Hello everyone who has been waiting so longingly for a sequel to Engel + Blut and a curse. I hope this part is only nearly as good as my predecessors! I hope you like it!

Thanks again to amiel that you pushed me, I had a lot of fun writing!



Have fun while reading!



When I left the protective walls of the village, I felt the pride rise within me. It feels like I've overcome a big hurdle. I marched on happily. Soon I came to a small stream over which a wooden bridge ran. The brook was barely five feet wide and not very deep; the bridge seemed unnecessary to me. I paused for a moment, puzzled, and studied her. It was barely decorated, only a few patterns adorned the sides, and a few gleaming emeralds were inlaid in the railing. I carefully stroked the beautiful stones. Suddenly an indescribable desire overcame me and I broke a stone out of the light wood.I cradled it gently in the palm of my hand.

I'd waited long enough to let Talius catch up with me. But I didn't notice him until he looked over my shoulder and tore the emerald from my hands. He stared at me in amazement. "This is a sacred stone, you mustn't steal it!" He breathed, shocked by my deed. He ran to the bridge and nervously tried to push the stone back into the bridge railing. He was not very skillful and the emerald fell into the water. I fished it out and wiped my dress dry. "This is a sacred stone, you have to be careful with it," I scoffed and put it in my pocket. The amazed look on Talius' face still didn't wane. "What? I'm a pirate and not a moralist! I've looted and stolen all my life and the fact that the emerald is sacred won't prevent me from taking it with me!" He shook his head but left mine Stone.



With good things I stepped on the bridge and crossed it. But when I was about in the middle of the wooden crossing, I suddenly couldn't go any further. It was like walking into a wall. I tried with all my might to move, but I got no further. On the contrary. An invisible force grabbed the collar of my dress and threw me back into the forest. I felt an oak branch dig deep into the back of my head. The warm blood ran down my neck. "Shit," I muttered.

Talius immediately ran to help me. A satisfying smile lay on his lips. "Well, Anliq, you probably misjudged yourself a bit," he said and grinned. “The guard of the village is not to be trifled with!” “Shut up and get me down here!” I shouted angrily and held out my hands. He took it and pulled me from the tree. With a smacking sound, my head peeled off the bark and I landed roughly on Talius."But, but, not so stormy!" He joked and grinned. My eyes narrowed into slits and glared at him. "Shut up!" I snapped. At the moment I really wasn't in the mood for jokes. I grabbed the back of my head. The black curls hid a wound about the size of a fist that reached deep into my skull. Under different circumstances, in other words: a mortal life, I would be dead now. Thick, dark red blood stained the neckline of my cotton robe.



I got up angrily and stared at the bridge. I still couldn't see anything. "Who did you say threw me against the tree?" I asked Talius. "The guard," he replied. "He makes sure that no people come into the village of immortals and no immortals leave. Naturinus has drawn a spell around our village, the river is the border. We cannot go beyond it!" I was disappointed. I didn't want to stay in this village, I couldn't.To stay here forever, at least until I was the oldest, and that alone would take forever. There had to be a way to get out of here. It had to be like that! Somehow I would manage to break the spell of Naturinus.

The pain in my skull made it difficult for me to think clearly. Reflexively, I took the emerald in my hand and twisted it between my fingers. It was a habit I'd developed on my mother's ship. Whenever I had to think clearly, I would take a gold coin from her treasure chest and slide it through my fingers. It helped keep a cool head. I closed my tired eyelids. Just the thought of mother's ship made me calmer.

What I would have given to stand on the railing of the Cadeya at that moment and inhale the gentle sea air. The salty scent was in my nose and under my feet I felt the gentle movement of the waves.My feet started moving by themselves and went to the bridge. I heard the creaking boards and prepared myself to fly through the air again and hit one of the trees. But nothing of the sort happened. When I opened my eyes I was on the other side of the bridge.



I looked around in amazement to make sure that I hadn't made a mistake and that I had actually crossed the bridge. My heart jumped when I was absolutely certain that I had reached the destination of my 'journey'. A smile settled on my lips, for the first time in years I was really happy again. I wondered why I had been able to cross the bridge now. My eyes rolled over to Talius. He stared at me like I'd stolen one of those stupid stones again. Suddenly it dawned on me: "Talius, take one of the emeralds!"

"What should I do?" He asked confused.He must have thought that now I was completely insane to try to get him to steal one of his beloved stones. "He'll take you over the bridge! Take one, otherwise you'll have to stay in this village and you'll never become a pirate!" he seemed to see that. Carefully and reverently, he broke a stone from the railing. It seemed to take forever. I remember rolling my eyes and about to leave when he finally made it. He proudly held it up in the air. The sun's rays were reflected off the brilliant green of the stone. I couldn't help but grin.

Talius put the stone in his fist and ran across the bridge. Since he, like me, had closed his eyes, he could not see whether he had already crossed the bridge. So I tripped him up to make sure he didn't run into a tree. He ran into it at high speed and rolled over a few times before coming to a stop with his nose sunk into the ground.When he got up, I saw blood oozing out of her. But he was tough and wiped the blood from his upper lip with the sleeve of his shirt. He looked at me angrily. "You could have saved yourself that, Anliq," he snorted.



We hiked south about two miles until we came to a small fishing village built around a bay. Small, thatched-roof houses lined the path to the harbor. We strolled through the streets, followed by the curious gaze of the villagers. I was particularly stared at by them, which was probably due to the red-colored fabric of my dress. Fortunately, the wound on my head had already healed, otherwise they would probably have burned me as a witch. But that wouldn't have helped them either.

We sat in a small tavern and spent the rest of the day making plans for what to do with tomorrow. When the landlord finally locked his shop, we set off for the harbor.There we discovered a small fishing boat that was anchored unguarded. I gave Talius a meaningful look and before he could contradict me, I ran up the ship's plank. He had no choice but to follow me. Reluctantly, he untied the anchor line and pushed the boat away from the dock. A light breeze carried us away from the village and out to sea. Talius felt guilty for stealing a poor fisherman's boat, but I was just glad to be at sea again at last.

The next morning I felt free and happy, although I had to sleep on the hard planks of the deck, since the ship had only a small cabin, which I had given to Talius, besides a small navigation room, which was crammed with nautical charts and all kinds of instruments . After all, it was his first night on the open sea and I felt more comfortable on deck anyway. I watched the stars well into the night and let the fresh sea air waft around my nose.Around midnight we anchored in a small bay a little further north so as not to be surprised by a storm while we were sleeping. I was pleased to finally be able to pick up a steering wheel again and set off to new, unexplored islands.

We circled the island at a suitable distance and then sailed south until after a few weeks we finally landed the coast of a huge peninsula. Today her name is Spain. Delighted to finally see land again, we headed for it. On the evening of the next day we moored in a small bay. It was uninhabited, but we were confident that we would meet people soon. I was looking forward to going to a pub and finally being able to feel something other than fish on my tongue.

In the past few weeks we had to fight hard to keep our little boat from capsizing. Stormy waves had gnawed at the bow and storms nearly tore our little sail.In some nights it had raged so badly that we had to share the small cabin in order not to be washed off board. But with a lot of skill and even more stamina, we finally managed to moor safely in the bay. Unfortunately, we had hardly taken any provisions with us, so our staple food was all kinds of fish. He was already hanging out on my neck.

We tied our little ship securely to a tree and entered the unknown country. After a walk of about an hour we finally reached a village. I was happy to finally be able to exchange my unwieldy cotton dress for pirate clothes. The emerald in my pocket must have been worth a small fortune, but to find out I had to first see a goldsmith. I hoped to find one soon who also dealt in jewels. Fortunately for me, I actually discovered one in a small back alley. He gave me a sack full of gold coins for my stone.I got pirate clothes for good things and improved our provisions. With the last of the money we sat down in a small inn and ordered a hearty meal.

In the evening we left for our ship with a freshly filled stomach. The streets were already dark, only the moon shone on the cobblestone ground. In the silvery light I recognized a man who was walking straight towards us ...



So, I hope