The famously 'Iron Henry' had angular features beneath short-cropped hair and matching eyes of cool grey-blue. The uniform of the Redcoats was adorned with insignia that weighed down his chest and glistened from the flickering light of the oil lanterns. Narrow, short lines in red ink were emblazoned on his cheek and the back of his hand. There were so many that it looked like a bizarre work of art, as the lines merged here and there. His right arm was partially reinforced by copper-colored rods and tubes, his elbow a cogwheel mechanism that meshed silently and blended in beautifully with the red of his coat.

With a furrowed brow and a stern gaze, he looked down at a piece of parchment he held in his left hand and kept turning slightly. The multi-layered glasses on his nose, whose lenses were of different colors, clicked softly as he adjusted the different lenses. The narrow, separate bars on both sides, whose lenses were blue, yellow, or red, thus made the secret messages visible, lifted repeatedly on the right or left.

"Sir. SL-R.A.L.3002 has arrived," Hunter drew attention to the newcomer and simultaneously stepped aside to sink into the worn leather armchair.

Unlike him, Scarlett pulled her hands behind her back and straightened her posture in front of the captain.

Iron Henry pulled his glasses off his nose, placed them on the table before him, and focussed his steely gaze on the new recruit. The large mask, which the captain also wore and completely covered the lower part of his face, combined with his vast, visibly battle-hardened stature, gave his appearance an intimidating aura.

"Recruit SL-R.A.L-3002," he reached to the side and placed a leather parchment scroll on the sprawling desk full of papers, maps, and strange-looking tools. "The order is to take the orders in this container directly to Grandmother's station." The large hands gripped the solid leather scroll, and the captain tossed the scroll to the recruit.

Scarlett skilfully caught the orders. The leather scroll was about as long and thick as her forearm. There were brass-coloured caps in the lids on either side of the scroll.

"I hope it is not necessary to mention that you are strictly forbidden to break the seal," he added sternly, fixing the young woman in her early twenties with a penetrating gaze.

Scarlett simply couldn't contain her curiosity. Perhaps it was because the nervousness of her first assignment outside Grimmhold was planting fire ants in her arse.
"What happens if -"

"If you or someone without the knowledge of the necessary combination tries it anyway, the acid containers attached to both sides of the lids will immediately destroy the contents," Hunter interjected in a casual tone, meanwhile turning a screw on a strange mechanism in his hands with a screwdriver. Gears clicked, and something rattled in the casing.

Scarlett's eyes widened slightly at the mention of acid and her eyes lingered on the striking copper caps.

"Isn't there a danger that if there's a shake or-" she began, but the young woman closed her mouth as she saw the captain's eyes narrow in warning. Scarlett could read the captain's thoughts: How dare a recruit talk back?

Of course, he was more or less correct. She had no authority to question such questions, an order, or the equipment.

'It'll work out,' she tried to reassure herself. She wasn't the first messenger, and far be it from her to arouse her superior's resentment. Not only because she couldn't afford to lose this job again, which was as well paid as it was dangerous... but also because she had her own personal reasons for dressing in red. She wanted something from the redcoats. Until she had achieved her goal, it was better not to antagonise Iron Henry.

"Yes, sir," she replied obediently and nodded as well.

Scarlett shifted her weight from one leg to the other, placing the leather strap over her head to shoulder the scroll.

"You will leave immediately," her superior now added. His fingers tapped on the wooden tabletop, making a dull, drumming sound of impatience. 'This mission and the orders have top priority,' the tone of his voice left no doubt that there was more to it than he was letting on. "Pick up the necessary equipment from Hunter, get a fresh Tinderling, and have your boots checked. Then leave without further delay."

"Yes, sir," Scarlett replied, glancing sideways at Hunter, who was already rising from his chair. So that was it? Is that all the information she got?

Scarlett suppressed a frustrated snort. But other thoughts quickly displaced the frustration at the lack of information, replacing it with a leaden heaviness.

She wiped the suddenly damp palms at her side, and behind the mask, her breathing grew heavier with her tightening heartbeat.

"Sir," she began, receiving irritated looks from both men. Scarlett cleared her throat, making a muffled sound behind the mask. "Please forgive me for asking, but... have the inquiries about my brother perhaps-"

The loud thud of the fist on the table made her flinch and take a step backward out of reflex. The captain had leaned further forward in his chair and clenched his fist so that the mechanisms of his arm clicked, and small clouds of vapor hissed from the pressure relief valves on his shoulder.

"You're here to take your orders for your mission. Nothing more and nothing less, Recruit SL-R.A.L-3002," he said, and the color of the captain's irises suddenly resembled sharpened blades rather than harmless grey clouds of steam.

Scarlett felt the sting hit her chest and clenched her hands into fists under the growing weight on her shoulders. Her gloves crunched under the pressure, and she had to restrain herself from letting go of her frustration. Headless despair would get her nowhere and Raine nowhere.

She had to understand that after she had searched every corner of the upper town, right down to the dirty slums. But there was no sign of Raine anywhere. There was only one place he could be... and to get there, she had joined the Redcoats. To find her brother, she had even risked being either killed or briefly immunized by the plague inoculation that wafted around the mountain in the form of a poisonous mist.

"I know that, of course, sir."

Her heart drummed in her chest as if to protest her self-control.

"But -"

"Enough of this."

Scarlett's mouth snapped shut, and her teeth pressed together so hard that her jaws ached under the pressure. Damn it all, she had a right to know more! Had they found him? Was he perhaps injured?

"You're dismissed," Iron Henry leaned back in the chair again, but his posture was still as stiff as those unyielding cliffs that would have withstood even the highest waves.

"Get out of here. Now."