Chapter 2
"Where am I and what am I doing here?" asks Dawin into the darkness that surrounded him. When he opened his eyes he found himself in a dark hut that he did not know. He got up to look around, but immediately sat down again because everything was spinning in his head. Slowly he raised his hand and touched his temple. Immediately pain flashed through his head. He had quite a bump. He must have fallen while trying to follow the cracking noise.
But where did he end up here, and where was the being that he had seen? Had he just imagined it? Again he tried to get up and this time he succeeded even if he was a little wobbly on his legs. He looked around the hut with watchful eyes. In one corner there was a small square table on which a candle flickered that would probably go out soon because it had burned down a lot and the flame was rather weak. A jug made of old tin stood next to the candle.Dawin hobbled over to the table to find out what's in the jug, it was water. Only now did he notice the thirst he was feeling. After he had emptied half the mug, he continued to look around.

The whole room was rather small and very low. If he stretched, he could touch the ceiling. In the room there was also a closet in which there were also some clothes which was not particularly exciting, but what surprised him was that the clothes were all very old. He could also discover an old kitchenette and a kind of cupboard. Basically everything in this hut looked like it hadn't been used in a long time. "If nobody lives here, how did I get here? Who brought me here and for what purpose did he save me?"
Dawin couldn't explain these questions. After looking at his clothes, he went back to the closet and pulled on a new shirt as his own was torn. That must have happened with the fall too.The shirt from the closet fitted him exactly what unsettled him a little.
Now, however, something else caught his attention and distracted him from the shirt. Something was moving in front of the hut and Dawin remembered the sound it made all too well. He crept quietly to the door and opened it a crack. Outside in the courtyard was a large white horse.
He wanted to open the door a little wider, but at that moment it creaked and the horse stormed away.
"What does that mean, and why do I see this horse out of the forest now and here. Am I still in Darkside at all or am I somewhere else entirely. If I don't even know where I am, how should I do my job? How." tell me!" he shouted into the sky as if he were expecting an answer from there. Exhausted and tormented by the pain in his head, he went back into the hut and sat on the chair that was at the small table. He lowered his head and his eyes fell on the ring on his finger.How in the world did that thing get his finger? He had put it in his pocket in the forest in the clearing, he knew that exactly how did it come about that he was carrying it now? And something else about the ring had changed. The ring he got from Lyria was a diamond, but the ring he was wearing was not white but rather the color of fresh blood. It was deep red and somehow sparkled ominously.
He averted his gaze and tried to get the ring off his finger, but he couldn't. The thing was getting more and more eerie and yet it all seemed strangely familiar to him. He almost had the feeling that it should be so and so he decided to go to sleep first. Tomorrow he would continue to see, and hopefully his head would hurt less.

Dawin grind badly that night. Again and again he dreamed of the fight, of the punishment Ivanhoe had to bear and of the difficult task that seemed impossible to him. He rolled from side to side and finally woke up drenched in sweat.And yet it wasn't the dreams that had awakened him, but a familiar noise in front of his door.
He got up quietly and went to the window. As he had expected, the white horse was standing in the courtyard and began to graze the lawn. Dawin walked slowly to the door and opened it.
Again the animal fled into the forest and was gone.
Dawin left the hut to look for something to eat, there was nothing to be found here except an old rotten bread and some cheese. He took his sword and a small hunting knife with him. He had found the knife in the hut and thought it might be useful.
He tucked the things carefully on his belt and set off.
When he started the sun was still very deep and it was quite cool. Dawin turned up the collar of his coat and continued on his way into the woods. He ran deep into it before he found anything. A bush with wild blueberries grew on an old tree, on the other side there were also a few mushrooms.Just as he had stowed the things in his pocket he saw a small lake nearby where a hare was eating from the fresh grass of the meadow. "I'll get it for tonight, I haven't eaten a rabbit for a long time," he thought, but now he realized that he didn't have a weapon with him with which he could have killed a rabbit. He went back home disappointed.

When he was almost home there was a crack in the undergrowth less than five meters away, which gave him hope for a decent dinner.
He carefully puts the bag in the grass and drew his sword. Ready to strike, he crept towards the bush from which the noise came. He drew back and now the bushes were moving more than before. "What could it be, maybe a deer or a wild boar. No, the hiding place was too small for a deer and there was too little movement for a wild boar.
He took his sword down and put it back on his belt. Now he grabbed the knife he was carrying and walked slowly forward.He reached out and pulled the bushes to one side. What he saw now was definitely not edible, that much was certain. A young woman sat in the bush and looked at him with wide eyes. What are you doing here alone in the forest? "He asked her, but instead of an answer he only got a low whimper. Only now did he see that she was injured. She had a large wound on her leg that made it impossible for her to get up. He bent down to help her but she tried to crawl away from him.

"Get away, I'll scream if you get too close," she wailed. Her long hair billowed around her face and her dress got caught in the bushes. "You don't need to be afraid, I won't hurt you. I just want to help you." he said quietly to the girl.

He held out his hand to her, but she made no move to reach for it. "I don't need any help from you, I can take care of myself very well." She said mockingly but at the same moment she winced.Her dress billowed over the wound and it seemed to cause her great pain. She started whimpering again. Now she seemed to see that she needed help. She straightened up and took the hand that Dawin offered her. He leaned over and helped her stand up. How did that happen? "Asked Dawin, pointing to her leg." I fell and got caught on a sharp stone. Then I hid in the bush, and you know the rest of it. "She said, looking at him carefully." Oh yes, my name is Sophie, and what is your name if I may ask? "" You may, my name is Dawin and I live in a hut near here. Now let's go to me and there we will wash the wound first and then we will think about how we can bring you back home. "He answered her question. Sophie nodded and looked at the floor. She was still afraid, didn't know if she could trust the stranger.
But she didn't have a choice, if she didn't want to stay out here all night, she'd have to go with him.Leaning on him, they reached the hut where Dawin lived in the late afternoon. They went in and Dawin put Sophie on the bed. He went back outside to get fresh water from the well. He pulled the bucket out of the well and looked in the shed behind the house for some firewood for a fire in the stove on which to cook the mushrooms.
Back in the hut he looked for a clean cloth with which to clean the wound.

He sat down next to her on the bed and dipped the cloth into the water. Dawin gave her the cloth and she wiped the wound off herself. Now she tore the cloth in two and connected the injury to the still clean half and looked around a bit.
In the meantime, Dawin had managed to make a fire in the back of the kitchenette, on which he had already hung a dented pot in which the water for the mushrooms was slowly warming up. He got up, took mushrooms and berries out of his pocket and put them both on the table.From the cupboard in the corner he got a bowl in which he washed the mushrooms and berries. With the knife he divided the mushrooms and threw them into the boiling water.

He put the berries with the bowl on the table. Then he started looking for plates in the cupboard and found several. He put two of them on the table and a third one for the mushrooms.
"Where do you come from, and what were you looking for alone in the forest?" Dawin turned to Sophie as he set the table. “I was hiding in the forest, and besides, it's none of your business. After all, I didn't ask you where you came from.” She hastily replied.

"It's okay, I just wanted to be nice." He says annoyed and turned back to his mushrooms. With a large wooden spoon he fished the mushrooms out of the water and placed them on the plate provided. He brought it to the table and asked Sophie: "Are you hungry or is that none of my business?""Yes, I did, and I didn't mean it earlier. I just don't want to talk about where I come from." She replied, a little embarrassed. Apology accepted. Dawin said with a smile and helped her sit down at the table.
She thanked him for the help and picked up the spoon to open a few mushrooms for herself and Dawin. Dawin took two more mugs out of the cupboard and placed them on the table filled with water. Sophie took a sip and started eating. She seems to be very hungry because she didn't even wait until he sat down at her table. She ate so fast that she almost choked in one piece. Dawin watched her with a smile and after he finished with the mushrooms began to distribute the blueberries.
After dinner he went outside to collect some more