Susi didn't know where we were going either. We first decided to ride along the Ramr River. After all, there was more than just 1 village on a river.

Exhausted from the long day's ride, I got off my horse groaning. My back and bottom hurt. I stretched, my bones cracking. After that I had to look for firewood in the forest on my own. When I came back after an hour with so much wood that I could hardly keep my balance, Susi started to laugh. Right in front of the fireplace, I dropped the wood.
"What's so funny?" I asked.
"You looked straight like a farmer's wife who was forced by her husband to fetch firewood," she snorted.
"Aha, so that's how you think of me! I saw through you!" I joked.
I picked up a long stick. And waved the stick in front of Susi's eyes.
Then she took a stick and we started fighting. Well, it wasn't a fight for me, more of a throw-the-stick-on-the-earth game or hit-the-other-on-the-fingers game.After just a quarter of an hour, Susi lay down on the forest floor. I heard her breathing very loudly. The first thing I thought was ´She is guaranteed to be still fit and every moment she jumps up and slaps my fingers´. But when she was still there after 5 minutes and so loud
breathed I asked softly:
"Is everything okay?"
Without saying a word, she got up with a sigh and went to the fireplace.
I had only known Susi for a few months, and all of a sudden she was lying outside the door of the inn with tattered clothes. The slave traders had been in town, we thought they might have escaped. That's why we kept everything secret for the time being and didn't reveal anything about it. But something like this, which happened in sword fighting, has never happened before. Shortly thereafter, I decided to ask her if she was hiding anything I should know. I went to the fireplace, where Susi crouched in front of it and neatly piled the wood in the middle.
"Susi, have you withheld something from me that I should know or that is important?""No, it's nothing!"
" Are you sure ?"
"Yes, I'm sure. And if I have something to hide, I would tell you!" She yelled at me.
"And why did you lie on the floor for so long?" I yelled back.
Then she got up and wanted to go into the forest. Shortly before I could see her she said without turning around: “I'll get more firewood!” Then she was gone, between the trees.

After I had collected the dry leaves around the fireplace and put away the smaller branches, I no longer knew what to do. So I sat down on the floor. At that moment I felt pretty lonely. But then I remembered what Hedrick used to say:
"Just listen, you are not alone!"
So I closed my eyes and listened, I heard the butterflies sit on the flowers, how a squirrel climbed a tree and some bark broke off. Then I didn't hear branches crack because someone stepped on them.It was so loud as if my ear was right next to it. I opened my eyes with a jerk. But there was no one to be seen. Then when I really concentrated, I saw a person in the distance. She looked at the floor, it looked as if she was looking for something. Then I saw that this person was wearing a brown dress. Then I knew it was Susi. She had pulled the hood of her cloak far over her face.
"Hey Susi! Is it fun?" I screamed. But apparently she didn't hear me.
'Or does she not want to hear me? I asked myself.
does not matter! `
After half an hour, Susi dives back with an armful of firewood. Then we lit the fire. Suddenly my stomach growled, so we started unpacking our provisions. I found a piece of meat wrapped in a bag. Since I couldn't get any meat for some reason, I offered Susi a swap. She agreed. With one swing I tossed the piece of meat to Susi. Fortunately, she had caught it too, because if she hadn't caught it, it would have fallen into the burning flames and been pretty done.After we finished we slipped into our beds.
I couldn't sleep that night, there were just too many noises.
I rolled restlessly from side to side.
"Susi, Susi .... are you still awake?" I whispered. There was no answer. Shortly afterwards I closed my eyes.
'How can she sleep with so much noise? `
I noticed how my hearing improved again and I could only hear the animals and Susi's loud breathing. The leaves rustled in the light wind that slipped through the forest, causing the branches to crack a little.
At first I couldn't classify a faint throb, but after a while I knew it. It was the soft pounding of my heart. So I just focused on my heartbeat and fell asleep.
After the fire only glowed and it had almost risen, I woke up. In my restless sleep, I had my blanket cuddled by the foot end. I got up slowly. And packed my blanket and the rest of my things.But I decided not to wake Susi but to let her sleep again. I went further into the forest. Sometimes I turned around so I could see how far I was from the camp site.
After a few meters I saw a small stream running along in a clearing. I quickly ran to the brook. It had a clear surface in which one could reflect. I noticed that because of my restless sleep, my headband
had slipped. So I decided to do it right again and knelt over the stream so that I could reflect myself in it. I slowly ran through my hair so that it was all in the back, then pushed the headband up. I dipped my hands in the cold, clear water. For some reason I felt like I was being watched, then I heard steps, but it wasn't Susi's steps, as she always ran a little slurping. But these steps were difficult steps that broke the wood, it had to be someone who was much taller than Suzy.The heavy steps came closer and closer, like a shy deer I looked around the whole time to see if I could see anyone. But nobody was watching. I jumped up quickly, noticing how the bush was moving in front of me, and I ran. In between I kept turning around to see if someone was following me, after a few meters I ran, I saw a young man or a boy who came out of the bush. the only thing I could see was a mop of blond hair. Then I remembered what hedrick had always warned me about before I went out. 'Beware of the slave traders! And if you see one, run away from him as fast as you can. `Because between Gil'ead and Bullrigr it was swarming with slave traders. It was only a guess that the young man was a slave trader, but I didn't want to risk anything. Panting, I arrived at the camp site, I didn't indulge myself in a pause, I immediately woke Susi.
And not exactly gently, I shook her and shouted at her:"Get up! The slavers are probably here!"
"Let me sleep!" she just grumbled
I pulled the blanket off her and quickly packed up all the things. When I finished, Suzy hadn't got up yet. In my panic, I didn't know what to do other than take tougher measures. I went to Susi, picked her up by the collar and glued one to her. With a subsequent outcry, she snapped at me: "Why did you do that?"
"Because you don't get up! Hurry up! Get up!" After a few minutes, Susi got up and we rode off.

Every now and then I looked back and was very attentive because I didn't want us to be ambushed.
"Where do we want to go now?" I wanted to know.
"No way to Gil'ead. If you want to go there, you can do it yourself, if you like".
I was silent and just looked straight. Suddenly Susi opened her backpack and took out a card.
"What do you think of Daret?""To Daret?", My brow furrowed, I wondered if I had heard this name before. But I couldn't remember it. That's why I said:
"Okay, off to Daret!"
`At least we have a goal now! I thought. Whenever I ran out of hope, I remembered that I had a goal in mind that I wanted to achieve.
It was slowly getting a little warmer, so I didn't need to put on my black scarf any more. That way you could see the chain better, which was the only piece my parents had left me. The chain was made of sturdy silver, on it was a strange pendant that was supposed to represent a sign or a symbol, this was also made of silver. Nobody could tell me what the symbol meant or what the figure was supposed to represent. It shone in the sun when the rays of the sun fell on the shiny silver.

Once again I sat there at night and couldn't sleep. When the trailer suddenly started to glow green. My body felt so strange, as if someone was sucking my life energy out of me.I desperately tried to tear the chain from my body but I couldn't, then I looked for the pickaxe, thereby touching the trailer, which, strangely enough, was freezing cold.
After a few minutes, the glow stopped. Immediately I decided to attach the trailer to a leather strap so that I could take it away from me more quickly the next time. After glowing, I was so exhausted that I fell asleep straight away.
I only woke up when someone shook me and said:
"Get up! I'm not used to your sleeping that long!"
He blinked briefly and saw Susi, who looked down at me in amazement. I didn't tell her about the necklace because I didn't think it was necessary, since it had only appeared the first time, after all.
It had been 4 days since we left Bullridge when Susi said:
"It can't go on like this, we need weapons and that fast! We cannot simply travel through world history without weapons!"I silently agreed, it couldn't go on like this. There were just too many slavers, robbers and dangerous animals walking around.
"Well, as I have seen, you are talented enough to hold a sword, even if you only had a stick in your hand before. Was that too heavy for you?"
I jerked my head
"No, it was light as a feather!"
"Aha, I see! You're going to get a sword, or rather, I'll pick a good one for you! And I'll get myself arrows and a bow again!"
"Why 'once again´?"
Suddenly Susi turned around and mumbled:
"I'll tell you when the time is right!"
Then I realized that something was of great importance that Susi was hiding from me. And that she was older than me, after all, she was already 16 and I had just turned 15. Otherwise I had never noticed this age difference. But