goblin lake michael swanwick in 1646 , shortly before the end of the thirty years ' war , a patrol of hessian cavalrymen , fleeing the aftermath of a disastrous battle to the north wherein a botched flanking maneuver had in an hour turned certain victory to abject rout , made camp at the foot of what a local peasant they had captured and forced to serve as a guide assured them was one of the highest mountains in the spessart region of germany .