In the 13th C, in northeast Europa, stood the realm of King Thorstein, headquartered at castle
Preben. The monarch`s demesne was predominately forest and snow-capped mountains, with
an inland sea, called Lake Eydis. It was sparsely populated, with indigenous heathen tribes,
and all manner of wild creatures, for the land had lain virtually undisturbed for many
millennia.
A time arose, when the king was called away to his lands in the east, after a victorious battle
fought on the borders of Kievan Russ. He took with him, most of the castle guard, his seven
sons and step-son, Prinz Paulus, but decided to leave behind his daughter, the Princess
Hellalyle.
The monarch recruited twelve knights to protect her, and one of their number, Hildebrand, a
prince of England, would be the leader. However, unknown to all, it was the benevolent
spirits of nature who chose these bodyguards, influencing the king`s subconscious mind into
their recruitment, for these warriors were not of this world, but reincarnations of heroic
fighting men that had influenced the course of world history.
Hellalyle and Hildebrand, were drawn into a relationship engineered by those same unseen
forces who had selected her bodyguard; their purpose, to thwart the devil, incarnate in Prinz
Paulus, in its attempts to kill the princess.
A downs-syndrome girl of mysterious origins, named Ethla, emerges out of the wildwood.
She is taken care of by Princess Hellalyle. and plays a crucial part in the narrative.
The king, while away, learns of the developing relationship between his daughter and the
leader of her bodyguard, and feels betrayed by the English knight, and so dispatches his
champions – his seven sons, and Paulus - to arrest, and execute Hildebrand, and confine
Hellalyle until the king`s return.
The eleven, remaining protectors of the princess, leave the kingdom, believing their contract
has been nullified by Thorstiens edict, leaving Hildebrand alone to face Hellalyle`s brothers
and step-brother. The Englishman takes the fight to his adversaries, and slaughters all the
unfortunate siblings of the princess, except Paulus, who after surrendering to Hildebrand,
turns about and treacherously kills him, and then brutally, incarcerates his step-sister.
As these occurrences were unfolding, in another part of the continent, one of her bodyguards,
the Teutonic knight, Karl von Altenburg, now living in a monastic order, experiences a
vision, informing him of Hellalyle`s plight, and sets out to for Castle Preben.
Meanwhile, in her prison, Hellalyle gives birth to Hildebrand`s son, now sole heir, whom she
names Hagen. On a fateful day, Ethla, at the princess’s urging,
flees into the wilderness, taking to safety, the infant crown prince, to save him from Prinz
Paulus, who, feeling outwitted mortally wounds the princess in revenge.

At that point, Karl von Altenburg returns and vanquishes Paulus - the devil, but too late to
save the princess, who lives, just long enough, to reveal to him all that had happened. The
knight then ventures out in search Ethla.
Shortly afterwards, King Thorstein arrives home with his army, and is devastated to learn of
the death of his daughter, all his sons, step-son, and second wife, Queen Gudrun. That night,
he experiences the frightening noise of ghosts; knights in battle, the despairing screams of a
woman in distress, all coming from the upper reaches of the fortress. Thorstein, keeping
thoughts to himself, believes he might know the origin of the disturbing sounds, and in
desperation, orders the castle to be slighted by fire, and move his seat of power to his other
fortress at Yrian, many leagues to the north. However, the inferno fails to banish the
haunting; the blackened ruins still reverberate with the eerie clamour of fighting and death,
the wailing of a tormented soul.
Eventually, the Teutonic knight, rescues Ethla and the child, delivering them to the court of
Thorstein. The king eventually sends his grandson abroad to be educated, to shield him from
the tragic events that occurred at the fortress of Preben.
Later, von Altenburg, now ensconced at the nunnery of the Monastery of Thorbjorg, takes it
upon himself to be the bodyguard of the Abbess, Princess Amora (the king`s sister, aunt of
Hellalyle) and refuses to leave, mistaken in his belief that Amora might still be in danger.
While there, he is visited by a spectre from the Old Testament, requesting him to leave, for
his task on earth was over.
Years later, the ruins of Castle Preben are visited by Prince Hagen, now a youth, where he
meets the ghost of his father Hildebrand, and mother, Hellalyle. This meeting allows her to
leave, and she ascends into heaven, taking with her the spirits of her seven brothers, but
Hildebrand is damned to remain.
Seventy years on, King Hagen dies of old age, signalling a cosmic event which triggers the
return of Hellalyle, who takes Hildebrand with her to be united forever in the afterlife.