The Runes' Way E-Book

Nadja Dittgen

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

Seitenzahl: 170

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

Mila, Felix and Julian are spending the summer with their grandmother and Mila's friend Emilia. Since their plans have been thwarted by bad weather, they decide to go rummaging in the attic, where Mila finds an old, dusty game board with old cards that have nothing written on them. But when they start the first round, writing suddenly appears on the back of the cards... When the children open their eyes again, their familiar surroundings have vanished and they find themselves in the Middle Ages, of all times! Sigurd the Terrible rules here, instilling fear in his subjects. Not even the princess can stand up to him. What can four children possibly do? If it weren't for the children's special gift for solving puzzles and making plans...

Leseprobe

Dedication

For my family - thank you for your support and inspiration

Chapter 1:

The attic

Rain, rain, rain! Mila looked gloomily out of the window. The first week of the summer vacation was already over and the sun hadn't shown itself once. What they hadn't planned! Mila sighed. Together with her brothers Julian and Felix and their mutual friend Emilia, they wanted to go camping by the lake. They had imagined it all through school: swimming in the lake during the day, relaxing with a cool ice cream in the afternoon and telling scary stories around the campfire in the evening. Instead, they now spent the days at their grandma's house, where they were allowed to spend their vacation. They had built a cave and read and played games in it. Also quite nice, but no comparison to their original plans. The weather forecast for the next few days was also hopeless.

The door was suddenly flung open and Julian stormed in. Her brother was nine years old and therefore a good year older than his sister. "Come along, Grandma has given us permission to rummage around in the attic! I'm sure we'll find a few things for our cave there!" The thought of the attic didn't make Mila feel so happy. She thought more of a lot of dust and lots of spiders. As if he could read herthoughts, Julian said: "Come on, don't be like that, it could be fun. Who knows what there is to discover up there!" All right, she didn't want to be a spoilsport. Besides, it was still better than being stuck here.

Together they went up the stairs to the upper floor. Felix, at eleven the oldest of the siblings, was in the process of opening the skylight and carefully lowering the folding staircase attached to it. Standing next to him was ten-year-old Emilia. With her blonde hair and bright blue eyes, she looked very much like Mila. They were often mistaken for sisters, which pleased them both. "There you are, you've come at just the right time," Emilia beamed. Felix had managed to get down the stairs in the meantime, so they ventured up one after the other, Felix leading the way and Mila bringing up the rear.

Once they reached the top, Mila saw her fears confirmed: No one had obviously been here for years. She sneezed violently as she kicked up dust when she entered the attic. She involuntarily felt a shiver run down her spine at the thought that she could get her hair caught in a spider's web. So she stopped for a moment and looked around. It was gloomy up here, with only a little light coming up from below through the open hatch. There was also a small, round window below the roof gable, but it was completely filthy so that very little sunlight could penetrate inside. There was a smattering of boxes and suitcases, no doubt all covered in a thick layer of dust. There was an old bicycle in one corner of , with a small stool next to it.There were plenty of cobwebs, of course, and Mila was already wondering what she was doing up here.

The two boys, however, were completely in their element, as she could easily see from the enthusiasm in their eyes and the eagerness with which they set off in search of whatever. Felix had wisely brought a flashlight with him, Emilia used the light from her cell phone to get an overview and also seemed to be hoping for some grandiose discoveries. "What are you looking for up here?" asked Mila, annoyed.

"I don't know," Julian replied, "but there are so many boxes around here, I wouldn't be surprised if we came across something really great, a treasure map perhaps!"

Sure, a treasure map. Mila rolled her eyes. The whole thing was very realistic. Felix had already opened one of the boxes. "This one's full of books," he said. "Pretty old stuff, but at least we won't run out of reading material if the vacations continue to fall through."

"Look at this," said Julian. He had put on a big red hat with feathers, a knitted scarf around his neck and was holding a dress with green sequins in front of his body. "Well, my dears, don't I look stunning?" he squealed in a high-pitched voice. The friends laughed and also pounced on the box of clothes that Julian had opened. It was actually a huge collection of the strangest items of clothing and the children outdid each other with the craziest combinations. Felix with high heels, leather trousers and a frilly blouse, Emilia with abutcher's apron, diving goggles and a turban. Mila opted for an eye patch, a Tyrolean hat, a convict shirt that came down to her knees and flip-flops. They laughed as they looked at each other. Emilia took a few photos with her cell phone, which didn't turn out very well in the dim light, but that didn't dampen the good mood. They spent an enjoyable afternoon in the attic, allowing Mila to forget about the spiders for a while. They rummaged around until they heard their grandmother calling them for dinner. Just as they were about to leave, Mila suddenly made a discovery.

Chapter 2:

The mysterious box

"Wait a minute," called Mila, "there's something here that I just want to have a look at." The three friends stepped closer. Mila held a square box in her hands. She turned away from her friends and blew the thick layer of dust off the lid, then wiped it with her sleeve. Four heads bent over the box. It was brown; there had probably once been drawings on the lid, but they had faded so much over time that only a few outlines could be made out. There were also strange signs that Julian, who wanted to be an archaeologist later on and was familiar with such characters, identified as runes. "Where are you? The food's already on the table!" Grandma called from downstairs.

"Let's take the box with us," Emilia suggested, "then we can look at it in peace after dinner. Besides, we have better light in our room, you can hardly see anything up here." No sooner said than done. Felix went ahead. When he reached the bottom, Mila handed him the box from above before she and the other two children carefully descended the small staircase backwards. Felix quickly took the box into their shared bedroom, then followed the others into the dining room, which was filled withthe wonderful aroma of steamed dumplings with vanilla sauce. Smiling, his grandma handed him a plate of the sweet delicacy. "Enjoy it then!" she said, beaming all over her face as the four children tucked in.

They didn't speak for a while, all busy sinking pieces of steamed dumpling deep into the sauce and enjoying the warm, salty-sweet bites. Only now did the friends realize how hungry they were. Grandma, who didn't care for sweet treats, looked benevolently at the boys and girls. Their appetite was the greatest praise for her cooking skills and she was completely satisfied. Then she plucked a cobweb from Julian's T-shirt and asked what discoveries they had made in the attic, as she herself had not been up there for at least fifteen years. The children happily talked about the clothes box and a few other "treasures", but none of them mentioned the box they had saved for the evening to explore. Whether it was because there was nothing special to talk about, after all, it could contain irrelevant stuff, or because it was their shared secret that they had taken this box with them. In any case, they quietly agreed to keep this discovery a secret.

Full and satisfied, the four friends made themselves comfortable after dinner in the cave they had built in their shared room. Grandma was just great: not only did she prepare the most delicious food and let them stay up as late as they wanted. Another advantage over their parents was thatthey didn't have to tidy their room all the time. And so this one was now more like a robber's den. They had artfully draped all the blankets they could find over chairs, pushed their mattresses underneath, created a pantry filled with potato chips, chocolate and jelly babies, brought in flashlights and created an all-round cozy place that they were not unjustifiably proud of.

And in the middle of this cave, illuminated by the light of a desk and two flashlights, there it was: the ominous box. Felix, Emilia, Mila and Julian sat in a circle around it and tried again to decipher something on the lid, but even down here, with better lighting, it was impossible. Julian carefully lifted the lid and four pairs of eyes stared spellbound at the contents of the box. "Looks like a game," said Emilia. She was saying what the others were thinking. There was something that looked like a game board. Square, with round squares on it, similar to a game of Ludo, some of which were different colors from the others. Each of these special squares was inscribed with one of the runes that could still be seen on the lid. There were also cards in the box. They were also marked with runes. There was also a yellowed dice. Felix took out the game board, the cards and the dice, turned the box over and over, but it didn't seem to contain anything else. "Crap, no instructions," he cursed.

"Let's just think of something," Emilia suggested. "We'll roll the dice. Whoever rolls a six first starts. Whoever lands on one of these special squares draws a corresponding card."

As no one had a better idea, the suggestion was accepted. After a few minutes, it was Julian who came across one of the rune fields. Together, they searched through the cards until they came across the matching sign. "I'll read you what you have to do," said Felix, turning the card over and looking around, puzzled. "It doesn't say anything on it." He placed the upturned card in the middle to confirm this.

"There!" Mila suddenly screamed and pointed to the back of the card, which had just been completely white. The children held their breath as they saw blood-red writing gradually appear, as if written by a ghostly hand, and then fade away again as soon as the last word had been written:

Put an end to injustice. Restore the right.

While they were still pondering the meaning of these words, a glaring light blinded them. They held their arms protectively over their eyes. When they dared to look again, the cave, their room and their entire surroundings had disappeared.

Chapter 3:

In the Middle Ages

It took a moment before they dared to look carefully under their arms. What they saw took their breath away: they were obviously in a small clearing that was completely unfamiliar to them. The children's clothing was also particularly strange. While they had been wearing jeans and T-shirts until a moment ago, the boys were now wearing brownish linen pants and a coarse-meshed top, also in earthy colors. The girls were dressed in brown dresses with a small cord around their waists. All four were barefoot. After looking around and at each other wordlessly for a few minutes, Mila was the first to regain her speech: "What happened? It's all just a bad dream, isn't it? Julian, pinch me!"

"If I didn't know it was completely absurd, I'd say we were in the Middle Ages," Julian replied. His gaze fell on the playing card, which was still lying in the middle of them, but now again without any writing and with only the rune on the back.

"It must have something to do with the game," said Emilia, who had followed his gaze. "The last thing I remember is this sort of order that appeared on the map. Did you read that too? I mean, it saidthat we should put an end to injustice and restore justice. I wonder what that means?"

"I don't care," Mila wailed, "I want to go home!" Tears welled up in her eyes. Then they heard a noise very close by. With a finger to his lips, Felix told them to be quiet. The friends carefully stalked towards the bushes that surrounded the clearing. The noise they had heard was caused by a monk pulling a small cart behind him. It was impossible to see what was on it as it was covered by a tarpaulin. As the road was slightly uphill, the monk had some difficulty moving forward with his load. Suddenly, another sound caught the children's attention, and the monk couldn't miss it either: from the other direction, the rapid clattering of horses' hooves could be heard, approaching inexorably and at great speed. A moment later, kicking up dust and galloping at high speed, a black steed approached, its rider, a black knight, putting his spurs to it. Even though he must have noticed the monk late, he made no attempt to slow down or initiate an evasive maneuver. The monk saved himself at the last second with a daring leap into the bushes. The black knight continued on his way as if nothing had happened.

Horrified, the children rushed out of the bushes. "Has something happened to you?" Emilia asked the monk and held out her hand to help him up. Julian and Felix also helped, as the monk's robe had got caught in a thorn bush.

"Thanks, I'm fine," said the monk. The shock was still written all over his face. With trembling knees, he sat down on a stone.

"What a monstrosity! You could have been run over by the horse, it didn't take much. You could have been injured, if not dead!" Julian exclaimed indignantly.

"Yes, I know," replied the monk in a dull voice. "That was one of King Sigurd the Terrible's knights. The life of a simple monk counts for nothing to these barbarians. We are defenceless against their harassment, just like the villagers. But we can do nothing against them. It would take a miracle. It's not just us monks who are praying for that, believe me. Otherwise we can do nothing. Hope and pray."

With these words, the old man sat up and went to his cart, which had landed half in the ditch. The boys helped him to pull it out and place it on the path. "Thank you for your help! God bless you!" said the monk and continued on his way.

The children remained pensive. "I think we can guess what is meant by the 'prevailing injustice' mentioned on the playing card," sighed Emilia. "That's right," Julian confirmed, "but how on earth are the four of us supposed to right the wrongs and restore justice? I mean, we're only four children. If I've got it right, there's a really nasty king ruling here and nobody can do anything about him. So how are we supposed to do it? Four children against a whole army of knights ..."

They hung their heads despondently. Mila began to sob. "This is a nightmare! I just want to go home!"

Emilia took her in her arms. "I can understand you so well. I feel the same way. But I'm afraid complaining won't help us now. We need a plan."

Chapter 4:

On the market square

"Julian, you're our history expert," said Emilia. "What do you suggest?"

"We should first get an overview of the situation. All we know so far is that we've landed in the age of knights and that the evil King Sigurd the Terrible rules here - I've never heard that name before, by the way. Let's follow the monk. I suspect that he is on his way to a town in his wagon, possibly to sell goods at the market there. We can ask around there and find out exactly what this king is all about. Before we do that, however, we should change our names, because ours are too modern and we would stand out immediately."

"Good point," Felix agreed with him. "I already have a suggestion for you: How aboutGiselbert?"

The girls laughed and Julian gave him a rough poke in the arm. "Ow, what's that all about? It's a cool name! I don't even know what you've got! And Emilia, wouldn'tKunigundebe a nice new first name?"

"With pleasure, if I can call youWolframfrom now on."

After teasing each other for a while with new name suggestions, they agreedthat Mila should now be called Ida, Emilia opted for Katharina, Julian for Johannes and Felix for Andreas. This put the first part of the plan into action. They briefly agreed that if anyone asked, they would reply that they had left their village to find work in the city. This seemed absurd at first, but Julian had assured them that child labor was commonplace in the Middle Ages and that no one would be surprised. The four of them then made their way to the town. It wasn't a long way, but their feet soon ached as they weren't used to walking over hill and dale without shoes. Of course, they also walked barefoot at home or in the swimming pool from time to time, but on this path they soon longed for their comfortable sneakers.

From a small hill, they could see the city wall from afar, with several people streaming through the gate, many of them with animals or carts. Julian saw his suspicion that it might be market day confirmed. "We'll blend in with the crowd as inconspicuously as possible. With a bit of luck, four children won't attract much attention. I'm afraid we won't be able to march in casually and fulfill our mission. We should be prepared to be here for a long time. That means we should make sure we have a roof over our heads as soon as possible and find money for food. If you see a chance to stay with someone, take it!"

Mila sobbed again.

"Don't worry, Mila, you're not alone!" Emilia comforted her and Felix added: "That's right, you're the youngestof us. One of us will definitely stay with you and protect you. But I doubt that all four of us will find shelter anywhere. But let's not give up hope. We'll stick together and get through this adventure!" He sounded more confident than he felt when he said this. But did they have any other choice?

With a queasy feeling, they entered the town in a crowd of people of mixed ages. In fact, they were lucky and were not questioned by the guards about their request. They looked around in amazement. Of course, they knew what they were seeing from books about the Middle Ages, but seeing life here with their own eyes and smelling the smells was something completely different. Market stalls were lined up close together, teeming with people and animals. All kinds of goods were on sale here, there were stalls selling vegetables, pottery, furs and leather goods. The smell took some getting used to and was difficult to describe. It smelled of human exhalations, grass, animal carcasses and animal excrement, an extremely unpleasant mixture. It took a while for them to get used to the acrid stench.

Next to a stall selling various skins, they spotted the monk they had met earlier. He seemed to be selling various tinctures. He had also spotted the children and waved to them in a friendly manner. They went up to him and took a closer look at his displays. "Ah, you sell St. John's wort oil," Julian said.

"You recognized that well, my son. Do you recognize it because you have already used it yourself?"

"Not that, but it does say that."

The monk looked at him, puzzled. "You can read? Who taught you that? You're only seven or eight years old, if I'm not mistaken."

'Crap,' thought Julian. He had said that so carelessly, when he actually knew that only a few people could read and write in the Middle Ages. He blushed and stammered something about "our neighbor taught me".

"That's fantastic," the monk replied delightedly, "tell me, what's your name, my son?"

"Ju... Johannes," stammered Julian, who had remembered just in time that they had given themselves new names here.