The road to Lavinyord was little more than a worn away ditch that wound through the hills. Anira cast a final backward glance at the silhouette of her hometown of Valonar. Above the city’s walls, the turrets of the steward’s stronghold rose high above the rooftops and spires of the town. She gently nudged the flanks of her horse Doriyan with her heels and followed her parents’ carriage. Now and again, it leaned over dangerously. Her mother Irma was holding on to the box with both hands, her knuckles white with effort, whilst her father, Tiyodor Danu, Landlord of the Danu estate, secured the reins of the two horses loosely between his fingers.

Her father’s guard rode ahead of them. This elite company consisted of the twenty-four best soldiers belonging to the Danu estate. They rode in pairs along the narrow track through the hills, with Captain Yelgar at the head of the column. Her father’s guard was well-respected in the city, but, then again, most people only saw them when they paraded the streets in tight formation. Anira heard their drunken braying from the wooden barracks behind her family’s mansion, and the high-pitched moaning of the whores they brought back with them from the town center on their nights off.

Her father had insisted on her joining him on this journey. ‘You’ll finally get to see something of the world,’ he had said, but Anira suspected that he just wanted to keep an eye on her. It wouldn’t be long before she reached marriageable age. Her father was mortally afraid that one of the lower-born young men from the city would get her with child. She frowned. It wasn’t her fault that her mother hadn’t conceived any more children since Anira had been born now, was it? Even though her father would never admit it, she knew this was the reason why she had to come along to her Uncle Ervingal’s settler village. He wanted her to marry a man he deemed worthy enough to lead his family when he reached old age. This would very likely be a complete stranger if she didn’t come up with a suitable candidate herself.

A dark gray sky was approaching from the north bearing a cold breeze. Anira wrapped her cloak more snugly around her neck and dug her heels once again into Doriyan’s flanks. At a trot, she rode past the carriage and the head of the guard. The rocking motion of her horse warmed her up a little. She halted on a ridge and patted Doriyan on the neck contentedly. She was glad that she had been able to take him with her, so she wouldn’t have to spend the entire journey in the carriage with her mother, but now that she saw the billowing rain clouds leering on the horizon, she heaved a deep sigh.

Behind her, she heard her father call out her name. She didn’t respond immediately, and instead squinted and stared into the distance. They had almost reached the end of the hills. A few miles further on, the hills morphed into vast grasslands, across which large boulders lay scattered around. She had difficulty averting her eyes. In her mind’s eye, she saw the figure from her dreams, his body covered in mysterious line patterns, and his face concealed by the shadows of the night. He wore nothing but a loin cloth and a warrior’s headdress, both with long, black feathers plaited into them. In front of him, a man was kneeling on the ground. While the warrior spoke to the man, he turned his head towards Anira. As soon as he noticed her, she saw his eyes light up in the moonlight.

Anira shook off the images playing through her head when she heard her father calling out her name again. She pulled on the reins and rode back to the carriage. One of the soldiers, the captain’s son, grinned widely as she rode past. She ignored him, but felt a blush rise in her cheeks. Actually, perhaps she should respond to Diyur’s advances, Anira pondered, if only to give her father the fright of his life.

‘Don’t stray off too far, Anira,’ her father said. ‘You know this place is teeming with outlaws.’

She guided her horse alongside the carriage and raised her eyebrows. ‘Is it much further?’

‘Are you even listening to what I’m saying?’

‘These are your best men, aren’t they?’ Anira gestured towards her father’s guard. ‘Is it much further?’ she asked again.

Tiyodor clenched his teeth. ‘After the Sunilo Heights, we will cross the river Dav. After that, there are a few more miles of flat ground. We won’t reach Lavinyord before sunset.’

Anira’s mother heaved a sigh when the first raindrops began to fall. ‘Please halt for a second, Tiyodor, so I can take shelter and sit inside the carriage. I really do not wish to arrive at the inn sopping wet.’ When Tiyodor pulled back on the reins, Irma climbed down the box. ‘I think it would be wise if you joined me, Anira. That will give me the opportunity to tell you about how your uncle and your cousins are faring at the settler village,’ she said. ‘One of the soldiers can take care of your horse for you.’

‘I’d rather not,’ Anira said. She pulled the hood of her cloak over her head and rode away again. Her parents didn’t know that she had been corresponding with one of Ervingal’s two stepsons, Dunkan Danu, ever since the founding of her uncle’s settler village. He had told her that her uncle had met with resistance during the construction of Varna. Therefore, it hadn’t come as a surprise when Ervingal had asked his brother Tiyodor for help. Ervingal had been master swordsmith at the King’s palace all of his adult life and didn’t have any experience with conflicts such as these. Dunkan had written to her that Ervingal was very grateful for Tiyodor and his soldiers coming to help them.

Dunkan and his little brother Gavin were children from the previous marriage of Ervingal’s wife, who had died in the spring. Ervingal had adopted them as his own children, but now that his wife was gone, he didn’t really pay them much attention. Dunkan wrote that Ervingal was wallowing in sorrow and had delegated most of his parental responsibilities to the servants in his household. Dunkan was hoping that, once order in the village had been restored, his stepfather would start paying more attention to him and his little brother Gavin.

Anira reached the final ridge of the Sunilo Heights, where she noticed that the wind suddenly had free reign across the rolling plains ahead of them. The briskly cold rain beat savagely against the exposed skin of her face and hands. She rubbed the palms of her hands together and held them to her cheeks and brow. From this height, she could see the Dav flow past the foot of the hills to the west, where it would eventually discharge into the great river Dayno. Her uncle’s settler village lay on the other side of the Dayno, enclosed by an enormous forest. She was looking forward to the crossing by ferry from Lavinyord but hoped that the weather would clear up first. There was a good reason why the riverbed was littered with dozens of shipwrecks. These were freighters that had attempted the perilous journey from Lavinyord to the capital.

Behind her, the guard came riding up the hill, followed at some distance by Anira’s parents. The wheels of their carriage sank into the track that was becoming increasingly muddy because of the rain. Anira let them pass and rode down behind them. At the foot of the hills was a ford where they crossed the Dav and reached the grasslands behind it. Anira stared at the looming boulders. In the hollows within the rocks, small puddles of rainwater had formed, which were used by little black birds to quench their thirst. She maneuvered her horse alongside the carriage. ‘How did these boulders get here?’ she asked her father.

‘If you had paid a bit more attention during my teachings, you would know,’ Tiyodor remarked. He looked her straight in the eye, but his stern expression soon gave way to a smile.

‘It is said that the earth was barren when the seven Gods awoke,’ he boomed in a loud voice. ‘But it wasn’t long before they shaped the earth into a harsh but fertile realm, filled with great monuments of nature - vast imposing mountain ranges, colossal oceans and lakes, and abundant verdant grasslands and forests - not to mention the creatures that dwelled within them. Then came the Giant Beasts, that fought each other for dominion over the earth.’

The rear wheels of the carriage got stuck in the mud but came loose again only a moment later. Anira’s mother let out a small shriek from within the carriage.

Tiyodor ignored his wife. ‘Do you remember what happened next?’

‘The God, Teriyas, was disgruntled,’ Anira answered. He desired creatures whose bodies and minds were created in their own image.’

Tiyodor gave a satisfied nod. The Gods, Teriyas and Gidiyon, brought the Ice Age to wipe out the Giant Beasts and make room for mankind.’

‘Mother has told me about the Giant Beasts before. About the great winged reptiles from the caves of the Sinura Mountains and the huge mountain wolves that roamed the slopes of the Teyalus Ring. Is it true that their skeletons are on display in the vaults of the King’s palace?’

‘Some people infallibly believe in the legend. In every single word,’ Tiyodor said. He spurred on the two horses to keep the carriage moving. ‘But I think that, for the most part, it’s a myth. The Ice Age, however, really did take place.’ He gestured towards the boulders. ‘The ice came from the north, slowly, but with destructive force. It dragged everything with it; entire woods, but also many giant pieces of rock from the northern mountain ranges.’

With a jolt that nearly threw Tiyodor completely off the box, the carriage came to a standstill having gotten bogged down in the mud. One of the horses’ forelegs gave way. Cursing, Anira’s mother threw open the door and came out. Large raindrops splashed loudly on the roof of the carriage. Irma cast a quick glance at her husband and wrapped her cloak around herself.

‘Captain Yelgar!’ Tiyodor bellowed. ‘We’re stuck.’

The captain selected three soldiers, including his son Diyur, and sent them along to the carriage. Diyur dismounted in front of Anira with a wide swing and grabbed a thick rope from his saddlebag. He tied one end to the underside of the carriage, just above the axle, and the other end around the pommel on his horse’s saddle. While Diyur climbed back in the saddle, the two other soldiers dismounted, shaking their heads, and made their way to the back of the carriage. They planted their boots firmly in the mud and pushed against the carriage using their shoulders. Tiyodor spurred on the pair of horses, and the soldiers groaned from exertion. Diyur dug his heels into the flanks of his horse and grinned at Anira. The wheels of the carriage began to creak.

Anira turned around with a sigh and stared north, in the hope of catching a glimpse of Lavinyord. She couldn’t see far because of the thick sheets of rain. With difficulty, she was able to just about discern the outline of a few boulders. Then she saw something else. She leaned forwards in her saddle. A hooded horseman loomed up ahead of her. He stood still and remained so motionless that, for a moment, Anira thought she was imagining things. She squinted, and saw the strangely curved knife that was attached to the horseman’s belt. Behind her, the carriage creaked loudly as it was being pulled out of the mud. She turned around in her saddle. ‘Mom? Look over there.’ She pointed north, but when she turned back around, the horseman had disappeared.