Aszparuh Page #2

chosen, the Great boils did!

They chose me, because you wanted it.

- Of course I wanted it!

Which father doesn't want to see

his daughter among the first?

There's none worthier for the khan

than you, Ernike!

And more beautiful!

And would I be happy,

did you think about that?

He'll never forget Pagane!

Pagane is with Tangra!

Pagane is with Tangra,

because you feared her!

The people listened to Pagane, they

looked for her, and not for you!

Pagane is with Tangra,

because He wanted her!

And I swore in your life that it's so!

- You're cruel!

You can do anything, if it's your will!

Listen, Ernike! Here on earth only

the kana boila kolober can talk with Tangra!

And everyone has to listen to him!

Even the khan!

What do you want from me, father?

To bind him to yourself!

Now the khan is alone!

And men fear loneliness!

He'll get used to you!

We have hopes in you!

May your reign be

long and happy, yuvigi!

News from Great Bulgaria!

The fighting hasn't stopped

for the last four moons.

It's a miracle we held out so long. The khagan

threw great forces against the Taman land!

But khan Bayan had given his word

to hold out as long as he can!

There's no Phanagoria

anymore, people!

There's no Great Bulgaria!

Yuvigi Bayan, with his few remaining

warriors, has submitted to the khagan.

He condemned himself and his tribe

to gain more days for you.

What happened to my sons?

Don't tell me!

Both of them?

It was a fierce fight!

Are you hungry?

Should I prepare something?

Are you all right?

Do you need anything?

You keep silent!

- I'm fine, leave me, father!

You don't come to me anymore.

Every evening we stop,

I'm drawn to your tent.

And I know I shouldn't! You're

newly weds, I'll only be in your way!

I thought one thing,

but another has happened!

I'm glad you got fooled

about me, father!

What are you doing?!

- Leave him!

Such is our custom, foreigner!

The man should share his wife's pains!

Stay with her and a few women! When

the child is born, you'll catch up to us!

No! No! No!

She's delirious! Listen to me!

- She's not delirious!

How many times have those

left behind not returned?

They disappear! Help us

get her on this cart!

I came to see how's your wife.

I pray to Tangra that she'll survive!

We're not entitled for millet!

We're not entitled for millet!

The wife had a still-born!

Foreigner, the yuvigi

calls for you!

Thank you for losing your sleep

because of us!

Greetings, yuvigi!

Leave us, Ernike!

Belisarius, I didn't call you for

so long because I had to be alone.

Silence teaches us to think,

my father used to say.

I haven't dared to

ask you before, yuvigi,

but why do you share your innermost

thoughts exactly with me?

Leave this, go to bed!

A hard road awaits us tomorrow,

you should be careful now!

You're very kind to me, Ernike,

and you shouldn't be!

Khazars, yuvigi! In the back of the column!

Several hundred of them!

Dokum, Chepa and Sondok,

follow me with your men!

Iratais, be prepared,

in case you're needed!

There they are!

Before us are those who ruined

Great Bulgaria! Enslaved our brothers!

Let's show them their power

ends here! After me!

Bury the dead! Cut off the right hand

of the remaining Khazars!

So they won't reach for the sword

again! Then let them go!

Let them tell their khagan that here will be

his border with Asparuh's Bulgars! I've said!

We rode and we rode!

Every single day was tedious,

as usual.

Hopeless.

We couldn't just stop

on any flat field.

We had to reach the river Kuzo

or Dnepro, as the Slavs call it.

The deep waters would

protect us from both sides.

Feed us with fish,

water our horses.

We had diminished.

The old ones left their bones

in the boundless plains.

The women diminished as well. Few could

endure birth and nursing on the road.

Unharness and unsaddle!

We'll stay here till the spring!

We reached the great river

during one of those

horribly monotonous,

hopeless days.

You should've seen how the migrants

reacted to the orders to stop!

Those ruined people, frozen,

closed up in their efforts

to survive!

Men were embracing!

Women were weeping from joy!

God, what a thing is

the simple earthly joy!

Belisarius, does it nibble?

- We'll see!

Belisarius, come by my home

tonight, to have some deer!

Does it hurt?

- It hurts!

Since you're not delirious anymore,

everything's all right!

I know this from my sister, Pagane!

I know you because of her as well!

Thank you for your kindness, Ie!

Why are you laughing?

- You know my name!

It's easy to remember

and it sounds good.

You were lucky!

You were hit above the heart.

I got lucky!

Why do you look at me with the tail

of your eyes? You can look straight.

Yuvigi came last night. He told me

to take care of you till you're better.

Since you have no one...

You're just doing what you're told?

- No!

I have! A mother and sisters,

a bigger and a smaller one.

But they're far away.

- Oh, the poor one!

Neither one's own, nor foreign!

No one's!

Be careful, you're still one-handed!

What are you doing?

- I'm kissing you!

Why?

- Because I like you!

We don't do it like that

when we like each other.

What then?

I think Ernike is dying!

She was healthy till yesterday!

The contractions started this

night, before her term.

Christ, help her!

I heard no screams tonight!

She doesn't scream! She stares

with big and scary eyes!

Yuvigi! Don't enter, yuvigi!

It's not for men there!

She'll die, Belisarius!

She's too weak to feed the life in her.

- She'll survive, I swear!

The world would end if women

would die from giving birth!

They die. During migrations women

die a lot from child-birth.

Your child didn't want

to be born alive, yuvigi!

Go in to say farewell to Ernike!

Bless you for coming

to say goodbye!

I'll feel empty

without you, Ernike!

The winter's leaving!

They day of the green

steppe will come.

And on the road again!

Come on!

What?

Does it still hurt?

We flee from the Khazars, while the

biggest trouble comes from the Slavs!

A horse will disappear!

An arrow will come flying!

The arrow that hit me

was Bulgar, yuvigi!

May the kana boila

kolober come to me!

What made the kanasubigi

call for me?

I want to ask you when will the day of

the green steppe come, so we can go again.

After two big moons, yuvigi.

- Are you sure?

Certainly!

I ask you, because a year ago

you were also quite certain!

Your daughter didn't die from her

own death, oh first among the wise!

Ernike couldn't stand your lack

of love! That killed her!

She was doomed because you

falsely swore in her life!

You knew you were lying! And Pagane

wasn't called for by Tangra!

You killed her!

Come to your senses!

You lost a wife,

I lost my only daughter!

You killed not only both my wives,

but also my two children!

Because... Pagane

was also in labour!

That's a curse! Tangra shows me

you can't create anything!

Neither children, nor state!

Don't you see how graves

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