Balor became pale. »Forgive me, priestess. But he claimed to have married you about six years ago. He killed five Naga in our village yesterday. But our leader is not a man of honor. I fear for the life of the stranger. I think Jabal will try to appease the priestess of the Red with this magician. For our village lies directly on the rocky plateau. Please priestess, even if what he said is not true. He helped us so much. And Jabal …«
A hand movement of the priestess abruptly silenced him. »What does this man look like?« Maioshan interrupted him.
Balor thought for a moment.
Ugar watched the priestess suspiciously. She had been away for six years. When she had returned, she had not lost a word over the years. Yet Ugar had felt a change. She was no longer the same. She now often sat sadly up in the cave looking southwest. She spent many hours here, and when he surprised her, he noticed her wiping tears from her eyes.
»He is about as tall and old as I am, and his skin is darker, almost bronze. His eyes are brown, and his hair is half-long and very dark, almost black. Never before have I seen a man with such a beautiful face … priestess,« Balor exclaimed anxiously, interrupting the description as Maioshan had fallen to her knees. She stared at him as if spellbound. »His name,« she breathed, although she knew it could only be him.
»Adar.«
Maioshan groaned and pressed both hands in front of her chest. Her upper body bent forward as if in pain.
»So it’s true, then, priestess? He is your husband?« Ugar asked. Now he knew a little more about the past six years.
She nodded. »I hoped he would be reasonable and not follow me. I warned him in his dreams and asked him to stay away from here. The Red will kill him if I don’t help him. Does he wear the dragon rings?« she asked Balor.
»I couldn’t find any rings on his hands,« he replied.
»I must go to him. Where is your village?«
»Towards the south. If you have a fresh horse for me and we start riding right away, we can be there at night. I hope it’s not too late for him then.«
A smile scurried over her face. She pulled herself together and walked purposefully over to the rock face. From there, she handed him a belt with a hook that could be closed. Then she took a large harness from the wall and hung it over herself.
»We’ll be faster. What’s your name?«
»My name is Balor.«
»I hope you’re not afraid of the Brown, Balor?«
Balor became a bit paler but bravely shook his head.
»I am the priestess, and the priestess is the Brown.« A soft light radiated from her body, and she turned into the Brown.
Balor screamed and staggered back. So it was said that where the priestess is, there is also the Brown. Now he knows why.
Ugar gently patted him on the shoulder. »Boyo, do not be afraid! If the Brown carries you, you are safe. The priestess also had a late but extensive breakfast. So the Brown doesn’t feel hungry and won’t eat you.« Ugar grinned at him broadly and amusedly.
»Eat me?« Balor was suddenly hoarse.
»Now climb on the back of the Brown and fasten the belt with the hook to the harness. Then hold on tightly to it. You have to go,« Ugar ignored his question.
Balor put on the belt and tightened it. Then he climbed on the back of the Brown. He wasn’t comfortable, but the magician needed help urgently. So he had no other choice.
Ugar showed him how to secure himself to the harness.
»Ugar fasten another belt to the harness.«
»Yes, Brown, immediately.« Ugar quickly got another belt and fastened it to the harness as well.
»Where do we have to go to Balor? Just show me the direction.«
Balor looked out and then pointed his hand in the direction he had come from. Immediately the Brown repelled himself from the cave and flew off towards the village of Balors.
On the way, there a single Naga came towards them after some time. He croaked the message he was supposed to deliver. »The priestess’s sister tells them that a pretty young man with dark skin died for her in a village to the south of here.
Then he wanted to turn away, but the Brown did not let him escape and burned him full of rage with a burst of fire.
»No, it must not be. He must not be dead. Not even him.«
»Brown, he is strong, perhaps he is still alive,« Balor tried to give in.
The brown moaned angrily growled desperately. »The sister of my priestess makes no empty promises,« he whispered full of gloomy foreboding. The dragon flew even faster than before. Balor clawed his hands to the scales and pressed tightly against his body. He could hardly breathe anymore, so much the flying wind took the air from him.
Kane watched what happened in the village, how Adar had torn himself off his shackles, how he burned two Naga, how the Red injured him. He also saw the Red become a priestess and how she killed a woman right in front of the magician, questioning him all the time. He saw Adar attack the priestess again and was injured again by her with her dagger. Kane realized that Adar was finally unconscious and desperate. He could not help the magician, or any of the villagers, at the moment. He was sick as he watched the Naga slaughter all the people who had lived there. He stood in the shade of the trees and watched the slaughter with clenched fists. He heard the desperate cries of the lost, held his ears temporarily, and leaned his forehead against the trunk so as not to have to see everything. But again and again, he forced himself and stared across. He wanted to be a witness.
Then the priestess turned into the Red again, and while the Naga killed the last people in his village, she flew away. When there was no living being except Jabal and Adar, the Naga flew after him. Deep sorrow seized Kane’s heart. So many friends had died today, and all because Jabal had betrayed them, because he did not obey the law of hospitality. When the Naga were only small dots on the horizon, Kane ran off. As fast as he could, he ran to the well and grabbed the bucket filled with water. He ran past his house and fetched some clean towels from it. Then he hurried to the oak tree. All along the way, friends and neighbors, men, women, and children, lay torn to shreds. There was no more life in any of them. All eyes stared into the sky empty, or arrange with their faces in the dust of the earth. The smell of the blood lay over the village. Kane cut Adar’s shackles with the dagger, caught him, and put him carefully on his back. Adar moaned quietly and painfully.
»Kane, untie me!« Jabal demanded of him. He did not react. He removed Adar’s torn shirt by cutting it open. Now he began to wash and dress the wounds on Adar’s most bleeding bodies.
»Kane, untie me!« Jabal demanded again, this time quite angry.
Kane gave him a look. He spat silently and in contempt of Jabal on the floor. »No one in my family will obey you anymore.« Then he turned back to Adar and washed and bandaged the deep wounds left behind by the red claws. His family just hesitantly came out of the forest. When Ninlil discovered him, she hurried in his direction.
»Bring fresh water,« he ordered her.
She immediately turned around and hurried to the well to fill another bucket with water. She also thought of a cup. Maybe the magician could drink something. When she arrived at Kane, who continued to wash and bandage, Adar moaned again. His eyelids fluttered.
»Adar, my lord, can you hear me?«
»Untie me, woman!« Jabal screamed at Ninlil.
Ninlil wanted to loosen his shackles, but Kane tore her back at her wrist. »I have renounced him. You will not do what he demands of you, for all our friends have perished through his dishonorable behavior.«
Then he turned to Adar again. Kane was still worried. This young magician had lost a lot of blood.
Now Adar opened his eyes briefly. A soft but painful smile scurried over his face.
»Kane, why do you call him a lord?« his wife wanted to know about him when she kneeled to him and lifted Adar’s head to pour him some water with the cup.
»Because he is a significant man, Ninlil. He is the husband of the priestess,« Ka
ne informed her quietly, while he continued to concentrate on cleaning the wounds and trying to stop the bleeding. Now that the Red was gone, he no longer needed to keep the secret.
An angry snorting sounded behind him. Jabal had heard what Kane had revealed to his wife. »Kane, why didn’t you tell me, then the Red would undoubtedly have spared us?«, Jabal cried.
Kane drove around angrily and shouted at the head angrily. »How stupid are you, Jabal? Do you really believe that? You didn’t understand anything, did you? Instead of helping the Brown so that we can finally get rid of the Red, you have to help him too. Yes, the two priestesses are powerful, and we should have great respect for both, but which one of them kills over and over again? Who enlarges the uninhabitable plateau year after year? Perhaps he is even the Ringbearer who will free us all, and you want to deliver him«.
Adar shook his head. »I’m not,« he breathed.
»Father, look there, the Brown, he’s coming.«
Tailtu pointed excitedly north. In the distance, something was visible in the sky. The Brown! It didn’t take long, and he was above them, set off to land. The wind caused by his wings stirred up a lot of dust. Balor unbuckled the belt, jumped down, and ran to his father, who was still looking after Adar.
»Is he still alive, father? A Naga told us he was dead. The Brown and with him, the priestess are really worried.«
»He lives, but he has lost a lot of blood.«
»I am the Brown, and the Brown is the Priestess.« Already Maioshan stood between them. The harness fell to the ground unnoticed while she hurried to Adar, kneeled on the ground, and grabbed one of his hands. »You stubborn bullhead, why didn’t you stay in Ized?«
»Maioshan,« Adar whispered, and opened his eyes again briefly. Relieved, he breathed deeply, closed his eyes, and fell asleep exhausted.
»Priestess, I washed and bandaged the wounds, but look, some wounds are intense. The bandages are red with blood again. And there on the floor. All that is his blood.«
She nodded, put her hands on his chest, and gently sent her healing energy into him.
»I take him to Taishan. There are healers there. Better than I am. Balor, will you help me with this and keep him on the back of the Brown?«
»It would be an honor, priestess.« Balor reverently bowed his head and bowed deeply.
»What will become of the traitor to the law of hospitality? What should we do with Jabal, priestess?« Kane wanted to know from her. »Only because of him, your husband was hurt, and our village destroyed.«
The priestess looked around, noticed the many dead and shuddered. »Your whole village?« she asked in horror.
»Yes, all except the members of my family. They were hidden in the forest.«
»Did he also have family here?«
»His wife and daughter also died, like our friends. No one survived the Naga. They are all dead«.
»Then he shall have to live on with the loss, the pain, and the shame,« she said.
»You are Kane, the father of Balor, aren’t you?« Maioshan asked.
He confirmed with a simple nod.
»You and your family, what do you intend to do?« Maioshan asked.
»I cannot stay here. Too many friends have died in this place today. The Naga were here. That means our harvest is spoiled. In the next years, nothing will grow on the fields that could feed us. Probably everything will become desolate, and the rock plateau will enlarge again. We have to look for another village and hope they will take us there.«
»Are there still animals here?«
»The horses of Adar are in the stable. Some cows and two other horses from the village are on the village pasture.«
»Do you have a cart?«
Kane nodded, confirming.
»Then everyone comes to Taishan with the animals and your possessions. There you can live under my protection. In one of the villages near the fortress, you will find a new home.«
»Thank you, priestess.« Kane was almost speechless. He and his family were now under the personal protection of the priestess.
Seven - Reunited
The priestess put on the harness and turned into the Brown. Kane and Balor lifted Adar on the back of the dragon and fixed him to the harness with the second strap. Adar woke up briefly but was too weak to help them. Balor secured himself with the other harness.
»It would work much better when he sits behind Balor and leans against his back. Then he won’t be exposed to the flying wind,« the Brown told them in advance.
Kane helped secure Adar behind Balor. Then he slipped from the back of the dragon. »Wait, Balor can’t keep him safe,« Kane explained the Brown. He took one of the ropes with which the magician had been tied before. With this, he climbed up again. He put it in his back and pushed the ends under his arms forward so that Balor could take them and tie them in front of his body.
»Yes, father, that works, he cannot slip away from me,« Balor confirmed.
»He is still bleeding,« Kane remarked worriedly. Then he slipped off the back of the Brown again.
»We follow you to Taishan. I hope Adar survives.«
The Brown nodded and took off. Again the wind made by the wings stirred up dust. Then the Brown had already risen and rushed towards Taishan with insane speed.
»Now finally untie me, Kane! I am the leader of the village, and you have to follow my orders!« Furiously, Jabal looked up at him.
Kane spat in front of him once more. »You are no longer the leader of a village. Look at your village, Jabal. It no longer exists. I will untie you when we leave. That’s how long you will spend in the shackles. Because I don’t trust you. The village no longer exists because of your actions. So nobody has to follow your orders anymore. Never again«. But then anger and hatred were almost gone. »Yes, the priestess is right; you have to live with the guilt of having wiped out an entire village, including your own family. The law of hospitality is a divine law even for the Red, and you betrayed it. We will take all the animals and the big cart with us. I don’t care what you do in your future. Come, my dear ones, we will pack together what of our possessions fits on the carts and what can help us. Go into the houses of our friends, take a souvenir of them. We will never laugh with them again. But we will think of them in honor.«
His family went into their house while he took the animals from the pasture. He harnessed the horses to the carts and fastened the leading cow to the back of the wagon with ropes. All the other cows would follow her. His wife, daughter, and daughter-in-law came out with their belongings and loaded crates, clothes, and everything else onto the cart. The sleeping baby was placed on a pile of blankets between two boxes they had packed in the cart. No one wanted to get souvenirs of the dead. They would remember not only their friends but also today. They were also far too horrified to wish to enter the empty houses of the dead again. Suddenly, however, his daughter-in-law ran towards one of the houses, stormed in, and came out with a crying but uninjured infant.
One of her friends had also given birth a few weeks ago. The friend and her husband were no longer alive, but fortunately, the child had slept in the house. Sao looked uncertainly from Ninlil to Kane. » I wonder if Balor would mind if I took the little one with me.«
Kane approached her with a smile and put an arm around her shoulder. »Ninlil, what do you think about having another little boy?« he asked in her direction.
»If Sao doesn’t mind. My children are already grown up. I want to take care of the little one. He doesn’t have anyone anymore. She would only have to breastfeed because I am already too old for that.«
Sao smiled shyly and nodded. After they had all taken the time to eat something and Sao had breastfed the babies, she handed Ninlil the baby. She laid it on the cart next to Sao’s son.
His wife was to sit on the cart and hold the reins. The daughter and daughter-in-law rode the horses of Adar, and he led the horses of the carriage. Suddenly his daughter ran into the stable again and came out with Adar’s weapon bag. Kane smiled and no
dded proudly. Then he helped her put the bag on the cart. The priestess’s husband would undoubtedly need the weapons at some point.
As they passed Jabal, Kane cut the ropes. Then he went north with his family in silence and without paying tribute to the former head of the village.
Jabal loosened the shackles on his feet, stood up, and looked after them angrily for a long time. Kane was to blame for the whole disaster. Had he been able to tell the Red who the man was, the Red would have spared them all! Later he went back to his house and started crying. Much too late, he had understood what had happened today. Now not only the whole village was dead, his wife and his only daughter were also no longer alive. One day he would take revenge. Revenge on Kane and his family, because he had not told him how valuable this magician was. Much more useful than he had believed. No one would have had to die. If he had known that the priestess was married to this man. Yes, the Red would been grateful to receive a weapon like that against priestess Maioshan.
Maioshan landed with Balor and Adar in the cave of the rock fortress. Ugar awaited them. The butler seemed restless. He had let one of the healers come. Balor and Ugar carried Adar into the healer’s treatment rooms. First, they treated the wounds, where the bandages were staring full of blood again.
Maioshan stood next to the bed and held his hand. »You stupid man.«
»Priestess, you have been a healer yourself. It doesn’t help here to insult him if you want to help, instill him with the painkiller. It is standing on the table. Three of these pipettes and then he should sleep well. The potion is next to it in the bluish bottle. But only one pipette, please. That will be enough to let him sleep deep enough.«
Maioshan nodded and began to instill the remedies in him.
The healer hissed as she opened the next bandage. »By the Stone Dagger, the Red struck hard!« Then she laid on her hands, sent her healing powers into his body.
Ized- the Ancestors Page 26