Erik and his friends E-Book

Julian Forten

• Herausgeber: novum premium Verlag
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Seitenzahl: 83

Beschreibung

Erik, Joren and Fin are spending the afternoon in the forest when they suddenly encounter a dark knight. Before they know what is happening to them, he takes them prisoner and brings them to the castle of the Count of Schauenburg. Seemingly having landed in another time, they make the acquaintance of various castle inhabitants and learn that from now on they must live in Schauenburg Castle and serve the count. When the initial shock wears off, the three friends willingly embark on the exciting adventures that life in the Middle Ages has in store for them: They experience an exciting hunt, make the acquaintance of highwaymen and forge new friendships. Nevertheless, they are overcome by homesickness. Will they escape and find their way back through the magical forest border?

Leseprobe

JULIAN FORTEN

Erik and his friends

Adventures at Schauenburg Castle

THE TRANSGRESSION

THE MAGIC FRONTIER

It was a gloomy fall day, just like most people imagine a gloomy fall day to be . Drizzle, low gray clouds and weak daylight where you didn't know whether it was afternoon or early evening . As Erik was just walking home from school, it had to be around half past one .

He was lost in thought about the afternoon he had spent yesterday with his friends Fin and Joren . They had been in the forest and had lost track of time . Even Erik's new wristwatch didn't help in such cases, as he usually didn't look at his watch when playing . Actually, the three boys wanted to continue building their hideout in the high treetops today, but in this weather, mom wouldn't allow it . The nails from Dad's workshop had already served them well . Today they wanted to finish the slatted frame that they had put up between the strong branches . It still had to be surrounded with brushwood so that their hiding place could not be discovered . At this time of year, the forest always smelled of moss, earth and damp, cool air . The haze from the forest floor brought the smell of fallen leaves to the nose . Dad always told me when Erik asked him about his childhood that he had put his satchel in the corner right after school and gone to the Ritterstieg.

According to Papa's description, the Ritterstieg was a dark, steep high forest through which knights once rode from their castle into the valley. In those days, various lords of the castle had succeeded each other over the centuries. In later times, robber barons also lived in the castle, who attacked merchants on the trade route over the Heuberg.

The Heuberg had been an important connection to the neighboring country and, according to Papa's descriptions, robber barons were castle dwellers who watched the trade routes from their castles and blocked the way for merchants in order to extort money from them . With their fully loaded, slow horse or ox carts, the cumbersome wagons were often easy prey for the rough journeymen from the castles. The merchants who could not raise a ransom, did not want to pay one or could not offer any coveted goods - such as valuable cloths for the castle women, wine or important tools and building materials - were taken to the knight's castle and held captive in the castle tower. They remained there until they were released by other merchants or their families. An armed escort was very expensive in those days and many merchants did not want or could not afford one.

So this was Dad's forest, where he had always played as a child . Erik remembers his dad's exciting stories only too well. He had usually spent the whole afternoon there with his friends after school, building tree houses in the tops of the tall spruce trees and hiding places on the forest floor and forgetting the time . He often came home late, where his mother was already waiting for him. She usually seemed a little stern because she was worried,

because a lot could happen on the way. Especially when she didn't know where Dad was, although she often suspected it . But in a large, expansive forest, the children were hard to find .

Erik's thoughts sank more and more into his dad's time and the stories he often told him before going to sleep at night. Erik didn't even notice how the light rain was falling on his cloak and the water was running down the sides of it . He suddenly heard voices calling him . "Eeeriiik!" It was his friends, Fin and Joren, who lived in the settlement a few houses away . The rain had subsided by now and so the three of them set off together into the forest .

THE DARK KNIGHT

"Stop, where are you going?" a loud, powerful male voice suddenly rang out . The three were startled, looked up and a dark knight suddenly stood in front of them . "Who is that and where did he come from, I've never seen him before," thought Erik to himself . Fin and Joren were equally startled by the sudden appearance of the dark figure and tried to hide. "We ... we're on the way to our tree house," Erik said to the strange figure.

Figure, which is now closer

approached the children. "We wanted to continue building this today." "You know you're in the Count of Schauenburg's forest," boomed the knight's armor. As he approached, the joints of his armor squeaked and the long sword struck the knight's leg guard . "The armor could do with some lubrication," Fin thought to himself, but didn't say it out loud .

"I, uh, we ... we just wanted to play in the forest," Joren interjected, and that wasn't so bad . But the stranger didn't respond . "I'll take you to the castle now, you can tell the count everything there." The children were paralyzed and running away was out of the question, as the knight's horse would surely have caught up with them again and the dark figure would certainly get angry . The stranger tied a long, strong rope around each of their bodies . "Like this," he said, "so that none of you dwarves run away from me ." He laughed boomingly . The knight now fastened the ropes to his saddle, shouted a command to the horse that sounded like "Ho, ho!" and so our little group went up the narrow path, led by the knight, who also had to walk, as it was quite steep uphill and Friedhelm wanted to spare his horse . In the meantime, he had tied his sword lengthwise to his horse's saddle. The children followed him silently and there was not another soul to be seen in the forest, not even the sound of birds could be heard . Erik couldn't quite believe it - now he himself was in the forest that Dad had always told him about, and for some reason he had ended up in this situation, which still seemed so unreal to him . It all looked just as Dad had described it in the stories he liked to tell in the evenings . The stream they had crossed, the tall dark forest and the narrow path that zigzagged steeply uphill to an old castle .

It was already beginning to get dusk and the air was cooling down considerably . The dampness of the forest could already be felt when breathing and warm air was coming out of the horse's nostrils, visible in the cool of the evening . The horse obviously did not find it difficult to walk up the steep path uphill, which meant that it was led this way more often .

After our little group had covered quite a bit of the narrow, steep path, Fin asked the stranger for a little breather . The dark knight seemed to welcome this and agreed, as he too was apparently exhausted . "Maybe he's been out all day," thought Fin . "Who knows who he's attacked and robbed," he spoke his thoughts quietly to himself so that his brother Joren heard them too . "But maybe he was traveling as a messenger to another castle, that could be possible," he replied . "Yes, maybe," said Fin, "but I don't feel like walking around here anymore ." Then came the stranger's harsh command: "Go on, keep going!" Fin was startled . The stranger hardly spoke at all, only the occasional unintelligible mumble could be heard . It probably went on like this for a good hour .

AT THE SCHAUENBURGTEICH

Our little group now passed a small forest lake, which was densely overgrown with reeds and other grasses on the shore. "It's all lush and green here," Erik said to his two friends, "maybe nature has caught up after the hot summer." They took another break and the knight's horse ate from the still quite fresh grass by the forest lake . This must be the Schauenburg pond, just as Erik had imagined it from his dad's stories . All around the small lake were old willows, their branches leaning low on the surface of the water . The banks were quite steep and a small rivulet flowed from the outlet of the mountain lake towards the valley from which our little group had come . The knight's horse now drank eagerly from this small rivulet . "You may take some water too," came his sharp, rasping voice . Joren carefully scooped some of the cool water from the stream with his hand and handed it to his younger brother Fin . Then he took a cool sip himself . Meanwhile, Erik did a push-up and sucked the cool water directly into his mouth from this position . "How wonderful it tastes," he thought, "clear, fresh water, only someone who is out in nature can find that ."