After the loss of their member, and immediately after the leader of the company had recovered, the Athamanas began to devise a plan. Basically, they came up with a ridiculously simple idea, which was to go to Öbserdin and bring Rahul from there at any cost, and then approach the chüvigh territories from the south so that they would not have to climb the Karabatta twice.
As Razvan had predicted, the ötandis, thanks to the horses and carts, had a great advantage over the group, even though there were days when the Athamanas were on the road even under cover of night. However, they were only human and as such needed rest so as not to exhaust themselves so much that they became defenseless against possible dangers. The group was still moving quite quickly up to the Karabatta range, since they were traveling through familiar terrain.
After the last accidental change of territory, the Motumiszes were now closest to the southern borders, so Achilleus took over at the head of the group and showed the way. Thanks to this, they did not run into a soul and were able to use roads that, no one had traveled for centuries, they reached the border much faster than they would have reached the border using the current roads known to many hegins.
However, beyond the mountains they ended up in unknown territory, even though Achilleus, only Athira knows where, had a map of the southern territories, although it was a bit old and outdated, and a bit inaccurate, but at least they were not going blindly into the unknown. Ghosts know, without the map it would probably have taken them twice, if not three times as long to reach their destination.
However, they had to be extremely careful, they were not allowed to accidentally run into the ötandis, because who knows how much trouble they would have gotten themselves into then. Making one person escape is not that big of a deal, but making eight people escape at once is much, much more complicated. So, avoiding the main roads, the Athamanas slowly but surely moved closer and closer to that certain base, Öbscerdin, on the ötandis land.
It helped that Etele appeared from time to time to report on what was going on around Rahul and to give the team a status report. Of course, when the spirit first appeared, everyone bombarded him with hundreds of questions, but as is Svihák's habit, he ignored most of them and only said what he wanted to say. Then he disappeared and sometimes the team did not see him for days before he reappeared.
"In the name of the ancestors, Svihák! What do you mean, he can't hear us?" Razvan's hands clenched into fists when Etele informed the team that despite how close they were to each other, Rahul could not connect to the Athamana's communication system.
"How can I know? Do I look like a wise man to you? He said he couldn't, then he can't. I can't do any more than that, you're shouting at me, you scoundrel!" The ghost folded his arms in front of him and turned his head to the side just like he used to do in his life.
"Wandi, can you hear him?" Razvan turned to the boy, and the danovus closed his eyes. There was silence for a few moments, when the boy started to grimace, then sighed heavily.
"There's too much noise. I can't make out his. I can hear a word or two, but Öbcserdin is very loud." He finally shook his head.
"Well, not to mention that it's very well protected. I don't think seven of you can take it. With or without a wild danovus." Etele nodded towards Wandi.
"We won't just leave Rahul there!" Citar snapped.
"Svihák, what aren't you telling me?" Razvan put his hand on his hip.
"How do you know I'm not telling you something?" The one in question tilted his head to the side.
"I know you like a worn-out boot. I know your movements and now you're acting like you did when you didn't want to tell me that Riki gouged out the eyes of my best archer." The boy declared.
"That's not true." Etele snorted, but finally gave in. "There's no point in going to Öbscerdin, Rahul won't be there much longer."
"What? Why?" Suk asked.
"He's been promoted. They want to take him to the battlefield." The ghost shrugged.
"The ötandis are at war?" Benkó asked surprised.
"They want to send Rahul to war and you're not worried about him?" Citar took the bait.
"Yes and no." Etele answered first to Benkó, then to the Bolacsuk boy. "Why would I worry? Rahul can take care of himself and he's as strong as I was at his age." He waved. "And if he gets into big trouble, I'll be there for him." He declared.
"If they take him from Öbcserdin, how can we rescue him?" Wandi asked the big question, and everyone looked at the team leader as one, who surprisingly stood still and stared at the ground.
"Boss, do you have an idea?" Citar stepped closer to him.
"I have one, but..." He started, then sighed. "I haven't done anything like this in a long time and it's very risky." He explained.
"Oh, you want to do thaz?" Etele's eyes widened.
"Not completely Svihák." The boy shook his head.
"Eh, the Witch enjoyed being able to wring everyone's neck when we left the post." Etele laughed.
"The Witch happily wrung anyone's neck." Razvan rolled his eyes.
"Grandpa, do you know a witch?" Teveli gaped.
"Yes, it's no big deal." The ghost waved.
"A real witch is no big deal? They haven't been heard of for centuries." Teveli objected.
"Because she wasn't the fairy tale witch who would snap and catch your hair on fire or make you be haunted by bad luck for the rest of your life." Etele chuckled.
"They called her Witch because she was my strongest female soldier. No one really knew how she did what she did, but she always got the job done." Razvan interrupted.
"No one knew why you took her on your team either, Csito." The ghost put his hands on his hips.
"And I'm just saying the same thing now as I did then. You don't need to know everything." The team leader said in a tone that didn't tolerate contradiction.
"So what's the plan?" Citar interrupted what was promising to be a very long discussion, and with this, Razvan managed to get out of the shadow of the past and focus on the present again.
"If Rahul is brought to the battlefield, then we have to bring him from the battlefield. It's the simplest thing, in such a chaotic battle, it's easy to get lost." The leader explained. "The trouble starts when we have to get into the battle and find out where Rahul will be. Etele can tell us which team he will be in, but where that team will be is the more troublesome matter."
"But only the soldiers know that..." Citar held his chin, and Razvan smiled.
"Exactly. And a nation that even puts prisoners in the battle line, in my experience, will jump on volunteers with everything they have. Especially if those volunteers have skills like ours." As the team leader said this, the Athamanas looked at him with surprised looks.
"You mean to say that..." Suk began, but Etele interrupted him.
"Like he said before that particular mission. You get to know your enemy best when you join their ranks. So..." He paused here before he grinned too. "Yes, Csito wants you to become a soldier of the ötandi army."