The slave of Valaina E-Book

Lil Hahnenkamm

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

Seitenzahl: 332

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

Valaina was the name of the home where Prince Freylen once resided in his father's castle. The day after his engagement to his great love Iduna, he disappeared. Since then, not a day has gone by without Iduna remembering her beloved. Despite new duties, despite the succession to the throne, which is now hers. But one thing is certain. Time is short. The succession to the throne must be secured, a husband must be chosen. Iduna feels torn. Should she choose a husband or wait for her beloved, hoping that he will return? And finally, a mysterious stranger comes to her side, who is hardly worthy of her station and yet ... can the stranger open her eyes, help her find the truth and show her how to be a queen?

Leseprobe

Prologue

It befell on June 21, 1317 within the small kingdom of Valaina, which lies between the Holy Roman Empire and Denmark, the day after Prince Freylen of Valaina turned 13 years old. On that day, the king thought back for the first time to the moment his only son saw the light of day, to the day his beloved queen left this world, just minutes after the prince was born. The king hated his son for the death of his wife, had never been a good father to him and often punished him with beatings. But on this day, he began to regret all this.

Sardasot announced to him a few minutes before the king began to curse himself that he would be leaving the palace because he could no longer live at court as the king's confidant. He had truly been a confidant, for he had guarded the king's greatest treasure, as the king was now painfully aware: the prince.

Now he was gone too. Early that morning, the maids found him no longer in his chamber and immediately informed their king.

The festive robe laid neatly folded on a chair, the blankets on the bed were untidy. The prince seemed to have gone to bed. There was a dark red stain of blood, still slightly damp, on one of thepillows.

Once, the king granted his successor a wish. The day before, during the celebration of the prince's birthday, the engagement to the girl he loved had taken place. He had begged and pleaded on his knees for his father to grant him this one wish, but he forbade him to do so. He fought back tears until the wife of his deceased best friend broke him. The mother of the young girl, to whom his son had been engaged for a few hours, reminded him of his own great love, that Freylen's mother would have wanted her son to be happy. And so, despite the fact that he had never granted his son a wish and that he did not like the girl called Iduna, the king agreed to the betrothal. He was aware that the mother of his son's future wife and she herself knew the prince better than he ever had.

And now the young prince was gone, disappeared, injured, kidnapped. Everyone who knew about the prince's disappearance assumed this fact after just a few minutes.

Now the king was alone. He had always been alone, as he rarely saw his son, but he was aware that he only had to go and see him if he felt the urge to go and see him, but that never happened. But as little as he knew Freylen, the fact that he was gone hurt the king too much.

Only a few paintings still reminded us of the truly handsome figure of the young prince, whose existence many people seemed to have forgotten, so rarely was he seen in the castle and in his country. The young man only resided in his chambers and the library. He was rarely allowed to enter the castle garden, as he had to study day in, day out, preparing himself to be the ruler of Valaina one day. Once a week, every Sunday, the prince accompanied his father to the castle chapel to pray, and every now and then he was allowed to spend time in the chambers of Iduna and her mother.

But something else showed that Freylen had lived in this castle for 13 years, according to the king. It was the same thing that made him remember his wife: memory.

The king had certainly not spent much time with his son, but the previous evening, the party and the fact that Freylen had smiled so happily after his engagement to Iduna that his eyes seemed to sparkle had been etched in the king's memory forever.

He had to find Freylen and hoped to be a better father to him afterwards, wanted his eyes to shine every day like they did on the night he became engaged to Iduna.

Chapter I

"I haven't been here for a long time"

More than seven years had passed since that terrible day when the young prince had disappeared. Hardly anything had changed in the large castle.

Nothing, if you wanted to put it that way, apart from the fact that more than half of the servants had left the castle since the prince had disappeared.

The prince's chambers still existed, but the door leading to them had been locked. There was a thick layer of dust over the bed, the table, the chairs and cupboards, over everything in this room.

But something else had changed: The people had aged. The king, the remaining servants and also Iduna, who had matured into a unique woman.

She was now 21 years old, had grown, was unusually tall for a woman and was wonderful to look at, even though the visual norm for a woman at that time seemed to be the exact opposite.

In addition to her imposing height, the young woman was very muscular, she had skin tanned by the sun, bright green eyes and hair the color of fresh blood. The king had never seen such red hair in his life. Iduna's lips were also strikingly red, but the most unusual thing about her was her profession and her nature.

In fact, Iduna practiced two professions: A few weeks after Freylen disappeared, the king took the young woman, who was a girl at the time, into his care. She had always resembled her deceased father, not only the best knight's man, but also the king's best friend, the only person, apart from the queen, who spoke sternly to the king from time to time, supported him and to some extent still educated him.

Iduna also dared to make her opinion known, she spoke seriously and maturely to the king and reproached him numerous times over the years, continuing the role of queen and her father, keeping the king in check, slowing him down when he reacted or wanted to act wrongly. She was very temperamental, which a woman was not allowed to be, but the young woman skillfully ignored this. She spoke her mind and managed to instill respect in every man, as she had always stormed through the forest with the boys instead of embroidering and cooking.

And so the king decided to fulfill the girl's greatest wish, along with the return of Freylen,. He began to train her as a warrior himself, which turned out to be the right decision. Iduna learned quickly and a lot and was now the person at court who could fight best with a sword, run the fastest, climb the highest and jump the furthest. She also rode like the devil and her skills were known throughout the kingdom.

But over time, Iduna was given another job: after three years of searching in vain for his son, the king called off the search, believing that the prince had died. He had not been found after all. And so he decided that if Freylen did not return, Iduna would be his successor. He knew that she could lead this kingdom, knew that she was strong and that his son would have wanted her to be queen if the prince had still been around.

And so it was that one winter morning, the heir to the throne hurried into the throne room, especially as the king had invited a guest.

Iduna quickly entered the throne room and looked kindly at her king.

"Greetings, Asilos!" she called out in a sunny mood and curtseyed slightly to the 45-year-old man with chin-length, well-groomed, slightly wavy dark blonde hair and an equally well-groomed chin and moustache.

"Greetings, Iduna!" he replied just as kindly, bowing his head slightly as the warrior sat down on a smaller throne to the king's right.

"Who are we expecting?" her voice sounded curious and she looked at the king questioningly.

"We are receiving a knight of Prince Belial of Arta. A man who administers a part of my land in the west. He will invite us to the prince's castle, where you are to meet his eldest son. Don't get me wrong, you are only supposed to get to know him, not marry him. However, you should be aware that you will marry one day, and so I would like to give you the opportunity to meet some men of noble blood, should Freylen not reappear," the king explained politely.

"That is indeed a good idea, and I will be pleased to make the acquaintance of this person, but I am still waiting for Frey," Iduna replied and turned towards the door, which had just opened.

A man of slender build entered the hall, with curly brown hair that was about the same length as the king's. His face and rather small green eyes were adorned with a dark beard. His face, with its rather small green-brown eyes, was also adorned with a dark full beard. He was slightly older than Iduna and bowed politely to the king and his successor.

"Greetings, King Asilos of Valaina and Crown Princess Iduna of Valaina. My name is Argon, I am a knight of the House of Lord Belial," the man introduced himself in a friendly manner. He had a warm voice that sounded just as friendly as his eyes shone.

"I greet you, Argon, Knight of Belial," the king replied, bowing his head in greeting, "I now ask you to present your request."

Argon nodded politely and stood up. "The Prince cordially invites His Majesty and the heir to the throne to visit him at his castle, especially as you would like to introduce the heir to the throne to some young men. He would like to invite you to enjoy a few days at his castle, and he would also like to introduce you to his eldest son," he explained, giving the two seated guests a warm smile.

"Well, I really don't want to lie to you and that is why I am now announcing that I was informed of this invitation a few days ago. I am inclined to accept it and will gladly leave my castle and visit the prince's castle alongside Iduna. It has been a long time since I have been on a journey and I think that it will do both me and you, Iduna, a lot of good, especially as you are to get to know your future kingdom," said the king, nodding slightly at the same time, "If it is all right with you, we will set off in two days."

"Only too gladly, my king! In a moment, I will dismiss the messenger at my side with a message to inform the prince of your imminent appearance," Argon replied and bowed once more.

"Do that! A maid will put you up in a room where you can spend the night until we leave."

~

On the evening of the following day, Iduna stood pensively on the training ground, hitting a post with her longsword, lost in thought. She couldn't look forward to tomorrow's journey.

"Iduna, my child! Tell me, why are you still on the training ground in this darkness and cold? I've prepared some warm soup," her mother called out and stepped out onto the large square.

Without answering her mother, she sheathed her sword and approached the much smaller woman. She gave her a friendly, even affectionate smile and together mother and daughter went to their chambers, where the warm soup was already waiting for them.

"What's the matter, my child?" asked Almina, Iduna's mother, when she noticed her daughter's pensive expression, "You've been so silent since yesterday. Aren't you pleased that you're going on a journey in the early hours of the morning?"

Iduna looked up. "You know, of course I'm delighted, but I think there's more to this visit than just an acquaintance. Asilos wants me to get married. I am happy to do so, but there is only one man with whom I would like to tie the knot. In every other kingdom, people are married in such a way that it is good for them. The people are completely unimportant. I want to be happy with one man and I can only do that with Frey," Iduna explained with a sigh.

Her mother laughed heartily. "My child, you are following your will and the king is aware of this. If you do not want to marry the prince's son, you will not do so. Instead, remember that you now have the opportunity to see the kingdom. And perhaps fate will be kind to you and you will find your future husband," she said, placing her hand on Iduna's.

She nodded hesitantly. This would be her first time traveling, and why shouldn't she look for her promised one? Perhaps she would be able to find him. She was the only one who still firmly believed that the prince was alive.

"You haven't been with him for a long time," her mother's calm voice sounded in the thoughtful silence.

Iduna looked at her mother in amazement, then she understood. "My belongings have already been put in a chest. I will visit him and tell him about my worries."

~

A few minutes later, Iduna opened the solid wooden door. The torch in her hand cast a flickering light on what lay behind the door. It illuminated the dust that had been stirred up by opening the door, shone on the bed, the cupboard and table, the shelf and the door that led to a washing area. All of this was hidden under a thick layer of dust.

She cautiously entered the room, which had once been very sumptuous many years ago. "Hello," she said softly, running her fingers over a comfortable chair, on which she finally sat down, "I haven't been here for a long time, Frey. And I think that if you can hear me, you know what happened. I'm afraid to meet this man, because my only wish is to see you again. Do you know how much your father has changed? He was here, I can see. He forgot his ring. And he loves you. Frey, I promise you that I will never give up on you."

Chapter II

"A person like you and me"

The next day, Iduna, Asilos, Argon and a few servants set off early in the morning for Arta Castle, the seat of Prince Belial. The snow was still deep and winter had reached its peak, making it impossible for a carriage to travel the long distance through the kingdom. So all the travelers left the castle on horseback and set off to reach Prince Belial's castle.

Iduna enjoyed the scenery, seeing the kingdom in all its glory for the first time. Contrary to her expectations, she was able to admire the snow-capped mountains, the wide valleys and forests in bright sunlight. The clouds of the last few weeks had moved on and so it was a real pleasure to go on this ride, which seemed to go by far too quickly.

~

In the evening, the group arrived in one of the towns, where they spent the night in an inn. As the king rarely left his castle, there was great excitement in the town. The innkeeper roasted a suckling pig and let his guests dine from his best plates.

Iduna enjoyed the strange faces, but she found herself looking out for Freylen, hoping to catch sight of the light blonde hair or even the blue eyes. She didn't know what Freylen looked like now, as she hadn't seen him for many years, but she didn't see such light hair in this inn.

~

"Asilos," she said to her king before retiring to her own room, "I found this ring in Frey's chambers last night."

The king looked at Iduna in amazement and silently took the ring from her hand. "It's not a sin to admit that you miss him. If only he knew how much you love him," she said and laid down to rest after greeting him.

~

The next day they arrived at the lands administered by the prince. It was a beautiful piece of land, dotted with forests, rivers and the great mountains.

"Now we pass the fields, then we ride through a small forest, behind which lies the prince's castle," explained Argon, pointing to numerous fields to their sides.

Iduna turned her gaze and saw four people in one of the fields. Two of them were of a darkskin color and, like a third, wore dirty rags. They stood bent over and seemed to be working the field. The fourth man looked down sternly at the three others, holding a whip in his hand.

The pale person seemed to be picking up stones and turned her head. Iduna's sharp eyes met those of the person, of whom she could neither tell how old they were nor what gender they were. The person was small and lean, with a fine face and soft features, as far as she could tell. The hair was almost completely hidden under a hood, only a few gray-brown strands of hair peeked out on the forehead, which reached down to the creature's chest.

When the person realized that Iduna was looking at her, she averted her eyes in shock and bent down for another stone as she disappeared from the throne's view.

But Iduna forgot about the small group the moment she saw the large castle that now stood before her. It was truly large and looked quite magnificent, but was nowhere near the size of the king's castle. The keep and the other towers were covered in snow and a flag was blowing in the light breeze.

~

Just a few minutes later, the horses' hooves clattered on the wooden bridge and finally the animals came to a halt ina large courtyard. Iduna looked around and saw the stables, a smithy, a wooden shed and so much more. Then her gaze fell on the main castle, which was separated from the outer castle by a wall. It was large, smaller than the castle, but this building with its gray facades looked very imposing. The walls were high, the windows small, but Iduna thought the castle was beautiful, the way it towered over this land.

Some guards now approached them, grabbed the reins of the horses and helped the arrivals to dismount from their steeds. Iduna nodded politely to her guard and then stood next to the king, who was approaching the large entrance gate to the main castle. Five people stood there.

A man with relatively short brown hair and a neat chin and moustache stood in the middle. He was of medium height and appeared to be slightly younger than the king. He looked at the arrivals with brown eyes. Next to him stood three younger people. Two of them appeared to be Iduna's age; they were unmistakably his sons. The third, Iduna believed, was also a son of the man. He seemed to be about seven years old and bobbed up and down excitedly. The fifth person present was a rather small man, but he had an air about him that frightened Iduna. His hair was silver-gray and neatly combed. His face was shaved and his gray-green eyes looked at Iduna with a piercing gaze. He seemed to be the oldest of those present.

All five of them bowed their heads and Asilos and Iduna also bowed their heads to greet the people.

"Greetings, Asilos, King of Valaina!" called the man with the shorter hair and gave the king a smile.

"Prince Belial!" replied the king with equal pleasure, stepping towards the man and extending his right hand in greeting, which the prince grasped, "May I introduce you and your sons to my heir to the throne? This is Iduna of Valaina," said the king and Iduna bowed her head once more.

"Greetings, Iduna. May I now introduce you to my three sons?" the prince inquired and kissed the hand of the heir to the throne. She nodded with a smile.

"Well, this is my firstborn, Adrik," the prince began. Adrik stepped forward and also kissed Iduna's hand, "This is Sandulf." The other brother of Iduna's age also kissed the redhead's hand with a smile, "And this is my youngest son, Jaro."

"Greetings!" squeaked the little one and gave Iduna a beaming smile.

"Now, may I introduce you to my advisor Adrastos before I invite you and your company into my castle so that you can freshen up a little and we can finally attend a banquet," said Belial as the guards opened the gate and Adrastos the advisor bowed and kissed Iduna's hand.

~

A few minutes later, Iduna was alone in her chamber with her wardrobe and looked around. The room was tastefully furnished, had a fireplace and a four-poster bed, and looked just as ornate as the entire castle.

Somewhat exhausted, Iduna sank onto the bed and closed her eyes. So now she was here and was to marry one of Belial's two adult sons. The eldest, Adrik.

But the warrior knew that she had to get ready now so that she would be on time for the banquet. So she jumped up again, opened the chests and pulled out a bright red, almost rose-colored dress. Iduna quickly removed her short tunic and slipped into the garment before combing her hair and washing her face.

~

Some time later, she entered the knights' hall, where the king, the prince with his eldest and the advisor had already taken their seats at a richly laid table. Iduna sat down next to the king and nodded nobly to those present.

"Well, let's start dining before the food cools down. The pheasant is far more delicious in summer than it is now, but I cannot influence the seasons," the prince remarked with a smile and those present began to fill their plates with their meal.

The nobles present ate in silence. The king was hungry, having had an exhausting ride. Iduna accompanied him on this long journey, but she was much younger than him and, above all, far too nervous to eat as much food as the king. Her eyes kept falling on the prince's eldest son. The man the king wanted her to take as her husband. Perhaps the future king was sitting opposite her and eating.

"Well, why don't you go with my son to one of the bower rooms as soon as you have finished your meal?" The Prince Iduna now asked, dabbing his mouth with a cloth.

"I see no reason to do so," Iduna replied in a cool voice.

"But surely you want to get to know your future husband a little better," said Adrastos, reaching for his jug.

"With respect, my lord, but firstly I am very exhausted due to the long journey and secondly I am not inclined to marry this man. I am already promised to another!" Iduna felt an irrepressible rage overcome her. Was this complete stranger going to marry her off to the prince's eldest son?

She hated being pushed into anything or having such personal matters decided in her life. "I will retire now," she said quietly and rose, "Farewell!"

~

Iduna's footsteps echoed on the walls of the corridor as she walked along it. The anger at the men's recklessness blazed inside her like a hellfire. Without looking left or right, she hurried along it. As quickly as she could, she wanted to get to her chambers and think about everything that had happened. She tried to calm down while she was still walking and did what she always did to calm down: She thought about what the prince would have done. Every time she thought of him, the longing for him grew even stronger, piercing her heart like a spear and bringing with it sadness, fear and questions. But it helped her to calm down. When she asked herself what Freylen would have done in her place, she usually came up with a fair solution. Iduna thought about talking to Argon, the polite knight-man, but he didn't seem like the right person to talk to about her feelings. No matter whether she had only known him for a few hours or not. Nor did she think it was the right decision to pray or confess.

Lost in her thoughts, Iduna turned into another corridor. Then she felt something bump into her with great momentum and heard a thump and a clang. She stumbled and braced herself with her hands on the floor. Then she looked up, startled, and stared into the face of a stranger kneeling in front of her, staring in dismay at what had happened. As soon as her eyes met those of her counterpart, he lowered his gaze and assumed a submissive, humble posture. The person gesticulated slightly, moved their lips, but made no sound.

Iduna took a closer look at the person in front of her. Everything about her was a strange gray-brown. The long, slightly curly hair, which partially peeked out from under a colorless and very tattered hood, the tunic and the leg warmers, which were better rags, yes, even the skin was a colorless-looking gray-brown and yet very pale.

The skinny figure, the lack of shoes and the dirt as well as the traces of blood and tears did not exactly contribute to a better appearance of the person and made him look dried out. There were two things about the person that seemed to be of color: Firstly, the veins that shimmered under the skin, and secondly, the eyes, which seemed to come from a distant world, they were so blue. As blue as two sapphires.

And despite the dirt and unkempt appearance of the figure, Iduna was struck by its incredible beauty. Even though the cheekswere sunken and the lips chapped, the person resembled a mythical creature. The large eyes, the well-formed nose, the full lips that adorned the delicate little face, on which no whiskers sprouted, with the high cheekbones, were of immeasurable beauty. Kneeling before her was a young man who seemed to be more of an adolescent than a full-grown man.

Iduna's gaze fell on the metal neck ring, which was visibly tight around the boy's throat, and she had to swallow. She wondered how this person managed to breathe and eat freely.

Hurried footsteps of several people now sounded in the corridor, but Iduna did not realize them. She was only startled when a heavy blow knocked her counterpart completely to the ground. The young man in front of her didn't move, just tried not to look up.

"What have you done, you piece of filth?" the prince shouted, completely beside himself. His eyes flashed angrily and his face took on a dark color. It was only at this moment that Iduna noticed the numerous shards of glass and the white cream lying on the floor, in which both she and the boy were kneeling.

"It wasn't the gentleman's fault!" Iduna shouted resolutely, "I wasn't paying attention to whether anyone was near me and was just following my thoughts. We collided completely unexpectedly."

"Iduna, you don't know what you're saying!" the king shouted, looking at her anxiously and nervously.

"On your knees!" Prince Belial commanded the young man and stepped towards him.

"Stop it!" Iduna shouted in horror as she saw the man lying on the ground writhing in pain.

"Greet the king!" the prince's voice was piercing. The youth straightened up carefully and let out a soft whimper. As he knelt again, he bent down and carefully placed his lips on the fine leather covering the king's feet.

Iduna felt a wave of nausea take hold of her.

"You will clean up this mess and then come to the knight's hall, where you will receive your punishment for this misdeed!" Belial hissed, without responding to Iduna.

"Your servant didn't do anything!" Iduna shouted a little louder, "Besides, you don't have to inflict pain on anyone because of an accident. That's no way to treat one of your servants. You should rather introduce him to a healer and make sure he eats a proper meal. Nothing gives you the right to beat or otherwise inflict pain on another!"

"He is not a servant, Iduna," the king explained in a gentle voice, "He is a slave."

"A slave?" Iduna repeated, perplexed. She knew that some people of noble blood kept slaves like cattle, and she had already seen them on the lord's lands when they had ridden to his castle; the boy had been there as the only white person. But seeing all the suffering in him here before her now awakened in the warrior the urge to protect the human in front of her, who seemed to be pure innocence. Iduna's gaze fell on the trembling hands of the figure, who was looking down at the ground.

"What are you waiting for? Do as I commanded you!" hissed the prince. The slave, who had not yet spoken a single word, flinched at the sudden loudness and shyly ducked his head. Finally, he stood up while those present looked at him in silence.

"He is handsome," said the king, addressing the prince.

"Pretty yes, but good for nothing. It's a miracle he's still alive. If the slaves weren't dying off faster than I can get new ones, I would have had him killed long ago. He's too small and too weak, but the other slaves protect him so well that we can't liquidate him."

"Is he branded?"

The prince pulled down the slave's tunic and exposed his hairless chest, which was emblazoned with a pale brand. The king nodded and took hold of theslave's chin, lifted his head, turned it to and fro, pulled apart the cracked lips, which immediately began to bleed, examined the teeth and then felt over the slave's upper body, who stood there still as a monument and waited.

"You don't really want to buy a slave. A white one at that. You are the king, what should your people think of you? But even if he's no good, he's pretty and my slaves aren't taken from me just like that. Besides, my slaves are not for sale. But of course you may inspect him."

"I want to see how well you can control him. The inconspicuous ones are usually the most foolish."

"Believe me, my king, he is the most obedient of all. And now he will go and fetch something to clean up the broken pieces and our food, and then come to the knight's hall where he will receive his punishment. If you wish to punish him, I will ask my son to take a step back."

Iduna, who was also looking at the slave, noticed the shard stuck in the right of the slave's bare foot and was startled. The boy himself was also looking at his feet, but did not seem to be bothered by the injury to his foot.

"You will never hurt him!" Iduna said to her king and finally wanted to address the slave.However, instead of raising her voice once more, Iduna fell silent as the blue-eyed man turned around and carefully took the first step in the direction he had come from. It did not escape the warrior's trained eye that the boy was in severe pain. Pain that could not possibly have come from the shard in his foot. She saw that he was limping badly, but the slave didn't seem to care. He had given up. The feeling of hopelessness that he radiated was just as strong as the innocence that also emanated from him.

Iduna's head filled more and more with questions: What had the young man done? Why had he been enslaved? What paths had he already traveled? How much suffering had he already experienced? How did he become who he was? The one who tried to carry out the orders of his masters without a will.

But even a slave, Iduna learned, could not always withstand his pain. So everyone present watched idly as the slave stumbled and eventually fell. But Iduna's reflexes were trained and more than just reliable. Without thinking, she took a step forward and caught the slender body. The body in her arms was tense and trembling. She could feel the ribs poking out from under the skin, she could feel the rapid heartbeat as her arms wrapped around the upper body from behind. She gently lowered the boy to the ground, kneeling behind him and holding him upright, fearing that the starving body would collapse as soon as she let go. She heldhim tightly to show him that she was there, hoping that the fear she could see in his eyes would diminish.

"Iduna!" cried the king, "He is..."

"... A human like you and me," the woman he was addressing interrupted him. She looked at the creature in her arms, who didn't dare to move.

"I would argue that this corridor is a bit draughty after all. Why don't we go back to the knight's hall?" Iduna now asked innocently. The king was aware that his chosen successor would have her way. He nodded to the prince, who understood.

"I'll leave it up to you how you want to transport him to the knight's hall," he said and walked off side by side with the king, leaving Iduna and the slave to their own devices.

The future queen took a deep breath and looked at the slave in front of her. She could not judge how intelligent the young man was, but she hoped that he had realized that he would escape punishment.

"What's your name?" she asked cautiously after a while. She couldn't see the boy's lips, didn't know whether he was just speaking too quietly or making any sound at all.

"Can you walk if I help you?" Iduna now asked. Again, she received no answer. She sighed softly, having already guessed that dealing with a slave in a friendly manner would prove difficult.

"Get up!" she finally ordered. This worked. Lord Belial seemed to be right: The slave followed orders given to him without a will. And yet the slave had to struggle to get to his feet. Finally, Iduna stood up and pulled the slave with her. Now she stood behind him and continued to hold the boy, who bent his right leg slightly, obviously feeling a lot of pain there.

He was quite small, barely taller than Iduna herself, who was very tall for a woman, but still considerably shorter than the men she knew. So the slave was quite small for a man, but towered over Iduna by a few centimeters. However, Iduna believed that he could have been taller if he had been given more food. She didn't know much about slavery, but she was aware that there were often bloody conflicts among the slaves, as they were barely fed enough, which, according to the reports, usually led to disputes as the strongest got the most. The delicate slave in front of her was sure to perish in such fights.

Even when he was standing, the young man was in a submissive posture, always keeping his head and gaze lowered. Iduna did not know what diseases, whether he hadlice or fleas, but she was not afraid to touch the slave, knowing herself that she took great care of her body and bathed almost every day. In addition, the slave's hair was mostly covered by the hood, probably to prevent the transmission of lice, as well as to prevent him from spreading lost hair. She was surprised that his hair had not simply been cut off. But she was aware that she would probably not get an answer to this question from the slave himself.

Iduna pulled a cloth out of her skirt pocket, moistened it with spit and carefully wiped the fresh blood from the slave's face.

Finally, Iduna gently put one of the boy's arms over her shoulder, stepped next to him and put her arm around his waist, supporting him so that he could move.

"Watch out! You mustn't put too much strain on your right leg," Iduna said kindly. She already suspected, without being a trained healer, that the leg was broken and knew that the slave urgently needed both a healer and food to cure the injury, indeed, to survive.

~

Step by step, she maneuvered the slave along the corridor towards the knight's hall and spoke to him quietly, introducing herself, telling him about herself, alwaysin the hope that the slave would raise his voice after all. But the young man did not do her this favor, as it was impossible to gain the trust of someone who was rejected by his peers within a few minutes.

~

The people the odd couple encountered looked at them in amazement as they walked past. As the young man could no longer put any weight on his leg, their progress was very slow, but Iduna didn't mind at all. The only thing that made them hurry was the slave's injured leg. The young slave was dependent on Iduna in these minutes, despite the fact that Iduna sensed that he didn't trust her in the slightest. His body was completely tense and he seemed unable to engage in contact with her. But when they entered the great knight's hall and the eyes of the prince, his son, the king and the advisor Adrastos, as well as the servants and guards present, were directed at them, Iduna felt her companion's fear turn to panic and he pressed against her, frightened.

"No one will punish you," she whispered softly and squeezed his hand encouragingly.

"Let him go, he has to fall to his knees when one of his masters is present!" Adrastos spoke with a tone in his voice that Iduna could only describe as condescending.

"He's hurt!" she promptly objected, but by then the slave had already carefully detached himself from her and sunk to his knees.

"It doesn't matter if he's hurt. He has to show us his submissiveness and respect for our power!" Adrastos explained in a cold voice, "He is a slave. That he is injured is normal. He deserves every wound."

Iduna tried to maintain her composure as Adrastos spoke these words. Meanwhile, the slave trembled uncontrollably.

"He is by no means to blame for any injuries. I cannot judge whether this is the case for all injuries, but I can say this with certainty in the case of one particular wound, as this young man sustained it unintentionally, through my fault. He bumped into me, but he could not have guessed that I would dash around the corner like a frightened young deer. So we collided and he naturally dropped the bowl. A shard dug into his foot," Iduna reported.

"Get up!" Adrastos ordered, without responding to Iduna's words. The slave immediately struggled to get to his feet. Only after a few attempts did he succeed. Iduna thought she was losing her composure when she realized how indifferent everyone present was to the fact that the slave, the human, was struggling.

"Come here!" Adrastos now said sharply. Iduna took a step forward towards the slave, wanting to support him, but Adrastos stopped her. "You come to mealone!" he ordered in a cold voice.

"He won't!" Iduna replied as the skinny boy started to move, "Stop!"

"You forget, Iduna, that although you are my future queen, I am the supreme ruler for this slave, along with Prince Belial. He obeys my orders even before yours, and now you come to me!"

The last words were shouted by the man, who was sitting on his chair with his back straight, not taking his eyes off the slave. The latter stumbled forward awkwardly and almost fell.