A loud crack of a whip, followed by a shrill scream, filled the otherwise silent, cobweb-covered dungeon, in which several cells were separated by rusty bars.

  Prisoners, covered in dirt and blood, huddled in the corners, whimpering quietly to avoid the wrath of the wandering guards.

  Curled up, a shivering figure lay on the cold, wet clay ground, trying to protect its slightly protruding belly with its arms.

  “Don’t worry!” Sneered a black masked prison guard as he raised his torture device again, “In his grace, the master has mercifully ordered to keep you alive until the birth of your brat, because your cursed blood shall serve him for several generations to come! Hahaha! You don’t deserve a quick death!”

  Several blows struck the already scantily clad body, tearing away the last shreds of clothing and leaving a young woman lying on the floor in a mixture of earth and her own blood.

  Despite the many whip marks on her otherwise smooth skin, not a single tear flowed from the eyes of the brave slave, who gracefully wiped her dirty, red-soaked hair from her face, which only further excited the torturer.

  "They said you used to be a genius with a stunning body!" Her tormentor panted, taking a brief pause to catch his breath and examine the naked figure, "Too bad the Khan ordered not to touch you, but once the healer has patched you up and you've healed, I'll have to see how much you can endure! Hahaha! If a little bit of pain doesn't drive you crazy, then I'll whip you again and again! Hahahaha!"

  The first rays of sunlight fell through the short, metal bars of the dungeon's only small window, which provided the prisoners with a sparse supply of fresh air and failed to remove the smell of fear, blood, and decay.

  An emaciated man in chains watched a beautiful young woman, dressed in rags, sitting on a suspended wooden board, humming softly as she stroked her ever-growing belly with a silent smile.

  “Lady Keena…” He finally sobbed with tears in his eyes, “How did we earn this fate? Is it the wrath of the heavens? The Lord is dead, you are in chains, and only more despair awaits us!”

  “A warrior of our clan never sheds tears!” The female slave replied harshly, while her firm gaze looked into the cloudy eyes of the chained prisoner, “You are a commander! Even in chains! No one can take away our past, and the future is not yet written! As long as my child lives, there is hope! Even without Caellach and me, the House of Arian watches over the people of our kingdom!"

  "Words of a true warrior! But instead of hope, you'll only get more pain and despair! Hahaha!" Laughed the ever-ready torturer as he walked through a rusty iron door and looked at the young slave with a disparaging gaze.

  With an evil grin, he treated her like a commodity in a marketplace, "You're getting too fat and the brat inside you is getting too big! I know you've enjoyed the last few weeks of your torment, but the good times will be gone soon! Hahahaha! When your brat is born, you will be of no more use to us, and your suffering will increase tenfold! Today you will help in the tannery, because the stench matches your dirty blood! Hahaha!”

  Several guards grabbed the now heavily pregnant woman and carried her out of her cell through the thick iron door up a steep wooden stair.

  The angular brick corridors cast monstrous shadows on the walls, dimly lit by torches, which seemed to dance with every small gust of wind.

  Step by step, the torturers dragged the prisoner upwards, and her gaze fell upon a shadow whose shape, for the first time since her capture, brought tears to her eyes.

  “Kiara…” She murmured, slipped on a rotten, slippery step, and fell.

  The impact of the fall busted her lip, and fresh blood started to trickle down.

  “Up with you, you bitch!” A scratchy voice sounded from beneath a black hood, and a painful kick hit the slave in the back, “Your beast has already died! Even your magical bird had no chance against the Master!”

  Slowly, the battered figure got up and turned her head again to watch the familiar shadow.

  She saw an image from days gone by: a majestic bird, a silverfalcon, on whose back a mighty warrior couple lay lovingly in each other's arms.

  "Your bird has long since been roasted!" Laughed another guard, trying to drag the woman along, whereupon she spat a mixture of blood and saliva in his face and cursed, "You are just as much a slave to the orcs as I am! The difference is that cowards like you have already surrendered to your fate!"

  “I’ll get back at you for this!” The guard scolded, wiping the blood from his face and slapping the rebellious slave, “Not everyone is as lenient as the head of the guard! He may not fancy a pregnant woman, but there are plenty of men who will happily visit you in the coming nights to play, and I'll be the first one! The Khan's order can't protect you forever!”

  “Scum! Cowards!” She cursed, and with her head held high again, stomped further up the steps, “You wouldn't dare! Without your leader's permission, you guards just do each other, right? And I bet a manly man like yourself certainly takes the brunt of it! I'm not afraid of that!”

  The former Lady Keena reached a stone archway and, after jet another furious kick from behind, lay inside a brick castle courtyard.

  The round castle was situated on a small hill that stood at the beginning of a vast mountain landscape, and two broken, tapered watchtowers flanked the now-destroyed great hall.

  In front of it, there had once been isolated villages, farms, and towns, which, together with the castle of the same name, had formed the County of Silberblick.

  The warriors stationed there were tasked with protecting ordinary citizens from wandering dangers and often fought against various magical beasts or small orc hordes.

  They were usually led by the mighty Lord Caellach and the brave Lady Keena, who flew through the clouds on their proud magical beast, the tamed silverfalcon Kiara.

  But now everything was just rubble and ashes!

  The cities and villages lay in ruins, and the farms were burned down, because invading orcs leave only death in their wake!

  Blinking her eyes, the prisoner looked into a bright sun and felt her chilled body slowly warming up.

  Around her, she saw many familiar places that reminded her of the past, and various fragments of memories played out before her eyes in the glittering sun.

  Several weeks earlier, she had strolled around the courtyard, completely content, with a handsome, tanned man dressed as the Count and Countess of Silberblick Castle.

  “My beloved Caellach, the surrounding cities have given us rich gifts, even an emissary of the Kong Clan paid us his respects, and our alchemists work day and night to create ointments and bath supplements out of magical herbs to strengthen our child’s foundation!” Said Lady Keena.

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  Smiling happily, she stroked through her husband's short, black hair, and together they planned the perfect education for their unborn child.

  “At the moment, we still live in peace, and we must use this time to prepare! More and more reports of orc hordes roaming around our County and enslaving humans are reaching us, and soon I'll have to ride out again to confront them!" The lord of Silberblick Castle answered his wife, holding her tightly in his arms while lovingly stroking her belly, "I have to protect our future male heir!"

  “Why do you always think it will be a boy?” The beauty wanted to know curiously, playfully poking her husband’s broad chest with her outstretched index finger, “It could just as well become a mighty warrior princess, who will later protect the country in our place! But if it's a boy, I already know the perfect name for him..."

  The beautiful expectant mother lay in a greenish, bubbling bathtub and took deep breaths of the herb-scented air.

  The cloudy water became clearer by the minute as she felt a gentle stream of energy slowly flowing through her body, into her womb, and finally into her child.

  “My Qi-paths are strengthening, and my dantian continues to fill with energy!” Murmured the bathing beauty, “Although most of the Qi is used to strengthen my child’s body, some of it remains within me.”

  “I have reached the ninth level as a Qi-Gatherer!” Keena rejoiced, throwing her arms around her husband's neck! “After the birth of our child, I can liquefy the gaseous energy in my Dantian and become a Qi-Condenser, just like you, my beloved!”

  “This way we can protect our family and the county even better!” The lord of the castle replied with a happy smile, “I can already feel the power that lies dormant in your womb! We will raise a brave warrior lord or a great princess!”

  "Welcome to Silberblick Castle! Today, we celebrate the victory over a band of roaming orcs! While we may have won the last battle, the war is far from over, and I hope for your continued support!" Lord Caellach said happily, standing in the middle of a large hall and raising his glass to the guests seated around him.

  But before he could continue his speech, the door of the banquet hall flew open with a loud bang, and a blood-soaked soldier dragged himself in front of his lord.

  “Orcs… We are under attack! Their flying beasts will soon reach our walls!” The injured messenger gasped, just before he lost consciousness and collapsed on the floor of the festive hall.

  A brief silence was quickly followed by loud panic, whereupon Lord Caelach slammed his fist on the table and shouted in an energetic voice, “Warriors come forth! We must prepare our defense!”

  The magical rings and amulets of the guests began to shine brightly, the splendor of their clothing disappeared, and was replaced by armor and weapons of various kinds.

  They quickly positioned themselves around the count and waited for further instructions.

  The commander of the guard walked towards his lord and whispered in his ear, “Our defenses are in place, and Lady Keena has already been taken to safety! As soon as you take command over your troops, I will join her bodyguard.”

  Before the lord of the castle could answer, a loud bang blew away half the ceiling of the banquet hall, and a huge flying beast landed in the room.

  “I am here to celebrate your victory with you, and every celebration requires a great hunt!” A rough, laughing voice was heard from the back of the beast, and a greenish creature, clad in blood-red armor, jumped down from it and bared its fangs, “Caellach! After you killed my son in your last battle, it's now your turn to leave this world! In the future, your unborn child, your wife, and generations to come will serve my household as slaves, but my axe and I thirst for your blood!”

  “K-Keena…save our child!” Lord Caellach stretched out the remains of his arm, now missing three fingers, to his beloved wife, while the leader of the orcs rammed his bloodsteel-reinforced boot into the stomach of the beaten warrior lying on the ground.

  “Your child will be a slave to our Khan from birth!” Laughed a black clad soldier, “And your wife will get used to the virility of us orcs, while she is serving in our beds! Hahaha!”

  With his last strength, the former Lord of Silberblick raised his head, focused his dimming gaze on the laughing enemy, and spat a silvery, shimmering blade of energy at him.

  Blood flowed from the decapitated body and poured over the man lying on the ground and his tormentor.

  “You are a true warrior, Caellach…even when death is looming over you!” Said the Khan calmly, “In your honor, no one will force himself onto your wife as long as I live! She will only suffer the pain of the whips! Thus speaks Khan Grokbar, and so shall it be! Now say your last words!”

  “Keena…I love you! As long as our child lives, there is hope!” Whispered the fallen Lord with his last strength, just before an axe blow severed his head from his shoulder, and a fountain of blood stained his lover’s clothes red.

  “CAELLACH!!” Screamed the pregnant woman as the image before her eyes grew darker and darker.

  Just before she lost consciousness, she saw a dark skinned orc war beast bite the neck of her beloved silverfalcon, Kiara, who was trying to rescue her.

  “Get up, you whore! The tannery is waiting!” Sounded the scratchy voice of a torturer, and a crack of the whip brought the young woman back to the present.

  “You cursed orc mercenaries!” She spat angrily at him, “You have betrayed your people and will die a miserable death as cowards! The orc slayers will come and get you!”

  Under the guards' blows, she forced herself back to her feet when she suddenly felt her ragged work trousers begin to drip with wetness.

  “Get the healer!” She shouted, and all pain and shame were forgotten, “My child is going to be born!”

  “A new slave is brought into this world!” The torturers laughed and carried the expectant mother back to the cold dungeon.

  Keena turned on top of the hardwood bed, back and forth as she slowly gave birth to her child in great pain.

  “Notify the Master! It is a Boy! He wanted to inform the great Khan as soon as the child was born!” The healer shouted to a mercenary over the loud cries of the newborn.

  The guard stormed up the slippery wooden stairs to deliver the message.

  “You will share only a short time with your child, but I believe the first moments of every life should belong to the mother, even in chains!” sighed the healer, pressing her son into the young woman’s arms.

  Smiling happily, she said, “You have your father’s eyes, and I already know what your name will be.”

  But before the sentence could be completed, the thick stone walls of the dungeon started shaking, and the air began to tremble.

  A deafening bang filled the entire castle, and a mighty voice shouted, “Dirty orcs, cursed mercenaries! Your butchers have arrived!"

  Gasping for air, the mercenary messenger returned and began to stutter, “T-the M-master is dead! T-the o-orc slayers are here!”

  After these words, he fell forward, and one could see a crossbow bolt sticking out of his back.

  Chaos filled the dungeon!

  The orcs' loyal followers grabbed their weapons, rushed up the steps to face the enemy, and the healer barricaded himself in the slaves' quarters.

  Terrible screams echoed down the corridor into the dungeon, and small stones slowly began to break loose from the ceiling due to the strong vibrations.

  The mother, exhausted from childbirth, was lying on her wooden bed when the chain snapped, and she and her child crashed to the floor.

  Instinctively, she hugged the newborn tightly to protect him from any danger.

  “Don't cry, my child, we are saved!” She murmured, gently stroking her son, “The orc slayers are legendary heroes from ancient stories and will protect us!”

  Using all her remaining strength to stand up, but she couldn't, so she slowly crawled on her knees across the muddy ground towards the exit.

  “Lady Keena, watch out!” the former commander, still wrapped in chains, cried loudly, but it was already too late.

  A large boulder, loosened from the brick ceiling, flew down and crushed the young mother's abdomen.

  But no scream was heard, no grief lay in her eyes as she smiled happily, writing a name on her son’s forehead with her own blood as ink, “Unfortunately, I must leave you now, for your father is already waiting for me! We will miss you very much, but I know you will survive because we believe in you, our beautiful, strong Kilian! I love you!"

  After an uncertain time, with the moon already high in the sky, a faint scraping sound was heard from the remains of Silberblick castle, as if stones lying on top of each other were moving.

  With a powerful groan, a dark figure rose from the rubble and took a small step forward.

  The dull moonlight revealed a body completely covered in blood, caked with dust and dirt, with its legs and arms bound together by chains.

  His eyes were tightly closed as he just stood there and listened to the silence of the night.

  Nothing.

  No fighting, no screaming.

  Nothing!

  “The child should scream if it were still alive…” He murmured desperately and opened his sad-filled eyes, “I have failed! Again and again! My Lord is dead, my Lady was crushed by a rock after a painful imprisonment, and I could not even save a newborn kid! There is no place in this world for a commander like me!”

  Dejected, he sank to the ground and murmured tearfully, “My days are numbered, and I only wish to be here with my Lord and Lady to die! But do I still have enough honor for that? Neither in death nor in life can I be as brave as they both were, for even with all my strength, these tears will not dry up!”

  But a short, quiet scream immediately brought him out of his despair.

  “Lord Kilian?” He whispered, rising to a height that was not apparent from his hunched figure.

  Dressed in rags and limping slowly, his movements hampered by the piercing chains, he walked step by step towards an elongated wooden board partly covered with stones.

  Stone by stone, he uncovered Lady Keena's former wooden bed and discovered the crushed, curled-up body of the orc mercenary's healer beneath it.

  Pressed against his chest, the commander saw a newborn baby with alert eyes, stretching out its small hands towards him.

  On the child’s forehead was a name written in bold red letters: “KILIAN”

  He silently took the little one in his arms and slowly began to escape from the scene of grief and chaos.

  Silently, the bound commander of Silberblick castle disappeared with renewed strength and his young lord into the darkness of the night.