Oskar sat with his back against a tree, looking at Billie’s lifeless figure, bundled up in blankets on the other side of the fire. The trees shielded them from the road, but there were hardly enough of them to be considered a forest. Oskar was so tired. He found himself in a foggy, dazed state …
‘We won’t reach our destination right away. First, we must ride through the marshes. It’s a journey of at least twelve days, if we don’t run into storms or fog,’ Billie said. They had been moving quietly through the mist for a few hours. The sun had broken through and now there was only a …
‘Dad!’ Oskar threw his fists against the door as hard as he could. ‘Dad!’ he screamed again. ‘Dad!’ The turmoil and shouting from before was gone. It had become silent. Oskar sprinted out the backdoor towards the kitchen from the outside. The front door had been chopped into pieces, the ground turned into a pool …
It was early. The sun had not yet appeared above the mountains in the East, and the valley was covered in shadow. Nestled deep within between the mountains, a cluster of houses made up the village of Karvaby. It was still dark, and the residents were sound asleep in their beds. Five riders galloped down …
