"I know, but Oldmanyar asked Arka to teach her Nord throwing. On a few occasions, she was deliberately arranged to go to Swadia to buy things that she didn't need at all. Of course, he was discovered by Lord Bemond and beaten severely. The woman put away her smile, her blue eyes overflowing with worry, "Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night, and she is not in the house, but alone in the woods throwing stones and chopping stakes. The saplings that were half a man's height were thrown at the beginning, but now they are specially thrown for five or six years - as tall as the old man's head. ”

"What kind of memories does the cruel world give children? The whole of Calradia is full of stories of such crimes. Odysken shook his head and said, "When I have earned enough ransom, you can take Oroya with me." If only I could come back alive next time. He did not wait for the woman to answer, did not even snuff out the cigarette, put the box on the windowsill, turned and led the donkey and the goods away.

When the merchants left the Nord start-up city of Tiha with mixed feelings, news of the Nords' victories poured back.

The imperial capital of Saagos and the important town of Woche fell one after another, and the blood of the Swadias flowed every inch of the beach. Every day and night, the fierce warriors with Swadian heads hanging from their waists on both sides of their waists returned in triumph, and the majestic Nord war song rose into the sky, which could be heard on the unexpected sea for ten miles. In the midst of the battle song, the humble messenger from the city of Chanda grovelled and sent a whole load of gold, silver and jewelry, which walked between Sagoth and Tiha in an endless stream, making the Swadia girl looking from the top of the village of Kwen even more silent.

When summer arrives, large ships from the north, keelboats, stretch for hundreds of miles along the coastline of Tiha. It is declared that the destruction of the northern continent has not yet been released. The Nords began to build siege engines and armoured weapons in large numbers, and the entire village of Kwen was requisitioned and slaves were requisitioned to cut down trees. Under the seemingly unavailable protection of Oldman, Oroya was only arranged to guard the woods.

The carpenters of the village multiplied and built a simple timber hut for her. In addition to the growing Oldmanyar and the Yad woman who has always cared for her, every night she is fed by woodrats gnawing at corners and sneaky dark shadows who are always the first to be hit by a flying broom or a bench, and faint to the ground, only to flee with hatred when they wake up.

Gradually, Oroya seemed to be interested in exterminating rats in the saline forests, and she took the opportunity of purchasing to muster up the courage to travel through the market towns and restaurants of Tiha, asking aged cooks and housewives for recipes for raticides, and finally. With the girl's clear eyes and flawless words, she asked for some shiny potions from a doctor who didn't have good eyes.

"Oroya. "But when she got back to the seaside hut, Oldmanyar. The young Nord who had been stubborn five years ago and now had a bitter smile was sitting in front of her window, looking at him silently. "If you can't forget it, let's go. My father went to Zenda with his uncles and probably won't be back until the fall. ”

"I'm his son after all. My surname is Bichoff. He said. The young man stood up, took a deep breath, pushed open the door and turned to leave, "Outside the village of Kwen, I lost a horse with enough water, dinar and a pass with the seal of the Bihov family, and maybe it will take the man to Dehrim, Parabun, or even farther away to Suno. ”

"So what. Shouldn't I thank you and all the Nords for your kindness? Let me wake up from my sweet dream and become the humblest slave of a savage people?" the girl's voice shriveled. There seemed to be a fire burning in her eyes, "Is it like a gift for me to flee this place far away, from my father and mother who were killed in battle, from the place where I grew up?"

"Oldman, I hate you and all the Nords. The girl took a provocative step forward and forced her eyes into the eyes of the Nord youth, "Either you kill me or denounce me now, or let a scrambled ** subordinate lurk by your side, waiting for me to show my hatred one day." ”

"I understand......," Oldman hung his head, "I am guilty of you, Oroya. Because of you, I curse my identity and my weak heart every day and night, and I give you horses and swords to choose freedom or revenge—let the blood of House Bihov add new glory to the autumn leaves of Nosam. ”

However, the girl suddenly calmed down, and her beautiful eyes looked at him fixedly, as if they were covered with a layer of fog.

"Don't forget me. Avoiding the girl's eyes, Oldman turned his head away and said loudly, "Even if it's hate!"

"Arredo, my father...... I beg your pardon. The boy had already walked away, and Oroya stood still, tears flowing silently down the cool sand, showing a small circle of sadness. "Oude...... Mann, please forgive me too. I did not choose to fight as noble as my ancestors. The girl stopped her grief and calmly walked into the hut, closing the doors and windows, letting the darkness engulf her trembling body. In her hand, she always held the bottle of potion, and the endless hatred and sorrow.

In the autumn of that year, Ou Ruoya had always been busy with the village and the Bihoff family's chores, as quiet as the North Sea before a storm. It's just that at the beginning of autumn, she went out for a long time, and exchanged 1 dinar from her own chopping wood for a snow-white linen dress, which she solemnly folded and put under her bed. And Oldman seemed to have forgotten her save, and never stepped out of the mottled gates of Kulin Castle again.

When the autumn leaves are falling, it is already snowing heavily in the northeast.

Baedmund I led his weary warriors into the cascading snow hills beside Kurau, but through the frosty Germanic Helmet of War he saw a dense shadow of swaying points of light in the forest not far away. Countless Virgian bows creaked and opened at the Nord warriors, grease-coated rockets crackling in the snowflakes like the eyes of a pack of wolves.

The snowfield horses snorted uneasily, and the forest was silent.

Bemmond distinctly heard the cold grinding of the forest Vicchian marksman's leather gloves against the tight bowstrings, leaving only the snowflakes falling to the ground and the silent breathing of the Nords in the snow. "Good. He raised his frozen right hand in the air. "Let's tell the people of Sù that Blizzard is the funeral of the sneak attackers. The heat of the declaration of war condensed on his beard and helmet, obscuring the eyes and future of the valiant warrior.

Fate seems to have played a huge joke on the Nords.

The beginning of the sixth spring. The giant wheels of the Nord chariot were stubbornly sniped by the Calradian warriors. When the Nords tried to crush their enemies in front of them with their usual tomahawks and spears, they found that in the forests, rivers, and snowfields, there were a dense rain of Vecchian arrows on any road, and the hills behind were always shadowed by countless Swadian cavalry, these vengeful scouts were silently embedded in the moon rings on the mountaintops, and the bloodthirsty spears and steel shields shone with an eerie light.

The remnants of the Karad Empire (the predecessor of Swadia) learned from the hard work and temporarily abandoned the counterattack on Kugit and the suppression of the rebellion in South Svadia (the Duchy of Rhodok), and instead raised the sword of punishment of war towards Nord. The Royal Order, having returned from a bloody battle in South Svadia, rushed back to Suno within a month of strict orders. He joined the Knights of the Guard, led by the young Sir Haraus, and began a rigorous training in mountain warfare against the Nords. Half a month later, the Knights of the Sanctions of the Harungos family launched a tidal charge on the plains of Suno. Crushed the legend of the undefeated legions led by Rudayar and Granayar. After leaving behind the corpses of the Nords, the Harengas army marched on Fort Gerberg, where the Swadia soldiers and the royal guards stained the towering walls with blood.

For the first time in the territory of Tiha and Sagos, which had been in the fall for five years, the Swadia knights jumped on horses and raised their guns.

With the remnants of a great victory, King Kaladesen sent a conscription to the heart of Swadia with the King's authoritative orders. The Svadians, who had abandoned their armor in the seaside, hills and mountains, regrouped. From all corners of the Suno Plain converge to the fortress city of Dehrim. Practice day and night under the threat of brutal legends of lords, career officers, and Nords. Although the Vecchians killed the Nord god Gangding in the battle to defend the royal capital of Kulau, they also paid tens of thousands of casualties, and the two fighting nations living in the ice and snow declared with hatred that they would let each other's blood "flow all over the ice field"

One spring evening, accompanied by a howling icy sea breeze, the flag of the Swadiya appeared in the woods outside the village of Kwen.

"They're coming!" said Oroya, who had returned to the seaside hut, turning over and waking up the sleeping woman of Jad, "It's the hoofs of the Swadian knights charging in formation. I heard it a lot when I was a kid. ”

"Here ......" Ou Ruoya trembled and took out the white linen shirt from under the bed, looking as if she was crying. "I can go back. ”

She clutched her clothes. hugged the woman beside him tightly, "You are with me too." We went to Parabun to Suno, where my grandfather was. ”

The woman looked at her in confusion, and suddenly saw the oil lamp on the table trembling slightly, and her heart couldn't help but tighten. She gently pushed the girl away, and looked out the window, only to see billowing smoke and dust billowing up from the woods not far under the moon.

"This is not my hometown. The only one who can't give up is Oldman, but he's older now. "And for five years, I have regarded you as a daughter. As she spoke, she took out a small dish of dried red clay from the drawer, took the girl's linen clothes, and carefully smeared them as she breathed.

Under the simple brushstrokes, a delicate red leaf is about to emerge on the clothes.

"I know you like this. She looked at the girl who seemed to be crying and laughing, and handed over a delicate little dagger, "Huh." The craft of painting took half a dinar to learn in the city, and for your pleasure you can only paint red leaves. This knife is something I got in exchange for painting the walls of the village chief's house for half a month, and I am going to send it to you in two days. ”

"You are my second mother. Auroya's eyes flushed.

The woman kissed her lightly on the forehead, asked the maiden to change into a new dress painted with autumn leaves, and put a brown and black cloak on the two of them. After thinking about it, he rummaged through the cabinets to find a few scattered dinars, packed a few cold smoked fish and delivered them to his daughter, and then took her hand and hurriedly pushed the door out. Avoiding the lights on the avenue and the Nord guards, the two of them hurried out of the forest path.

They climbed the hill behind the village in a twist and turn, just in time to witness the roaring Swadias waving their weapons into the night village.

"That's the Knights of Sanction of the Harangos family!" the girl's pale face flushed with excitement, and she cried out, "It's a knight, it's a knight!"

The next moment, however, a terrible scream rang out in the village, and the revenge-driven Swadians set fire to every house they saw, driving and slaughtering the unarmed Nordic civilians with knives, hammers and crossbows. Disheveled men put up a futile resistance in a panic with kitchen knives and farm tools, while the women were stripped naked and rushed to the center of the village like a flock of lambs to the slaughter. (To be continued......)