"Knock, knock!" it sounded. The boy had to wait a few seconds, then the door opened in front of him. "Oh, good evening, Wenzel!" Irnfrid greeted him. She was wearing her hair down. "Good evening. I'm here to speak to the Field Marshal. It's important," he explained the reason for disturbing them at this hour. He tried to communicate with his facial expressions that the issue was a serious one. It was not clear whether she caught up on this. Either way, it was unusual for Wenzel to drop in on them like this. To be honest, he had never visited them in private before. The lady replied with a friendly smile: "Of course! Just come in. I’ll let him know you're here." Standing behind the boy was Brahm. He was asked by him to wait outside the door, but the boy added that it could easily take longer than expected. His bodyguard simply acknowledged this and made himself "comfortable", if you can call it that, in front of the entrance. Wenzel's home, meanwhile, was guarded by Ferenc.

  The boy entered and closed the door behind him. Out of one of the rooms stepped the huge bear who called himself Theodor. Wenzel looked up at him in awe as he stepped in front of him. "Hello, what is it?" the man asked him. The boy began to speak in a somewhat subdued voice: "I would like to discuss something very important with you. But I’d prefer us to do be alone for that." - "All right. We can just sit in there," replied Theodor after a moment's thought. He pointed in the direction of his really tiny study. "Whatever suits you," his visitor said. "Can I offer you a cup of tea? Or something else? Does anyone want anything?" came Irnfrid's hospitable offer. She smiled kindly at Wenzel, unlike her husband who, as always, wore a deadly serious expression. "That’s very nice of you, but no, thank you!" he politely declined. Theodor didn't want anything for the time being either. Then the two of them sat down in the little room and closed the door.

  "What do you have to tell me, that’s so important?" The lad hesitated for a moment and then began. "A lot of things have happened recently that have made me very uneasy. And I've learned, or at least heard of some things about you that, to be honest, make me doubt my trust in the organisation's leadership. Simply put," he paused for a moment to gather his courage, "I don't know if I can trust you or if you don't have some other secret agenda that no one knows about, Mr Field Marshal. And I don't know if you just want to use me and the organisation for your own purposes." Theodor looked at him as if it were a situation like any other. His gaze was intense, but not angry, almost the way it usually was. The man thought about what he could say in return. But Wenzel made a gulp and then continued, "As you may have already learnt from Irnfrid, I can read people's minds when touching them. I suggest the following: You let me read your mind, so that I can check whether you're hiding something from me. That way I’ll be able to trust you again. What do you say?"

  Theodor looked at him stoically for a bit and replied: "You have my permission." This was very good news for Wenzel. "Yes! But it might take us a while now. I haven't had much practice with this power yet," the boy explained briefly. Most likely, I’ll be seeing a whole number of different memories of yours.” He then sat down on a chair right next to him and placed his hand on the top of Theodor's head. After a brief moment of concentration, he entered Theodor’s head.

  Everything was dark. When the darkness disappeared, a small boy could be seen in a shabby house. His mother approached him and in a nervous voice said: "Come on, Kalev! Go down to the cellar and hide." Loud banging on the doors and aggressive-sounding shouts of male voices from outside could be heard. In the background, the father was standing at the door. One couldn't hear exactly what he was saying to the men, but it was obviously a very passionate conversation. The woman shoved the young boy away and down the cellar stairs. Taking him by the hand, she led him to the far corner of the cellar and squeezed him into a small, inconspicuous alcove. "And don’t you come out and go upstairs, do you hear me? Whatever happens, don't come out. No matter what you hear and no matter what happens. I’ll come and get you, okay?" she said in a shaky tone. The fear was written all over her face. "Mom, I'm scared!" said little Kalev. "Everything will be fine. You don't need to worry. Mom and dad will sort it out and then I'll come and pick you up again. But you have to stay down here. Do you understand me?" - "Yes, mom."

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  The woman pushed a chest in front in order to better hide her child. Then she went upstairs and closed the trapdoor to the cellar. Not much of the noise upstairs could be heard down here, only some very, very muffled sounds. The boy was terrified and curled up in a ball. For a while he heard loud screams and felt vibrations from above, but then it stopped. He waited and waited. What felt like an eternity passed for him. Then he waited just as long again. The only thing he asked himself was: "Who are these men and what do they want?" His parents hadn't explained to him what was going on or why these people were here. They spoke some language he didn't understand. Another eternity later, he finally crawled out of his hiding spot and left the cellar again. He hadn't heard anything from upstairs for a long time now. Not a sound. He opened the hatch and climbed out.

  The interior of the house was completely ruined. All the cupboards were open and all the drawers had been torn out with their contents thrown on the floor. Everything was lying all over the place. "Mum! Dad!" the boy shouted as loud as he could. But nobody replied. He climbed over the mess and went into the next room. What was lying on the floor were not only all sorts of things, but his parents, too. There were large pools of blood around them! Panicked, he ran over to them. He tried to speak to them, shouting their names out loud, over and over again. It was no use. They didn't move. His parents were dead. Those foreigners had killed them! The boy began to cry bitterly. Kneeling over the mortal remains of his parents, he wept for a long time. Behind him, outside in the city, burning houses could be seen through the windows and screams could be heard. The city was a battlefield.

  Then everything faded to black and Wenzel got to see the next memory. A young man with the first whiskers sprouting on his face presented himself. This time he was recognisable as the very young version of Theodor. He was in a small open field covered in snow. There were many conifers in the background and high mountains surrounded the whole scene. The young Theodor was in a duel with another fighter. Both were using spears and both were wearing thick furs and fur hats. It was bone-chillingly cold. They went at each other like crazy. The two jumped back and forth, whirled their spears around to confuse their opponents and did many feints. Theodor was clearly better. He hit his opponent again and again, but didn't take a single hit himself. Finally, the training ended and they both sat down to one side, panting.

  "I'll probably never be able to beat you, Kalev! Every time I think I've gotten better, you've gotten twice as much better in the meantime. If you keep going like this, you'll rise the ranks in no time!" - "I hope so!" replied a confident Kalev. "I will continue the fight that Tibor the Iron has started. Just for the sake of my parents, but above all for the sake of our people." - "Yes, man, we'll drive these Ordanian dogs out of our country! All those snobs in the cities will be in for a shock when we get back and they have to pay for their betrayal of the Kashars!" Kalev grinned and replied: "You said it!"

  A man with broad shoulders and the same thick clothing as the two of them approached from behind. When the two saw him, they immediately stood up and saluted. "Greetings, General!" - "Stand at ease," came the reply. It was General Nadary. "Men, I've been watching you for a while and I must say that I have high hopes for you." - "Thank you very much, General!" - "Especially for you, Kalev. You have the potential to be great. That's why I'm inviting you today to get to know some of the other commanders on our defence front. Talent is very important, but having contacts is just as important." - "Thank you very much, General! I really appreciate this opportunity," Kalev replied. "There is no need to thank me, lad. I've also heard about your merits during our raid in Hatarvar. I think we should promote those, who are capable and not just those with the right connections. We don't want to make the same mistakes, our enemies make."