Raginmund Short Stories

Volume 1
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-3-6951-5540-8
Verlag: BoD - Books on Demand
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, Band 1, 148 Seiten

Reihe: Short Stories

Table of contents Sleeping Beauty has a new thorn - Fary Tail retold The riddel of the spearhead - Agent story The Settlement - This Could Have Been - Archaeologists' Story The Dagger That Didn't Belong to Rome - Archaeologists' Story Raven - whatever you think, it's wrong - Since Fiction - Voodoo-Zombie The Child of Ember and Sulfur - a demon child who didn't want to be one The Hidden Town - zombi-since-fiction Pets, Masters, Gods and the Universe - Cat Story Wind - Crime story

German author, writes, science fiction and do-it-yourself books. His interest in nature science, quantum science, ancient history, grown up gardening, trained as a carpenter. compared to a whole universe of unlimited imagination and an inner pet monster of curiosity, just had to make him an author.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Raginmund

Leseproben

The Settlement – This Could Have Been.

Two students were brushing at a skeleton. It had to be a woman, grown, and with no visible bone damage at first glance.

She had a copper band on her head, similar to a tiara. Her neck and wrists were adorned with copper jewelry.

She was probably an influential woman, wealthy and prosperous for her time.

Fragments of pottery and bowls were beside her. Shells and pheasant feathers were not missing. A few meters away, two other archaeologists were uncovering a skeleton, male...

Falkensee, before it was Falkensee, in the first century.

The sun peered over the trees, and Hea walked out of the house with her brother Run. Not all the swamp spirits had gone to sleep yet, but the night watch was glad to see another sun rise.

The two of them walked to the river, or was it still a stream? Never mind, there were shells and small crabs anyway.

They wanted to fill Hea's belt pouch with them before the daily hustle began.

Hea was 12 years old and already had a share of responsibility for the family's provision. She wore a fine, soft leather dress, held up by a flax belt around her waist. For the shells, she carried a net pouch. Her hair was tied with a leather band. She wore leather jewelry around her wrists and neck. Her 10-year-old brother wore knee-length leather pants, held with narrow leather straps. A necklace with a stone Celtic Trinity symbol indicated from which settlement he came. They both had blonde hair.

As they entered the water, a small, startled trout tried to escape. But it had no luck. Run managed to catch it and stabbed it with a dagger he kept at the back of his belt, behind the head. By severing the trout's spine, it was dead instantly.

Hea looked at him, surprised and beaming. Such good luck at the beginning was very rare. Just before they had filled Hea’s pouch, they heard a noise.

"The big forest cat," whispered Run and drew his dagger. They immediately crouched down. Hea looked at him fearfully.

"Not," said Hea, placing her hand on his dagger. "You can’t do that with a dagger," and motioned toward the shore to leave.

Run didn’t put the dagger away, but followed her, determined not to let his sister get a scratch.

But they had enough from the lucky trout catch.

"The big forest cat is here," the two of them announced as they entered their settlement.

It was a settlement of 10 families, who hunted and worked in pottery and copper crafts.

The swamp, forest, and grasslands near the Havel offered good, fertile soil and great hunting opportunities. Thus, there was no shortage of healthy children who could follow in their parents' business.

The hunters gathered and waited for the druid priestess to give her approval. It was already midday, and it must have been hard to reach an agreement with the ancestors and the gods.

Then, after the usual midday meal, the druidess called the elders of the settlement and the oldest huntress to her.

“The time of the great forest cat has not yet come. Watch her and do not disturb her during the hunt, or she will move on. Take Hea with you, they need to see each other. They will meet again, and then we will need them both and be glad if they are still here.

Take Run with you as well. He should see her too, but she must not see him. He heard her, and he will hear her again the second time and signal the settlement to be still, so that the great forest cat can do its work for us. Do not harm her or the children. The ancestors said no more.”

The two left the small house of the druidess.

On her face, it was clear that this was an unusual answer and not at all what they had expected. It gave them no peace, but the ancestors knew more than their eyes could see, and the druidess, however young she was, had always had the right premonition, even with the wildest ideas.

She had always been strange, as far back as anyone could remember.

And the old druid had chosen her as his successor when she was 12, preferring her over his student.

The student's refusal to acknowledge her had been dealt with by the prince, who ended it simply with a sword, without any negotiation.

Not all the knowledge of herbs was with the young one, so the herb gatherers had to act quickly and assist.

So, the two of them left with a determination that allowed no argument and went to fetch the two young fishermen, Hea and Run. The village elder threw the huntress a thick, heavy leather armor, which she then properly put on Hea, and the village elder did the same with Run.

The lead huntress examined them for injuries and covered each tiny scratch with a small, light flax bandage.

Then, they took their spears and bows and led the two to the center, where they walked to the river where Run had heard it.

While Hea looked at Run with concern, he looked proudly at her with adventure-glitteringeyes.

She found him too willing to take risks—not reckless, but too quick to want to protect Hea and his friends without considering the risks.

They followed the trail of the lynx, so the great forest cat had not noticed the two. This was good, as it allowed them to keep Run hidden from the cat.

But Hea was also meant to be seen by the cat, and that worried the hunters. She was good at endurance, skilled and agile, but still only 12 winters old, not 14 or better yet, 15.

So young that she was allowed only to apprentice, but not to intentionally face the danger of looking the hunter in the eye.

They decided that, when the time came, they would let Hea stand free for just a few blinks of an eye, and then place a wall in front of her, through themselves.

Although Hea might also become a good huntress, no one believed this would be her path. Just the fact that she could count and was good at negotiating made her too valuable for this task. Even now, she was feared by some wandering traders.

Some no longer came because of her, while others came precisely because of her.

The settlement held no ill will against her. On the contrary, a trader had come, bringing mattewhite gold, and he was so satisfied that he gave her a filled salt pouch for her 12th spring.

She was too valuable to risk on a hunt.

At dawn, filled with swamp spirits, Run led Hea, hiding in the grass.

Before the hunters saw him, they followed, and then they too saw the forest cat.

It was Run, he heard like the cat, perceiving everything as Odin’s ravens did.

Was he meant to be the watchful eye of the ancestors and gods? Protecting this settlement.

The lynx paused. The huntress led Hea into thesight of the cat, which stared at her.

“I am Hea. I live here, half a day’s walk towards where the sun stands high, and the moss on the trees dries.”

The young huntress looked at the girl, holding her gaze for a moment, as if to say, “I see you.” Then she looked at the hunt leader and retreated with some into the ferns and mist.

The hunt leader paused and suddenly understood—they had shown the nature and animals of the forest that they were ready to protect Hea.

Had the ancestors introduced the future leader of the settlement to the hunters, or had the hunters simply demonstrated Hea's protection?

They brought the two children back to the settlement.

The villagers saw from the huntress that something very significant must have happened.

She stepped before the druid. “You knew. – You knew what it meant to introduce Hea to the cat, and you knew that we would protect the girl.”

“Call forth those who wish to follow our ancestors in council.”

The woman swallowed, but she did it. It meant that whoever did not want to follow anymore would lose the protection and help.No one had decided in advance to abandon their allegiance.

“Make way for Hea and Run,” the druid demanded.

The settlement followed.

The druid cut her hand and marked a bloodline on Hea’s forehead, from the crown to the tip of her nose. Then she spread her blood on her hand and placed it on Run’s breastplate, leaving a blood print of her hand.

She turned to the huntress. “Report what you saw and felt.”

The one called upon complied.

“They are an extra. A gift.” The druid pushed Hea into a presenting position.

“Hea,” she continued, “will give us counsel with the knowledge and wisdom that this world offers.

Anyone who harms her, harms us, and that person should have their head split where I have marked Hea with my blood. She will not lead, you should ask her, ask before acting like fools.”

Then the druid went to Run and picked him up in her arms, followed by a “Ha, I can still lift you.”

The adults laughed.

The druid set Run down in front of her and said: “Not yet” – she briefly raised her finger and continued – “not yet is he calm, he wants to make everyone proud.” She whispered something in his ear, which briefly made him sad. The druid continued aloud: “But nothing escapes him, just like the ravens of Odin. He will be my and Hea’s eye. But he wants you all to be proud of him, so whoever harms...