Mordraud, Book One Read Online Free PDF

years ago. Centuries ago, as you would say.”
    “ You don’t... your people don’t seem very different to us Khartians,” Varno remarked, perplexed.
    “ I’m also... what’s the word? I’m surprised. I thought you Khartiars... well, Khartians... were hairy all over, short and ugly, and blood-thirsty.”
    Varno burst out into roaring laughter. He wasn’t particularly handsome, but that description was rather unfair. Dark wavy hair, eyes as black as coal, and the unkempt beard of a few weeks, which luckily didn’t grow that profusely. A stocky build, of a person who’d spent most of his life with a hoe or plough in hand. His nose was a little squint, after it had been broken a couple of times in boyhood tussles.
    “ Why is it you live in this forest? We’re almost on the border with the desolate mountains of the North,” he inquired.
    “ You Khartians never come up here. Or rather, hardly ever. There’s nothing behind us except icy mountains and bleak heathland, as far as the Sea of the North. Your first town and villages are many days’ away, and no road used by your people passes through here. It was a painful choice. Before our downfall, we lived in cities, and built roads and ports. We’ve got used to the woods with the passing of the years. They protect us from you. We’re forbidden from contact with... humans. We’re not allowed to leave the forest. Our guards would even kill an Aelian, if necessary.”
    “ Why?! I don’t see!” Varno blurted out.
    “ It all started a long time ago. Many, many generations ago for you – fewer for us. Aelians, like me, live much longer than Khartians.”
    “ How long?”
    “ Well, much longer... At least I think so.”
    Varno collapsed onto the bed, mouth gaping. It was absurd, he thought. An increasingly delirious dream.
    “ Once, the Aelians dominated the entire continent of Cambria. The city of Cambia itself was ours, as was the whole of the West and the South. You Khartians arrived across the Sea of the North and you made homes for yourselves on our coasts. There were few of you – none of us ever protested at your settling. We also travelled as far as your lands...”
    “ Where?!” Varno asked.
    “ Ankhar, in the north. Many days’ voyage away, or at least that’s what they say. I’ve never been.”
    “ Is there a continent even further north?!”
    “ Yes. Your native land. And the Aelians knew how to reach it. Back then we traded with you, swapped stories and sciences. Until you landed in great number here, where we lived. Then...”
    “ Then what?”
    “ The Endless Night began.”
    “ The Endless... Night?!”
    “ That’s right. But I know nothing else. We’re not allowed to remember those years. Merely talking about them is forbidden,” Eglade admitted hastily, terrified at her own words.
    “ I would imagine we Khartians took advantage of this... Endless Night, right? To usurp your homes.”
    “ I don’t know. More or less, I think. They also say...” Eglade’s voice shrank to a whisper, as if she were afraid someone might hear her talking about those memories. “They say a single Khartian was to blame. Since then, we’ve all been exiles in the lands that were once ours. We loathe your people.”
    “ One single man?! And what was his name?”
    “ No, I don’t know,” she hurried a reply.
    “ Why didn’t you try to seize back what was yours?!” Varno asked in amazement.
    “ You became stronger, and we weaker. We tried. But we lost. Now we just endeavour to live peacefully far away from you. We’re banned from even contemplating the idea of leaving our village. We don’t even know if other communities like ours exist, somewhere else. Some say they’ve seen these places, like Cambiryon... but few of us believe him.”
    “ Who is this... Cambiryon?”
    “ The direct descendant of Cambirian, the last King of the Aelians. The one who guided our people through the Endless Night. Little is known of his life. Just as