PART ONE: THE GOTHS

Chapter 1: The Barbarians

"Don't wander too far, that's all I ask." Asterix sighed tiredly, unable to stop Nina, who was determined to explore the area. "And don't go into the forest!" he shouted as she had already started tumbling down the slope, her bow and quiver bouncing on her shoulder.

The first half of the day had passed quietly, with the two friends answering the young woman's questions about their village. Obelix had forgotten his shyness once he found an opportunity to talk about fights, Romans, and wild boars. He even scolded her for not being able to finish a single boar leg on her own.

"Magic potion?" the girl wondered, and Obelix proudly explained that he had fallen into a pot of it when he was young. Nina's excitement for her lessons with Getafix grew the more she heard about their Druid. Even though she would never learn the secret recipe of the magic potion, just being near the one who invented it made her irrationally happy.

However, after they had eaten the wild boar and Nina's squirrel, the girl's restlessness begun. She brushed off Asterix's doubts, telling him that she often left her uncle's house on the outskirts of Lutetia and disappeared alone into the nearby forest. When Asterix emphasized that he didn't care what she did in Lutetia but was concerned about what might happen to her while under his protection, the young woman crossed her arms and glared at him, making it clear that she didn't need a guardian.

"Kids, eh, Asterix?" Obelix yawned sleepily.

Asterix doubted whether either of the two bachelors knew anything about children, but he left his friend to his nap and settled to watch the valley before him, occasionally spotting Nina's slender figure.

It was a beautiful place, lush and fertile. The aforementioned valley stretched from the foothills of the mountains before them, and a stream ran through it, disappearing into the forest behind them.

When the midday sun finally stopped scorching and began to set towards the forest, Obelix woke up and announced that he was hungry. The two of them got up to hunt in a nearby cluster of trees, where they found the girl bent over some kind of bush. She wanted to continue wandering, but this time Asterix was adamant, as dusk was approaching.

"Explain to me how could I be so certain that you'd make our lives difficult?" he asked her as she struggled to free herself from Obelix's grip, who had hoisted her onto his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and showed no sign of being bothered by her struggle.

"You're making both our lives harder because you refuse to trust me!" the girl shouted.

"What in Tutatis' name have you been doing out here all alone for all these hours?" Asterix asked, refusing to take the bait for further argument.

"And what haven't I done, you better ask!" she replied with an enthusiasm that wasn't entirely irritating. She smiled widely as she listed the places and animals she had seen and the plants she had collected, and began introducing them one by one, with their Gallic and Latin names, their properties, and uses.

After two or three of them, Asterix had already begun to rub his forehead, damning his decision to ask. On the other hand, he should probably thanking Tutatis that the girl could keep herself occupied without needing them.

The evening had long since fallen, and the embers of their fire were now their only source of light.

The Convention was over. The flow of exiting Druids had dwindled to nothingness, the forrest had emptied out for some time now, but neither their own Druid nor Benevolentix had appeared. Asterix was never too far away from the wooden arch that signified the entrance to the forest, jumping at every sound, while Nina paced nervously back and forth at the beginning of the path.

"I'm going in," she announced.

Since this was the first thing they heard the girl say before they even met her that morning, but still didn't make any move to carry out her threat, neither of the two Gauls saw any reason to respond.

"I don't care how holy this forest is, the situation stinks," Asterix grunted, and they finally decided to enter in search of their Druids.

They proceeded down the path holding torches made from the fire, but even so, they could only see a couple of steps ahead. They arrived at a large clearing, where they assumed the Druid meeting place was, as there was a stone platform in the centre, surrounded by a few stone benches. However, the clearing was completely devoid of any human presence.

It was Idefix who led them past the clearing and a little deeper into the quiet forest. There, among the first trees, the three Gauls found Benevolentix, unconscious and lying on the ground. And next to Benevolentix, there lay a helmet that did not resemble either Gallic nor Roman.

"Uncle!" Nina exclaimed and ran to kneel beside him. She took his wrist and sighed with relief, then rummaged in her bag and took out a small flask, which she placed under his nose. Benevolentix suddenly woke up, and once he had recovered a bit, he explained the situation to them.

The conference had concluded with the announcement of the winner of the bestDruid Of The Yearcontest. Getafix and his magic potion had won this honour, and the Druids had already begun to leave when Getafix told his friend to wait for him while he went to gather his things, so they could exit together. Benevolentix waited for him but ended up being left alone in the forest while Getafix was nowhere to be seen. So he followed in search of him.

The only thing he remembered after that was rough, low voices whispering, and a sudden pain in the back of his head.

However, the helmet that Asterix had picked up from the ground explained what had happened. The Goths, the neighbouring people, had for some reason kidnapped Getafix.

"Our friend is gone!" Benevolentix lamented immediately. "We'll never see him again!"

"We're not leaving him in the hands of barbarians," Asterix reacted immediately, furious.

"I thought they were Visigoths," Obelix muttered, but was nevertheless ready to set off for Germany immediately.

Benevolentix slanted a thoughtful glance in the direction of his niece. "I'd come with you, but—"

"There's no need, Benevolentix," Asterix dismissed his offer without preamble. "Just show me where the cauldron with the magic potion is."

After Asterix drank what was left in the cauldron and the two friends bid them farewell, they left the uncle and niece to whisper heatedly between themselves and headed east.

"So the Visigoths are the Goths of the East?"

"No, Obelix, the Visigoths are the Goths of the west. The Goths of the east are the Ostrogoths, but they all live to the east of us. Got it?"

"No."

They had reached the eastern edge of the forest, determined to walk all night and as much of the morning as they could endure, when they found her on the path in front of them. Honestly, Asterix should have expected it.

She was sitting on a rock, waiting for them.

"I'm coming with you," Stubbornina announced.

Asterix looked to his friend for support, but Obelix merely shrugged. He saw nothing wrong in having a young girl accompany them to a foreign land.

"You'll slow us down," Asterix dismissed her tiredly and continued on their path. They didn't have time to deal with her tantrums when Getafix was in danger from the barbarians.

Nina got up and came to walk beside him. "I started later than you and still I overtook you and had time to rest until you caught up. I won't slow you down at all."

If they had had time, Asterix would have loaded her onto his shoulder and shipped her straight back to her guardian. "And your uncle? Will he return to Lutetia all alone?"

He hoped to see some sign of guilt on the little girl's face, but he was disappointed.

"Uncle understands why I want to come and can't stop me."

Tell me something I don't know! Asterix sighed irritably.

"He also made it clear that my services are unnecessary." The girl continued. "He would be a great hypocrite if he pretended to need them now."

Nina wrapped herself more tightly in her cloak and continued walking, having no trouble keeping up with Asterix's brisk pace, which was now quicker due to his annoyance with the girl and his worry for Getafix. Asterix glanced once more at his friend walking alongside him, but Obelix was busy petting and talking to Idefix.

The Gaul knew what answer awaited his last hope to get rid of her but asked anyway. "And if something happens to you, what will I tell your uncle?"

Nina snorted. "Nothing will happen to me. I'm not made of sugar, you know."

"Sugar canes are very fragile, don't you think, Asterix?" Obelix asked out of the blue.

Nina was overcome by sudden laughter; the tinge of sarcasm in her voice was hard to miss. "How did you even think of that now?"

Obelix frowned. "So Miss Nina can ask any questions she wants whenever she—"

"Oh, stop it, Obelix, stop!"

Obelix was hurt by his friend's abrupt tone, who had let his frustration out on him, and turned his face away, lifting his chin proudly.

Asterix sighed. "I'm sorry, Obelix, I didn't mean to shout at you—"

"That's right, Obelix," Nina interrupted him with a smile. "Hold your head up high. Mr. Asterix can't just boss us around."

"You'll shut up if you want us to take you along!"

"I don't need you to take me along, I can come and go as I like."

«Oh, but you are not familiar with Mr. Asterix' ways," said Obelix, still hurt from his friend's outburst. "He thinks that only he can decide what we can and cannot do."

"How do you live with him, I don't know," Nina replied, sending him a look of understanding over Asterix's winged hat.

Obelix quickly nodded his head up and down in agreement and as an invitation for further sympathy.

The three Gauls continued walking side by side, their outlines silhouetted in the moonlight, while the spirals of the galaxy shattered the pattern of darkness and stars. Their figures resembled steps due to their height differences. On the right was Obelix, standing in his full and glorious height; in the center walked Nina, a head shorter than him, and on the left Asterix, a head shorter than the girl. Sometimes they talked, and sometimes not, while Asterix reassured himself that they would find a way to leave Stubbornina behind, safely away from a situation she'd plunged into without fully comprehending its various potential perils.

"I don't know what you think you're doing here, but we're not going all the way to Germany for fun." He broke the calm silence that had taken over the group for a while.

"I'm going to rescue Getafix."

"No. It is us who will rescue Getafix, because Getafix means nothing to you."

Nina was offended as if she had been slapped in the face. "He's an old and good friend of my uncle! And he invited me to stay with him! What kind of person invites a stranger to stay with him? To teach him?" Her tone quieted down a bit. "It was very kind of him, if you must know, and my honour compels me to repay him."

Asterix couldn't break the silence that followed no matter how much he silently tried to find a proper argument. It was Obelix who spoke instead.

"If it's a matter of honour, Asterix, then you have to let her come with us. You always say that matters of honour are a serious business."

And so they continued walking without rest, until the sun had climbed high in the sky and they could not stop yawning.

"No, Nina! No!"

But it was too late. Her arrow had already embedded itself in the neck of the legionary.

The next forest they passed through before leaving Gaul had provided quite a bit of entertainment. Wild boars had been turned into piles of bones, and they had just encountered their first Roman patrol.

Initially, they hadn't intended to start a fight, and Asterix had asked if the patrol had encountered a gang of Goths. It turned out that the Romans were also looking for the Goths, because they had invaded the borders. In a burst of Roman intelligence, the legionaries mistook Asterix, Obelix, and Nina for Goths because of the helmet Asterix was carrying with him since the Forest of the Carnutes, so he could have something to squeeze in the throes of his anger.

Thus, Asterix and Obelix had dealt their traditional beatings, and everything was going very well until the girl decided to join the party. The immediate and bloody death of the unfortunate Roman, who collapsed in a pile of armour and lifeless bones, somewhat spoiled the fun.

"But... it was only one Roman." The girl weakly defended herself, her complexion yellow like cornmeal. "How many Romans have you killed?"

Asterix had bent down to inspect the corpse and the red puddle spreading around it. He took off his hat and wiped the sweat that had gathered on his forehead.

"Oh, but we don't kill them." Obelix explained with the air of someone simply correcting a misunderstanding. "You see, if we kill them, we can't use them again. We just beat them up, wait a few days until they heal, and then give them their beatings again, so they remain recyclable."

"And in that way we don't draw unwanted attention." Asterix straightened up and turned to look at her. To her credit, Nina didn't seem to be faring too well. Her colour hadn't returned to normal, her eyes were fixed on the lifeless body of the corpse, her first corpse, Asterix was sure of it. The hand holding her bow trembled a little. Asterix wanted to yell at her for now having the legion's attention on them, but he pitied her.

He then turned with a sigh to the pile of unconscious Romans and detected a legionnaire who was pretending to be knocked out to avoid unwanted attention. He grabbed him by the collar and made him stand on his feet.

"Mr. Roman, forgive the girl." He said apologetically, still holding his winged hat in his hands, while the Roman trembled in fear and hid behind his battered shield. "She's still young and doesn't know the etiquette."

The confused Roman just stared at him, paralyzed by a mix of astonishment and fear.

"You know how kids are." Asterix continued.

"Yeth, yeth, kidth, of courthe." Stammered the Roman with the few teeth he still possessed.

"So we'll forget about it, right?"

The Roman nodded up and down very quickly. "We'll forget, yeth, of courthe, we'll forget."

The Roman didn't keep his word, as it was proven by the subsequent events. The legion began to scour the forest in search of the three Gauls they had mistakenly taken for Goths, and a sketch of the trio had even circulated to facilitate the search. So Asterix had the idea to disguise themselves as Romans to proceed undisturbed by the uproar of legionaries on their trail.

Asterix wasn't sure whether he should disguise the girl as well or keep her as is and pretend she was their prisoner. He thought about it for a moment while he and Obelix were putting on the armour and tying the caligae (A/N. Roman military boots) they had taken from two legionaries who had the misfortune of passing by them and were now lying on top of each other, bound tightly by ropes and unconscious.

"If they recognize one of us, they might recognize the others too." He told the girl, already undressing a third Roman who was closer to her build.

"What! But…"

Asterix didn't miss her haunted expression; she was glancing back at the direction where they had left the Roman, dead from her arrow. In the silence that followed, the Gaul resolved to hold his ground and continued removing the clothes from the living but unconscious Roman in front of him; he tried to convince himself that he wouldn't relent even if the girl started to whimper.

He was completely taken aback when Nina finally spoke again.

"You want to dress me in the conqueror's clothes?" she asked with disgust.

"You said you wouldn't delay us!" He shouted angrily and threw the Roman costume at her. "We don't have time to deal with every Roman patrol. So either dress up or go back to Lutetia!"

The girl looked at the Roman clothes the other two were already wearing as if they had a conscience and were challenging her to do something they considered beyond her capabilities.

Thus, she became resolute and went to change behind a thicket while the two friends tied their regular clothes on a branch to carry with them as they went.

Nina changed from her dark green pants and gray shirt into the Roman legionary's outfit, hiding her braided hair under the helmet, awkwardly holding the heavy pilum (A/N. roman spear) in her hand.

It was clear that the girl felt uncomfortable with the Roman attire, but since she insisted on coming along, she would have to sleep in the bed she had made.

Asterix inspected her for a moment. Her body was perfect. The white pants fit her thin legs like a glove, while the few curves she had on her hips and thighs were hidden under the long green shirt that fell over her bony knees. Her straight back and tall, almost boyish build helped her pass for a young man, and most of her torso was hidden behind the steel chest plate of the outfit. Although her shoulder and neck area were too slender and gave her away a little.

The same applied to her head, with her long hair had been hidden under the helmet. The fact that she had no facial hair could be justified by youth, and her sharp cheekbones with the triangular chin would cooperate as well. However, her arched, full black eyebrows and her large, hazel eyes, which seemed round as if Nina was used to keeping them wide open so she wouldn't miss a detail of what was happening around her, didn't convince much. Moreover, they left her emotions exposed. And even worse were her lips, which, although thin, were well-shaped and betrayed her as a woman from miles away.

"You are not as convincing as I'd like, but it hardly matters." Asterix monologued. "We're not going to enlist you or anything. But if we run into a patrol, keep your head down and don't speak."

Although the girl's discomfort seemed greater after his close inspection, Nina straightened her back and nodded affirmatively. And so the three of them covered a considerable distance through the forest without any problems.

"Got it, Obelix? When we meet Romans, you won't say 'greetings' and 'by Tutatis'. You'll say 'Ave' and 'by Jupiter'."

"Hee hee hee— it's fun."

"Come on… concentrate," Asterix called him to order, but he was smiling too. "And tell me, what's your name?"

"I'm Legionary Obelus—hee hee— ave and by Jupiter—hee hee hee hee."

"I'm Asterius and you're Stubbornus. Deal, kid?" Asterix addressed Nina, who had again lowered her head.

"Yes. And I'm not a kid!"

Those were the only words that came out of her mouth for several hours.

Asterix was gradually calmed by Obelix's sniggering over the Roman turns of phrase. Their Druid was already in hostile hands, and Asterix's worrying about his fate would hardly aid in the situation. The Goths wouldn't have bothered to kidnap him if they wanted to kill him, and the Druid was too wise to tempt fate.

They had maintained a good pace, and by tomorrow they would have crossed the border into Germany. The girl kept her communication to gestures and remained largely quiet and obedient, a practice aimed at proving that she wouldn't become a burden. Obelix had once again proven to be a beacon of patience and composure, something that Asterix, if he were to be honest with himself, had failed at miserably.

They covered a respectable distance until the Romans realized the scam and started chasing not the Goths, nor the Gauls mistaken for Goths, but their own fellow soldiers. The three Gauls then simply discarded their stolen uniforms and continued on their way untroubled.

Unfortunately, the whole plan also facilitated the Goths in continuing unhindered towards their country.