CHAPTER 1
A man leans besides a rock overlooking the lake.
He is the most cheerful man you've seen your entire life. A smile crosses his face from ear to ear while a long wizened grey bear covers the rest of it; besides that, he is completely shaven.
"Ho there! Fellow you look tired, come, take a seat and watch the lake." he greets you "You must look at good things after seeing bad things, fellow. I say, that queer rider was none too pleasant!"
"Queer? He is more than strange...Say man, you look trustworthy: you seen a woman around here? I am wondering if she escaped safely from the havoc around the city."
"A woman...I've seen one, yes...But fellow, that was a long time before! Ponder, a woman all alone? If you looking for her she went through that entryway over there, the one down below, with the sign!"
"Say you, fellow, you are quite big for an eastern boy. Your mother was a bull bred? I jest! Say, could you help me with something? One meager fellow came up here and made camp on the other side of the lake up in that cave, but he stole a thing from me! I say you knock him over the head and take it back! Aye?"
"What thing?"
"Ho, just a family heirloom, that's why you gotta knock him over!"
You see just now that the man casts absolutely no shadow over the pale blue water.