Soldier's Letter Paper · Points of interest

My dearest Bilyana,

I hope my letter finds you in good health. I’m fine – well-fed and doing good work in our Knyaz’s name. They moved us recently to a new camp. I should be able to write more often now - not much going on around here. And nothing as weird as what happened to me when I was stationed in Parlita.

You see, there was this travelling merchant I stopped on the road to make sure he wasn't one of those blasted rebels. Turned out to be a nice enough fellow, we got into a chat. And he said that when he was on the road north of Parlita, closer to the mountains, he saw some lonely cottage. He didn’t dare approach it but suggested to me it would be a perfect spot for a rebel stash. So I decided to check it out - you know me, always hoping for a promotion.

It wasn’t a manumit hideout. It was - well, I’m not sure. A smithy, I think. There was a weird-looking anvil, some hammers. I know my way around a smithy after I used to help uncle Gozav in my youth, but the metals I saw lying around there - I’ve never seen anything like that before. They had this weird shine to them. And you might laugh, but I swear to God - I could hear this quiet sound all the time, ringing in my ears.

And when I was just about to touch one of the ores, suddenly a large uriash appeared just behind me. It grabbed me by the neck and threw me out of the cottage. I was sure it was going to eat me and started praying to God - but instead it just said ‘Go and never return. Next, I kill’. So I ran. And never told my captain about this.

I don’t know what that uriash was. But I think it wasn’t normal (if you can really use this word when talking about those monsters) - before it threw me out I noticed that its horns were gone. As if someone broke them off and burnt the stumps.

Still, you are the only one with whom I decided to share this - just as I promised you when we married, there will never be any secrets between us.

Know that I love you with all my heart.

Forever yours,

Ignat