Anira jolted upright in bed. From the courtyard came the sound of hooves. Her dream faded away, and she got out of bed with a weird feeling in her stomach. With her blanket wrapped around her shoulders, she walked to the window and looked outside. A rider galloped away at full speed and disappeared behind a ridge to the north. She felt the faint presence of the God of War and immediately dropped her blanket to the floor. All she wanted was to run away as far as her legs would take her, but she forced herself to carefully open her bedroom door and look around the corner. There was no one sitting on the chair next to her door. When she walked into the hall, she saw that Ervingal’s door was open. His bed was empty.

Anira rushed to her cousins’ bedroom. ‘Dunkan, wake up,’ she hissed. She shook his shoulder. ‘You too, Little Gavin,’ she called in the direction of the alcove on the other side of the room.

Dunkan sat up straight in his bed. ‘Anira? What’s going on?’

‘Something terrible has happened. Ervingal has disappeared. He’s on the run from Merg. You have to help me find him and convince him to hand over his sword to the God of War.’

‘What are you talking about, Anira? Merg? Have you lost your mind?’

Little Gavin opened the curtain that closed off the alcove. ‘What’s going on?’ he asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

‘I know that you don’t believe in the existence of the Guyins,’ Anira said to Dunkan. ‘And you probably won’t believe that Ervingal has been deceived by the God of War, or that the Watcher Yarnus from Lavinyord warned me such a thing might happen, but it’s all true. Ervingal has disappeared. His room is empty, and if you go to the stable, you’ll see that his horse has gone as well.’

He gave her a condescending look. ‘Why would Ervingal do something like that?’

‘He’s trying to escape the wrath of the God of War,’ Anira said. ‘I saw him ride north. We have to find him.’ She could tell from Dunkan’s eyes that he thought she had gone mad. ‘Please, Dunkan, believe me,’ she said.

When he saw the tears well up in her eyes, he clenched his jaw. ‘Let’s assume you’re right,’ he said reluctantly. ‘Then what does the God of War want from him? Why does he want his sword?’

‘Ervingal didn’t discover iron on his own. Merg told him the secrets of how to gather and forge it. The iron of Ervingal’s first sword was mixed with powdered Ether crystals. Merg wants that sword as payment for his help, but Ervingal won’t part with it. Merg is going to kill him! We have to force Ervingal to relinquish his sword. Dunkan, please, give me one chance to prove I’m right.’ A tear rolled down Anira’s face. ‘If you care about me at all, you’ll come with me, whether you believe me or not.’

Dunkan remained silent for a while and eventually sighed. ‘If it turns out that this is all a bunch of nonsense…’ Suddenly he threw off his blankets. ‘Little Gavin, get dressed. Hurry. We’re going with your cousin.’

Anira threw her arms around his neck, but Dunkan pushed her away. ‘Get dressed and go saddle your horse, Anira. And mine as well. Little Gavin can ride with me. We’ll meet you at the back of the house.’

Anira nodded. She ran to her room, put on her riding clothes, and moved through the house as quietly as possible. Some of the servants were up already, but she managed to leave the house without being noticed. Outside, she ran to the stable and saddled the horses. She took the reins, led the animals to the back of the house, and waited. She grew more and more anxious as she watched the sun rise and felt a burst of relief when her cousins finally appeared around the corner. Anira handed Dunkan the reins of his horse.

‘He really does seem to be missing,’ Dunkan said with a hint of surprise in his voice. ‘And so does his horse.’

Anira led Doriyan to the hill behind which Ervingal had disappeared, and her cousins followed her lead. She searched the ground, and it wasn’t long before she discovered the trail of trampled grass and turned-up earth, which led them over the hill and further north. They mounted their horses and rode down at walking speed.

They headed north across the sloping pastures until all they could see behind them were the rooftops of the tallest buildings in Varna. Little Gavin looked scared. Dunkan wrapped a protective arm around his little brother’s shoulders. ‘We’ll find him.’ He steered his horse alongside Anira. ‘If he’s really on the run from the God of War, where do you think he’d hide?’

Anira didn’t answer. Even though she was happy that Dunkan had decided to join her, she could still tell from his voice that he didn’t believe her. He only played along because he didn’t want her to go out on her own. She slackened the reins and urged Doriyan to a trot. Dunkan and Little Gavin followed her.

They rode north for several hours until, during the course of the morning, they came upon a rugged valley. A winding stream flowed through it, and on the left side, cloaking the slopes of the valley, the Linar Forest loomed up ahead of them. They dismounted and carefully descended the steep slope until they reached the waterside. The earth alongside the stream was humid, so they could easily detect where Ervingal had entered the water. On the other side of the stream, however, there were no tracks. Anira peered into the distance but couldn’t see any signs that Ervingal had continued his journey on land. The stream gradually widened out and the water became more turbulent.

They rode on until a second brook joined the stream, causing rapids to form. Anira could tell by the hoof prints to the right of the stream that Ervingal had left the water at this point. They spurred on their horses and followed the trail eastwards for several miles, treading through the wilderness in the direction of the river Dayno. There he would be trapped, Anira thought. Dunkan gradually began to grow more concerned as well.

Anira noticed the tracks were growing increasingly chaotic as though, in his panic, Ervingal had guided his horse in a random direction, looking for a place to hide from the God of War. Had they come too late? A shiver ran down her spine. ‘We must hurry,’ she yelled, urging her horse into a gallop.

They continued riding until, in the early afternoon, they started to hear the shrill shrieking of gulls. They drew rein and looked around. In the distance they could make out the bank of the river Dayno. Little Gavin gave a yell and pointed at an inlet on the riverbank next to which Ervingal’s horse, seemingly still out of breath, was grazing. Anira’s cousins dismounted and ran towards the sweating animal. The horse let them take hold of his reins without protest. They looked around expectantly, but there was no sign of Ervingal. There weren’t even any footprints in the sand.

‘Where is he?’ For the first time there was fear in Dunkan’s eyes. ‘Anira? What’s going on?’

Anira looked at him helplessly. ‘I’ve already told you what I know. Maybe we’re too late.’

Little Gavin started crying softly. Dunkan comforted him, but Anira could tell he wasn’t at all at ease about the situation. ‘No,’ he suddenly said with confidence. ‘There’s no blood and I see no signs of a fight. There must be another explanation.’

‘We have to go back to the stream!’ Anira suddenly yelled out.

Dunkan looked at her questioningly, then he grabbed Little Gavin’s hand and ran back to his horse. ‘You’re right…’ Dunkan helped his little brother back into the saddle, mounted, and immediately took off. Anira followed him. They galloped back through the wilderness, and around mid-afternoon, they reached the stream again. Anira came to the realization that their suspicions had been well-founded. Ervingal had sent his horse east to mislead Merg and had continued through the water on foot himself. About a mile downstream, he had climbed onto the western bank. Anira let out a cry of joy but stopped short when she saw where his trail led. She swallowed.

‘The forest?’ Dunkan said angrily.

Anira anxiously stared at the edge of the forest. The images of her previous visit were ingrained in her memory. Her breathing grew more rapid as she recalled what had happened.

‘By the Gods!’ Dunkan said. ‘Whether you’re right or not, Anira, there’s definitely something weird going on.’ He yelled in frustration and rode towards the forest, shaking his head.

Anira felt her fingers tremble while she pulled on the reins. Doriyan snorted and shook his head as they neared the forest. Anira looked around nervously when they passed the first lines of trees and spoke soothing words to Doriyan, but as they rode on, the light grew dimmer, and fear began to swell inside her.

Ervingal’s tracks were difficult to follow, but Dunkan unflinchingly rode deeper and deeper into the forest. Anira followed him reluctantly as the shadows around her grew longer. She had stopped searching for Ervingal’s tracks, because the stifling chill of the forest was slowly getting a hold on her. She realized with horror that the afternoon was rapidly coming to an end. She fought her fear as they rode through the forest but was on the verge of despair when, several hours later, the inevitable happened: the sun set, making it impossible to follow Ervingal’s tracks any further. She felt how the darkness slowly swallowed them up, and soon it became pitch black.

‘I want to go home,’ Little Gavin whimpered.

‘It’s best if we spend the night in the forest, Little Gavin,’ Dunkan answered calmly, but Anira could detect a little shiver in his voice. ‘Just like when Ervingal used to take us hunting.’

Suddenly they heard the booming sound of drums coming from the heart of the forest. A jolt of fear surged through Anira’s body. At first there were a few separate drumbeats, but they were followed by an overwhelming cacophony that shook the ground. Little Gavin screamed his lungs out and the horses were seized up with panic. Doriyan bucked and Anira was catapulted out of her saddle and flew over his head. She landed on the ground with a heavy thud and lay there, feeling dazed. Due to the utter darkness, she had no idea where she was for a moment, but soon her cousins’ cries sounded again. Dunkan screamed loudly when he lost control of his horse and fell off the saddle with his brother. Anira heard branches snapping, followed by a scream from Little Gavin, who landed only a few feet away from her. Dunkan’s shouts suddenly sounded more distant.

‘My foot’s stuck!’ he screamed, but his voice could hardly be heard over the drumbeats.

Anira fumbled around for Little Gavin’s hand. ‘Come with me, Little Gavin.’ She pulled him with her in the direction of Dunkan’s screams, but Little Gavin hardly moved. ‘There’s no need to be scared,’ she said soothingly while she dragged him along, but she knew he could feel how clammy her hand was.

Anira felt her heart in her throat when Dunkan’s screams suddenly stopped. She quickened her pace. Branches hit them in their faces, and they repeatedly tripped over the tangled bushes covering the ground. ‘Dunkan? Where are you?’ she yelled. She couldn’t even see her own hand in front of her face. ‘Say something. Are you hurt?’

Farther on, she heard rustling and then Dunkan’s panting voice. ‘I’m here,’ he managed to say. ‘My foot got stuck in the stirrup.’

Anira felt her way around and walked in the direction of his voice. When they reached him, Little Gavin fell into his brother’s arms. The drumbeats continued ceaselessly and were now accompanied by singing: strange, hoarse voices, which brutally grated in Anira’s ears, like fingernails being scraped across a thin piece of slate. She snuggled up to Dunkan and tried to shut out the noises piercing her mind. She laid her head down on his shoulder and closed her eyes. Dunkan grabbed her hand and moved his mouth to her ear. ‘I’m sorry,’ he whispered.

Eventually, exhausted from the ordeal of the forest combined with a full day in the saddle, they fell asleep.