Inside his tent, the shaman of Thaelen folk had visions. The visions changed in an irregular pattern. He moved in his tent, unable to sleep. Were the gods speaking to him? He wasn't used to this. He was desperately trying to close his eyes. There was no use. He couldn't sleep.
At dawn, the visions stopped. He found peace at least to sleep. Everything seemed okay, until the visions started again. The shaman runs to the river. He knelt. The water's surface was calm. He looked at his reflection. He could recognize himself. The man in the water was dark haired with brown eyes. His face was decorated with war paints. The clothes, he was wearing, we decorated in the same pattern. His face changed. The face melted, revealing a much powerful shaman. The Thaelen shaman moved a step backward. The man turned, his face and hair were darker.
“You can't run,” the man said.
“I can,” the shaman replied.
“There is no use in running.”
The inside of the cave was dark. Aletharin, a six-degree evoker, waited for his mentor. His chainmail shirt moved his every movement. This was the first time; he was wearing a chainmail shirt. The rings of the chainmail shirt were small, the smallest he ever saw. Underneath the shirt, he was wearing a gambeson and boiled leather jerkin. He moved like the wind. His eyes were glowing in the darkness. He waited.Something large must be happening, Aletharin thought. When those an evoker need armor? Maybe, there is a challenge. I'm ready for anything.His mentor appeared from the darkness, in his hand, he was holding a breastplate.“Are you ready?” his mentor said.“Yes,” Aletharin replied.“I don't know who the challenger is.”“That's strange...”“I only know that he's from a different school.”“From where?”“From Alsberia.”The mentor
The crooked-nosed sorcerer stood near the main square, looking at the ordinary world as they passed, doing their business and daily routines. His cape moves with the periodical beating of the wind. He was early, earlier than what they had agreed. The stone wall looked promising; he moved to it and placed his left boot, which was made from deer skin, on the freshly dried wall. He didn't care, the spectacle that was about to happen was more interesting than some other wall. He waited. The world, around him, moved, he looked at the women with firm breasts. There a few that returned the favor. In the group, he was the only one single. Savan and Laert fought for the same woman.Savan walked slowly down the cobblestone street. His gaze was focused on the sorcerer. He returned the stare, but not for long. He turned the other way. There was something icy about his gaze, something that made him feel uneasy.The sorcerer moved from the wall, stood there for a few seconds and sta
In a certain country there lived an Emperor with his wife, who had three handsome sons; the eldest was named Prince Villam, and the second Prince Felard, and the youngest son Prince Isben. One day the Emperor went out with his Empress for a walk in the garden, and on a sudden a violent storm came on, which carried off the Empress from his sight. The Emperor was very much grieved, and mourned a long time for his wife; and the two eldest sons, seeing their father’s sorrow, begged his blessing and permission to go forth and wander in search of their mother. So he consented, and dismissed them.The two sons travelled for a long time, until at length they came to a wide desert, where they pitched their tents, and waited until someone should pass who might show them the way. For three whole years they waited, but saw no one.Meanwhile the youngest brother, Prince Isben, grew up, and went likewise to his father, begged his blessing, and took leave. And he wandered for a
THE HERO Peace lasted for 300 long years, until one day, while I walked down the lonely forest path, something large appeared from the bushes. The large creature had a nightmarish appearance; the sharp rows of dagger-like teeth, that appeared under the upper lip, gleamed in the shade, the small, narrow placed eyes shinned with an unnatural fiery glow. I moved a step back. The creature followed. I took out my sword; the creature eyed me with a stony stare. "You think you stand a chance against me?"the creature hissed. "You're brave or foolish or both at the same time." "Who knows?" "Ravens cry in the night, When someone is gonna die. The devil prepares the graves. The wolves, Heralds of the Wolf God are coming. Footsteps coming closer. The wolves, side by side… They come… They
A HARGAN FOLK STORYThere was once a girl who was wiser than the King and all his councilors; there never was anything like it. Her father was so proud of her that he boasted about her cleverness at home and abroad. He could not keep his tongue still about it. One day he was boasting to one of his neighbors, and he said, “The girl is so clever that not even the King himself could ask her a question she couldn't answer, or read her a riddle she couldn't unravel.”Now it so chanced the King was sitting at a window nearby, and he overheard what the girl's father was saying. The next day he sent for the man to come before him. “I hear you have a daughter who is so clever that no one in the kingdom can equal her; and is that so?” asked the King.Yes, it was no more than the truth. Too much could not be said of her wit and cleverness.That was well, and the King was glad to hear it. He had thirty eggs; they were fresh and good, but it wo
A FOLK TALE Once there was a king, who had three sons and only one daughter, who was caged and kept as his most precious possession. When the girl matured, she asked her father to let her go out with her brothers for a walk around the castle, the father agreed. When she went out, a dragon appeared out of nowhere, grabbed her and disappeared into the clouds. The brothers ran to their father and told him what happened. They will gladly search for their sister. Their father agreed, gave them each a horse and everything what they will need on the road, and so they went. On their long journey they, finally, found a castle that levitated between the clouds and the ground. They thought that their sister might be in there high above them. They started making a plan. The brothers thought and thought, until they came up with a plan. The plan was simple, they need a rope, but where to find a rope, in the middle of nowhere, they turned towards the horses. The two younger b
I Some stories are true, but most are half true. It depends what you prefer. But the story I’m about to tell is more than true. I remember the events that occurred some five hundred years ago like they were yesterday. There are only a few more events that are deeply engraved in my memory besides this one. Allow me start with the cold, boring facts about how it all began. The land, where I am from, lays far beyond the forest, hidden by tall, snowy mountain peaks and unknown and hard to track terrain, ruled over by a certain Prince Val Dragwer, or in the native language Val Dracul the Third. A prince, a general, a warrior, a warlord all of this he is; but above else he’s a strategist that carefully calculates his every move, in order to gain the upper hand and save as much of his people as he can. Generous and terrible, merciful and cruel, he’s all this and more at the same time. But this isn’t a story about him, this stories is about how I got
SCENE ILablin, one of the few larger towns in Rowena, is and always will remain a lively place, to say the least, more entertaining than most places and less entertaining than a few better places. Even to this day there is no difference; most people hope that there won’t be one and that things will never change. Who would like to change in a place like this? Nobody in the right mind state, but there are those that would. Who could blame them? Nobody, maybe they like the quietness of village or the song of the mountains as they snake their way through the shear, rugged and cold mountain paths. People have different tastes, in everything, but most returned to Lablin. Why you may ask? The people themselves couldn’t answer. Some would say it’s the market, the theater, the library, the square, the city hall or maybe it’s because of the pedlars. Whatever th