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Saphie, 5 years old, was running to her stone and cob house.

Her dad, Ferdinant, the Cove blacksmith, was beating a plow share worn red with his big hammer.

"Daddy! Look at the big fish!"

"Where did you get that beautiful fish?"

"It's Torin! He gave it to me! He is very nice!"

and the little girl ran, the salmon in the middle pocket of the apron and she arrived at the wooden corner where her mother was preparing the meals.

"MOM... Torin gave me this beautiful fish!"

Her mama smiled and gave her little one a kiss on the forehead.

"If you go away, stay with Torin and the others. Some peddlers have seen monsters lurking about."

"Yes Mama.."

Saphie then threw her apron into the wicker manna to be washed later with all the cloths when it is wash day when all the women and girls come to wash their clothes and rub them on the stones provided.

Soda is poured into the water of the wash house and the washing is common.

Thus all the news of the village are diffused in each household. In those days everyone was informed, either by the temple, during a mass or a fair or by a peddler or a carrier.

Often they had boats that went up and down the stream, pulled by oxen on the path along the river.

A well-tended river had no trees on its banks. The wise men of the good King Lord British had even planned to make stone dams to protect the villages and crops in case of high water.

The defeated people who went to the tavern to find some human warmth and music listened to the troubadours singing about the exploits of the ancient heroes who had defeated the dragon of the third age of darkness Exodus.

In the song, the dragon-god, upon dying, had said that he would return or his son Thor to return for revenge. But the dragon was also only a victim of the infernal sorcerer Mondain and the dreadful enchantress queen witch Minax, transformed into a monster by a magical stone, an orb of corruption.

Thor was a fallen god turned god of destruction

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The song also said that the three dark lords would return when Lord British left his throne.

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So life at Cove was filled with myths and legends, arrests and executions of bandits, and simple country life.

The girls dreamed of becoming princesses and then, as they grew up, nobles...or wives of rich merchants and the young men dreamed of adventures, exploits and treasures to be discovered, then their ambitions were reduced to becoming knights, nobles or soldiers.

The most intelligent, into merchants and join a guild.

Thus, life was simple in Cove.

The miracle was that there was no war or powerful neighbors, but the monsters were always more numerous and the guilds kept recruiting adventurers of all kinds.

"Dad! Dad!

Look! My whole bag is full of fish. I followed your tips!"

Ragul stroked his son Torin's black hair and every day he prayed to Thor, the destructive dragon for the happiness of having a son as strong as he was kind.

He remembered the second meeting with the Gypsy woman.

"By the eight virtues!" cried the gypsy, the fortune teller, "you have succeeded!"

She took little Torin in her arms and was frozen for a moment and looked out the window.

"Ragul, are you sure you weren't followed?"

She felt a curse on the child. a very powerful magic but one that was beyond her and certainly not human.

Ragul "No, we were careful and walked in the creek to erase any scent or trail."

This relieved the divineress.

"Your child will have an important role here in Britannia. He will be able to influence the world. But from the worst to the best.

Your role now is to give him as much love as possible. Let him be happy and let him learn the way of the eight virtues and not the way of carnage."

Ragul: "I don't understand."

Gitane: "Your child is blessed by the destructive God... This can be seen as a blessing or a curse. He will be very strong. Very! It is written in his destiny that he could become a hero or equivalent. That's why you have to guide him, direct him to the light and the eight virtues but especially to give him a loving and protective family.

I also see that at the dawn of his tenth year, his first trials will begin. You will have to support him at any cost."

After these memories, Ragul calmed down and saw that all in all, Torin looked happy with all his village mates.

But he also remembered the dark times during the rule of Mondain, Minax and the dragon Exodus. He had seen it perish. In reality, the dragon had let himself be killed...His death was a possession.

He cursed the men because he wanted to live and not die like this. He wanted to be free of his curse but not to disappear. He died crying..., a sword in his chest.

Ragul was part of the expeditions that accompanied the ancient hero who ended the reign of darkness.

"Daddy? Daddy? Why don't you answer? Mommy said that if you're too far over the moon, a portal might open and transport you to the other side of the world...."

Ragul laughed and leaned back, holding his belly showing the weight of the ages but mostly the number of beers and beer spent with friends at the tavern, the only place of leisure in this middle-aged world.

Cove was a big village, almost a city, but it was big for the time. There was the left bank and the right bank. And, naturally, two rival gangs of children.

The right bank looked towards Britannia city and the left bank, towards the sea and the cultivable areas.

Naturally, those on the right were merchants, soldiers and craftsmen and also small nobles, baronets. And the family of the village chief.

Torin and his family were also from the right bank, but Torin had friends on both sides. Ragul had long since put away his axe for a plow and his warhorse was slowly ending its life, guarding sheep and cows against the wolves.

Being his battle companion, he never had the heart to part with it. It was also his friend.

And Torin also loved his father's horse.

He took care of it and made sure it was well looked after. There was a circular pen on their farm, at last behind, near the fields and the big meadow.

"Torin... Come on... you're big now, well not yet, but I'll teach you to ride Blizzard."

Torin approached and the horse was shaking its tail. He had already spotted the apple that the little boy was going to offer him by the smell.

Saphie and her friends spotted Torin near the pen and climbed up onto the boards: "Torin! You can do it!Torin smiled and in front of such a cute audience, he was all smiles and was proud to show the muscles he already had on his arms.

Ragul: "Look! You have to check the straps. And this is a trick I learned on my adventures: Rings to hold the feet. So on the saddle you can stand up and use a bow at the gallop!"

Torin : "Wow! Great dad! It's true that nobody else has them!

Ragul: "Oh yes... there are special riders. Legendary riders. But I have only seen one and unfortunately he was one of the bad guys... He was very powerful, like his mount... a dragon!"

Torin: "We know how to ride a dragon?????"

"HAHAHAHA: Try to fit on Blizzard first!"

Torin looked serious. First the girls looking at him and then his daddy telling him dragon stories.

How small he still was. Strong, but small..., Ragul put in front of Torin a small 2-step wooden step ladder. Following his daddy's instructions, he put one foot in the stirrup and managed to stand on Blizzard.

He was all smiles and the girls clapped their hands.

They also asked for a ride on the horse. Everyone laughed and Torin was proud!

He saw himself as a knight in shining armor hunting monsters and dragons, and he already knew the next gift he would ask for when the time came: a wooden sword!