Marianne of Stormrock looked up out of her prayer. Something terrible had happened. Something unholy. The colonel of the "Guardians of Mahjagoth" rose from her kneels and looked at the golden symbol of Torqua. She was in the temple of her family castle, that of the Stormrocks. Marianne was in her early thirties. She wore brunette hair to her shoulders. Her eyes were expressive and dark, always suspicious. Her narrow mouth made look her slightly commanding or grumpy. Her body was in excellent shape, because she trained fighting with a large variety of melee weapons for several hours each day. She attained great mobility and control over her body with gymnastic exercises. She was the leader of the Guardians of Mahjagoth in the southeast of the Empire. At the same time, she was Countess of Stormrock and a member of the Imperial Council of the Home Guard. Her military skill, courage, and limitless dedication to Torqua and the Empire were a beacon for soldiers and knights of the Guardians alike. She never spared herself, worked harder than everyone else and was only out of service once for 6 months when she gave birth to her son Berik of Stormrock. But this was also 15 years ago and at that time she was still a blade and not a colonel. The Guardians of Mahjagoth, named after the holy sword of the Empress Quenia, were a knight order that was fully committed to pro-tecting the principles of Torqua. The knights were not subject to ordinary jurisdiction. They paid no taxes and could speak justice anywhere at any time. They were led by General Perian of Radistan, who received instructions only from his holiest truth, Zamator IV, the highest of all Torqua devotees. And even Zamator IV did just give advice or revelations to general Perian and no orders. The Knights of the Guardians of Mahjagoth went through higher ordinances during their time in the order, if they proved to be worthy, and these rituals gave them mystical abilities similar to those of the priests. The highest knights were able to banish supernatural beings, to dissolve or completely prevent unholy magic and to blind or even burn heretics with the holy light. They were the shining spearhead of the empire. Undefeated and where a group of Guardians appeared, the heart of the people was filled with new courage and the ambition of the enemy was nullified. They hunted monsters, demons and sinister magicians, drove gangs of robbers out and massacred orc tribes. They never rested, they saw everything and they never back off. These knights were the shield and lance of the empress and the people alike. The empire was built on their back and it was paid for with their blood and it blossomed under their protection. Ma-rianne fell on her knees again in front of the golden symbol and lowered her forehead to the ground. She prayed quietly: "Great Eternal Lord, Master of Truth, our radiant light and everlasting justice. You, protector of our kingdom, I ask you, hear me. Show me the blem-ish that stains your sacred body." She paused for a few seconds and then was pulled up to her knees. Her eyes glowed golden and her mind was flooded with images. She saw a figure from behind in the magician robes of Plague Bay. Pictures of a battle followed, a boundless army as far as the eye could see, attacking a city. The city burned and every-where the attackers climbed up the walls. Her vision moved closer to the battle and she saw that it was an army consisted entirely of dead, skeletons, corpses of water, raised manticores, crocodiles and even elephants. The picture faded and she saw 4 magicians of the tower of the sun fighting the magician of the plague bay, when he threatened to succumb he reached for a book and spoke a spell. Immediately flames shot out of his eyes, his fingers and his stomach. He doubled over and his flesh burned, but his bones remained undamaged. A new vision followed and she saw a dome-shaped cave with a stone sarcophagus. The magicians of the sun sealed the cave with powerful magic. And finally, the last thing she saw was the picture of an open lattice door shrouded in ghostly flickering blue light. Marianne of Stormrock was torn from her vision and fell forward. It could not be true. Tutsith-shak Midistara, as his name was before he became king of the dead, had been missing for hundreds of years. His grave had been sealed by the most powerful magicians and no one knew its location. The dead king's followers had always tried to find his burial ground, because according to ancient legends it was not possible for even the most powerful magicians to destroy him completely. According to these sto-ries, Tutsith-shak Mi-distara had sacrificed the city of Lekesh to the demon lord Murdinat-yrwatash in order to conclude his pact for immortality. And now his tomb had been found. The spells were broken. The door was open. After all the centuries, his followers had fi-nally succeeded and found a way to bypass the ancient magic power of the sun.
Marianne rose. She had to send a message to all castles immediately. There had to be a clue. The many traveling knights who roamed the country must have heard or seen some-thing. The vision also meant that the tomb was in the empire. If the followers of the King of the Dead had found his bones, they had to carry them unnoticed through the Empire and through the north western part of the desert, near Kenzobaran to Lekesh. She paced up and down and finally left the temple with vigorous stride. She would take care of it herself.