| Marc Pelzer | Fabian Wiestner
Deep in the steppes of the north, a tribe with extraordinary people had lived for many hundreds of years. It was said that they could use magic to talk to animals and keep them as companions. Tirion didn't really believe in it, he could create flame and heat from magic and knew that magical barriers could also be built. However, talking to animals he didn't think was very realistic. Now that he was trained, he had decided to get to the bottom of this mystery himself. And if it was true, who knows if he himself had such a gift?
He had made good progress over the last week. The great northern plains stretched out before him, marked by nothing but hills, stone and a few small woods, this plain lay in front of the mighty Gordoran massif. It shouldn't be difficult to find people here, he thought to himself. Only the fog, which stretched over the plains like a gentle, endless veil, prevented him from getting a full view of it. Only the few plateaus of the higher hills interrupted the uniform fog. Tirion pulled his cloak tighter to brave the wind and the cold. He strode down the rise on which he was standing and moved straight into the plain.
After a while he heard a soft, barely audible rustling in the bushes. Too loud for the wind, he noted. By default, he let a small fireball shoot into the air, which spread out in all directions with a loud hiss until it finally went out. Usually this helped against wild animals, because even magical animals were shy of fire. However, instead of a wild animal rushing away, he heard a deep step behind him. Tirion turned instantly and drew magic together to be able to act as quickly as possible. It had already happened at the start of his journey that someone had tried to ambush and capture him. But when he turned around, he starred at the face of a young girl who was obviously happy to have surprised him. Only with difficulty could he shake off the built-up magical potential in his hands without igniting a sea of flames.
The girl was slightly younger than himself, wearing brown coarse clothes and her tousled hair down. "What are you doing here?" she asked him with a slight but unrehearsed threatening undertone. "You gave me quite a scare girl," Tirion stammered, "I'm a wanderer, roaming the countryside."
"A wanderer? There are no wanderers here, especially none who shoot balls of flame. But there are dark creatures roaming our territory," the girl remarked.
Our territory? The mage smiled inwardly, that was easier than he thought.
He explained to her that he was looking for a tribe of magically gifted people. Again the girl smiled, "Look behind you boy". He turned questioningly and a shiver ran down his spine. Behind him a wolf crouched in a threatening position, ready to attack him should it be necessary. He had neither heard nor seen him.
After some negotiation, the girl, who had introduced herself as Ja'nemiri, agreed to take him to the village. Although it seemed a little strange to Tirion that the girl spoke only of a village, for the plains were vast, he immediately agreed, after all, the wolf's calm demeanour proved that he was in the right place.
Ja'nemiri did not answer any of the many questions the stranger asked her. Although he did not seem threatening, she did not trust him. She had never met a mage before. In her childhood, however, she had heard stories from Thuli. If the tribe were not in turmoil, she would never have approached him at all, would have slunk away with her wolf and the boy would never have noticed her. The tribe had always shunned any stranger, should anyone stray into the plains. But times were difficult. Dark forces were at work. Thuli had read it in the bones and the shaman was never wrong. Besides, patrols in the east had been attacked. As the sun shone its last powerful rays over the hills, they arrived at the border of the village. It lay hidden between two elongated hills covered with bushes and shrubs and surrounded by small forests that blocked the view on the open sides. The huts were small and well insulated so that the cold that crept into the vale at night did not disturb their sleep. There was a bustle of activity, and she could see the large fire flickering through the open entrance of the communal tent in the middle. Ja'nemiri grabbed the stranger by the cloak and walked with him towards the large tent under the astonished gaze of the other villagers.