The kings from the "House of Trees" - hunters and humans E-Book

Johanna Maurer

• Herausgeber: novum publishing
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Seitenzahl: 1320

Beschreibung

The centuries pass and Tharandil and his partner Nimrond rule the "House of Trees" as kings. Their offspring grow up and are now approaching the year house. There is a deep longing within them, the desire for togetherness awakens. But after the world wanderer returns from Gydland, everything changes. There, among the humans, he has found the instrument he needs to seize control of Varngond. He manages to throw King Tharandil completely off balance and rally some hunters behind him. Will the royal family succeed in averting all harm and retaining power? And what is the mysterious intruder doing sneaking through the woods in search of the king?

Leseprobe

dedication

This story is

for my twin sister, Karin, who supported me with advice and criticism.

For a friend, Michéle, who encouraged me to send the manuscript to a publisher.

For my husband, Heiko, who got to read the very first version and supported me to continue writing.

Section I: The Preacher

Prince and Princess from the “House of Trees” (Intermezzo)

Loud laughter comes from one of the rooms in the private part of the palace into the hallway, and the guards who pass by the door listen up and look at each other with a smile. There is a happy family behind this door.

Tharandil, Nimrond, Jamena and Thelekos sit at the small table in the window niche and between them lies a board game and dice pass from hand to hand.

They definitely want to win and to do this they have come together and drawn up a common battle plan against the big players. A little conspiracy by the gnomes so that one of them is guaranteed to win. But without any fight or resistance, Tharandil and Nimrond don't want to give up against the superior strength of the youngsters and a heated game develops from this.

Jamena and Thelekos appreciate these hours spent together with their fathers. The kings are often short of time, but somehow, they always manage to find a few hours to spare and they take advantage of every opportunity. Whether they play or give them lessons in archery, horse riding or sword fighting doesn't matter, the only important thing is that they do something together.

Since Thelekos has been with them and there are two of them, it has become easier for Jamena to break away from Tharandil because she now has a brother at her side. After Orenke's death, she understandably clung to her father, even though she loves Nimrond no less. But she is her father's daughter, the bond between them is strong and in the coming years there will be situations in which it will be tense to the breaking point. But a lot of time will pass before then, now, in these carefree childhood years, Jamena is completely happy.

You see the two children together almost every minute, and only in a few cases are they alone. The way they cluck together, you might think they were a pair of twins, especially since they are only one calendar year apart and therefore almost identical in terms of their development. Although they differ greatly in their appearance and their nature, they have little in common.

Thelekos comes across as more of a representative of the quieter type. He observes the world and what is happening around him almost calmly and events rarely throw him off course or push the boundaries of his personal comfort zone. At least that's how it looks, but every now and then its external appearance is deceptive. Even at a young age, he has himself and his emotions well under control and he tries with all his might not to let it show when something is bothering him. But it's easy to see from his facial expressions that he never completely controls it throughout his life when he's boiling with anger inside or something really bothers him or touches him or annoys him.

In contrast to Jamena, she lets out whatever feelings are inside her, anger, rage, joy, love, everything pushes to the surface with her, either in words or actions. Loud screaming, slamming doors, hugs, spontaneous kisses.

She lets everyone know as soon as she feels overwhelmed or treated unfairly or something doesn't suit her, but also when she's jubilant or overjoyed. She doesn't make any difference and it's difficult for her to hold back from her statements. Tharandil keeps an eye on these outbursts in every direction and constantly warns her to slow herself down, because she has to learn to keep both joy as well as anger or rage in check. In many cases it is better to hide your emotions, otherwise the other person hardly needs to be clairvoyant to know where he stands with her.

In addition, because of her overzealousness, she often rushes forward without having thought carefully about a strategy beforehand. No one can estimate all eventualities when taking a course of action, but you should keep an eye on the most important details. For her, this means that some actions go completely wrong or she has to row back with all her energy because what she is planning to do or is currently doing is absolute nonsense.

Jamena wears her feelings and thoughts on her sleeve, but unfortunately not everyone around her always wants to know what's on her mind, and sometimes she really annoys people with it. She often acts impulsively, and on a whim, like “I'll just do it now, I feel like it,” but then she shouldn't be surprised when her father feels like stopping her in full swing.

But Thelekos can also get hot-tempered when things go in different directions than he imagines or would like. Either because he himself can't manage things as planned, or because other people don't play along the way he thought they would.

However, his voice remains quiet, but his facial expressions and gestures change. His face takes on a slight hardness and his movements become jagged. You'd think he'd be banging his fist on the table at any moment. Anger or anger is clearly reflected in his appearance and also in the fact that he slams his trash onto the wall with vigor. Then the sword hits the wall or the quiver with arrows comes flying low. A behavior that the kings must not and cannot tolerate in any way, and if they then receive a letter because the young prince threw the exercise book at his teacher's feet because he received a bad grade, then it's the end of the line. Both fathers are not squeamish with their punishments and, if necessary, distribute generously: room confinement, writing a long essay, a ban on riding and other nice measures.

He wants to be the best, a pretty big challenge for a child, but Thelekos sets this goal for himself. Nobody demands this of him, and certainly not Tharandil or Nimrond. They challenge their children, they guide them, they give them ambitions, but they never push them along. Halfway there and a real effort is enough, tomorrow is a new day. But that's by no means enough for Thelekos. He stubbornly, yes, sometimes almost stubbornly, works on himself, his skills and the tasks that are given to him. He is only satisfied when, in his opinion, an issue or matter has been resolved optimally, regardless of what he is currently dealing with. Be it tricky school assignments, which make him particularly angry when his teachers don't reward them with good grades even though he struggled for hours and did everything he could to get the best result for him, puzzles or sporting exercises such as horse riding or sword fighting. Whatever it is, it hardly matters, everywhere, he goes about everything with full vigor and sometimes it's up to Nimrond to stop him. Every now and then he goes so far that in his zeal he would do himself more harm than good. He continues tenaciously and doggedly until he collapses, taking no account of his still childish strength.

It's commendable when someone has a certain amount of ambition and a firm will, but the boy simply strives far too far beyond what he considers a reasonable result. He still has to learn to manage his reserves, otherwise there will come a time when he will lack the strength and endurance required to win. Demanding too much from yourself and others is not always sensible or promising; sometimes it is better to cut back and bake small rolls.

At school he is a few steps ahead of Jamena, and his determination to learn a lot and to know the answer to every question comes into play here too.

In his enthusiasm to get ahead, he fails to notice that every now and then he simply leaves his sister behind and thus puts her in stupid situations. Both are in the same class because of their age, but Jamena is less interested in theory than in action. She is by no means stupider than him or even lazy, but she lacks the ambition and the insight to study hard. She pushes the old adage “You don’t learn for school, but for your whole life” far away. That's a saying from old people and according to them she only needs to put in as much effort as necessary. That's definitely enough to move on to the next class.

Both of their fathers have opposing views on their school performance. Especially with regard to the role model function of a princess for all other classmates. However, all threats and requests pass her by. Jamena accepts these reprimands with a shrug of her shoulders and otherwise simply ignores the complaining. Another trait she inherited from Tharandil. Sit out an unpleasant thing calmly, as long as an immediate need for action can be ruled out because, as far as can be seen, your own well-being is not in danger.

Her brother's ambition brings her a lot of advantages in addition to the fact that she is measured against him and that she is miles ahead of her. She's not stupid, but rather clever, as she knows how to wrap Thelekos around her finger, and so Jamena benefits from her brother's eagerness to learn by helping her with her exams and homework.

“A damn clever girl,” Tharandil has to admit to himself when he observes this, “and quite the daddy.” She turns it into a situation from which both of them benefit. Instead of developing envy or jealousy towards her brother because he is regularly held up to her as a good example, Jamena puts aside the criticism of her way of maneuvering through school and prefers to watch his determination to use them for their purposes, and he is happy if he can support them in any way.

No one but him has such a wonderful sister and as her benefactor he has the duty to keep all troubles away from her and to help her with advice and action.

However, this desire and striving for the best does not make Thelekos a model boy. He has it all under his belt and like all children, despite his attempts to get everything perfect, he sometimes does things that are wrong or simply backfire out of ignorance or that his fathers would hardly approve of if they knew about them. In the ear that is responsible for announcements from outside, he sometimes has something like attacks of deafness and deliberately ignores the words and instructions of Nimrond and Tharandil.

They all do stupid things and Jamena and Thelekos are no exception. Sometimes he drives his Ada crazy with his ideas and ventures, but because of his hard work and the knowledge he has acquired, he occasionally takes liberties with himself, although he thinks he is already grown up enough for it. Then it's time for Nimrond to put him in his place with words. How did the boy come up with the idea of pouring water into the small yard during a nighttime activity in winter in order to turn it into an ice-skating rink? Half a dozen people sat on their butts as they entered the area that morning. As a suitable countermeasure, Jamena and Thelekos, a sorrow shared is a sorrow halved, were allowed to break open the deep-frozen ice cover with ice picks. That cost her a whole morning and a lot of sweat, but punishment has to be done, and one that serves educational purposes is always appropriate.

However, he never makes Nimrond so angry that he would like to attack him; Thelekos instinctively knows exactly when the limit is full and avoids going beyond it as much as possible.

In contrast to Jamena, she takes it to the extreme in order to then really catch one from Tharandil, and he doesn't hesitate for long. She often gets a slap on the back or has to put her ears back because the lecture comes at an enormous volume.

The princess is a tomboy, with a healthy amount of pride and self-confidence as well as intelligence and physical strength. Over time, she grows more and more into the image of her father, only in a female body.

Sitting still and listening as well as obedience are less of her strengths unless there are exciting stories to hear or she is engrossed in a game or working on things that are interesting to her. Some days Jamena's itching to test her limits to the point of crossing over, and one thing that gets Tharandil particularly quickly annoyed is when she ignores his instructions and simply sees them as unnecessary. According to the motto “I can do everything on my own and without instructions and do what I want anyway”. Experience has shown that an undertaking she has planned in this way goes down the drain, but Madame knows everything much better.

To his personal annoyance, however, she also has a way of smearing honey around his mouth, which apparently works excellently for all males. And that's something that really annoys him personally in retrospect when she gets him to do things that he actually didn't want or shouldn't tolerate or let get away with. A skillful approach on her part, which, to her chagrin, sometimes only works as far as Tharandil is willing to play along and accommodate her. It takes him little time and hardly any effort to see through their games. Would he act the same way in her place, or has he? He should ask his mother about it when he gets the chance. It would be interesting to know from whom his daughter inherited this talent, guaranteed from Orenke.

In such situations, the two face each other like two opponents on the battlefield, father against daughter, argument against argument and strong will against stubbornness. These two roles appear to be interchangeable; sometimes it can be one, sometimes the other.

However, the king usually ends such battles with a word of power and she has to comply. Who is he to let the gnome dance around him? Grumbling and not hiding her displeasure, Jamena wanders away when she is defeated.

Nimrond stays out of these private duels, that's her and Ada's business, but he always finds this small-scale war amusing. If both fathers or one of them are fed up, drastic parenting measures are sometimes ordered. Particularly popular are days-long arrests and a ban on stables, where people have to sit well within their four walls. However, they only impose such punishments on their offspring after consultation between them and in both their names, so that not only one of them gets the role imposed by the evil king. Thelekos and Jamena know that they have to listen to something from Tharandil as well as Nimrond and that both words and orders count equally.

Tharandil is sure that Jamena's irrepressible nature and strong willfulness were given to her by the gods. Who else would she get it from?

The frequent contact that the two children have with the hunters and riders reinforces these qualities in them, because they spend more time with them than with maids and nannies.

Although Tharandil and Nimrond view some of the excesses of this environment with concern, on the other hand they are proud of their brave little hunter and the brave big fox hunter.

Both of them, although it always requires them to keep an eye on the balance of the scales with too much or too little freedom and to hold on to the reins, do not want spoiled pretty boys who only revolve around themselves and are only concerned with their appearance.

At some point Jamena will take one of the crowns, perhaps even the great royal crown from the “House of Trees” and run the empire if she wants to. Then at the latest she needs a sharp mind, a trained use of weapons and the healthy gut feeling of a hunter, as well as compassion and an eye for what is right or possible and, above all, she must learn to play second fiddle.

Although it's still a matter of practice for her when it comes to what's possible and taking a step backwards, the gap between ability and desire is often still wide for Jamena.

As with some jobs and tasks in life, running an empire is often a balancing act between using power for the benefit of an individual or the entire country and abusing power simply to strengthen one's position or serve one's own interests.

In the coming years, your daughter will have to learn, more or less voluntarily, to move within certain limits without giving up her own way or her own self. Many things are a matter of opinion and, as we all know, taste can be debated. It will be important that it does not step on anyone's toes to such an extent that it is to their detriment or has serious consequences for the country, i.e. war, and this art needs to be learned. Offending someone or giving someone a clear no without incurring any disadvantages requires tact. The magic word is diplomacy and, in her younger years, that is actually only part of Jamena's vocabulary in a few exceptional cases.

However, in some respects, Tharandil and Nimrond are not exactly the best example of strict guidelines. From time to time, both of them take the right to completely disregard legal boundaries or social norms in certain cases and situations. However, they now have enough experience from hundreds of years and a good sense of proportion as to how far they can go beyond the limits and still avoid that their actions or words are interpreted to their disadvantage or harm. Over time, thanks to her stay in the yearhouse, Jamena slowly develops a sure feel and a trained eye for what is possible and what is not.

However, Jamena still completely lacks these requirements and the knowledge about them as a child and until she is a teenager. Accordingly, it often overshoots the intended target and then has to be caught up again. An occasionally painful process for her, but as she develops one thing becomes increasingly clear to everyone: she has what it takes to be a queen. You just have to tweak it a bit.

Just as she holds the reins of her horse firmly in her hand and guides it, so too will she one day hold the oars of Varngond in her hands and guide the destinies of the land and its people.

With the crown you can hardly lure Thelekos out from behind the stove; he is drawn to the hunters.

He has wanted to go out into the woods since he was a child; he has very little to do with politics and statesmanship. His goal is to become a fox hunter, and getting there won't be an easy ride. From the beginning he spends many hours with the kings' two bodyguards. From them he learns how to wield the double sword and many other useful things and qualities that a fox hunter should have and, perhaps even before he begins his training, master. They teach him practical and intellectual content, sneaking, camouflaging, swimming, using knives and fists as well as theoretical knowledge about the forests, beasts, creatures and a particularly important component, meditation. Letting body and mind go hand in hand will only then allow movement and thought processes to reach perfection, and it's all about practice, practice, practice. And that's something Thelekos can do until he drops, practicing until his eyes close or until he gets the desired result. However, with violence, especially in the meditative arts, which includes, among other things, wielding a sword precisely while blindfolded, there is little to do with it, rather it involves letting go and surrendering to the dance.

It´s Laromans and Xernots task to accompany Thelekos, Nimrond resigns him to those both, till he enters the hunters squadron after he left the yearhouse. From this point on someone else will take over their positions.

Thelekos feels comfortable in the presence of the two desert hunters and is willing to learn, because everything they can teach him will be very helpful to him in a few years. He throws himself into the lessons with enthusiasm, and Laroman and Xernot sometimes have to send him away so that he can even finish. In addition to this training with them, he still has school and he should also allow himself some free time and they also need a few hours for themselves.

Among all the things they teach him is how to keep order and treat his things with care. Swords, bows, quivers and arrows need to be kept in good condition, and in an emergency, a well-functioning, bare weapon will save his life. This is less of a problem for Thelekos, since he has been used to being responsible for his own things and his room since he was young. His sister finds it more difficult to maintain her possessions and tidy up. It would be just right for her to have her own maid to clean up after her, but her fathers disagree and consider this service to be a superfluous luxury until the end of school. After all, servant spirits are already taking care of their rooms and their meals. She should keep her clothes and personal belongings in good condition herself. In addition, learning personal responsibility at an early age is good training before taking on responsibility for an entire empire. Among other things, Jamena and Thelekos receive instruction in the tailor's shop in sewing and repairing their clothing and repairing saddle and bridle gear as well as in handling tools so that they can make their own bows and arrows in an emergency. In Tharandil's eyes, this is a very useful thing, because when both of them will one day be hunters, there will be no one to sew buttons on their jackets or mend a broken bow shaft.

Only shortly before entering the yearhouse do the two kings consider their offspring to be old and mature enough to have a maid at their side. A servant should not be a girl for everything that can be sent here and there at will, but she has her fixed assigned tasks. If it happens that something needs to be done out of order, you have to politely ask about it or express your concern with a request.

It's not just about having a convenience with a maid - for Jamena, someone who does everything you don't feel like doing yourself - it's also the first time in their lives that both young people are taking on responsibility for an employee entrusted to them.

The young elf that Tharandil and Nimrond choose with Almuth's help is clever and by no means easygoing and she knows how to take Jamena's extravagances and respond to them.

Especially since she also has instructions from the kings to report to them if the princess orders her to do tasks that are far outside her area of activity or if she otherwise comes up with stupid ideas, just because the young lady is perhaps too idle to do anything herself want to implement lofty ideas.

With the help of the young maid, Jamena receives an education that soon bears fruit. She becomes a cheap princess of Varngond, a joy to her fathers and a credit to her house. Likewise, her brother, it has been a very, very long time since there was a prince who bore the mark of the fox hunters on his loin. Tharandil and Nimrond are proud of their son and pay respect to his achievements.

Over the years, the children become a strong, agile and well-formed young man and an elegant young woman who is nimble with words and weapons and is conscious of her beauty and strength. They do not yet belong to the world of adults. To get there they must first go through the yearhouse, and only then will they be man and wife. By visiting the yearhouse, you receive all the rights and responsibilities of a citizen of Varngond.

Joy and curiosity about the year, but also a bit of shyness and uncertainty determine the last dekare of their time with the family. What awaits them in the foreign environment? What will life be like behind the gate to the yearhouse? Tharandil and Nimrond can answer many of your questions, but by no means all of them. Especially since every young elf should find and go their own way and they don't need to be afraid of being on their own. They will have enough company; a number of young boys and girls will also enter the yearhouse with them. Under the guidance and guidance of teachers, they are all given the opportunity to find out something about themselves and about life.

Probably the most difficult task so far in all her years, finding out what you really want and where your strengths and weaknesses lie, not only in relation to choosing a career, but also in relation to yourself and your own character.

The Worlds-wanderer

When the gods formed Pelegorn from the endless gray, they gave this world a gift, which also represents one of the strangest appearances in the realm of the Elves, the so-called gates. There are magical connections between the worlds and the gods use them, even though they don't really need them for their wanderings, and with the millennia that passed, the elves also learned to use these gates for their purposes.

What was perhaps less intended by their creators in the beginning, but their creatures became more and more independent and discovered a lot of knowledge through research and experimentation. Morojo and Inana let them have their way, it's interesting to see what their little elves are capable of and what they discover out of their curiosity. However, to the detriment of the elvish inhabitants of Pelegorn, the gods equipped many worlds with these holes and so other races and peoples also have knowledge of the gates to their own planets and understand how to go through them from one side to the other. Across from one universe to the next, sometimes with peaceful intentions, sometimes with hostile sentiments.

In addition to the corridors that connect the various discs or planets with each other, there are also gates whose entrance and exit lie within a sphere, in this specific case on Pelegorn.

This type of door allows the elves to move quickly and unseen from one place to another. They are, so to speak, shortcuts between two points in their very own realms.

If travelers intend to use the passages, they must contact a magician or other person who has been authorized by the High Council to open the gates. In principle, no one intervenes in the secret ways without approval from the highest body. So much for the theory on paper.

The intention behind it is simply explained, the High Council is reluctant to see Tom, Dick and Harry sneaking through the country in this way, especially if they are good-for-nothings or even criminals.

You don't want to support their dishonest intentions by allowing them to quickly disappear into a hole after the deed is done. On normal roads it is much easier for hunters to catch such people.

This is one reason why a mage or high-ranking hunter appointed by the High Council should always be present when someone intends to cut the path. You make the decision directly on site as to who is allowed to pass through and who has to remain on the visible paths.

An exception are of course all members of the royal families and all men and women who travel on their behalf and want or need to travel quickly. They are generally allowed to use short routes, and in the past, it was often an advantage to be able to summon a powerful hunter unit from nowhere.

The fact that the circle of illustrious ones who are allowed to use it is restricted by rules does not mean that other elves don't also try to scurry through and even do so.

Each elf has a few magic words that can be used to open locks and bars, and all they need is their siberyl for the magic to unfold. Some gates require the usual magic spells, others are better secured and only expert personnel know the formulas and gestures to be able to pass through them.

So basically, anyone can open the doors and walk through, as long as they have the right words at hand.

Assuming there isn't a group of hunters keeping an eye on this gate day in and day out.

But they do exist, the unguarded holes or the ones that suddenly appear and whose existence no one knows about, the gates that you stumble upon by chance. Extremely useful for anyone who wants to wander around unseen.

Male elves and female elves, mostly magicians or appropriately trained people who walk the paths outside Pelegorn, are called wanderers or worlds-walker because they wander back and forth between two habitats. They are considered researchers and discoverers and from their travels they brought and still bring plants and animals to Pelegorn, as well as new knowledge and findings regarding natural sciences, foreign customs, worldviews and religions, and much more. Their job is to look around the foreign worlds and the peoples there, and what they see as useful or enriching for their own world, they can carry through the gates as souvenirs.

However, it is forbidden to casually bring in anything, as it could turn out to be a danger to the residents of Pelegorn or even destroy their entire world.

In order to avoid such a catastrophe, the High Council has taken it upon itself to examine each of these things, whether objects, plants, knowledge, and whatever else, for their beneficial use, their general use and, above all, their danger to check.

If the penalty is high, it is forbidden, and the council has no fun and no exceptions to bring something into the country past them. It is only up to him to decide what is allowed to reach Pelegorn and may be used and what is immediately destroyed because it could cause harm in some way.

This requirement severely curtails the otherwise high degree of independence and governing power of the regents of the six kingdoms. If they learn of any discoveries, they must immediately report it to the High Council, and of course all world travelers are obliged to report there as soon as they have new things in their luggage. Completely independent of whether it is objects, equipment, plants, animals or intellectual goods, especially since ideas are a very interesting commodity for some people.

One day an elf, a powerful magician, came back from a side world and in his spiritual baggage he brought with him stories about a world of gods that was previously unknown to them.

Completely new views opened up to the listeners regarding their old religion and the instructions of their gods for a good life, and for one or two Elves the new theology also highlighted quite unusual and at the same time interesting aspects.

The elven people of Pelegorn worship four gods, the chief pair of gods, Morojo and Inana, and their twin children, a boy and a girl named Yormas and Ytharne. The son and daughter are considered protective gods for the family, children, house and farm and the hunters. Furthermore, the two embody the love and desire between two men, Yormas, and a man and a woman, Ytharne.

Inana and Morojo gave Pelegorn shape and form and they brought the plants, the animals and, last but not least, the elves into being. They also gave their elven children a special gift and placed love for each other in their hearts and, with it, physical desire, also known as desire.

Not only intended for reproduction, but also as a sign of joy in life and an expression of affection and deep feeling for a partner.

This ability to love someone with one's heart and one's entire being was implanted into the elves' being by the gods, and the gods consider every life and every love to be of equal value. They do not tie the love in the heart to an elf's gender or gender orientation.

The wanderer, who brought this new religion with him, returned home to Varngond from a human-inhabited world called Gydland. The people there are ruled by a king and they only believe in one god and the priests serve him, although he didn't see any priestesses during his stay there.

He was lucky because he was invited by the king to stay at court as his guest, a wonderful opportunity to explore the country without the risk of being noticed as a spy and to observe everything and everyone. Full of curiosity and with great interest in much of what came before his eyes and ears, he traveled for a long time all over Gydland.

Although the people's way of life and many everyday things, tools, clothing, growing grain, raising livestock and other crafts seemed to him to be a lot simpler to carry out, if not more primitive, than those of the elves on Pelegorn, but he saw and heard along the way, one thing or another that caught his eye. Yes, he actually found something to be passionate about.

This new religion and the new God seemed quite interesting to him and worth studying, and some of its tenets made a deep impression on him.

In the religious world of the residents of Gydland there is only one male God and he gave people his laws for their lives with one another and these must be adhered to if one does not want to risk worldly or divine punishment. The king or regent of a country, together with the highest priests, has to ensure the implementation and compliance of the rules and of course they should all set a good example.

But instead of presenting what he had brought with him to the High Council and getting permission so that he could report on his experiences in large circles and at the courts of the kings, he went to work himself and without permission. Wisely, because the High Council would definitely have immediately issued a ban on the spread of the new faith, as its principles contradict their own religion in many points. Especially since, if they looked more closely, they would definitely have identified a target group that would definitely respond to some of the points of the new theology.

Telling stories about foreign ways of life and exotic cultures is one thing, preaching a new religion is something else. In the worst case, the spread of explosive ideas could lead to immense damage to the social structure.

But the wanderer didn't even think about it like that. Full of exuberance and completely moved by the theology, he had brought, he began to talk about it everywhere in the hunters' and fox hunters' locations. As I said, all without the approval of the board to preach the new religious theories or perhaps even build temples to the deity.

The magician thus violated Pelegorn's law and committed a criminal offense, knowingly and willingly. However, these events only came to the attention of the High Council late and after a few lumnos.

It took time for word of this to reach them from the vast forests of Varngond. In the meantime, a “conflagration” broke out, long before the High Council was even aware of it and could have reacted to it to put a stop to it.

The elf with his strong charisma and his artistic voice was able to captivate the listeners. He knew how to choose the right words that not only reached the ears, but also penetrated the heart and mind. Because of the calling that came to him from the God from Gydland to lead everyone to salvation, he was firmly convinced that this was now his task, and from now on he only called himself the preacher. He knew the levers he had to use to gather a community around him and also the places where he would find the most listeners.

He began his speeches in the inns of the cities where the army had bases. First tell a hiking story, attract people and then turn their heads with world-changing statements. And who shows more interest in news and fairy tales than hunters and huntresses, who are particularly receptive to this sort of thing.

Over a glass of wine, especially if it doesn't cost them anything, they listen willingly and happily to his words. Most of the listeners and his followers initially came from the army and security services, because the new news was particularly appealing to military members.

His words found fertile ground with them. The new God promised them something that they had not had before or that had been denied them to this day for political and economic reasons.

A covenant or a partnership with their companion before this god and thus a connection that is then automatically recognized by the law of the elves in the same breath.

Although this actually exists on Pelegorn, a partnership that is concluded equally before their gods and the law, because one inevitably results in the other according to the applicable law.

However, this is precisely the crux of the matter; according to the current regulations, hunters are prohibited from entering into a partnership until the end of their active time with the fighting troop. They can live with a woman or a man as companions or lovers, but not in a covenant made before the gods and recorded in the books. The same law applies to fox hunters, although there is an additional special feature for them.

After they complete their training, fox hunters are assigned a partner.

Those responsible put the couples together according to various criteria, including making sure that both petitioners are about the same age. They are alliances decided and put together by a council or college.

This measure comes from a simple consideration, as fox hunters are often deployed somewhere in no man's land or on dangerous missions. The purpose of forming pairs is to prevent them from getting lost in being alone if a mission to a lost position takes a long time. Especially since in this community they also have someone at their side with whom they can share their desires. Great love hardly has to grow out of it, although in many couples the hearts beat in the same rhythm over time.

These arrangements have been put together for hundreds of years and no one has ever thought of questioning or even torpedoing this approach. To date there has been satisfaction.

The ban on a marriage for the hunters is based on a very mundane background; it is simply a question of financial demands.

Varngond and the other realms maintain a large contingent of hunters to defend themselves among the fighting force and to maintain public order, including police, guards, street patrols, market guards, customs stations and much more.

Married couples would be entitled to financial support or special payments in the event of the other's death or if one of them was no longer able to perform their duties, and this would quickly overwhelm the state treasury.

Therefore, hunters and fox hunters are prohibited from entering into a marriage as long as they belong to the armed forces. If they switch to the internal security services, this regulation will no longer apply and they will then be considered normal citizens with all rights and obligations.

Of course, this also means that these couples cannot adopt a child and the men are also denied vicarious status, as they lack the legal basis for both, a registered partnership.

As soon as they leave the army, they are free to do whatever they want. Many hunters don't have their first child until relatively late, but due to the Elves' almost endless lives, this isn't a real problem for them.

You just have to be a little more patient and anyone who decides to go to the hunters or fox hunters knows about it and what to expect, nobody buys a pig in a poke.

This regulation does not create a discrepancy between the gods' instructions and Pelegorn's laws, because no state or church approval is required to have fun together.

And this is exactly where the new teachings come in, this point is what the religion of Gydland has an impact on.

In order to be able to live together as a couple at all, a covenant before the new God is required; without this it would immediately be a sin to desire each other. But with a covenant before the gods, all associated rights and obligations automatically go to the married partners based on the laws; their connection is also recognized by the state at the same moment. This in turn gives rise to financial claims, the possibility of adopting a child and the right to a deputy-father. All things that until today were forbidden to hunters and especially fox hunters on Pelegorn by state order.

Anyone who feels they belong to the new religion or wants to live according to its guidelines is now forbidden to simply live as a couple. All of their open partnerships or love affairs are suddenly ruinous in the eyes of the new god, and of course even more so is the togetherness of the fox hunters, which is arranged from above.

And if a god, this also applies to the gods of the elves, considers something to be bad or reprehensible or even sees it as sin, this is very worrying and could have a detrimental effect on existence here in the now and on the afterlife. The most serious thing, however, and this actually scares some, is that one could be denied access to this God or his kingdom after death because of a sinful and shameful lifestyle. Where should they go then? No First World, wandering around somewhere forever? A terrifying idea for many long-serving warrior.

Logically, as most elves serving in the army see it, the circumstance that could result in this should be eliminated as quickly as possible. In other words, a legalization of what they have been doing since leaving the yearhouse, having fun with each other, is necessary. There is now a need for a covenant with your partner before this God as quickly as possible, because you don't want to risk your soul's salvation for anything in the world.

This new way of thinking about couples living together is finding fertile ground among a lot of older and younger hunters. The young ones have more of an eye on the worldly aspect. If only they could start a family at an early age like the others, even during their time in the army. Not to mention the other advantages, financial and legal, that arise from a “band-partnership”. Many of them would like a big piece of this sweet cake.

The young people see the matter of lying together only with divine blessing as less dramatic, as a minor matter. They are too firmly anchored in their old beliefs in the gods of their people to care; they are mainly concerned with the tangible benefits.

But one or another of the listeners that the preacher gathers around him takes this instruction to heart and they become firm and loyal followers of him and his praised religion.

However, many followers are only interested in ensuring that their partnership now receives legal recognition. The relevant books with the instructions and case law state so far:

“The partnership that is entered into before the gods is to be recorded by a note in the register books about the status of the person and recognized as such by law, with all the rights and obligations that arise from it.”

But as is often the case with such treasures that shine beautifully in the light, the shadow behind them is characterized by a particularly deep darkness.

The preacher gathers more and more male elves and female elves who are dissatisfied with the old system around him, and with every dekare and every new follower, his speeches seem to become more fanatical and louder. At his rallies he practically attacks their ears and brains with words and with every sentence his speech contributes to increasing the number of his followers. With a loud voice he threatens them with the punishment of the new god if they continue to lead their old lives and refuse to bow to the commandments of the new deity. He speaks of a place called hell and describes the expected banishment in the brightest colors and most gruesome facets. And by no means only the elves who live with a companion of a different gender will end up there if they continue their sinful behavior.

No, all couples that consist of two men anyway and in principle, because men who lie with men are a horror to his God. For them there is no salvation from the expected damnation; they cannot hope for forgiveness as long as they continue to do what they do. There is only one way left to them: they spend their entire lives without the gift that was given to them by the old gods. They must abandon their desires and deny their innate desires in society and continually repent of their sin.

For an adult male elf or female elf, that would be like forbidding him or her to breathe. This is an impossibility considering their long, long lifespan. Temporary renunciation of physical pleasures either voluntarily or for compelling reasons, most of them do not experience sex in the course of their almost eternal existence, but for thousands of years!?

When Xernot and Laroman hear about it, the hunters from the castle guards immediately continue to tell them what is being told to them, they tap their foreheads and dismiss the preacher as a madman. He is not quiet right in the head anymore and Tharandil and Nimrond initially have a lot of fun about it. Just for fun, they think about how long they would be able to endure this.

At this point they still have no idea what is going on in the garrisons; all hunters continue to go about their work and duty.

But resentment is growing and some no longer want to work as hunters under the old order in the army. Although many hunters and huntresses view the complete rejection of homosexuality with skepticism and mixed feelings and as unrealistic, a certain number of members of the army in Varngond begin to rebel against the existing laws and gradually refuse to obey them.

In the night and fog they run off from their squads and follow the preacher into an almost unreal, overgrown area in the forest in order to found a new forest kingdom there.

Everywhere on the edges and also in the middle of the great forest there are areas that are only entered by a few elves, and then only when absolutely necessary. These are often zones or valleys close to where gnomes or spiders live, where dragons have dug their homes under the ancient tree roots, or wicked and enchanted places.

They're not exactly afraid of going there, but why should you unnecessarily step on your neighbor's toes when you can create a reasonably peaceful coexistence by keeping your distance?

For the magician's followers, leaving their familiar environment means the dawn of a new era. Nimrond calls it desertion, which is a criminal offense for him as the supreme commander and according to the laws of the army, and because there are so many individuals involved, the security of the entire system soon begins to falter. On the other side, opposite those who happily follow the preacher, are the elves, who are viewed as reprehensible by their god. Thats are the harunkat male elves and their friends and families who support them. Suddenly they all no longer understand the world. What's this nonsense? Why should some elves be worth less than their neighbors and fellow elves? Who has the right to apply double standards to something given by the gods? Aren't they the ones who distribute everything? Then surely one cannot be worse than the other?

Their acquaintances and companions, whose brains are full of the seducer's words, suddenly turn away from them, they are downright avoided and some no longer want to share a table with them in the barracks dining room. The front runs right through the troops and the normal population is not spared, even if it is less obvious here.

Fox hunters are particularly affected by this change in society; many harunkat hunters serve with them and they therefore have the highest proportion of male couples. It has now gotten so far that some people on the streets even look at the royal couple with askance. And then they allow themselves to raise two children. The rumors about Jamena's birth and her mother's early death, which have since fallen silent, are resurfacing in some circles of the population.

They can hardly believe what they hear, so some people dig up the old stories and tear their mouths apart. The rumors going around and the unpleasant developments are by no means lost on the kings. Their spies among the people keep them informed and they are no longer amused by it in any way. At the beginning they laughed; for them it was inconceivable that even an elf with a sound mind would run after such a strict god. Misguided, their hesitation to end the matter right from the start, as soon as they had news of it, with an order or at least to involve the High Council, will take its revenge over time. The preacher clearly goes too far and breaks all boundaries. Telling stories about foreign countries and customs may be fine, but they can and should never tolerate inciting the population and causing such unrest in the army.

At least the palace guard has so far been spared from the effects that the new religion has had on their society, especially on the army.

Although some points and theses are being hotly debated, no one has walked away yet, probably because they would incur severe punishment if they dared to leave the direct orbit of Nimrond.

Everyone continues to be loyal to the kings, at least outwardly. In addition, perhaps none of the other hunters from the palace guard want to get too close to the two bodyguards or even become hostile to them just because they are harunkat. The two are under the protection of Tharandil and Nimrond and most people don't dare to undermine them. Openly propagating the new religion directly under the eyes of the royal couple is not something that any employee of the court would be stupid about, even if more than a handful of them are certainly flirting with it.

The magician's unspeakable activities and his excesses finally reach the High Council. Because Tharandil sends a letter there with all the information he now has from Varngond. Otherwise, he doesn't know what to do anymore. The measures necessary to put everything back on track go beyond his scope of action, as it could possibly be a matter that spans all of Pelegorn.

As is well known, words blow with the wind across all national borders and cannot be stopped.

In addition, the hunter commanders now turned to Nimrond as their supreme commander. They can no longer keep quiet about it because the situation is slowly slipping away from them. With a worried expression he reads the letter from the garrisons to the king.

“I'll skip the salutations and greetings for now, they don't matter anyway, let's get straight to the essence of the letter. Talk, talk and then... Viceroy Nimrond, we have already told you about this strange man and his undertaking and how he is stirring up unrest in the ranks of the hunters. At first it was just a few people who leaned towards him, now there are hundreds of them. They demand that their partnerships be recognized by the law of the elves by concluding a covenant, the “band-partnership”, before this new God in order to benefit from the legal advantages that the law offers them in such a case. If all hunters and huntresses entered into a “band-partnership” with their partner, this would endanger, if not completely undermine, the existing system on which the army is based. The result would be a collapse in the security of our external borders, the guarding of the gates and other structures that maintain society. Because there are hardly enough hunters and huntresses available to the army who are able to defend themselves and fight. A large number of them would focus on building a family and would therefore be entitled to a corresponding exemption from service. Not to mention the financial side: higher salary payments, high payments in the event of loss of service due to death or injury, payments to care for surviving family members and, and, and. This heavy use of the state treasury is unlikely to be in your interest and the entire development will probably not be approved by you or the High Council.

We must put a stop to this trend, if necessary, by using armed force against our own people. We are therefore approaching you with this letter to request appropriate permission and orders from the royal family to take measures. We, the commanders of the “House of Trees” garrisons, request instructions as soon as possible on how we should proceed. “I think that’s a more than clear statement,” is all Nimrond can think of after reading the lines. He is horrified by what is happening and is just as surprised as Tharandil by the developments. No one expected that a single man could cause such a wave. Under no circumstances can they accept an army whose fighters question the foundations of society, even more so, obviously torpedo them, and in the same breath turn away from the royal family. They need to do something about this as quickly as possible.

In the eyes of the rebels, Tharandil and Nimrond represent the old order and it is precisely they, and therefore logically the kings, who want to overthrow them.

It's kind of a really crappy feeling to be the target and all the bows are pointed at you.

If there were only a few dozen hunters, no problem, they would be arrested by order and disciplined, but there are tens of hundreds of them. The viceroy cannot imprison half the army; if there were a major attack on their country or even a longer war at this point, they would have a damn bad chance of fending off or winning it.

A catastrophe would ensue if the seduced hunters and huntresses refused their allegiance and obedience simply because they did not want to be ordered to do anything by a harunkat king.

But there is another point, besides that of Varngond's safety, that concerns them. One that affects the entire population and is guaranteed to be hotly debated there too. A theory that may already be taking root among the people and could bear bitter fruit if it comes to maturity. These are the statements and dogmas of the new religion regarding the previously valid equality of couples.

Why should some individuals or partnerships be worth more than others or be viewed and treated favorably by a god? What makes a man better than a woman, they are different, that's how the gods created them, but that doesn't mean they are of different value.

The preacher's theses contradict their ideas of a just society in which everyone should have their place, as well as the instructions of their old gods and their laws, which largely have their basis in the “Book of Life”. Among other things, it says that men and women and the alliances they enter into with one another should be assessed equally in the allocation of rights and duties.

The members of the High Council react immediately; this rebellion must under no circumstances be allowed to spread beyond the borders of Varngond. The new news is certainly already making its rounds in the customs stations and border troop regiments.

But the other houses are not yet reporting any practical effects, such as desertion or the gathering of insurgents.

For this reason, the High Council refrains from intervening with its troops in Varngond; Tharandil and Nimrond should regulate this on their own territory. In return, the council gives them a free hand to initiate all the measures necessary to take targeted and successful action against the preacher and his followers.

Tharandil is not entirely satisfied with this answer. Somehow, he can't help but feel that some people are shirking their responsibilities. It's actually a matter for the Council to take care of souvenirs from foreign worlds. Otherwise, make such a fuss about it so that nothing new comes into the country. Why should he do the work now?

What surprises the two kings even more is a sentence in the directive in which the High Council offers amnesty to the misled followers. All those who turn away from the preacher and return to their locations and resume their ministry should go unpunished and without financial loss, except for the period in which they were unlawfully absent from the troops. However, if they decide to stay with him, they face severe punishments ranging from life in the mines to execution for rebellion, rebellion, desertion and resistance to the existing order.

A bit of leniency for Nimrond's and especially Tharandil's taste, the two would even have liked to tan the hides of the returnees, but they have to stick to the guidelines. Of course, the waiver of any punishment for the hunters also has its purpose, and was hardly expressed out of charity. Convicting all the hunters who ran with them and putting them behind bars would mean greatly reducing the number of fighters for years to come, and Varngond can never afford that. The royal family relies on the army's high striking power for defense.

Little by little, the use of the hunters loyal to the king against their own people shows a reversal of the situation. Wherever smaller groups or even individuals continue to run away from the army, they are pursued and picked up. Most of the time the capture is bloodless; taking up arms against their own brothers and sisters is a step too much for the rebels, but one or the other is still wounded because an arrow goes astray. The decree and the offer of amnesty are read to them directly on site and they have to decide immediately whether to be put in chains or to ride back to their garrisons as free hunters. The decision is actually easy for all but a few incorrigible people and they also think about it very carefully in the dungeon. And some come to the realization in the stone chambers that it wasn't actually as bad as it had been handled so far.

In some locations, the viceroy even stops by in person with Laroman and Xernot at his side to read out the orders of the High Council. He wants to shake hands with his people, "see, you've gone in the wrong direction, but I'll forgive you if you take the oath to me again."

This personal commitment is proving successful and many of the men and women who have gone astray are thinking about the matter carefully, because such an offer to get out of the matter without any trouble probably only comes along once. And almost everyone who was only there half-heartedly because they were primarily interested in worldly benefits is turning their backs on the preacher and his brave new world. Nimrond manages to get almost all of them to change their minds and bring them back. They agree with his words, it's not worth messing with the royal family over. They actually have everything they need and no one is forced into service, each of them is here voluntarily and can take off their uniform at any time. So, why is everyone complaining here? There is no reason at all for this.