Lunch

Hunger overcame her guilt, and Juli settled down by the village pump for a delayed lunch. The sun was shining, the water cool and refreshing and the bread and cheese quite tasty. Suddenly she realised that all was strangely quiet and she looked up to see a blue coated hussar looking at her. Behind him she saw more hussars on the other side of the village green.

“It’s OK lad, don’t worry I’m not going to steal your lunch”

Juli’s fright must have been obvious.

“Now have you seen any girls about that are not from round here?”

“No sir”

“Now if you or your friends see any strange girls then they have to inform the Gendarmerie straight away”

“Yes sir, I’ll keep an eye out“

With that the hussar returned to his comrades. Juli breathed a sigh of relief, these were Piosasque Hussars, if it had been the Schwartzgarde then she would have been interrogated far more thoroughly.

A short while later the hussars mounted up and headed off towards Minenhafen. Juli decided to head the same way, but as before keeping to the side lanes. By evening she had arrived close to the small riverside village of Wacht. She would hide up for the night and then investigate whether she could get a boat here in the early morning or move on to Minenhafen.