>>6180113Winter was a late visitor in this land, and though the peaks of the mountains had been capped with snow for a while now, the higher valleys were busy being snowed in as well. It was a mild cold compared to the blizzards and freezing temperatures of Greifswald, according to the Eparch, who invited you to dinner nearly every week. Further down south, there are snowless winters, which was something you found hard to believe. Winter would always bring snow, of that you had known for as long as you had lived.
Thanks to your timely intervention, the food stores this year were amply supplied. That didn't mean there were problems; many men caught the typical winter diseases, which put many out of action. You had also taken the prisoners back from out of the fields to prevent any from freezing to death.
It was the tenth of Novisus (XII). When you got up, long before the dawn, you put on your best and warmest clothes. Forgoing your armour for now, you put on your woollen overvest to keep out the cold, a jerkin to keep out the wind, and, to top it all off, a heavy fur cloak and hat. You had the same done to your horse, and before long you were riding over the frozen roads.
It was six days of hooves crunching in the snow; through whitened mountains and dales you rode, rode back to the palace, hidden deep in the mountain chains, hidden from prying eyes and foreign armies.
This time, you didn't need to go through some convoluted trail to get there. When you got to the temple ruins, the portal opened on its own. Riding through, you found yourself in a place you had never been before, the stables of the palace. And the Vilicus was waiting for you this time.
<span class="mu-i"> <span class="mu-b"> '''Please place your steeds in the empty stalls," </span> </span> he said, gesturing towards the spacious stable. <span class="mu-i"> <span class="mu-b"> "I take it you are here for the return for my lord. Well, you are just in time; I shall fire up the hearths.'' </span> </span>
<span class="mu-i"> ''Hang on, what do you know about the return of your lord? What exactly will he do?'' </span> You asked.
<span class="mu-i"> <span class="mu-b"> ''I can't say too much. Titus told me at my creation that I should not say anything, because that would ruin the surprise, so I can't say what it is, sorry. Oh, no, wait, there is one thing: you should come out at midnight because it is then that he will appear in front of his mausoleum.'' </span> </span> And then he disappeared.
You spend the next few days silently reading in the library, eating in the halls, studying the stars, and swimming in the underground steam baths.
The night has come; all of you didn't sleep. No, that would be something you could do afterwards. There were no clocks, and the sundials would obviously not work. You and the others spent two hours outside; there was no wind, and the weather here wasn't as cold as elsewhere, just cold enough for snow to fall and stay.
