The air is filled with crystalline moonlight, the forest is glowing with esoteric gray-green, the leaves rustle, and the rhythm is like a throbbing heart. Angus was still wielding the heavy black sword, and the new sword had not seen blood, because his adoptive father said that he was not ready, and that Angus had indeed killed a man, but he was not yet a highland warrior.

Elgin's castle was a whole new world to him, a sprawling strangeness that was like a frozen lake being trampled by giants for an eight-year-old, and every dimension was being redefined. The lord's game is never fair, in this space, no one will accommodate a newcomer, Angus can't control it all, all he can rely on is this sword.

"Didn't anyone tell you how dangerous it was to sneak out so late?" A voice appeared in the back of Angus's head.

"My ......, my lord"

"Don't be like a slave, I'm your father, don't forget that." Ouestine's words were filled with encouragement that only Angus could hear, "How are you practicing?" ”

"Father...... This sword is somewhat ...... Some heavy. ”

"Excuses...... Remember, you are not the son of a peasant, and you have the blood of the royal families of Alba and Molai in your veins, and when I was young, the children of the royal family often did not live to be twenty years old if they did not know how to use the sword. And you, my child, you were born at a time of greater cruelty, and if you don't brace yourself, you may be burned alive by the enemy, like your maternal great-grandfather. ”

As a child, Angus heard the story that the former chief of Morley was executed by Macbeth along with fifty of his guards, and the former's widow became Macbeth's wife. In a hard life, people always like to talk about the tragic end of some nobleman, when he was also a commoner, and a different perspective made him gloat like the farmers and fishermen who stinked with beer, and now that he is the son of a nobleman, the story no longer has the same meaning, Angus knew he had to adapt to this new game.

"I heard that Macbeth adopted the enemy's son?" He asked his adoptive father.

Uisdin laughed, "You should thank God, if it weren't for that, there would be no bastard." ”

Angus knew that he was an illegitimate child, and that he had been ridiculed in the past, when his father was a little old man with red hair, and his mother was still a charming young blond woman, and his own hair was darker than a raven's feathers, and his eyes were as blue as the Saxon pirates of poetry—and that could only mean one thing.

"Is my father still alive?"

"Just alive, what do you want to know?" The lord's voice grew impatient.

"Some say my father is your enemy, so why did you adopt me?"

"Quite simply, I have no sons, my wife looks down on me, and no other woman has ever given birth to my species, but I need an heir, or Morley will be taken by Malcolm. You're a lucky little bastard, and someone else might just crush your pretty head. ”

Angus could not understand this, he only knew that he would not be killed by his adoptive father for a time being, because of his dangerous birth: he had seen children slaughtered by his adoptive father's soldiers, their heads pierced on the spear tips of the castle gates, and the noble blood could be both a blessing and a noose for an infant baby, which was what turbulent times were.

"Well, you're my heir, so now I have to teach you the first thing."

Angus didn't understand the meaning of the words, but he instinctively sensed the danger, and the lock ring on Ouisdin made a pleasant sound, and a short sword was unsheathed from his waist.

"Let me see what you're made of."

It wasn't a fair fight, but the lord wasn't trying to teach Angus the skill of using the sword, and the pain caused Angus to lose his caution when the back of his sword struck the child, who forgot the skills he had learned during the day and swung wildly, and finally, the edge of the black sword pierced the lord's mink skin gloves, and blood gushed from between his fingers. Then he was kicked in the knee by the lord, and like a kite with a broken string, the black sword fell with a clang.

Uisdin took off his gloves and stepped forward to look down at Angus's blue cheeks: "In battle, either get used to pain, or succumb to fear. ”

As he spoke, he stretched out his bloody palm and pulled Angus to his feet: "One day, you will shed a lot of blood, you will get used to death, and then you will understand that sometimes fear and bravery are the same thing. ”

"I don't want to be afraid, my father."

"Then you will forget about death, you will feel that you are far from danger, and then there will be destruction—fear in the sword is far better than bravery behind the veil."

Angus had heard many people talk about his adoptive father's wickedness, and the boy had not yet been able to distinguish what was evil, and the nightmare in the monastery might have been the first contact, but the cruelty of Lord Ouisdin was not something he could understand. All young people are obsessed with power, and sometimes they forget their good nature, and they turn away from the teachings of Christ, even when they see demons, until one day they will say from the bottom of their hearts: "It is better for the king to hell than to serve heaven." ”

Life in the castle was harder than outside, at least for Angus, there was no leisure, no games, and the Highland warriors lost their natural rights if they forgot to sharpen themselves, as countless ancestors learned in the most brutal way on the battlefield. And he's not just a samurai, he'll be a ruler, which means he'll need to learn more. Angus forgot his loneliness and missed his parents in the past, and he no longer fell asleep with tears in his eyes, nor was he afraid of the armored guards like a farmer's son.

One day, a ** died in the castle because she stole a glass of wine, which originally belonged to the lord of Uisdin and killed her, and also exposed an assassination plot. So Angus was even more lonely, and people fell into a panic that had nothing to do with him, and his adoptive father was so busy investigating the incident that he also forgot that he existed. Angus found some treasure in a strange room, the same glowing books that the monk had used to tempt him.

For this boy, the words on the page are meaningless, but the delicate patterns as bright as the stars reveal the breath of life that does not belong to this northern world. There were animals in the book that he could recognize, such as wolves and rabbits, and others that he had never seen before, such as a large cat with fangs, and he was eager to understand the meaning of the patterns, and the teenager instinctively realized that in order to do so, he needed to learn this long, black point of writing.