Lata peeked out from behind the king. A sneering twitch at the corner of his mouth revealed that in his absence he had regained the upper hand in the king's favor. Kasai mastered the muscles of his own face, although he wanted to smash the Konsulta's smeary grin. He calmly placed his right hand on his chest and bowed to the king and his bastard child. In a firm voice he swore the oath of loyalty. His Askharic soul, however, was offended to the core. It had been passed over, the Patriotic League had been passed over! Only this mangy, foreign schemer from a consul could be behind this!
The eyes of the rivals met, and Kasai's embers cooled in the cold, frozen lakes of Lata. You could almost have thought you heard a faint hissing sound.
When the courtesy was finally satisfied, the king gave the general permission to leave. Kasai looked down and noticed the Crown Prince Kanaima, who had been deprived of his right of inheritance. The twelve-year-old stood motionless in the s
"Prince Kanaima, Your Highness the Queen, is asking for you!"Kanaima fought back the disbelief that wanted to show on his face and instead nodded shyly.The young messenger bowed briefly, turned and walked away. The captain looked sternly at Kanaima, he couldn't stand being interrupted in the middle of the exercise.“Capitano, I am expected by the queen. You allow? ”Kanaima asked politely, although he knew that the word of the head of the bodyguard was far below the queen's command. But he didn't want to annoy the grumpy warrior any more."Hm, go on, get out! But today you don't have to turn up at my place! ”He growled.Kanaima pulled off his helmet and walked away with measured steps. Only when he reached the crew quarters did he allow himself a smile. In his quarters, he took off his heavy protective clothing and rough undergarment and washed himself in a bucket. He wanted to appear cleanly in front of his mother. As he did so,
It was a ruse." Laika pulled Kanaima over to the queen's bed, where they sat. Her gaze fell on her brother's blue swollen right hand. She gently embraced her."It's not that bad," said Kanaima. Embarrassed by her care, he withdrew the hand that Rebian had hit with the wooden sword while practicing. "Tell me how you did that?"Laika smiled conspiratorially. “I snuck in here this morning, and when the maid turned her back on our mother, I let her speak. 'Bring me my son!' ", She mimicked the croak and laughed. “You should have seen the maid's face, she was scared to death! But she called the messenger and sent him to you. And here you are now. ”She spread her hands.Kanaima had to grin, he would never have trusted his sister to do such a clever thing. They talked quietly for a while, listening to noises outside the door. But everything remained calm, not even her mother moved. You had enough time."Oh, and do you already know the latest?"
He looked dreamily over the whitewashed walls at the choir. The fields and meadows of the farmers of the clan all around began at the foot of the lofty fortress. Scattered in it were courtyards, barns, the warrior's training grounds, orchards and other small groups of trees. Cows, sheep and horses grazed on the pastures. They were seen as small white and brown spots.The forest began after the fields. As far as the eye could see, it covered the gently rolling hills around the choir. Here and there the great watchtowers, the Choron, protruded from the tops of the trees in a still visible distance. At long intervals they flanked the roads through the land of Hy. The closest neighbors of the Shari clan were the people of the Rinzai clan, which was about a day's ride to the west.Raen looked to the east again and squinted into the sun, which was already a hand's breadth above the ridge of the hill. Directly behind the range of hills the river Resch meandered to the north,
Each day of school began with religious instruction and prayers. Writing and reading took place at the same time as religious instruction for the two younger classes. A priest was always present to support the teachers.Raen liked to write the very demanding script, which was not easy to learn, but could not be surpassed in the beauty of every single letter. Like all children, it would take him at least four years to master them for normal use. And everyone attached the same importance to it, even if one or the other might later not need to write.After a short break, I continued with the teaching of how to behave towards one's fellow human beings. This consisted of two books: The Rules of Community and the Canon of Honor.“So, my dear children,” the teacher began and raised his index finger, “what are the first three virtues that the rules of the community teach us?”“Modesty, obedience and diligence!” Replied the chil
Suddenly the sun disappeared behind a cloud and shadows penetrated the trees. The undergrowth rustled and the white horses became restless. All pairs of ears were focused on the noise in order to investigate its cause. It rustled again, and a loud snort came from the same direction. The bushes parted and a peculiar red horse broke out of it, head drooping. At the touch of the horse, the leaves of the bushes immediately began to wither. And even where his hooves met the ground, the fresh green gave way to withered brown. The white horses tossed their heads up and neighed excitedly when the red horse came up to them. Yes, it really was a strange red for a horse, something like that of crushed raspberries. And there seemed to be something wrong with the fur, it was strangely damp. Drops of red fell from mane and tail. It had to be color. But who painted a horse red? The horse lowered its head again and shook itself. Small droplets flew through the forest, hit fern leaves, tree bark and
Roman didn't say much when Alea told him about Raen that evening. A vague hunch came over him, but he didn't let it show. For the past few years he had hoped the oracle might have been wrong. That Raen was a perfectly normal kid and would grow up to be a normal member of society. But with this event, this hope received its first fine crack. Or maybe it was just a one-off curiosity, a coincidence. Secretly, however, Roman knew better. There were no coincidences. He hung his shoulders and looked out the window into the twilight. He wondered, worried, where it was all going?“Don't worry, Alea,” he said at last, “Raen probably just glanced into the slaughterhouse without permission and can't get the pictures out of his head.”“Then talk to him about it again, Roman. You know how people talk about us if he doesn't stop. Explain it to him. ”“ Yes, I will, I promise, ”he soothed Alea's fear, while his own restlessness f
Katthike forgot his solemn expression and began to smile widely. That was what he wanted to achieve! Not that salivating meant that much to him, but the empire was easier to rule when the people admired its king.While Katthike was happy about his success, that of Kanaima failed to materialize. Despite great inner tension, the young prince tried to appear calm and he pretended to be interested in the solemn events downstairs in the arena. But all his senses were focused on Setna to the right. It couldn't really be long before the chair would give way, because the little, never calm whirlwind was playing around on it.To the great joy of the mob, Katthike finally opened the actual tournament, and the warriors marched into the arena to enthusiastic cheers. Kanaima continued to squint to the right. But nothing happened. The chair stopped.The sword fighters began and everyone cheered. The fighting was not about life or death, although fatal injuries were frequent.
The last four shooters competed against each other. With their short, curved bows, they shot the arrows accurately into the straw discs more than seventy paces away. And every time an arrow hit the black, only fist-sized center, the audience cheered enthusiastically. The winner of this competition was also a man from the closest ranks of the king, which was no wonder, because Katthike was always careful to only surround himself with the best warriors of his country, whom he used to select for himself with a sure and trained eye .Kanaima yawned at the award ceremony. He really didn't care for archers. He definitely preferred the direct fight in the face of the enemy! He glanced up at the palace towers, but nothing moved there. Setna stayed away.With the oppressive feeling of having failed, he endured the next exhibition fights. He just couldn't take pleasure in the festivities any more, even if his sister on the other side tried again and again to cheer him up by clic