Dragomir - The Swamp of Maledictus

Prologue

The young soldier saw the pine trees stand closer together, forming an obstacle-one where he had to fight to walk through it.

Never had he left the path in these parts of the woods, as many a soul had already lost its way in the forest of the Wilschwa. Yet he was determined to find out what called upon him, even though he knew not why.

The snow under his boots began to grow in mass as the wind began to howl ever stronger, building dunes of powdery white between the dark and old pine trees. The young soldier was breathing heavily, halting for a while to catch his breath, only to hear the whisper yet again, clearer than ever, and suddenly the soldier knew what it was.

It was the voice of a child.

The young man's eyes opened wide. He went on, faster and more determined than ever. Pushing all the branches aside in haste, he didn't feel the strong needles cutting his cold-bitten cheek, leaving a great scratch along his right face. He didn't feel the warmth of his blood. The soldier's eyes caught hold of the moon's light there, where the treetops parted. With great effort, he fought his way through the last wall of dense trees and tripped through their branches, falling into a clearing and a large dune. The snow was jumping into the air. He sat up. Sitting in the snowdune, he stared at the moon above and the clearing in front of him. Small pines were standing in the large dunes. Snowflakes were slowly falling from above, where the milky way was shimmering. But to the young man, only one thing took all his focus, and it was the silent voice of a child so close by. Was it speaking to him, was it singing, or was it talking to itself?

The soldier barely noticed standing up, and he didn't notice his careful steps towards the greatest of snow dunes between three young pines, where a bundle of black fabric was lying atop it. Something in it was moving. The young man halted as he saw a white hand, as white as snow and as tiny as it could be, stretching into the sky, as if wanting to take hold of the falling snowflakes. A soft laugh came from the bundle, a faint whisper, yet one that brought warmth to the soldier's heart. And in new bravery, he stepped towards it.

A child he had never seen returned his watchful eyes the very moment he looked down upon it.

The faint white of the child's thin skin was as if it were made of paper. Its strains of some hair were black and white alike. Yet it was the eyes of the child that caught the soldier's stare. They were of a green color, unlike anything the man had seen in nature. They were bright green, as if poison itself, and yet so light, they might seem like glass.

The stare of the child and him kept hold for more than a minute, until finally the soldier dropped to his knees. With trembling fingers, he brushed the cheek of the child, who smiled without a sign of fear or sadness. It was too calm for a child this age.

The soldier slowly lifted the bundle to his chest and held it close to his heart. He dared not look away from it, as if, in fear, it might break apart. Yet when he stood up, he peeked through the clearing in an attempt to see any sign of any human who might've left this innocent human being behind, but none was to be seen.

He sighed and smiled at the child. »Fear not. I shall not let you alone. «, he whispered.

Without another word, the soldier walked away, slowly and carefully, one eye always on the child, while a small shooting star flew across the sky above.

I

A single cat was awake, sitting in the light of a lantern at the beginning of the paved street, watching the world around it-the town of Salvender.

Most of the town's houses were made of white bricks, and all of them had red roofs. There was not even a single house that didn't have a garden or a barn. From every barn came the silent sound of snoring animals, of which most were sheep and goats. The hens were in their pens, heads under their wings or in their feathers, while the dogs were in their huts, snoring not so silently.