you don’t! So back away cousin, and everyone else too, leave this to me until I tell you otherwise!”
Ayne donned her protective facemask and after making sure everyone else had moved clear, attempted to move the handle. Despite her best efforts she could not get it to budge.

At that moment the first of the rescue vehicles arrived on scene with Ayleah standing on the nose of the lead vehicles indicating where it was safe to park. Following a short discussion, an iron tube was brought forward and placed over the lever and Ayne tried again to move it, but with the same result, nothing! As Ayne and a couple of the rescue crew were examining the cylinder again, one of them squinted down close to the apparent doorway,

“Excuse me, Princess Ayne, look, does this look like scorched writing, or symbols of some kind?” asked crew man Reafer.

Ayne looked closely to where he was indicating, and squinting and moving her head, she muttered “It certainly looks like it doesn’t it, have you a rag we can used to try and wash some of the soot off!” Ayne asked.

“Certainly Princess, here Yarg” Reafer said throwing a piece of cloth to his assistant, “Wet this in the stream if you please and throw it back up here”.

Yarg caught the cloth, dipped into the icy cold stream and she threw it back up to Reafer.

“Right let’s see if this gives us any clue as to how to open this door!” Reafer started to rub on the cylinder and, slowly at first, the definite outline of a red hand appeared from under the sooty exterior, but no further symbols or access panels could be discerned. At this point it was decided to wait until they could get the capsule back to the palace compound before any further determined efforts were taken to try and open it.

Meanwhile, examination of the wreckage in the area was being conducted. Chief Engineer Drows was clambering all over the hillside but was paying particular attention to the capsule. Aryn walked over to her, “How’s it going Chief?” she asked.

“Well Princess, other than the capsule and its parachutes there is not much in the way of other debris, I’ve got teams scouring the hillsides for any oddments that may have come down in the vicinity, and we’re organising a small pile here for us to load up later, I’ve also got a team doing their best to detach the parachutes from the capsule, then we’ll fold them up and get them secured ready to take back with us!”

“That’s great!” nodded Aryn, “Don’t open the canister, we don’t quite understand who or what we are dealing with at the moment, so the less speculation we start the better!” she added.

“I understand Princess!” replied the Chief.

While this discussion was taking place, Rusan approached Princess Aryn.

“Excuse me Highness, but it seems that most, if not all of you will be spending a second night here, as the sun will soon set, and it is not too easy to navigate the marshes during the horas of darkness, so, I was wondering if you would do me the honour of letting me celebrate being reunited with my daughters, along with meeting you, your sister, your cousins and the rest of your crew members by offering to cook one of my bleskins?” she asked. Rusan continued “I am not sure what, if any, rations you managed to bring with you, but I am sure some hot food will be more than welcome to you and your team!”

A bleskin was like a cross between a large sheep and a goat but with six legs, it was a very sure-footed creature both up in the mountains as well as out on the marsh and bogs and was farmed for its fleece as well as it milk and meat.

“Well Rusan, that is extremely kind of you to offer to feed us all, even though we have brought emergency supplies with us. Please let us at least, pay for the value of your beast!” replied Aryn.

“No highness, being unexpectedly reunited with my two girls is a priceless gift to me, I insist that you let me celebrate this reunion.” answered a very happy Rusan.

So it was that while the engineers determined a way to safely load the capsule onto one of the transport lorries, Rusan, her daughters, along with the units cook prepared a meal of roasted and boiled bleskin with a casserole of the vegetables the convoy had brought with them, flavoured with herbs from the immediate surroundings. Preparations and plans were made for loading the wreckage first thing the next morning and everyone gathered together to enjoy the first real hot meal many of them had had in two days.

After the meal people were sitting staring into the embers of the fire or talking quietly amongst themselves, At that moment a frantic scrambling descent was heard coming down the scree slope from above their sheltered position and a Captain Rith Shearaj ran into the camp.

“Good evening Rith, what can I do for you?” asked Aryn.

“Quickly highness, I need you to follow me to our forward observation point up on the Eastern ridge, I think we are going to have company sometime soon! It looks like may be an incursion patrol from Masonville heading our way, we’ve been observing faint lights pointing skywards from time to time, and they are definitely coming towards the next valley to us, or possibly even this one, it’s hard to tell for sure. I have ordered all lights extinguished and to maintain darkness for the rest of the night, or until we can be sure of what or who we are dealing with!”

“Ok Rith, lead on!” responded Aryn. “Hold just a moment, Caryn, can you get on the radio, speak with the Queen, and tell her we are probably going to need reinforcements as soon as she can get them here, I have an awful feeling our neighbours are about to incur her wrath, so if she can despatch at least two companies of the militia to us immediately it will be a good idea. Tell her where we are and for them to observe blackout conditions, especially the nearer they get to us! And make sure all lights are extinguished down here in the camp while you are at it!””

“I’ll get right on it Aryn!” replied Caryn as she ran off to the radio vehicle to make contact with the palace.

“Right, lead on Rith, let’s see what we are dealing with!” so saying she strode off across the stream and disappeared into the gathering gloom.

Meanwhile the camp extinguished all sources of illumination, including dousing the fire that had so recently provided them with a meal and a source of heat up in the chilly air of the mountains. All engines were also switched off, with the radio vehicle and both ambulances having extra batteries.

Chapter Six.

Aryn lay close to the top of the valley ridge carefully observing the faint lights slowly increasing in intensity from across the adjacent valley. Speaking very quietly to Captain Shearaj, Aryn whispered, “Do we know what is over there Rith?”

“Yes princess, the answer is not a lot really. There’s three valleys between us and the border with Masonville, we do have an observation post up there but, as far as I am aware, we have not had any advance notice of this incursion, if that is what we are indeed facing. There are a few narrow tracks that lead off into the mountains, there’s a handful of isolated shepherds huts that are in use during the summer, but most are probably deserted by now as we are at the tail end of that season. The first snows have already fallen and what small passes that there are up there into Masonville, must be close to being impassable. This seems like a major effort by our so-called friends and neighbours to get at whatever it is we have had literally drop in our lap!” whispered back the captain.

At that moment, the sound of straining engines could just be heard pulsing from the far side of the intervening valley. A sudden bright beam of light swept the sky before being quickly extinguished. As the Princess and the Captain continued to scan the horizon and the mountains beyond, they became aware of someone approaching them from the camp behind them.

“Captain, Captain Shearaj, are you here?” enquired a disembodied voice, “Over here Signalman Kenia!”

A scrambling across the scree was heard as the signalman approached the Princess and the Captain. “Captain Ma’am!” reported the signalman. “I think you are better reporting to the Princess first Kenia!” ordered the captain.

“Sorry princess!” apologised Kenia “I didn’t know you were this far forward; Princess Caryn sends her regards and reports that she has spoken with Queen Adred and her advisors. The Queen has already despatched two companies of militia to our position some horas ago and she reports that they should be near to our location just before dawn. Given Princess Caryn’s reports and the increased volume of military radio traffic from our border with Masonville, the Queen is going to despatch at least another two units in the next hora and as many more as can be mobilised within the next few horas!”

“That’s excellent news Signalman!” responded Aryn. “Go back to the camp and inform them that I want the camp to observe a total blackout, and silent operation. I want all militia to be sent up to us on the ridge.”

“Yes Princess” replied the Signalman as he turned to head back down to the camp. “Signalman, wait a moment!” hissed Aryn “When you get back to camp, send Chief Engineer Drows up to me if you would, tell her it’s urgent I speak with her!”

“Yes Princess!” the Signalman nodded as this time he headed back down the slope.

While they were waiting for the reinforcements from the camp to arrive, Aryn and Captain Shearaj observed the ridge across the valley. The moon Atos would soon rise, and being a full moon, it would help the observers determine if anything was happening opposite them. Within twenty munts all the available militia that Aryn had brought with her were spread across the near side of the valley ridge. Captain Shearaj had gone from outpost to outpost stressing the need for silence and lack of movement, with one lookout close to a rock outcrop or a boulder and keeping within its shadow, with their partner just below the ridge ready to transfer messages back and forth.

Atos broke the horizon behind the observers and climbed into the sky casting a dull red glow across the landscape. Aryn scanned the horizon with her binoculars, she was tired, stiff and her body was sore from where the rocks and pebbles dug into her flesh. Then, just as she was thinking of moving into a slightly more comfortable position, some four toils away her keen sight just happened to be focused on a section of ridge as a body, bent double, appeared. The individual stealthily broke the ridgeline and started a careful descent down into the valley opposite her position, moments later, another followed, then another.

Aryn whispered “Captain?” before she could say anything else Captain Shearaj replied.

“Yes Princess, I see them too!” she whispered to the messenger out of sight behind and below her “Mith, go from post to post and inform everyone that we have armed opposition heading our way, make sure everyone is alert, and Mith?”

“Yes Ma’am?” whispered back Mith, “Not a sound, not a pebble or twig to be broken, understand?” carried on Captain Shearaj.

“Yes Ma’am, I understand, not a sound!”

With that messenger Mith disappeared into the gloom. Aryn continued to scan the horizon, as far as she could tell there were three five-man patrols starting to head down the opposite valley side towards its floor. As far as she could tell, this valley was similar to the one they were in, steep sides, but with a wide boggy floor, with untold depths of mud and slime awaiting the unwary. There were no more vehicle noises or lights to be seen, just the occasional noise of falling rocks and scree as one of the oncoming individuals slipped down the slope.

Aryn felt a gentle tugging at her foot. She rolled deeper into the shadow cast by the boulder to her left and slowly looked down behind her. There crouched down was Chief Engineer Drows.

“Stay there Chief, I’ll come to you!” Aryn whispered. She slithered down the slope glad for the chance to get some movement into her stiff limbs, “Ahh, that’s better!” she whispered.

“What can I do for you Princess?” asked the engineer.

“Have you had a chance to examine that cylindrical object in any detail?” Aryn asked.

“Yes Princess I have” replied the Chief.

“Do you think we have any chance of loading it onto one of our lorries and taking it back to the palace with us?” asked Aryn.

“Yes Princess, although it is quite large, it seems relatively light. I think if we can dig out the bank a little just below where it has come to rest, we should be able to reverse two of the winch lorries up to either side of it, then if I can get a flat-bed lorry immediately below it, with a bit of luck we should be able to drag it directly onto the deck of the lorry. There are two possible snags, one, will we be able to dig out the bank below the cylinder? and two, will we have enough chains to hold it securely in place while we work our way down the riverbank and then across the bog.”

“Ok!” replied Aryn pulling on her lower lip. “Assuming everything goes to plan, what sort of timescale are we talking about to achieve all that and to get the cylinder across the valley and onto the track opposite?”

Engineer Drows stared off into the distance, “Well princess, it’s a very difficult question to answer! How long is a piece of string?”

“Yes Chief, I understand all that, but all I want is some idea of how long we may have to hold off our friends across the valley, who, I assume, want this object for their own needs!” At that moment a loud splash was heard, followed by whispered swearing of some sort. “Sounds like our friends have found the mud!” smirked Aryn, pleased that she hadn’t been the only one to have fallen into the mire.

“Well Princess, best guess scenario, say an hora and a half to dig out the bank, the same to load and secure the cylinder, it took us around a couple of horas to cross the valley and travel upstream, so say double that to go back with the load safely on the truck. We are talking a good day’s work at least, and that’s assuming we don’t hit any snags during the whole process!”

“That’s fine Chief, that gives me some idea how long we could be stuck up here with our backsides in the line of fire!” With that Aryn stared off into the distance for a short while. She then looked back at the Chief, “Here’s what I want you to do, go back and quietly get your equipment ready and if you can, as noiselessly as possible, start scraping away at the bank, then as soon as you have enough light to work safely by, set to and no matter what you hear from up here keep hard at it! I want that cylinder and everything else you can safely gather onto our lorries and heading back to the palace as soon as is possible, but, worst case scenario, do you have any explosives with you, and if you do, do you have enough to destroy that object, even if it is already on one of our vehicles?”

The Chief glanced at her Princess, “Yes Highness, I have some explosives, but who knows how much it would take to destroy it, but I can certainly make a mess of it if nothing else!”

“Well Chief, I hope it doesn’t come to that, but can you ensure if I give the command, you can indeed destroy some of it at least?” asked Aryn.

“Of course Princess!” answered the Chief, “We have gathered the parachutes, and some other odd bits of wreckage, so we should be able to leave here with some of what we came to rescue, even if we have to destroy the main item itself! I take it, we have company from Masonville heading our way?” she asked the princess.

“That’s correct Chief, that’s correct! So, the quicker you are away the happier all of us up here will be!” replied Aryn.

“Well, if you will excuse me Princess, I have work to see to!” replied the Chief as she quietly and quickly disappeared down the valley side.

Aryn worked her way back up to the side of the boulder at the valley lip and settled back in to keep watch alongside Captain Shearaj. “Anything new happened Rith?” asked Aryn.

“Not apart from one of the enemy patrol leaders falling face first into the marsh, no!”

“I heard him when I was talking to the Chief!” gently chuckled Aryn. “Nice to know someone else is cold, wet, and miserable!” she whispered.

“I thought that little snippet would cheer you up somewhat, what is even better news is that I think he was in the process of extending the aerial of a mobile radio set when he fell in, when they pulled him out, it didn’t look as if he had the unit with him, nor his rifle!” reported the captain. “They have sent someone to go back up the slope, presumably to report back to a senior officer, but I could be wrong, it’s hard to make out what is going on in this light! Whoever they sent back up the slope is making heavy going about it, he’s taking three steps up but sliding two back down, so I hope they aren’t in any rush for a report, as it’ll be daylight before he gets over the ridge at this rate!” she added with a smile evident in her voice.

With that comment, a loud crack rang out from across the valley and a large flare arced into the night sky, everything was thrown into stark relief, colours returned to the landscape, shadows became darker, blacker and more intense, before slowly, as it was caught in the gentle breeze, the flare descended under its parachute and drifted down the valley before falling into the all-encompassing mire and, with a loud hiss, the light was extinguished.

Moments later, the shot rang out, followed by a loud ricochet as the bullet bounced of a boulder further up the valley. “Hold your fire!” was the hissed command from Captain Shearaj passed from outpost to outpost. Moments later the loud bleating of a bleskin that had been rudely awakened was observed hurtling across the scree.

“At least we were able to see where their patrols had got to under the flares light, very decent of them to help us out like that was it not Captain?” mused Aryn.

“It certainly was Princess, I can only assume the report from the patrol leader was overdue, and some rear numbskull of an officer got nervous and wanted to know what was going on! Whatever the reason, we know we have fourteen men, at the marsh’s edge with no clue how to get across to this side of the valley, and, with a bit of luck, the rapidly escaping bleskin has convinced them that they are, at least for the moment, unobserved!” remarked the captain. And with that, both sides settled in for the night and the coming of the dawn.

The gradual lightening of the eastern sky signalled the start of another day. Across the valley the gloom suggested that the three patrols seemed to have amalgamated, and were slowly, inch by inch working their way across the valley floor towards their unseen observers. It was now clear from the camouflage patters on the uniforms on the personnel coming their way, that they were indeed from Masonville.
“Princess, look behind you!” hissed captain Shearaj. As Aryn turned and looked over her shoulder, she saw the welcome sight of reinforcements rapidly making their way along the track across the valley to her rear. What was equally pleasing was the two figures heading on their way across the marshes along the invisible paths only they seemed to know to meet with the reinforcements. Aryn determined them to be the shepherdess Rusan and her daughter Lrna.

At the same moment, engines roared into life, the sounds of activity rolled up the valley sides as the engineers got to work. The crane and winch trucks reversed into position to begin recovery of the capsule. The extraction of the object was under way in full earnestness.
Glancing back into the opposing valley, the fourteen-man patrol had disappeared from view as they must have dropped to their knees, although, judging by the splashing, more than one had fallen into the bog. Up on the opposing ridge, at least a handful of heads popped into view, obviously scanning for any sign of Granaria’s forces.

At that moment the crack of artillery broke out from the Masonville forces on their reverse ridge, although the shells seemed to be pretty aimless. What was even more surprising was the answering roar of heavier calibre field artillery from the next valley behind Aryn, the shells landing on and behind the ridges opposite.

It was a short length duel and slowly the Masonville artillery fell silent, and the approaching patrol had turned tail and was trying to get back across the bog as quickly as possible to begin the climb back up to their comrades. With the passage of time, only eleven individuals could be made out to be undertaking the climb up the opposite valley wall, this meant they had probably abandoned three more of their colleagues to their fate within the morass.

Aryn breathed out a huge sigh of relief. “Well Captain, I think we can relax a little as we have help at last, keep the troops hidden, no need to advertise our presence, I am going down to the camp to see how things are going and meet our relief column! I will send up people to relieve your folk as soon as they get here, but pass on my heartfelt thanks to all your soldiers, but I will speak to them later, after a decent rest and a hot drink!”

“I will do Princess, speak to you later!” with that Captain Shearaj headed off across the hillside whilst Aryn headed down to the camp.

Aryn had not descended too far before she was summoned back to the ridge edge. “What’s up Captain?” she puffed as she regained her breath.

“Look across the valley Princess, they are waving a flag of truce!”

Aryn carefully got her binoculars out and warily looked across the opposite valley. There, waving too and fro was the red and white checker flag signifying a truce and a desire to speak. Aryn slid down to the side of Captain Shearaj.

“Ok Captain, wave our flag to signify our willingness to speak, then as soon as some of their leaders make themselves known we shall go and see what our friends want, but I want your forces on full alert in case there is any skullduggery intended by the Masonville troops.
As Captain Shearaj went to arrange for their truce flag to be waved, the first of the reinforcements arrived at the top of the valley side.
“Good morning Princess, I hear you have had an interesting night?” remarked the leader of the fresh troops, Colonel Samth Wiams.
“Morning Colonel, your timely arrival is extremely welcome, as was that short barrage, it certainly gave our Masonville friends something to think about!” replied Aryn.

“You’re welcome, Princess, we had a spotter aircraft up very early this morning and they just happened to see where the barrage was launched from, so we had a reasonable idea of where they were set up!” replied Colonel Wiams.

At that moment Captain Shearaj returned to report that five individuals were starting to walk down the opposite valley side under the flag of truce, all appeared unarmed as was the accepted custom.

“Come ladies, let’s go see what Masonville thinks they are up to?” stated Princess Aryn.

“I don’t think so Princess, with all due respect, you should not go down to meet with them, it is far too risky, if your mother knew I had willingly allowed you to place yourself into such danger, she would have my guts for garters, and, she would be livid with you for taking unnecessary risks! Highness, do us both a favour and stay here! Leave these negotiations to Captain Shearaj and myself!” stated the Colonel with some firmness.

Before allowing Princess Aryn to dispute the Colonel’s assertions the Colonel looked around and barked out “Shearaj, keep a close eye on our friends, hold your positions and don’t fire unless you see a blatant act of aggression, Sergeant Murhy, Corporal Mith, Private Plike and Signalman Aiten, you are all with me, leave your sidearms here, but Aiten bring the radio, leave it tuned into our standard frequency with the set live so the Princess can listen in to what our friends have to say!”

“Yes Ma’am!” answered Aiten. “Right folks, follow me, keep your eyes open!” and with that the deputation rose above the ridge and descended to the valley floor.