Trepidation | Trepidation Trilogy | The Empty World Sequence

Twenty

The Goth followed the course of the Rhine into Bonn, then after staying several days, continued along the river with more followers. The tribe continued with stops in Koblenz, Rhudesheim and Mainz until they reached Ludwigshafen-Mannheim. They split from the course of the Rhine and followed along the Nekar south, against its flow. The train of vehicles passed through Heidelberg, Heilbronn and Ludwigsburg before coming into Stuttgart.

      In all these cities their nomadic life was routine. They moved through river valley once populated by Suevi, Celts, Alemanni and other ancient nomadic tribes, felt a kinship with those peoples, as if they were to redeem those of the past by forming one tribe where there had been many who fought each other.

      In each city, they stopped the tribe gathered food and made purchases of supplies. They sometimes took jobs or traded their goods. In most places, word travelled before them and the locals were eager to buy some souvenir to mark their meeting.

      As always, they gathered members of the tribe such that by the time they came to Stuttgart the tribe was many thousand. Not only had locals joined them at each stop, but others from further towns they had not reached. Sometimes, long-time supporters changed their mind about the travel involved and dropped everything to join them.

      Alaric and Merideth had been married in Bonn, and every city they visited caused Merideth to regret waiting for the next Gothic Cathedral they passed. And, with each cathedral they passed, there was a couple among them that could not wait for a more romantic setting to wed. They were constantly negotiating with various priests for use of church, his services or the grounds.

      Unfortunately become routine, was the now-ever-present trail of more malevolent followers. They were not always the same number or even the same group but they were there. From varying distances, they spied on the Goth, occasionaly challenging them. There had been skirmishes, warning shots fired, brawls, shouted insults, but thankfully no deaths. The Goth had to stay in populated areas and along highly populated routes. They were safer.

      There had been no more obvious routes. Any direction they travelled there were armies. So they came to Stuttgart and had to discuss once again where to go, there was no clear choice.

      John's earlier injury was healed, but now there were scrapes and bruises from more recent conflicts. There had been fist fights on city streets, and chases through brambles near one camp. Many of them had such minor wounds and bore them rather proudly, as if to announce they had turned the other cheek to suffer a matching pair of black eyes. There was little they could do to avoid this level of violence when their unfriendly followers had set upon them.

      Even more they kept night watch in shifts and made camp in tight formation. They had lookouts ride on the roofs of vehicles by day while they moved. 

      And as the Goth moved south, the many armies had been on the move. The Spanish and Gaul had set their troops in various formations for ground assault and were marching east from the Schwartzwald. They had taken a bridge at Tuttlingen and still held the city. All bridges that spanned the Danube were important to an army seeking to take or defend Germany, as the river crossed over its southern part almost entirely. The Swiss had taken Ulm and Dillingen, The VC were in Germany now, holding the cities of Ingelstat and Neuberg against the armies of the EL. Both the armies of Russia and the combined DG and Egypt Gaurd were within reach of Regensburg and racing to get there first. There were now Americans travelling south, by land, from base near Frankfurt.

      Meanwhile, the more mercenary armies of the satellite organizations to the EL, the Protestant Underground, Secret Christian Brotherhood and Klan, were focusing their efforts in the area of the southern waterways, particularly the Rhine, Mein and Danube. The more secretive organizations of Rowan, Psychic Dicks and Manchester School could be tracked mainly by reports of mysterious deaths and disappearances reported by the equally secret Metro Noir; they were also moving into southern Germany.