It was a slightly warmer, but definitely still cold day. The warm rays of the sun peeked out on the horizon, but had no more snow to melt away. The country roads were muddy and the trees were still bare. But now they rode along them. Hooves thundered along the wide stretches of land. The big day had arrived. Troop M, led by August, rode swiftly eastwards towards Meglarsbruck. They would arrive just in time, if his calculation was right. And August was rarely wrong.

  A handful of soldiers were sitting at a checkpoint along the main road. They were eating their breakfast and some of them had started a few small jobs, although most were just lounging around bored. On the surface of a bucket of water, one of them could see the first tremors. He went to his superior to tell him about this, but before he could open his mouth, everyone began to hear it. The thundering of hooves from a distance was starting to shake everything. The men stood up and looked around. Then suddenly the host of Troop M came down over the hilltop. The regime soldiers quickly grabbed their pikes or whatever else they could find and quickly lined up to repel the cavalry attack. But when they saw how the hundreds of riders hurrying down the hill seemed to turn into thousands, as more and more emerged from over the crest, they were gripped by awe. Only when it was already too late did they spot a lad leading the company at the front. But he didn't ride a horse, he flew!

  Wenzel was the first to reach the post. An archer tried to shoot him, but the arrow simply bounced off his armour. He stretched his hand forward and blew away the line-up of pikemen with a telekinetic blast! "Go, go!" shouted August as loud as he could, signalling to his men to keep on galloping through. A shock ran through the ranks of the surprised enemies, many of whom jumped to the side or hid behind something. Some were actually simply trampled underfoot! The Martyrs’ Brigades swept through the checkpoint like a hurricane without slowing down. They would not be stopped! The young Wenzel fell back again and landed in the saddle of his horse. Flying the whole journey would be too exhausting for him. He looked over to Brahm. The man had an enthusiastic grin on his face. Onwards they continued to Meglarsbruck.

  The day was slowly drawing to a close. The sun was beginning to set on the horizon and Reginald observed the evenfall. The eponymous operation would be starting soon. The young man clutched his trumpet with so much tension that his knuckles turned white from the effort. "Just a few more minutes!" he said quietly to himself. Finally, the sun had set and it was really getting dark. Any moment now it would be half past seven. He had been waiting for this moment all his life. This regime, which hated its own people, persecuted them and left them to languish in misery, would finally fall! He climbed onto the roof of the house and took a deep breath. Then he sounded the trumpet. Almost simultaneously, albeit a few seconds apart, the same wind instruments could be heard throughout the city. An ominous feeling came over him, but it was immediately drowned out by the rush of his adrenalin. The revolution had finally begun!

  Men wearing all sorts of different weapons and armour, or in some cases just thicker clothing for protection, hurried to their target points. They all had red ribbons tied around their upper arms so that they could recognise each other. The soldiers in town had heard the trumpets, but didn't think much of it, although it was of course unusual to hear this sacred instrument, which normally announced mass in the morning, at this time of day. At first, the operation went off relatively quietly, until the first skirmishes began. The Martyrs marched swiftly towards the town barracks, which were huge and, in their design, looked like a castle. The guards raised the alarm as soon as they saw the troops rounding the corner, but they didn't have much time and were immediately stormed and slain by them. The gate was then opened from the inside by a collaborator. All the men rushed in and the slaughter began! At the same time, other squads were busy storming the town hall and the guilds. One team was tasked with opening the city gate to let in the main force from the headquarters, led by August. This was accomplished relatively quickly, but there was a problem. Where was the main force? Where was Troop M?

  By now it had become dark and August called out to his fighters to spur their horses on as much as possible. He had probably been wrong about how quickly he would be there! Fortunately, the walls of the city could already be seen in the distance. So, he had only miscalculated by a few minutes, but this little delay could make all the difference! "Grrr!" the man made feral noises. He would have loved to hit himself for his failure! A few clouds of smoke could be seen from a distance, but only in the eastern part of the city, where the garrison was stationed. At last, the Martyrs’ Brigades arrived in the city. Its gates were already open and they galloped straight through. They had no time to lose. The objective was the town hall, the administrative centre of Meglarsbruck. Wenzel tried getting a picture of the town, but could hardly do so as they were in such a hurry. But one thing was clear: he couldn't see any huge destruction. Half of their squad separated from them as they came to the fork in the road, that led them towards the barracks. For the time being, August and Wenzel pressed on towards their destination.

  Eventually they arrived at the square in front of the town hall, which was an absolutely gigantic building as it had once been the seat of power of the Melgarions. "Company, haaaalt!" The cavalry company came stopped at once. Most of them dismounted. Now a whole team of fighters made their way inside the palace on August's pre-arranged orders. Finally, our protagonist was able to take a quick look around. The city seemed to be in almost normal condition, judging from what could be made out in the dark. The monumental cathedral in the city centre also appeared to be intact and not collapsed, as in his prophecy. He heard some noise in the city, but for the most part it wasn't wailing or painfilled cries. His vision had not come to pass. Still, more people were now beginning to crowd the streets, as was to be expected. The chief of staff signalled him to come along. Now, accompanied by a crowd of Martyrs and, of course, Brahm and Ferenc, they walked up the long stairs to the seat of power. Only now did Wenzel notice the crumpled gold and black griffin flag of Ordania lying on the ground. He stretched his head upwards to see where it had fallen from. At the top of the building he saw the flag of the Martyrs' Brigades hoisted. The red flag of the revolution was flying over the old imperial city!

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  Meanwhile, Lieutenant Field Marshal Tassilo and his men arrived at the large barracks. They had ridden past a few fallen along the road, but nothing that they would have seen as "excessive". The red flag of theirs now hung down at the front of the barracks. The fighters approached and stopped. Down from the wall, a man called out to them: "Praise the martyrs!" The horsemen looked up and all returned the greeting with the same words. Then the gate was opened for them and they entered the barracks. The picture here was, as was to be expected: lots of blood, lots of dead. But the enemy had succumbed to them. They had won! They dismounted and Tassilo went into the main building. There he received a status report. "The commander of the garrison did not surrender, but there were a few of his soldiers who did so anyway, against his orders. We had a lot of casualties, but that was clear anyway. We haven't been able to do anything in the rest of the metropolis yet, because we didn't have enough men. That's probably why some of those loyal to the regime have already fled." Tassilo took note of the words with a serious look. Then he replied: "Yes, I'm sorry we got here so late. It almost looks like you didn't need us at all!" He had to laugh at his own statement.

  Then the next point was on the agenda. The lieutenant field marshal sent his men to patrol and secure the town. He also sent a messenger to the town hall to inform the chief of staff of the situation. Meanwhile, Wenzel and August entered the town hall. The magician had simply skipped climbing the stairs by flying up to the top and landing there. At the big entrance gate, which apparently had been designed with giants in mind, they stepped inside. With each step they took the metal of their armour tinkled on the marble tiles. As they passed between huge pillars into the large entrance hall, a soldier with completely dishevelled hair and a bloody cut on his face met them. He recognised them and called out: "Praise the martyrs!" The newcomers returned his greeting in kind. After that they came closer to the man. He saluted and then said: "I can report to you that the imperial palace is under our control, Your Highness!" Wenzel did not react, as he was not used to dealing with such things. August immediately took over for him and said: "Very good! What are the losses?" - "Acceptable." - "And did you get them all?" - "A few escaped, but all the important servants of the Alethian regime are in our custody!"

  The commander of this operation in Meglarsbruck was satisfied with the state of affairs. The four of them - August, Wenzel, Brahm and Ferenc - were then led into a room where the prisoners were being held. When they entered the room, Wenzel immediately recognised the mayor, Anshelm Hagen, who was sitting on the floor next to his wife with his hands and feet bound. With them were a large number of other employees, servants and even a few dignitaries.

  "Firstly, get in touch with lieutenant field marshal Tassilo and secondly, I want you to round up all the nobles and supporters of the regime and bring them here!" August now ordered his men. He then took a tube out of his bag. Rolled up in it was a piece of parchment listing the most important names of regime loyalists from Meglarsbruck! He had had these names collected by his informants over a long period of painstaking work. "Close the gates of the city again so that none of them slip through our fingers!" he added. "Yes, sir!" came the reply. A few slain could be seen lying around in the palace, but no number that could be called exorbitant. So far, at least! After what the chief of staff had just ordered, Wenzel wasn't so sure, it would stay that way. He knew from Theodor why August was working for the Martyrs and he was also aware that he still didn't really know August on a personal level. He would think him to be capable of anything here, especially after what he had just heard out of his mouth.

  Now the revolutionary forces in the city were coordinating. Tassilo soon got word that they were holding the barracks and were now combing and securing the city piece by piece. Their late arrival meant that they had missed much of the fighting. Most of the enemy soldiers had already surrendered or been defeated. All in all, the battle had resulted in far fewer casualties than expected. The lieutenant field marshal also noted that the powder magazine had fallen into their hands wholly intact, including the cannons. That was a huge deal! There was only one saltpetre mine in the whole of Kaphkos. As saltpetre was essential for the production of gun powder, this war material was only available in very small quantities. However, they had now captured a considerable part of the reserves in the empire. The Martyrs’ Brigades had now recaptured their old capital and it had been easier for them than they had imagined. This was a brilliant start to the war!