Prologue:

749AHL – After Heavenloss.

It has been three quarters of a millennium since the heavenly mandate was lost and the great ancient empire fell to ruin. The continent is split, and history is distorted for greed and gain. My family has learned a great deal in our time as ambassadors to the Ledvic hordes. Although it has been over fifteen years since we returned from our posting. Our information and influences will finally begin to bear fruit. My lord I believe that now is the time for us to begin reorganising our forces. In a few years your brother should reach the third layer and receive command of the forces at the western front. Soon it will be time for our glorious clan to claim our birthright and we shall tear a new mandate from the heavens if it will not be granted to us.

A message delivered in secrecy.

The great Ledvic steppe stretches far beyond the mountain. Only the slightest of hills and mountains can be seen across such an enormous swathe of plains grassland. Harshly infertile soil allowed only a rough tuber known as Pakat to be grown and only during the fall season. The diet mostly consisted of meat, dairy and when found in abundance, river fish.

In the central steppe lands flowed a large river, the mouth of which was said to be far to the south, at the mountain that touches the sky. Often merchants and travellers would follow this river when in the great steppe. During the fall season, the nomadic Kothkor would settle along the river and take advantage of the burst of fertility to grow many crops. These many crops would help feed not only the people but the many animals that needed fattening before the harsh winter arrived.

“Ganbar-Takh stop playing in the river and come quick. Aaba is calling for you”

“Gedu I'm not playing”, scowls a six year old boy with dark hair. He is currently standing waist deep in the river with a strange straining look on his face, by the riverside is an even younger girl with similarly dark hair. The little girl appears to be half the boy's age and has odd little highlights of silver in her hair.

“Ganbar stop pretending you're a cold face and come before Aaba gets angry”, the little girl giggles at her brother's attempts to practice his cold face. The boy had seen the older kids practicing in the river and was eager to try it himself. The freezing cold of the late autumn waters had other plans.

“Seteg you're not supposed to call me by name alone. I'm the older one!”, complains the boy whilst hastily clambering out of the river. He scowls again at his little sister who has an entirely unapologetic look on her face. Instead of replying she simply sticks her tongue out at him whilst keeping a cheeky grin on her face. She squeals in fright however as the boy suddenly pounces at her and grabs her in a headlock. “Disrespecting your Takh eh? That earns you five knuckle rubs.”, and the boy begins grinding his knuckles on the top of the little girl's head. She shouts and yelps in complaint of the pain as tears begin to form in her eyes.

“Ganbar!”, the boy hurriedly let's go of his sister as a deep familiar voice rings out behind them. “How many times have I told you not to bully your little sister. Come on brat, we're starting the butchering and you need to start learning how to clean hides.”, a large man with a stocky build walks over. A rough beard covers his face with a strip of hair at the front of his shaved head marking him out to be of warrior class. His body exudes power and his eyes hold a sharp gaze.

“Aabaaaa I'm practicing cold face in the river.”,

“Brat!”, the large man clouts his son before continuing his scolding “Cold face is for teenagers to learn. Not little brats still wet from the teat!”

“Suren...Hurry up we're starting soon” a voice calls over from the animal pens.

The man grabs his son by the ear and drags him, yelling and complaining the entire way to the animal pens whilst his daughter trails behind giggling at the entire interaction.

“Suren.”, one of the men begins talking to Suren. “Your little girl will need to start dying her hair soon. The others here might not care but you know how many travellers come and go here.”

“There isn't any..Ungh”, taking a moment to rip the legs clean off of a goat carcass, “Point to it Zorig. I can hide her hair but I can't hide her mind. Listen to her when she speaks, you think a little girl of three summers can be that intelligent.”

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“That's why you need to be more strict with her, she talks with everyone. Remember last summer with the Serani merchant?! My wife saw-”

“-saw her asking him to teach her to read yes I remember.”

Suren sighed whilst taking a pause to glance over at his children. Ganbar's hair was dark and he passed for an ordinary Kothkor during the day, at night you could see some of his highlights reflected in the moonlight but it wasn't anything shocking. Seteg was a different story. The little girls' hair shone in day or night, her heritage clear to see for those who knew it. The girl watches with focus beyond any child her age as her brother repeatedly fails to scrape the goatskin clean of flesh without tearing it.

He had often thought of moving into the wilds with his children and living as a true Koth-Anchin. His children may find it harsh but they would manage with their father's strength to protect them. However he had a duty to the tribe that couldn't be ignored. As the only Second Layer in the tribe he had to remain as the warrior protectorate. He could not abandon the tribe to become Anchin unless there was another Barr-Hon in the tribe.

Zorig looks over at Suren and notices a change in mood. He wisely stops speaking as Suren begins to tear limbs from the carcasses and throw them to the side, exuding an irate air whilst lost in thought.

Evening arrives and the men are done with the butchering for the day. They bundle all the clean hides then salt the meat before hanging it all to dry. Just as they finish up the last few portions a rumbling of hooves cuts through the babble of conversation and labour. The tribespeople look over to see a large group of riders approaching. Their uniform and emblems appear alien however no-one can mistake the fierceness in their gazes as they rode up to the nomad camp. This is an elite troop of some kind.

The leader of the riders seems to wear more extravagant clothing, an ensemble of white and gold that stands out brighter amongst the plain white and black of the others in his party. Ganbar looks at the riders in awe before noticing his father walking to stand in front of him and his sister. His father's face is stern and Ganbar is shocked as he notices a hint of fear in his father, something he has never seen before.

The riders stop just short of the camp and the leader approaches calling out to the camp. Suren and a tribe elder walk over to the rider and begin speaking with him. They talk in New Age Ledvic, or at least this is what the Kothkor refer to the language as. It is a mixed amalgamation of the traditional Ledvic spoken by the Kothkor, and other languages such as Senari and Qin. Ganbar doesn't understand the majority of what is being said but can understand a few words coming from the man's mouth.

“...Power...blood.....belongs....mandate”, Mandate? Ganbar's young imagination starts racing upon hearing the rider mention the heavenly mandate. Everyone knew that all the forces in the world were descended from the ancient empire. Could this rider be someone from the Qin? The Kothkor nomads weren't as educated on worldly matters as Horde Ledvics, but even they knew about how much the Qin boasted of their divine origins and bloodlines. Almost every major power claims to be descended from the original divine legacy however the Qin were particular loud and zealous in their boasting of such.

As Ganbar's mind races his father's shouting breaks him out of his little daydream. The rider is pointing whilst his father glares at him with restrained fury evident on his face. The elder is trying to calm his father down but he continues to glare at the rider. 'Wait is that rider pointing at me?'

“Bring...girl”,

Ganbar realises that the rider is pointing not at him but his sister. Two of the rider's party dismount and begin walking over, the menacing aura that they leak out makes Ganbar shiver in fear however he manages to quickly move in front of his little sister. These men seem to bear ill will towards his sister and he has to protect her from them.

The two men, upon seeing the frightened but determined look on the little boys face, chuckle and banter between themselves in a strange language.

Fear and panic slowly begin to cloud Ganbar's mind before he feels a little hand grabbing onto his shoulder from behind.

“Takh, w-what do they want from me Takh. Are they going to sell me? I don't want to be taken away Takh.”, his little sister is clutching onto him and crying with panic and fear clearly displayed on her face.

Despite her age the little girl can tell that the riders want her for something and whatever it was it didn't seem good.

One of the men pull Ganbar away from his sister whilst the other forcefully takes her hand and begins pulling her towards the rider troop.

“Gedu!! Leave my Gedu alone!”, Ganbar starts frantically trying to break free of the man's iron grip but it is futile. He kicks and punches, scratches and bites, in a desperate effort to break the man's grip and go over to his little sister.

Seteg continues to panic and attempt to break free but is dragged over to the horsemen regardless. Suren appears to bubble over in rage and a murderous aura emanates from him as he briskly walks over to the man hurting his daughter.

Suddenly the leader barks out at his men and switches between sternly addressing Suren whilst commanding his men.

The leader dismounts and approaches the subordinate holding Seteg. The man is standing still and simply holding onto Seteg whilst lowering his eyes from his leaders rageful gaze. Suren looks over with a pained, torn look on his face, calmer after the words spoken by the leader. The leader smiles at Seteg who is glaring at him, tears strewn across her face. He pats her on the head and speaks a few words, most of which are missed but the words 'home' and 'princess' are understood.

Suren walks over and leans in close to his daughter, whispering a few things in her ear that Ganbar can't hear.

The little girl calms down after the words from her father, and though eyeing them distrustfully, allows the men to lead over to other riders. Upon reaching they lift her up and put her in a saddle alongside a female rider who wraps her arms around her and smiles at her.

As the men ride away Ganbar slowly trudges over to his father and stares up at him. Shock, betrayal, despair and pain were marked all over the little boy's face. Suren can only sigh in pain on seeing the look that his son was giving him.

“Don't worry Ganbar. Those men are Senari nobles and just want to take your Gedu to study with them as a lore keeper. You remember the Senari merchants from last year? Well they were impressed with your sister's intelligence and wanted her to learn from them. Don't worry little hero, we'll see your sister again after some years.”

Ganbar's face slowly begins to change from pain to rage whilst looking at his father's back walking away. He had seen many looks on his father's face but that had been a new one.

That look was something he had never seen before, but he didn't need to ask to know that was how his father looked...when telling a lie.