Zorya is a wild and a beautiful, pagan princess who loves spending time in the depths of her forest, side by side with her wolf, becoming one with a nature.
Darius is a cruel, and dark Christian King, feared by many, with a tragic fate, who comes t...
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It has been almost five years since family of Darius was slaughtered in the cold blood, and the Vikings burned along with the holly church. Reign of Darius was cruel at the times, but he was doing what is the best for his people. Darius defended his lands from the intruders, and managed to spread his kingdom proving that even with his damaged eyesight he was still a strong and a dangerous man, that he can still make amazing tactics, and that he can still stand in the first line with the rest of the soldiers and fight, secretly hopping that he will lose his life in the battle.
Darius was full of misery and sorrow but everything that he showed to the people was an ultimate anger towards those who dared to oppose him.
But in the last few months his people began suffering troubles, they needed more food, more cattle, more fur to prepare themselves for the winter, and Darius was worried.
Darius woke up in the early morning and prepared himself for another day, he forced himself to eat some of the breakfast and say the prayers before he headed to the library where he spent the most of his time in the past few weeks and took one of the books.
What he hated the most when it came to his eyesight wasn't the fact that the last thing he saw clearly was the death of his family, he hated the fact it was so hard for him to read, it was an endless, pure torture, but he didn't want to show such a weakness and order someone to read to him.
"Wouldn't it be easier if I would read for you brother? Even if I must admit I don't find all these books as interesting as you do." His brother Jonah asked as he walked inside the library.
"I appreciate your offer Jonah, but I am perfectly capable of reading by my own." Darius answered, but Jonah ignored his brother and he sat beside him looking at the book his brother was reading.
" Stories of Sklavens." Jonah said and raised eyebrow.
"These are the stories about wars and beliefs of Slavic people." Darius answered.
"And may I ask you brother, why is that relevant?" Jonah asked.
"It is important brother, to study your enemy before the attack." Darius said.
"Are you planning on starting a war against Kievan Rus? That is insane!" Jonah said.
"Of course I am not planning a war against that mighty force, it would be a sin to attack fellow Christians wouldn't it? Then I wouldn't be better then pagans that used to slaughter our people." Darius answered.
"Then what are you planning?" Jonah asked.
"There is a place called Gora Nevskaya, where Slavic pagans escaped when Vladimir the Great accepted Christianity. Those uncivilized people continued with their old, pagan way of living, and they spread like a plague over the years. But their lands are rich, and they have a lot of cattle. If we attacked them and took their lands, Kievian Rus wouldn't defend them, it would be a favor to clean their lands from the pagans." Darius said.
"But, why didn't Kievian Rus killed off all the pagans already? Why did they allow them to get as strong as that?" Jonah asked.
"I must admit that I have deep respect for rulers of Kievian Rus, but again, their lands are divided, they have too many rulers, who don't live in a harmony and often fight wars against each other. That is why, they aren't strong enough." Darius answered.
"That makes your idea even more brilliant brother, what does the book say about these people?" Jonah asked.
"Not much information is available, this is something Greeks used to write when they suffered from their attacks, they describe them as brutal people, not afraid of death, they say that even woman fight in the battles, and that they are as brave as the man are." Darius said.
"I always thought pagan woman are more hazardous then Christian woman." Jonah chuckled but Darius just ignored his attempt to joke. Jonah picked up another book that was in front of Darius and looked at it.
"And what is this?" Jonah asked, as the language of Kievian Rus wasn't familiar to him.
"Those are the tales of Princess Zorya and her brothers Boris and Yaropolk. Princess is young but they are already writing a sagas about her war accomplishments." Darius answered. It wasn't easy for him to admit that he was so amazed by the girl who started winning the battles at the tender age of 14, and was respected even by the Christians. Gora Nevskaya seemed like a really interesting place with interesting people, something that he would love to visit, but he is coming with a different purpose.
"And this isn't scaring you not a single bit?" Jonah asked his brother.
"Are you saying that you are afraid to fight the wars by my side as I lead you?" Darius asked offended by reaction of his older brother. "You are here aren't you? I have never lead you to death. I know what am I doing, so don't you ever doubt me. I am not afraid of those who have no faith in God because they will perish under our swords." Darius answered to his brother making him feel less insecure about the upcoming war.
"I am sorry brother, you are right about this." Jonah said.
"Good, then we shall start preparing our army for the war." Darius said.
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