When he looked up, the first ice-cold drops of sleet burst into Roman's face, but he barely noticed . His mind whirled like a swarm of angry bees, ready to stab relentlessly. And they did. Raen! His just born son, should he think differently? One who stood against fate? One who broke tradition? The enormity of these words sent a shiver down the scalp and back of Roman, and involuntarily he ducked against the rain as if the drops were blows. Nobody could face fate and challenge it without being punished by it! The oracle must have been wrong. It should! Little did it know that Raen had been born less than a Ka-hour ago today.
Or is it? Oracles know more than ordinary people. They speak to the gods, are in possession of truthfulness. Every fiber in Roman resisted what his fingers were holding. He looked at the prophecy. Although the paper was already wet, the ink remained legible. An oracle was always right. This realization shocked him more than the fear of war. It would turn
When King Katthike saw the pool of blood around the dead prisoner, he began to rage. He knocked down the guard next to him with a single brutal blow. His legendary anger was unleashed before those around him had managed to get to safety. Excited, he ran in a circle around the body of Hy, lying on the ground, limping badly. His stocky muscular figure sent out hot waves of anger and everyone present crouched in fear when he came near them.“To hell with you all! How did that happen? ”He roared into the silence of the dungeon room, and his powerful voice echoed off the walls."Am I just surrounded by useless and miserably stupid idiots?" He came to a stop in front of the second soldier and stared at him with his ice-blue eyes. The soldier immediately lowered his gaze and stammered: "Your Majesty, e-he ... somehow he overpowered the guard and h-stabbed himself with his knife!"The king grimaced and bared his teeth as if wanted like a wolf at his opponent
"Listen to me all!" Katthike's irritated voice blared across the square. “And I mean, really good! My precious prisoner from Hy is dead. He took his own life because one of you helped him. One of you is a traitor! ”He paused to let what was said take effect. Then he continued:“ If the traitor reveals himself, or the one who knows something about it gives me his name, then I'll spare him Rest of you. I don't care what you do, if I don't get the traitor I'll have you all executed! Out there, ”he pointed over the wall,“ enough willing people are waiting to take your places! ”A horrified murmur made the rounds and the fear now emerged openly. But nobody moved. Everyone eyed their neighbor suspiciously. Who was the traitor who cowardly hid himself between them and wanted to drag them all with him into the abyss?"Well, I hear?" Katthike drew his sword, which blinked ominously in the dull light of the winter morning. Another groan went th
After he had calmed down a bit, King Katthike sat brooding in his library, which was crammed with a seemingly confused mixture of books and maps from different corners of the continent. But everything was in its exact order, and for Katthike the books were what he simply called the source of knowledge. They were a window into the head of the other peoples and that is why he went to great lengths to have many of the works he had acquired translated into Askharic. He looked at the rows of spines. Some were unadorned, but some were also embossed or even adorned with golden patterns. He inhaled the smell of parchment and dust. It was here in this inspiring place that he forged his plans and planned his cruelties; Here, many years ago, he had the ambitious idea of creating a memorial for himself, which would raise him above all previous kings of Askhar and make him immortal. His insatiable hunger for power and recognition has long been limited to that of his descendants as well as to his
Just why did he do that?" Katthike looked at his advisor now, and Lata listened up. Now his opinion was asked again."I suppose the white man from Tulga acted on behalf of the oracle.""How do you come to that?""Only the oracle could know that you areholding the Hy warrior prisoner." Katthike remained silent and considered. What did Soghul of Tulga do in wishing Hy's death? What did the highly respected oracle have to do with this matter? And who was this oracle anyway? Nobody knew that exactly. It was only said that Soghul was old as a rock and lived in seclusion with a few faithful novices. And his blind eyes would be the same color as his skin: namely, pure, brilliant white! For this reason, he allegedly lived in a cave, protected from the light of the sun, deep inside the silent mountain of Tulghan, which could be reached via a single steep path known only to his novices. The reputation of the oracle in all the surrounding countries was almost that
The Setna struggled for breath for an answer and uttered the words in a dragging voice:" M-my name is Raeson. Please call me Raeson. I am not worthy of you calling me Setna because I ... I failed! I didn't see it and couldn't protect my people, as it would have been my job! ”Tears ran uncontrollably down his face and his hands began to shake violently again. Sorgha wondered again, concerned, whether the prince would even manage to kill himself. The oracle had prepared him to lend a hand if necessary, but he still dreaded it."Dear Setna, you didn't fail!" He tried to calm Raeson. “Al Nor, the exalted guardian of the future, decides what we should and should not see. Even my great Lord and Master Soghul could not see it. But this time it has been fate itself that has kept the door to the future tightly closed, and against the will of the higher powers even our gods are powerless. But the will of the universe must happen so that other elements can bereborn f
Only two days later the ship entered the port of Salapolis in Graçe. Sorgha disembarked unrecognized and carefully looked around the harbor. The news of the search for a novice from Tulga had probably not got this far. But that reassured him little, because the captors of the King of Askhar could already sit on the next ship that crossed there off the coast! He had to leave Salapolis as soon as possible. Without much detours he went to the cattle market and bought a good horse there. He left the city unobtrusively and headed north. There was a very long way ahead of him, many days of riding. To be on the safe side, he kept a good distance from the border in the east, behind which the New Askhar lay.He rode for two days and nights and only then took a break. In a little wood he changed his clothes again, washed his face and turned back into a white-skinned novice from Tulga. That would bring him more advantages from now on, since the oracle's emissaries had free right
Red was the color of triumph, the blood of the enemy soaked the earth red, and the sky shone red on the evening of battle. Victory was celebrated by the fires, the warriors sang of courage. Afterwards, later in the night, the generals discussed the embers.The great mountains were not easy. It was sharp and toothed: the catch of a wolf. The apron of his rocky dress was gray and insurmountable, and the gullies and ravines for no reason. But in one place it opens its arms invitingly and lets people through, and over its back. A broad pass behind which it opens up, the Hyaun heartland, unprotected like the womb of a virgin.But like mad rats on the threshold of the dungeon, the enemy fought back. He scratched and spat, bit and spat, stubbornly held himself under the shelter of the rocks. Didn't the big, gray wolf finally want to shake these vermin out of its fur?Once again the generals conferred with bright red heads, but the King of the Askharers in his cunning o
The vision seemed to repeat itself. The raven flew and flew. Suddenly the Setna felt that he was being pulled there, and suddenly the eyes of the raven were his own eyes and his wings were his arms. Slowly he slid across the landscape. The cold tips of the Junghal rose from beneath him, and like a thin trickle of blood, Askhar's army wound its way through the deep snow, man behind man. He could see the soldiers in their red armor line up at the foot of the pass, and the warriors of Hys lurking behind their makeshift barricades. The raven, with which the Setna had become one, sank lower, and as it circled between the steep, snow-laden slopes, it accidentally grazed one of the virginally glittering surfaces with its wing tip. At first there was only a small cut in the otherwise untouched, white blanket, but then there was a deep rumble and the cut tore open. After that everything was white. The sky, the air, the earth, everything.The Setna opened its eyes. The meaning of the v