“Greetings, Banadietrich von Hackelberg.” Violant spoke, outwardly appearing confidently “I am Violant of Avallach, daughter of the margravial house of the same name. I have come to demand of you that you shall henceforth cease the hunting of humans.”

The nachtjäger didn’t react for a moment. Then he broke into a dark-voiced laughter thundering through the mountain dome and multiple times reflected from the stone walls.

“You have cojones, little girl, Avallach or not. I’ll give you that.” the leader of the wild hunt responded smilingly “But I can’t quite tell if you are simply courageous or already a lunatic, stepping into the lion’s den by yourself. I like your bravery though. If not for that I would’ve already ripped you to shreds for your audacity. Honoring the fact that you’ve come personally to make your point clear, I’ll offer you a little game, a tiny little bet so to say. If you win I’ll give you my word that neither I nor any of my companions will ever hunt for humans again until the end of time. Should I win, however, you’ll be our dinner.”

Presenting such nefarious conditions to the redhead in front of him, Banadietrich stretched out his hand.

Violant accepted. “You’re on.” she said. It was a dangerous bet, that she had to admit, but the gains made the wager more than worth.

“Splendid, very splendid.” The nachtjäger rubbed his hands contentedly. ”Now let me explain our little game. It is a hunt, what else? I’ll give you half an hour’s worth of a head start. Otherwise it would simply be too boring, wouldn’t it? During that time run as far as you can. After that span of time my men and I will set out to hunt you. Should you manage to escape us during the two following hours, it’s your win, if not, it’s ours. Any complaints?”

The young lady couldn’t help but smile bitterly. She already had accepted the bet without asking for the specifics after all. Sometimes she believed her fiery temper would be her doom one day. Not even being reborn could change that fact.

Half an hour later Violant had put a good distance between herself and Mt. Hackelberg. In the meantime she had met the old schrat Alarun who had waited for her safe return and told her what had happened in the lair of the wild hunt. The hoary woman, not willing to be eventually hunted down by the demonic host, took the shape of an owl again and flew away to seek refuge from the wild huntsmen’s prying eyes and the hounds’ snooping noses.

The red-haired girl had put the knowledge from her increased magic lessons to good use. What was crucial for now was to escape the wild hunt as far as possible. To this end Violant literally ran with the feet of the wind. The still eerily silent forest flew past the periphery of her vision as she speeded through her surroundings.

Her range of vision decreased all the while though, as the night fell like an impenetrable black curtain over the other march. The forest was eternally shrouded in fog anyway. Combined with the darkness of the night it meant that Violant saw absolutely nothing. She could have used her magic to generate a source of light, so as to avoid colliding with trees – but that wasn’t any better than staying directly in front of Mt. Hackelberg, a target drawn on her chest.

By the time the sound of a hunting horn penetrated the eternal silence of the night black woods, Violant was already covered with scratches from head to toe, her dress torn and tattered by thorns and branches, her hair filled with twigs and dry leaves. The spear she carried also hadn’t been of any help to her. On the contrary, it rather got in her way but she never would let go of her only means of self-defense.

Informed now that the hunt had started, Violant ceased her running. In no way she could hope to escape horses running with the wings of the tempest just by relying on her own speed. Thus she switched tactics. It was impossible for her to change her shape trying to pass as a normal forest animal like old Alarun had done – transformation was the very pinnacle of magic after all – but she could try to hide. That didn’t only include obscuring her figure but also covering her smell. She shouldn’t forget the packs of hounds.

To hide herself, the redhead assimilated her very being as well as possible with a hollow old tree, not unlike the one near the schrat’s hut. Using a visual magic trick Malford had taught her, she now appeared no different than a somewhat curious piece of knobby bark or wood. Hiding her smell was more difficult, but the most important factor when it came to using magic was creativity after all. Violant tried to disperse her own scent as thinly as possible with the help of wind magic, conversely covering herself with the scent of rotten old wood, wet moss, and mushrooms the tree exuded. Now she just had to hold out.

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Violant didn’t know how much time had passed since she started hiding. It felt like an eternity though. Sometimes, when she heard a dog sniffing close to her or the shouting of the huntsmen in the vicinity, her heart rate increased and her stomach tensed up. Luckily it turned out alright every single time. Nonetheless the girl didn’t allow her guard to drop. As long as the hunt was still on she was still in risk of being found out after all.

And truly, the moment Violant feared really had to happen. It was neither a dog nor a huntsman who found the girl’s concealment but the nachtjäger’s night-raven. The big black bird riddled the old tree with holes using his iron remiges. Violant had luck to have felt a chill creeping up her spine. Trusting the premonition she had jumped out of the tree hole at the virtually last moment. Just a second later and she would have been riddled with holes herself.

“Whoa! that’s what I call a pleasant surprise!” Banadietrich’s voice echoed through the woods. The nachtjäger had been close by on horseback. “Never would’ve thought that I would find you here, little Avallach. But I’ll gladly use this chance to vent my frustration. Guess what! While looking for you I chanced upon a schrat’s dwelling showing signs of recent use. But even as I razed the pathetic hut to the ground I couldn’t find the slightest presence of its owner. Thus I struck down a hollow tree nearby in a fit of anger but it wasn’t enough yet to appease me again. Thus I’ll gladly accept your sacrifice and take my frustration out on you.”

Violant was far from being glad of course. Instead of bowing to the inevitable she readied her spear and lit its head with a flame. She had no real chance to run anymore, but as sure as hell she wouldn’t go down without a fight.

Banadietrich reacted rather amused when facing his prey ready for battle.

“You never fail to surprise me, little girl.” he acknowledged “But I think it would be wiser to cease your resistance. I can guarantee you a less painful death at least, only torturing you as much as I deem necessary and not excessively.”

Nobody would lay down their weapons when presented with such a choice. The redhead definitely didn’t.

“Try me!” she said provocatively “I might not be your match but I’ll make at least sure that you won’t come out of it completely unharmed either.”

Hearing that, the leader of the wild hunt couldn’t help but laughing out loud, his mood rapidly increasing.

“You’re really a peculiar one, aren’t you?” he asked “It’s almost a shame to let you lose your life like this. But who knows, I might be able to snatch your soul and make you a part of my entourage.”

It looked quite bleak for Violant, with the nachtjäger clearly overpowering her drawing his hunting dagger and readying himself for a fight with a foregone conclusion.

But all of a sudden the tree the human girl had hidden in earlier burst into bright sulfuric smelling flames of indescribable heat that illuminated the whole forest far and wide.

“You want to lay a hand on my daughter!” a roaring voice boomed through the woods “How dare you, Banadietrich!”

The leader of the wild hunt shivered with fear from head to toe while his already ghostly pale face managed to pale even further.

“L-l-l-lord I-i-i-i-ipos!” he stammered, knowing the voice just too well.

And really: Who appeared was none other than Violant’s demonic biological father, the very same who had sent her back into the past. He flapped his wings majestically while glaring at the demonic huntsman cowering reverently in front of him. Banadietrich had jumped down from his steed faster than eyes could see and did not dare to lift his head from the ground for even a moment. The nachtjäger’s mount and the night-raven escaped as soon as possible, leaving their master alone with the rage of the infernal visitor. The rest of the wild hunt also didn’t dare to come near at all.

“What audacity!” Ipos raged “Not only do you still owe me tithes; you even dare to try filling the necessary count of souls using my daughter. Do you think I have painstakingly freed her from her impending death and sent her back into the past just for you to take her life some measly months later? Dream on! You unfaithful vermin, feel my wrath! Wait and see how I shall punish you for your thoughtless or even traitorous conduct!”

By now an ammonic smell could have be noticed wafting around Banadietrich if not for the penetrating smell of sulfur covering all other scents. The proud nachtjäger had literally pissed himself from fear. If he had known, he never would have dared to lay a hand on the courageous girl with the unusual eye color but definitely stayed clear of her. All humans, dwarves and schrats in the world together weren’t worth inciting the wrath of a demon, especially in an era were the gods only seldom payed attention to the world they once created.

During the whole event Violant looked dumbfounded from her father floating in the air to the demonic huntsman crawling in the dust and back again. She had something to say but somehow she didn’t find it in her to open her mouth. In the despairing moment of impending death at the burning stake it had been much easier for her to speak up although her dried-out throat hadn’t really been able to. Now that she was in perfect condition, if ignoring the scratches on her whole body, she felt hesitant instead.

Ultimately the girl decided to go through with it and waved her burning spear trying to direct the demon’s attention to herself and spoke out: “Earl Ipos, umm, father, please listen. Regarding the nachtjäger’s punishment, I guess I have an idea…”