Audra heard a female voice behind her and turned around, perplexed.

"Are you joining our expedition?"

Before Audra stood a woman with an angular face, almond-shaped eyes, straight hair down to her hips, black as night, and skin as pale as milk. Her white tunic fluttered in the wind like a silken flag.

"Yes." Audra swallowed, her eyes drifting away nervously, hoping not to be recognized by a fan of the Siwelzac Theater Company.

"Of course." The girl smiled. "I am an enchantress. What about you?"

"Me? I'm a mineral seeker," she said in a low voice, intentionally omitting her name.

The girl laughed softly and sat next to Audra. The skin of her arms brushed against hers. "Well, good." She looked at her with dark eyes, so deep and wide that Audra could see herself reflected in them. "I have a feeling that we're gonna get along so well."

"Yes," Audra replied, smiling uncomfortably and lowering her head.

"My name Mazgas of Virasz," said the girl. "And you? What is your name?"

"Audra of Varunas," she answered, silently hoping she hadn't heard her name.

"Varunas? It sounds familiar. And where did you learn to find minerals?"

Audra chewed her own tongue, her mind racing and trying to come up with an answer.

"Well... I guess I was born with a knack. It always works," she lied and felt her heart was about to shrink, hoping that she'd never have to prove her presumed talent. Part of her wanted to get up and run.

"Impressive," Magzas said, her eyes opened as wide as saucers. "I guess we're both naturals, then."

Audra cleared her throat. "I guess so. So... You also have a natural talent?"

"Sure I do," Magzas said, winking an eye. "I've always had magical gifts. Even since I was very young. It's quite difficult because it put me in complicated situations. But I've come to manage it."

"That's good to hear!" Audra mumbled. "And... You never studied it, right? Didn't learn it from... books, nor did anyone teach you how to control it, did they?"

"I learned by myself. I never had to learn if from someone else."

"Interesting…" Audra did not want the question to sound uncomfortable, but curiosity invaded her mind once again. Tara had said that magic was done through familiar spirits. But this girl hadn't mentioned anything about familiars. She had to find out more.

"Do you have spirit guides or something?" Audra asked.

Magzas raised an eyebrow as if it had nothing to do with her craft. However, her voice was innocent and unpretentious. "I do not need them."

"I'd heard they were essential in your craft," Audra said softly, instantly regretting it.

"And you? Do you have guides?"

"Me?" Audra debated in her mind whether to say yes or no. No, she thought, it was better not to lie... But that whole thing was a massive lie that she didn't know how long she could keep up. She swallowed. "Well, I've read a couple of books and... well, I pray to Lakmé." Audra prayed once in her life a week ago, so she counted it as true.

"Me too!" Magzas revealed a perfect smile.

"Good. But, good thing you have magical gifts. I always wanted to have them. I wish I was like you." Audra sighed and shook her head.

"If you are a mineral seeker and if you are as good as you say, surely you have talent. That's magic too."

"I guess," Audra said with a smile, hiding her gaze and planning to change the topic. "And what do you know about the Eastlands?"

"The Eastlands? Well, I have not been there yet... But I heard about it from my friends. It's a massive empire with great landscapes, beautiful music, and colorful dresses."

"I've heard as much. I love their dresses and flower crowns... But what about the bandits and barbarians who live there?"

Magzas took a deep breath. "There is a very cruel and powerful king there, but despite his great power, he has not been able to dominate all the regions in his domain. Well, people always talk about the bandits who assault caravans, but Ingiria and Kayiva are very stable cities." She let out a sigh. "Well, they are far, so… I hope it does not happen to us."

"That's true? Is it true that they enslave people?"

"I think so.... But it's not all of the regions, nor all of the Navgarodian Empire... Those are just those wild places on the border... Where the forests are full of hostile tribes of barbarians. Some of them don't even speak Navgarodian."

"Are we going to pass through there?"

"Yes, they are close to the border... But do not worry. We'll be fine." Magzas looked to the other side. "Very well protected."

A man dressed in a brown tunic walked through the multitude and stopped next to the statue. His shirt looked as if it was about to tear because of the thickness of his muscles. He was so tall that Audra's head would reach his chest. His brown hair was trimmed at the sides, and was long on top. His beard barely touched his collarbone and contrasted with his white and prominent cheeks. His eyes were as blue as the sea and bright as sapphire. A longsword, thick like a tree-trunk, was tied to his back, and a few small daggers hung from his belt.

The man locked both his hands, interlocking his fingers, and bowed to greet the ambassador and the soldier.

"Tristan von Liktberg," he said, his eyes fixed on the ambassador's. His gaze was cold and confident, as if penetrating through people's thoughts.

"Sir von Liktberg." The ambassador's eyes flashed for a moment. "It is a privilege to have you escort the delegation. Once again."

"I will always be there when you need me," he replied with a certain irony in his voice.

"Be comfortable, as soon as the last experts come, you can go."

"Wait with woman." The long-haired soldier snapped and pointed at Audra.

Tristan looked at Audra and Magzas out of the corner of his eye. He let out a crooked smile and approached. He looked like a tower that gazed at Audra from afar, and she felt like a dwarf.

"With whom do I have the honor?" He looked at her in the eyes as he sat and crossed one leg over the other.

Then he looked away, as if he were more interested in having the laces of his leather boots fitted snugly.

"Audra of Varunas…"

"Magzas.""They call me Tristan," he said with a smile and a penetrating gaze. His eyes looked like a cloudy sky surrounded by a circle, blue like sapphire. Audra noticed that his skin, slightly tan, glowed clean and smooth, even with a brown beard. His nose was angular like that of a statue, and his pronounced cheeks also seemed carved. She had never seen such a beautiful man. Well, what did it matter? He was just another mercenary.

"A pleasure," Audra said.

"So...? Are you coming on the expedition?" Tristan smiled.

"I..." Audra tried to invoke self-confidence. "Yes. I'm a mineral seeker."

"And I'm an enchantress," Magzas answered without being asked.

Tristan turned his gaze to his boots and adjusted them once more, looking for a place where they had not been polished.

"With spirits...?" he asked.

"Excuse me?" asked Audra. "I told you that I am a mineral seeker."

"Right. You work with spirits, don't you?"

"Well... yes," Audra lied.

The man laughed and let out a sigh, stretching his arms behind his head. "I hope you're lucky to contact them. No offense. In any case, we will be working together, and it seems opportune that we know each other."

"Hey, sorry," interrupted Magzas. "What are you talking about?"

"Yes," said Audra. "What do you mean, contact them?"

"Well..." Tristan looked Audra in the eye. His pupils were gorgeous, and those cheekbones were to die for.

He cleared his throat.

"In years of work, I have seen many who take money and do not find a single pebble. And if you ask them what went wrong, they tell you that spirits moved the entire mine. Or else, they'd they tell you that you have to have only positive thoughts and that it's your fault if they can't find a thing. That being said, after everything I've seen, I think there's something to it. I've seen my share of things."

"Well..." Audra felt herself pale. It was not her fault to be in that profession. Well, it was her fault for jumping along. But she did not want her reputation to be ruined like that either.

"Well, there's all kinds of people," she laughed, but Audra's attention was fixed on the street, and upon a carriage with beautiful wooden engravings, made by expert hands, although not with precious materials. Four horses stood in front. The driver looked disinterested, but the door opened and two men jumped out. One was an old man, his body frail and thin, with matted white hair, a large brown tunic, and a couple of aprons in hand. The other one seemed to be Audra's age, with his face shaved, his black hair pulled back, and rings in his ears. He was neither tall nor short, nor robust nor thin, and had pleasant features. In his arms, he carried half a dozen strange instruments that Audra had never seen. They looked like silver metal spears or flagpoles, with a long blunt tip, but would surely break when shaken against human flesh.

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The driver of the carriage helped them unload another bunch of strange instruments: a pair of jugs the size of a boot, a pile of copper wires, and what looked like an iron tripod.Audra listened as she saw them approach the ambassador.

"Good afternoon, gentlemen," the old man declared, then presented his credentials in a letter.

"Mr. Wilthers," said the ambassador, extending his hand. "Good to see you. I have heard a lot about your work. I wish you luck."

Wilthers seemed touched by vanity, and his white eyebrows rose to almost form a triangle.

"By the gods! What in the world is that?" Magzas whispered in Audra's ear.

"Shh!" Audra reprimanded her.

"What? These people are very strange. Well, tell me. You wanted to know about the East. What do you think? What have you heard?"

"I don't know," she sighed. "I'm a bit scared."

"What about the big man with the sword?"

"Listen," Audra whispered. "He is listening to you. I'm sure he will not leave you in peace."

"Do not worry." Magzas looked at him and smiled. "Guys like that are my specialty. On the outside, they seem strong, but inside they are children. They'd do anything for attention."

"What are you talking about?" Audra said, annoyance in her voice.

"Sorry. Are you married?"

"I... "Audra knew that the subject was coming. "At the moment, no. I am not."

"You're not a widow, are you?"

"Never. I have never been married."

"Oh no? Why?"

"Because... I don't know. I have not found anyone who grabs my attention. And for what? My aunt is single and happy now."

"And your family didn't pressure you to marry?

"They tried." Audra tried to laugh. But the laughter was full of sadness, not because she was alone, but because her mom and dad were not there anymore to spoil her and justify her decisions.

"And you?" She tried to change the subject.

"I'm not married either, but I've met many men."

"Hey, I've met many men too. That doesn't make me special."

"I mean I know them."

"You know them?"

"Yes."

"What do you mean, know them?"

"Know."

"Good."

"Yes."

"And..." Audra felt that the conversation was not going anywhere.

Applause behind them interrupted their chat. Audra and Magzas turned, and the ambassador addressed those present. Were there not more than five guests?

"Ladies and Gentlemen. By decree of King Jogälion in close cooperation with our great emperor, Yaroslav Navesk, we have invited you on this expedition. We wish you the best of success, and because of the situation on the border, not only will you have the help of experts to transport you safely, but also the protection of our best soldiers. Valadi Bogdanov, general of the Varganian Order, of considerable reputation, will lead the expedition."

The soldier seemed not to be taken for granted, he bowed his head slightly, but kept his expression cold."Now, you will pass through the north door, where a carriage and a squad of our Varganian troops await you. Attention. You will not receive payment until the end, if you wanted to know. You will travel for thirty days to Ingiria. There, you will be informed of the location where we will explore. The salary upon returning from the mission, if no deposits are found, will be forty gold coins per person, with an interest of five percent in case of finding something."

"Follow us," declared General Valadi, as the guests rose to their feet. Valadi turned and advanced to the back of the square, Audra following him closely to avoid getting lost, crossing a yellow arch and moving through the streets.

"You look nervous." Audra heard a low voice close to her. It was Tristan, with a crooked smile and his eyes fixed on hers.

"A little," Audra replied.

"Have you ever been to the Eastlands?"

"Never. And you?" she asked with an arched eyebrow.

Tristan laughed. "Too many times." His voice was pompous.

"Then this is routine for you."

"It is. But if it is not for you, you should prepare."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's all you've heard. And worse."

"Worse?"

"Yes." He pouted again, eyes closed, shaking his head, and laughing. "Those barbaric bandits do honor to their name. They are true savages."

"What do they do?"

"Well, they cut off heads and make head soup to drink in their skull cups. Skulls of their enemies, of course."

"Is it true that they take slaves?"

"It depends on your physical health and how much you resist. But they are superstitious, so they may be afraid of girls with magical powers."

"That's comforting," Audra said and looked at Magzas.

Tristan laughed.

"Do not worry. With my sword at your side, you are safer than with a troop of these red capes. I have learned the warrior arts of the South, and all the arts of the East and the West. My name makes any bandit tremble. And it's not to brag."

"... And have you been living here in Ladania for a long time?"

He touched the perfectly straight hair on his head. "No, I do not come very often. I have learned your language because I come from time to time, but my work takes me from one place to another."

"Right. I see you have a bit of a Wodanian accent. You are…" She lowered her voice, fearing that the word would be offensive. "A mercenary?"

"Yes," he said in a pompous voice. "And the best. Employed by kings and armies. In all the West, you will not find a mercenary better paid. And I have seen everything, I have fought with everything."

At that moment, they were crossing the north door, a drawbridge guarded by two winged serpents on the pillars, and with dozens of carts with various loads traversing it every minute.

Audra noticed the two flags in a carriage with two white horses. Beside them were four men in armor similar to Valadi's with large, silver shields, red capes, and chainmail beneath the bluish armor.They wore silver helms with rectangular folds at the nape of the neck, and a tip at the top. At that moment, Audra realized that she had already heard of them: they were the Varganians, the most feared warrior order in the East; faithfully loyal to their Czar, and the object of many legends.

She had heard her father say that about them; desertion was punishable by death, even if it was a simple display of cowardice on the battlefield, and that the execution was usually done on the spot. Who was able to kill his own comrades at such a difficult time?

They all had long, thin faces, brown hair, and cold expressions. She had heard that they did not cut their hair during the service, and that before a fight, they entangled them in braids as thin as fingers. Two of them had their hair long to the mid-back, and there was another, thinner and tall, with a straight and long nose. He was probably a new recruit, as his hair only reached his chest.

"Pavel!" Valadi called, and the rookie answered him as a guard would do when he received an order from his superiors, speaking in his tongue with a dignified accent, then turned around and opened the carriage door. He cast a distrustful look at each one, frowning and gritting his teeth. But despite that, he was a simple boy, not too attractive, but not unpleasant.

Magzas was the first to enter. She sat next to a window surrounded by a purple curtain. Audra sat next to her. Then the two men with the metallic instruments entered, and they sat in front of them. The young man leaned against the window, and the elder sat at his side, facing Audra. In a short time, the old man put on thick-framed glasses and began leafing through worn scrolls from his bag.

The young man looked at Audra. She returned his gaze and immediately his eyes wandered away.

Tristan came in with a sigh and sat next to her, his thick legs taking up more space than Magzas and Audra combined. He seemed to notice that Audra was squeezing her legs.

"Are you comfortable?" he asked, with what seemed like real interest.

Audra smiled and nodded.

Tristan pushed himself to the opposite side, and seemed to want to give Audra more space. The carriage was wide enough to have enough room for the knees, but the length of the seats could hardly accommodate them.

Magzas opened the purple curtain, revealing the window and the rays of the sun that illuminated her face.

Tristan continued speaking. "If we take the main path, there are many things that you will love to see. The forests of the North are darker and colder than you'll ever see.

Suddenly, she heard a new voice; jovial, almost acute. He was the young man with the short hair and the metal instruments. "Hey, do you think we'll get to Ingiria in time? We suspect that there are early snowstorms. We have to arrive before winter or it will be difficult to leave. What route are we taking, and how long does it take?"

"If we follow the usual route and nothing delays us, the path can be done in fifteen days, so thirty is the maximum."

"And when will we return?" Audra asked, uneasy about how little she knew where they were going.

"Surely when spring starts," Tristan said. "Anyway, you're right. Winter, as I said, in those areas, is the harshest in the world. The first time I passed by, we found a group of travelers. Well, what was left of them. The poor devils had been so hungry that they had eaten each other."

Audra blinked and looked at him disgustedly. She felt her stomach stir. "How is that possible? And how did you know they had done that?"

"They'd done it. We found one of the poor devils. The only one that survived. The flesh of others was still there, in part. He went crazy. He had already gone crazy by the time we found him."

"What a horrible thing." Audra took a deep breath to suppress the urge to vomit.

"Yes, it's frightening," said the clean-shaven boy. "But I suppose in extreme conditions, we are capable of doing anything."

"Weak minds are," Tristan replied. "You have to have character and know how to survive. I have survived ten times more precarious situations in the colder parts of the East, and even in Hyborea. We have done it with the teams with which I worked."

Tristan did not stop talking, like a torrential rain. It was not boring, but it seemed to never end.

"What are you doing exactly?" the young man asked.

"I'm Tristan von Liktberg, a mercenary, expert in combat and security."

"You're here for security? Do you not think it's a little exaggerated? We already have six red capes."

"The embassy suggested me because I already worked with them. It never hurts when it comes to that border. Besides, they know that I have already fought against the bandits on this same path. The red capes may have very good training, but not the experience, nor have they lived in those parts."

The youth looked at him as if he was not surprised at all.

"And who are you?" Tristan said to the boy. "What are you doing?"

"I'm just an apprentice."

"An apprentice?"

The old man next to him lowered the parchments for the first time. "We are men of science."

"Of Science?" Liktberg said. "I like science. And…What's your name, boy?"

"Klaus. Klaus Walf."

"Ah. Are you from Wodania like me? You sound like..."

"No, actually, I'm from the Brightlands. The far west of the Brightlands. My uncle too." He pointed at the old man. "Some years ago, we came here hired by the Wodanian king who ruled before Gruber. King... King Florian."

"I know the Brightlands. Why do you have that name?"

"In honor of my father. But no... I'm not Wodanian by birth. I believe my grandparents might have been. But not me."

"And..." Tristan looked at the metal items under the man's feet. "And what are those?" "This," said Klaus, holding one of the long pieces in front of him, "works by measuring the hardness of the ground. The theory is that the more pressure you feel, there are harder minerals underneath. It could be diamond, could be blue gold."

"But is it a theory, or is it proven?"

"We're testing it," said the old man. "But we have reasons to believe it works. It has helped us find a gold mine north of here."

"Gold in Ladania?" Audra asked. "My father spent years looking for it and..." Blast. She restrained herself. Talking about minerals and not finding them could make her look like a phony, like the ones Tristan talked about.

"Aye. But not much has been said so as not to draw attention from looters and bandits," said the old man.

"Interesting," Tristan said. "After we're done, I can go with you. I have also worked with miners in the deep South. And our mineral seekers cannot be absent." Tristan looked at Audra and Magzas and smiles.

The old man let out a cruel laugh that made Audra raise an eyebrow. Then he smiled. "Those things will be over soon," said Wilthers. "No offense, miss. But science is going to break through and show that it is nothing but superstition."

What was that man talking about? Audra had never encountered anyone so cynical and ignorant. She tensed her muscles. Her tongue asked her to answer by questioning what the man was saying, but she tried to remain calm, close her eyes, and smile.

"Magic is real," she declared.

"Actually," Klaus seemed to want to calm things down. "My uncle is against such beliefs. But with that, I do not get involved. Maybe there are things that cannot be explained yet, that maybe one day we may be able to, but I do not deny that... You know, that it has something of truth to it. I do not know. We may find out in this expedition."

"Foolishness." The old man scowled. "Everything in this world can be measured. If it cannot be measured, it does not exist. Magic and spirits... They only live in the minds of the weak. If you start to believe it, you see it everywhere. But it does not mean that it is there. The truth is only that which can be seen and measured."

Audra clenched her teeth and took a deep breath. She could not start the expedition on a sour note, especially if she was going to spend at least six months working with that man.

The worst thing is that they would probably prove his point, with her not being able to find anything, while the scientists found everything.

"The gods are there," said Tristan. "And they are real. But magic might depend on whether you believe it or not."

How strange were the people who did not believe in magic, thought Audra. She did not think there was much science in that. If you had magical power, you were to experience it. She questioned why she herself believed in magic. If it had been there for so long, practiced by so many people in all the kingdoms of men... then it must exist.

"What do you think?" Magzas whispered in her ear.

"I think magic exists... because it works," Audra replied.

"That's the question," said Klaus. "It sounds like an answer, but it holds a question within. Why does it work?"

The old man looked at him and said, "Sometimes it works, and sometimes it does not. If it works or does not work, it's because of chance. If you analyze a statistical graph of how many times the fortune tellers guess right, the number of times they do it and the times they don't, are statistically the same."

"It always works," said Magzas. "but sometimes, not in the way you expect."