The boy closed the door behind him and opened his bed. Next to it, leaning against the wall, was his sword. Apart from the bed, the room was quite empty. The window was tarnished from the fireplace’s heat in here and it was no longer possible to see outside. The lad was tired again after today's training. He lay down and dozed off rather quickly.
An indeterminate amount of time had passed. Suddenly, some noise woke him from his sleep. He had felt something on his head. He reached to his chest for his pendant, only to realise that it was no longer hanging around his neck! A panic swept through him and the boy jumped out of bed abruptly, causing the floorboards to squeak loudly under his feet. In the darkness, he saw a figure running out the door! The boy grabbed his sword and gave chase. He rushed out the door and through the main room. At a distance, he could make out a person in front of him. He ran after him through the front door and out into the open. He ran as fast as his feet could carry him. But then he suddenly tripped over something he had failed to see in the darkness. He fell to the ground, but immediately picked himself up again and sprinted on. Far behind him, he could hear Brahm shouting something. He ran and ran. The chase led him to the stables, where the person mounted an already prepared horse in a flash and rode off. When that was happening, Wenzel had finally caught up. And he saw who the thief was. It was Isidor!
Filled with rage, he shouted at him as he rode past him into the darkness. In great haste, the boy also grabbed one of the horses and continued the chase! "I can't believe it! That bastard!" Wenzel cursed loudly to himself. Once again, a prophetic vision had come true and once again the lad had been unable to prevent it. But now he had no time to think about anything like that. Only one thing was important right now: Catch up with Isidor and capture him. Brahm was already on his way to the stables, but he would need a little longer. So, Wenzel spurred his horse on as hard as he could. He was lagging behind the thief, but he knew which direction he had rode off in. He knew this path and could follow it reasonably well, even in the dark. And, oh dear, was it dark!
Twigs kept snapping in his face as he couldn't make out exactly what was in front of or beside him. The only thing that bothered him even more was the freezing cold out here at this time of year. From the loud clopping of his own horse's hooves, he couldn't tell exactly how far Isidor was ahead of him, or if he was ahead at all. Suddenly the lad pulled on the reins and stopped. No sound. Apart from a slowly developing commotion in the camp in the distance, he could no longer hear anything or anyone. But the absence of sounds, that Isidor's horse should be making, was not the reason for his immediate halt. No, he sensed that his soul was not further along the road, but somewhere behind him. The fugitive had probably turned off to the side into the undergrowth. "Not a wise decision," thought Wenzel, who knew that he wouldn't get far in the thicket while riding a horse in this darkness.
The young man turned back and followed his feeling to find his destination. He rode cross-country through the undergrowth. When he sensed that he was getting closer to the pendant, he made as little noise as possible so as not to give Isidor any indication that he was on his trail. Further away, he heard men shouting and a horse riding in his direction. It was probably Brahm trying to catch up. Wenzel sensed that he was getting closer and closer, so he dismounted his horse. Isidor was apparently hiding somewhere in the thicket here. He went a little further and.....there he was! The lad rushed towards him with his sword drawn. However, the guy had spotted his pursuer early enough and also drew his sword. He fended off the blow. Only now did Wenzel begin to shout loudly so that Brahm or one of the others would find them here. After all, they still weren’t "impossibly far" away from the headquarters.
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He struck from the right towards his shoulder, but Isidor parried. Wenzel dodged the counterattack by moving backwards, even though he stumbled into the undergrowth. His opponent's counterattack also failed, however, as he almost fell over a root or something. In the almost complete darkness, both had their problems getting anything done. The boy drew attention to himself again and again in a loud voice. Finally, the thief tried to escape again, but Wenzel held him by the outer garment. At that moment, the boy managed to hit him on the hand, surprising him and causing him to drop his weapon. He took advantage of this moment of confusion to push the man to the ground with all his strength. Then he also kicked the man’s sword away with his foot. Brahm suddenly came riding up behind them. With a lantern in his hand, he jumped off his horse and stormed over to his "colleague".
"What the hell is going on here?" he shouted at the top of his lung. "He stole my pendant and tried to run away with it!" Wenzel replied instantly. Both of his bodyguards had been told by him what his pendant was. "Is that true?" the enraged Brahm asked him. Isidor did not deny what he had done. The man immediately grabbed the traitor by the collar and pressed him against a tree. Anger burned in his eyes. Brahm drew his sword and then said: "For the crime of high treason, I hereby sentence you to death in the name of His Majesty!" Before Wenzel could process what was going on, it had already happened. Brahm had cut his throat. The lifeless body of his former bodyguard sank to the ground in the dim light of the lantern on the ground. Wenzel was shocked. He no longer knew what to say. Soon after, the other men would catch up with them and the matter was clarified to them.
For Wenzel, however, nothing had been clarified yet. On the contrary, this incident had set things inside him in motion, that had been building up for some time but had not yet had any tangible consequences. But this time they did. When they afterwards rummaged through all of Isidor's belongings, they also found a coded message with the seal of the Kingdom of Ordania. Isidor had been a traitor in their inner circle! So, who could they trust now? The Chosen One was deeply unsettled. "You were able to keep Isidor at bay all by yourself until I was able to come to your aid. Your combat training really paid off, didn't it?" Brahm praised him. But none of this could help the boy overcome his deep mistrust of those around him. Moreover, even Brahm was clearly shaken by Isidor's betrayal.
What's more, Wenzel didn't know whether he could really trust Theodor, who was actually a Kashar. But the mystery surrounding the events of today went even further. Isidor had deliberately chosen a day for his endeavour when Theodor was not there. He had been away on a mission today, as he often was. Good conditions for stealing the pendant. Another curious incident was that there was no guard near the stables today, despite this usually being the case. Wenzel had heard one of the Martyrs say that the guard had supposedly been withdrawn by August. This could just have been a rumour, but who knew for sure, especially in the current circumstances? Wenzel thought hard. August could also have his own agenda and just be trying to play him off against Theodor.
The lad simply no longer knew who he could trust. Brahm was the only exception. His actions had clearly saved Wenzel, even if he had killed Isidor without any hesitation. Nevertheless, the boy could still see the images of his executed bodyguard in his mind's eye. After this event, he informed Brahm that in the future he would only be allowed to execute a prisoner with his permission, unless of course the situation did not allow otherwise. "Of course. As you wish," was all that came back from Brahm.
The next day, the Field Marshal returned from his mission around midday. When he was informed of the events of the previous night, he almost showed some kind of emotion, but ultimately remained expressionless. He took two measures as a result:
- Theodor and August searched the homes and possessions of everyone in the inner circle of the organisation in the presence of others of rank. The result was that no evidence of another traitor was found.
- Wenzel got a new bodyguard to replace Isidor. He was called Ferenc and, as his name suggested, he was of Kashar origin! This raised a major red flag for Wenzel, especially since Theodor himself had appointed this person.
So, what should Wenzel do now? Who could he really trust? Theodor? August? Ferenc? None of them? It couldn't stay like this. Something had to be done. But just what? What could Wenzel do here? As the day drew to a close, the lad sat on a low garden wall and watched the sunset absorbed in thought. Then an idea came to him. "Hey, I'll go over to Theodor's tonight, okay?" he said to Brahm. "Okay? Is this to do with Ferenc? I'm sure he's all right. Theodor knows what he's doing," his friend replied. But Wenzel retorted: "Not necessarily. I can't tell you, though." Brahm reacted with a puzzled face.