Chapter 1
The evergreen forest

Puffing, the snow-white horse dived through the meter-high snow, which had been resting for days on the otherwise lush green earth, and made the platinum-blonde hair as well as the long mother-of-pearl-colored dress of his rider flutter. To the detriment of her pursuers, who on brown horses close behind her on the white ground could not always see exactly where she was. The clear, snow-soaked air roared heavily around the young girl's ears, which contributed to the fact that they began to ache. The gray mare's nostrils trembled with the exertion after the long sprint through the tough snow, which rarely revealed open spaces, but the fearful rider pushed on relentlessly to get even faster and to get more distance from the black riders behind her .

The white mare galloped straight to the snow-covered forest and in her hustle and bustle to finally get away from this terrible place, the white rider did not notice the unnatural silence that had taken hold of the forest and rode straight into the otherwise cheerful place Grove into it.“Andor steers, ne lil lepta igna!” Dear gods, help me! she whispered softly, when she noticed it, into the increasingly oppressive darkness and, not fully aware of her own thoughts, wondered what the beautiful forest, besieged by singing birds, in such a short time, became such a desolate appendage of the otherwise so perfect appearing world, could have transformed. Every single bird seemed to have flown out, every leaf seemed firmly rooted in its place and every sound of the many horses on the half-rotted ground seemed to be silent before it reached the ears of the quickly galloping forest visitors. The white-robed girl did not look back to gauge the distance between herself and the swift pursuers, nor did she stop to give the exhausted horse a rest, because she instinctively knew that as soon as she did it and looked into the eyes of her pursuers, would be lost. Due to the eerie silence, she couldn't even say for sure whether the black pursuers were behind her at all, but she still didn't dare even try to look.The further she rode into the thick forest, the darker and quieter it became. Her beloved white mare puffed her nostrils nervously, jerked her head up in a rush, higher than the startled Reiteri

Now come on be quiet! she tried to calm the now completely frightened horse and almost screamed. She still tried to keep the horse in check with the reins, but in panic the shy horse jerked its head forward and dashed forward at dizzying speed, further into the forest, which had become invisible by the thick fog. Slowly the fear climbed on the two fugitives, just like the increasingly thick fog on the trees, which had been weathered in a short time, and let time stand still. The panicked panting of the mare, glowing white even in the dark, changed abruptly to bizarre screams of fear, of the hard-breathing animal, which echoed in the air and seemed distorted like the wailing of the forest. Frightened by its own fearful noises, the horse swerved to one side and fell lengthways to the ground.The graceful rider had jumped to the side out of reflex, but she too could not prevent a hard impact with her bottom on the frozen ground. After seconds of shock, the exhausted mare straightened up, only to slump back with difficulty, she was too exhausted to go on.

"Ekta, plas ek ...!" No, please don't ...! she whispered and now had to face the black men who were still somewhere behind her. Although she could not say at what distance, but far away they could not be, because a loud crack, not in their immediate vicinity, but still clearly heard, made her jump up. She looked around hurriedly in all directions and could, although blurred and unidentifiable, make out movements in the infinite depths of the forest still veiled by mist. She tried to heave the completely exhausted mare up from the forest floor and disappear from this accursed place, because she could make out more detailed shadows moving in her direction."Yle kum le, plas ...!" Come on, please ...! she ruled the poor beast and managed to get the still puffing mare off the ground and set it in motion. Without thinking, she dragged the shy horse on and, holding it by the reins, ran deeper and deeper into this cursed forest and the mare followed. But it was taking too long, the quietly creeping pursuers seemed to get closer and closer, despite the attempts to escape. She stopped and turned around, letting go of the mare, which then sank back to the ground. "Linanta ancon li ek ara d'en rana xetra futre yenatre ji kanta." Actually, I didn't plan to use this again in the near future. she murmured softly to herself and took a long object from the mare's saddle and held it, stretched away, towards the approaching shadows. The creeping steps became louder and louder, the people began to grasp them, became more and more recognizable and finally revealed their appearance.A quick glance at the badge on the leader's uniform gave her the confirmation she needed.

The silence had settled over the forest again, but this time the faint cracking of the hooves on the ground when they were crushing a branch, strong and heavy, could be clearly heard. The white rider with her white horse had set out again slowly and with difficulty, but she couldn't say how long she had been moving since the encounter, she couldn't even say the day of the week. She had been in this forest too long to be able to say anything about her surroundings. Her judgment and her senses were stunted after the long march in that night-black something.
As she looked at her hands and her dress, she had to remember the past, at the same moment a lonely tear ran down her cheek. She immediately wiped them away and mentally rebuked herself for having promised not to cry anymore. She began to freeze and threw her arms around her body to drive away the cold that sapped her and leaned against the soft, warm mare.The mare, who sensed a break, pulled her legs under her body at the same time and lay drowsy on the floor. Despite the long, leisurely run, the horse and rider had not yet recovered from the exhausting escape and so the girl gratefully sank to the mare's side. Let lil d'en iknet arastek ... let me get through it all well ...

After a while she pulled away from the horse and pulled the beige halter to get her to stand up. The mare was already rested enough to be able to sit on her again and in order to get more distance she rode quickly without paying attention to whether she was burdening the mare too much, rode further and further into the enchanted one without looking at the path Forest. The sound of a gurgling stream or a lake caught her attention, she stopped and peered into the darkness to see something, but nothing but the sound could be heard, she rode on towards the stream or whatever it was.Little by little the splashing got louder, after a few minutes, it seemed to her, she had reached a hot spring, steam hung close to the surface of the water and you could see some animals swimming in it. In order not to scare the animals off, she quietly took off the mare's saddle and slowly undressed. At first she just tipped her toes into the water to determine the temperature of the spring. Slowly she climbed further in and pulled the mare along by the reins. It was pleasantly warm, all the wounds she had sustained during the escape began to tingle a little at the beginning and she noticed how with slight pain, shreds of the dried blood were moving away from the healed skin.