Back in Austria-Hungary, Alek, Count Volger, and Master Klopp have been traveling through Austria, moving only at night. After Alek’s misstep in Lienz, finding food and fuel is nearly impossible. Now the stormwalker has reached the border of Austria-Hungary and Switzerland, but a massive German frigate with eight legs and a watch tower is guarding the border, waiting for them.

The group tries to sneak past the frigate, walking at half-speed through a stream to cover the noise of the machine. Volger shouts as something flashes in the darkness. A group of German foot soldiers fire on the walker. Instead of firing the cannon at the soldiers and alerting the frigate of their location, Alek brings the walker into a run and charges the soldiers, scattering them.

As flares light up the sky, Alek sees a row of German walkers shaped like horses that fire flares into the sky and at the stormwalker. A phosphorous flare hits the walker and sticks to the armored machine, billowing smoke that gives away their location no matter how unpredictably the machine moves. Alek grabs an ancient saber from a locker and climbs out the top hatch, ignoring Volger’s shout that the saber is an heirloom from Alek’s father.