The Rise Of a Shadow [Preview]

The story of a shadow I

I

"Evil exists, but not without the good, as the shadow exists, but not without light"

- Alfred de Musset

"If you really think you can beat me, this will be your last mistake, idiot!" Ronn² jinked to the left, turned and hit his target (a sack of hay) with a direct hit.

He knew a real adversary would not stand still while he attacked, so he sought to memorize the black swordsman's defensive and attacking movements for years, recreating the pieces of training he saw from the shadows.

"What do you think you're doing, Skiderik³?"

A guttural voice interrupted the sound of Ronn's heavy breathing, startling him and making him turn without first lowering the piece of wood he used as a sword, striking the belly of the great Sekior4, who in turn roared with pain. A strange sound between choking and screaming, Ronn would have thought if he hadn't been too scared at the moment.

"Curse you, Der fødte5!"

Ronn just stepped away from the man, with his head down. He was screwed, now they would leave him up the mountain in the winter!

In fact, it was dangerous, as most of the animals went further east in the winter, if he was to be exiled to the mountain, he would die of hunger or cold. This was the fate of a bastard whose father had denied him. He thought it would be difficult to die of starvation, since he learned how to be alone years ago, but the idea of being exiled did not please him, not because of family or anyone in town, but for his little sister (although he could never call her sister in front of others) and by Katarine, daughter of the town's richest merchant.

Two years ago he had met Katarine when he invaded her room through the window to escape a pack of idiots who saw him selling the goods he had stolen from them. Absurd! Ronn stole to survive, no one provided him with food, the Great Sêlkior said that he could eat the remains of the horses if he wished. Thereby the money acquired by selling the things he stole allowed him to eat enough to keep him from going mad with hunger.

Katarine had fascinated him, she looked like a Valkyrie6 lost between her long blond hair like melted gold, deep blue eyes and pale skin like the snow that had gathered in her window. Katarine had looked at him frightened and would have screamed if he had not covered her mouth and explained, whispering in her ear, that he wasn't there to do any harm. Then he had asked her permission to stay for some time until it was safe to leave again. Perhaps the fear had caused her to nod.

Carefully, he set her free and to his astonishment, they talked until he needed to run away to avoid being found in her room by her mother. After that day he came back with some frequency. She had taught him things he could not learn by spying on others, and he had, in turn, told her all the stories of the bards passing by the tavern, a place a maid could never step in.

Making her laugh was one of the few things that seemed right to him, so he embellished his stories more and more, and even came up with new ones as he figured out which ones pleased her more.

Thus he had perfected his lies. He discovered that he a good liar and always lied when needed, beyond that, he learned to exquisitely recognize a lie, helping him profit more from his sales, while much of what he stole was uniquely exotic and for a time, his. After all, a bastard should not own anything.

Thus, he often robbed books. Robbed them, read them and then sold them, since he never forgot what he learned.

He learned to read by himself, the first word learned had been "useless". When he was barely six years old, the eldest son of a merchant was drunk and showing his friends how a tincture of the southern country functioned, and in the absence of paper, he tugged at Ronn's hair and wrote the words on his arm as he passed to stir the fireplace.

Themerchant's son and his friends laughed and dropped him off again, the ink hadbeen on his skin for weeks. Ronn had considered the words as a valuable firstgift someone had given him, he learned how to draw them in the sand, it wasn'tlong until he had learned to draw hundreds more

Glossary:

2. Ronn: suffix used for those who do not have a surname, for being considered bastards;

3. Skiderik: Translation for "bastard";

4. Sêlkior: Title given to the one who is the best at what he does in his function, e.g. tavern keeper, merchant, and so forth .;

5. Der fødte: Free translation for "who gave birth";

6. Valkyrie: Female deities who serve Odin under Freya's orders. They choose the most heroic warriors killed in battle to lead to the hall of the dead, Valhalla;

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