A Warrior in the Garden
Every morning before dawn, Henrik Olinger trains with his sword while his family sleeps.
He is a farmer, a father, a husband but he is also preparing for something his neighbors refuse to see. While they chase comfort and wealth, Henrik teaches his teenage son Benjamin to fight, reads to his young daughter Marianne about defending beauty and goodness, and holds his wife Anneliese close when she worries that his vigilance might bring the very danger he fears.
He is not paranoid.
He is a man who knows that peace is fragile, that evil does not respect wishes, and that the people you love are worth dying for.
When word reaches their island that barbarian raiders attacked the neighboring settlement of Odenwald and that a handful escaped the slaughter Henrik tries to warn his village. But they laugh at him. They have known peace for so long they cannot imagine it ending.
So Henrik does what he has always done: he takes responsibility. He travels to the city alone, carrying what little coin his family has saved, and finds the Old Man a washed-up knight drowning his regrets in ale.
