small number of stars came with it. The cool of the night roamed the plants and these slowly but defiantly closed their colorful flowers. Now, he could see that between the black tree tops, he recognized a few small, simple huts and houses nailed together from boards, from which weak and at the same time subdued light shone outside. A little look up was enough to see that it was already night and the sun had disappeared behind the mountains. He strolled purposefully on the shore of the lake, which was almost steep, was overgrown with reed bushes and he had to be very careful, to the almost tiny buildings to meet his two brothers and the other princes there, because they had made out one after the other from the castle disappear so as not to attract so much attention.He, Warior, was the penultimate of the total of six princes and was therefore supposed to carry the sword, as the others wanted to secure the way and later Isribus, the last, would come to them as well, as he himself decided to bring up the rear . The lake was clear and clean, apart from a few water lily leaves, and the shore seemed green at first glance, but in reality it was just moss that happened to flow into the cool water like a soft carpet. When the newcomer opened the wooden door, bright, warm light fell in his eyes and he only blinked a few times before he stepped in completely and let the door close behind him. His eyes really needed a few minutes to fully adjust to the brightness, although it wasn't that bright at all, but still small, blind spots appeared on the retina, which always wandered with him when he moved his eyes or let them wander through the room. His first look was at the landlord of the dining room, an old, gray man whose face was tanned by wind and weather and who gleefully pushed a straw through his mouth, then he looked at the table, at which five well-known warriors in full gear sat and calmly pushed the beer mugs to their lips.Among them were his two brothers, Gisildur and Savamir. He only knew the other two by sight and so eyed them intensely, suspiciously and with a slight fit of hope for a good hook. Immediately he decided that the landlord was sullen, furtive and quite stupid, as his alcohol streak and his reddened nose with the apple streams showed. He was probably on rehab at the moment, because the yellow straw in his mouth was already pretty bitten and he wore gray full-body pajamas, which could be described as dungarees for bed, and slippers. His hair was gray and was beginning to fall out, but his chin and neck were covered with stubble, also gray hair. The eyes looked dreamy, but still quite cunning, and his hands were also reddened, as if after counting money. After further viewing him, he stamped him as a fool and greedy sack. A group of curly-headed children and a plump woman with them were probably the host's family.They seemed used to the life of ordinary people and watched them play the board game a little while the woman laughed happily and clapped her hands when one of the smaller children made a decisive move. Nice, he thought, because even a king's envoy longed for family and children. Farther back in the corner, where the interplay of light and shadow was strongest, crouched a figure clad in black, which now, when it noticed Warior's glances, carefully pulled its claw-like foot out of the light into the shadow. The black one was labeled as mysterious and then he had no more time to think about the two strangers at his table, because he was waved over by his brother Gisildur.


"Now we're just waiting for Isribus!" Badenius murmured in a low voice and looked at the innkeeper. As if he could have read his mind, he strolled behind the counter and began to tap two large beers.Badenius was a stocky fellow with funny eyes, a rigid mouth, and shoulder-length blond hair. Warior sat down with them and leaned close to Gisildur 's ear. "Who are these guys?" asked he.


“That one over there is Kalikor,” whispered Gisildur and nodded his head in his direction, “and that's Badenius!” Badenius had an arrogant look and played a tough smile. His hair was cut short, dark brown, and his head was propped on the backs of both hands. Warior knew the last one, he was one of his real brothers and saw him almost every day in the courtyard training or on royal missions like this one today. But these used to be only a day long at most and this time they would definitely need more than three weeks to travel through the eastern countries. Suddenly he noticed that the blonde was staring at him the whole time, smiling somewhat conspiratorially.


"So ... how are you?" he brought out suddenly and looked at Warior with strained eyes.He, Warior, was the youngest and had always hated excitement and action of this kind, but his father was able to use army officers to point out to him, with great force, that once in a lifetime one had served in a real battle . Of course, the noble Lord King had also shown him the heroes of the earlier battles in books, but he had apparently completely forgotten the misery and the crippled old people, who still today reported the most terrible things about the war. He chased the thought away with a blink and turned to whoever had asked him.


"Well!" answered the one with the mighty sword after some hesitation, a grin crossed Kalikor 's face, he straightened up half standing, half bent over and held out the hand wrapped in a leather glove to Warior.


"Calicor!" he imagined when the other grabbed his hand and shook it with little joy.

"Warior!" he said and curtsied, "I'm happy to meet you!"


“No, no,” denied the other, “the joy is entirely on my side!” Badenius, who had watched sullenly the whole time, trembled with tension and finally he got up halfway and held out his hand as well.


"Badenius ..." he stuttered and the one with the sword said with a smile:


"It's an honor for me! You were probably also located as a weapon bearer?" Surprised, the one from the Order of the Dragon nodded again and now didn't seem as arrogant as it was five minutes ago, rather fearful and a little superstitious. Now Warior also noticed that Badenius had to be younger than him, even though he knew he was the youngest. Indeed, this man looked strangely younger and more disturbed than usual for his age and, unlike his precocious brothers, seemed to take the situation very seriously. Actually it was like that, but everyone else radiated calm and strength and in a brief moment it seemed to Warior as if the one with the hectic movements already knew what to expect in the near future.Restlessly, he tapped his fingers on the table top, observed everything and everyone precisely and even when the landlord came by with a mug, he read his eyes briefly to the door, to the counter and back to the angular man. The whole thing happened so quickly that Warior wouldn't be able to tell anything about the color of his eyes if someone asked him about it, but immediately he knew that the probability of receiving such a question was pretty low. So he first took a strong sip, dipping his lips through the head of foam into the yellow liquor. Again he looked at the strange guy and this time he noticed:


"What are you looking at?" he stuttered, feeling caught.


"Nothing, I ..." he pondered the answer for a moment, "... you seem so disturbed today! ... Not that I would have seen you on other days, just ..." he got tangled up and now realized the others with extreme shock, which Warior had long since noticed.

"Yeah, what about you?" asked Savamir, also one of Warior 's brothers, inquiring and yet amused at the same time.


"Is it because of Warior?" Kalikor intervened questioningly and also with burning interest, "When he hadn't turned up here, you were much calmer!"


"It's not because of him, but because of that ..." Badenius shuddered with an expression on his face that scared the others, angled his arm gently and slowly stretched his index finger in the direction in which it was completely dark. Warior was about to turn around when his brother held him back:


"Are you crazy? Don't turn around!" After a short breather, Warior asked more surreptitiously than whispering and in a calm voice: “What do you see, Badenius?” The latter did not answer immediately but pulled the allies closer together in a small circle above the table.


"There is a man sitting in the shade over there!" he whispered as if it were the most terrible thing in the world, but in a certain sense he was right, because apart from them, the host's family and the man there was no other soul in the room.Suddenly Warior became aware of a small clattering noise in the kitchen, but immediately recognized that the mindless landlord had screwed up again and listened to Badenius again.


"So what is so special about it?" the blond asked softly and gave a slight shrug of his shoulders, on which the shoulder pads rocked.


"He has such a special skin ..." he paused and the stuttering could no longer be ignored, "... as if burned ... and the fire of the earth shines in his eyes ..." With fire of the earth had to Lava was meant, that was clear to Warior, but what did that have to do with a person, or wasn't that a person? Everyone looked at each other questioningly and moved back into their first, bored position in order to maintain the appearance of ignorance. Each of them knew what it was now, immediately Gisildur fingered a piece of parchment, a glass of ink and a quill from his backpack and the one with the second sword took it in his convulsively trembling hand.After a few minutes he had scrawled some almost illegible words on it and handed the devices to whoever they belonged to. Immediately Warior threw a furtive and at the same time secret look at the note, although he knew that this was not a crime, and immediately forgot