Svetlana and Hildegard were riding along rough terrain somewhere in the southern region of the forest, trying carefully not to trip the horses on the many loose rocks and cliff edge that gave into the nearby creak. Svetlana looked up to estimate that it was the early afternoon. This, she thought, was excellent as this meant they were making good time in their efforts to reach the rendezvous point before Rickard did.
Hildegard signalled that she wanted to stop.
"What's wrong?" Svetlana shouted, "We don't really have time to stop!"
"We're being followed by a fox," Hildegard explained, "A fox I know very well, in fact. It's a messenger from my castle!"
They both slowed down to found the nearest convenient place to dismount. Once they dismounted Hildegard took a few steps in the direction of some ruffling.
"Nene," Hildegard said in a high and honey sweet voice, "Come here, good girl."
Moments later a young fox ran up to her with delight and jumped at her arms. Hildegard picked up the fox and dislodged a message wrapped in the collar around its neck. She put Nene down so that she could read the message.
Hildi,
Some chubby Solace spy found his way into the castle. Says he knows you and is on a mission for you.
- Eli
"I don't know how," Hildegard said, perplexed, "But Boris found himself in Lunesse."
"Please tell your people to bring him to us," Svetlana said, "We're going to need all the help we can get. Is there anyone you trust completely?"
"My closest friend and personal guard," Hildegard said without hesitation, "I will tell them to rendezvous with us, and to bring Boris along."
"We need them to bring your ring, too," Svetlana reminded Hildegard, "But you must tell them nothing yet of what is going on. We cannot be certain yet who we can trust."
Hildegard took a moment to think about what she was going to write.
"I trust these two with my life," Hildegard eventually said, "So I will leave it to them to manage it. I'll tell them to head towards The Edge, Nene will do the rest, she has a very good nose."
"That's far less poetic than what we call that area," Svetlana sniggered, "How could you choose such an inelegant name for something so awe inspiring?"
Hildegard rolled her eyes with a crooked smile.
"Oh, yeah?" Hildegard responded, "What do you call it, then?"
"The Cliffs of Beauty!" Svetlana responded with exaggerated pride.
"Very subtle." Hildegard laughed.
"Well," Svetlana began with a puffy voice, "At least we add a bit of weight to our name."
They both had a laugh at the absurdity of it, before Hildegard turned away to write her response. Since she couldn't really tell her why, she needed to use her usual code to convey she needed them to do as said 'no questions asked.' She wrote down the instructions, take my precious ring, take Boris and meet down south.
Take Mortimer. Hildegard added at the end. This was the code that meant 'I will explain it all later, this is serious.'
Hildegard rolled her response up into Nene's collar before putting her back down.
"Go give this to Eli," She said as she pat Nene's head, "Be a good girl and be quick."
Instantly the little fox disappeared into the foliage, ruffling of the leaves and bushes faded almost instantly.
"She's really fast," Hildegard said, "She'll deliver the letter by tonight."
"That would be perfect," Svetlana added, "We shouldn't waste time right now. Let's head out again, if we don't reach the cliffs before nightfall we'll have trouble finding a suitable campsite for the night."
Hildegard simply nodded in agreement before she mounted her horse. Svetlana followed quickly and they continued their journey southwards.