Friday, 26th April in the 35th year of King Baldwin’s reign was the day when Violant should take action. She was on pins and needles for the last few days already, wondering when the long awaited moment would arrive.
The young lady currently had magic lessons with her elven teacher Eibhlin. The gorgeous woman explained some intricacies concerning the use of wind element in combination with the element of darkness.
All of a sudden the windows opened clatteringly and a wild gust of wind entered throwing the hair of the two women into disorder. When the wind slowly abated, a person kneed before Violant. It was Rambold, one of her subordinates from the wild hunt. The other wild huntsman, the headless Waldolf, had stayed back to continue observing the situation, having his head placed directly but invisibly in the target’s carriage.
“The time has come, Ms. Violant.” Rambold informed as courteous as an uncouth wild huntsman was able. “Prince Wynkin shows signs of discomfort, cramps and uncontrollable trembling. I believe it will be time any moment.”
“Thanks.” Violant nodded curtly “Lead the way, Rambold. Ms. Eibhlin, I’m sorry but we have to cancel the lesson now. I am urgently needed elsewhere.” Then she took off, leaving a completely flabbergasted elf behind. Eibhlin, shocked out of her wits by the sudden appearance of one of the much dreaded wild huntsmen, needed quite some time to be able to collect herself again, and even then she remained sitting on the floor, all strength lost from her legs.
Meanwhile Violant stormed to Alarun’s chamber, caring no bit about the surprised looks and angry shouts of those whose ways she crossed without any consideration. Yanking the door to the elderly healer’s room open, she shouted: “The berserk remedy! Fast!”
The hoary woman pointed at a little bag on her workbench and replied cool-headedly: “The amount you need now is in here. You can get the rest at a later moment. Remember, give only one pill! Resort to giving two only when the patient doesn’t show any signs of relief after waiting for about twenty of your pulse-beats.”
The young lady nodded as a sign that she had understood, said her thanks shortly and was off again.
Arriving at the stables, Violant found that she was already expected. Malford had already saddled and brought out Huwcyn. Apparently he had heard about his mistress’s hectic and had counted one and one together.
The girl mounted as fast as she could and helped her butler doing so too. Since the childish looking vampire had said he would accompany Violant into the pathways, he had to ride together with her. If the water horse got serious, no common horse could catch up with him despite his short legs.
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And off they went! Huwcyn galloped straight across the caste courtyard. The dumbfounded guards at the gates had not even a moment to react before the ceffyl dwr already had stormed past the gate.
At breakneck speed they hurried down the castle hill and turned their backs on Avallach town. Somewhere in between they were joined by Rambold on his horse.
“Follow me, Ms. Violant.” the wild huntsman prompted his liege. Soon they went completely off the road, crossing the invisible borders of the other march.
The pathways in the other march were, at first glance, an entwined system of not too spacious tunnels formed from soil, rocks or completely interwoven trees and shrubs, which were occasionally forking off other paths. The whole of the pathways was shrouded in an everlasting darkness sometimes shortly brightened by a single beam of light here and there. Violant could imagine quite well how easy it was to go astray under such conditions. Luckily for her though, all her companions were experienced using the pathways one way or the other.
The young lady had to squint her eyes when she suddenly got overwhelmed by bright light when leaving the pathways. Although it felt as if the girl and her companions had travelled for hours on end, in fact it had been just a few second. That was the unbeatable advantage of using the pathways – if you knew how to take them at least.
The environment they were in had changed drastically following their travel through the pathways. Had the other march around Avallach appeared quite like a normal forest – not as shrouded in fog and eerily silent as the one around Wuldington – now they found themselves on a meadow full of flower, surrounded by trees in full leaf causing a spotted pattern of sunlight and shadow. The meadow itself, if it could be called such, rather resembled a kind of sieve, the blooming grassy stretches of land forming the grid, and the deep blue ponds enclosed forming the holes. Those ponds looked like bottomless blue pits though, and Violant shivered while imagining what might be hiding in their depths.
“Ms. Violant, this way!” Rambold lead the way. The exit of the otherworld’s invisible border was just across the sieve-like meadow. The human world outside was a forest again, similarly sun-filled.
Huwcyn flaunted his ability of travelling with a steady high speed over hedge and ditch but he had to try earnestly nonetheless to not be left behind by the wild huntsman’s steed. Rambold hurried them along the more the nearer they came to their destination.
Violant’s expression became tenser and tenser by the second. What if they came too late in spite of all the preparations and precautions she had so carefully set up? What if Prince Wynkin was already killed as a berserk the moment they reached his location?
At least the young lady had full trust in Alarun’s medical prowess. During the few months the elderly schrat had stayed in Avallach now, she even had cured the most hopeless illnesses and healed the trickiest injuries. Violant had been among the hoary woman’s patients not only once or twice owed to her desire to reach the martial prowess she had in her previous lifetime as soon as possible, especially as she had the tendency to run in dangerous situations while in the other march.
Finally the highway came in sight in between the trees. But at the same time the travelers also heard excited and agitated shouts, coupled with an atmosphere of unrest.
Rambold didn’t wait any longer and rode on ahead to join his companion Waldolf as well as to find out the actual state of affairs.
Violant felt her stomach cramping, her heart filled with uneasy premonitions.
“Please hurry, Huw.” she said tensely.
The ceffyl dwr snorted in exasperation because he was already at his limits but tried his best nonetheless. Soon they would know how it stood about Prince Wynkin and their undertaking.