On the advice of Hector Bokduclingstorminshoven, the group, which now consisted of 11 people, stayed together in this first phase of the assignment to increase their chances of survival as they still had a long and arduous journey ahead of them. They were given two horses and two donkeys and a large cart, filled with equipment such as a tent, blankets and fur winter coats. However, there were not enough mounts for all of them, so everyone had to alternate between riding and walking the horses. The donkeys trudged slowly after it and pulled the cart. Fortunately, Slander and Vlander and the three piglets fit on one horse. German singing and gnome discussions were unfortunately part of this. They regularly took short breaks to eat and rest, and with all that in mind, the journey could take many days. Robert had never realized how big Yths was. He didn't travel very often and certainly never that far. As the lowest member of the Courtly Functional Bourgeoisie, he only had a limited number of days off per year and then he preferred to just sit in the sun on one of Salado's many terraces. What surprised him was how bitterly cold it was for the time of year. He was convinced that it was already freezing quite hard as his breath formed small clouds and especially at night it could get very cold. Most of them had already put on a fur coat made of mammoth fur over their iron vests. Slander and Vlander had even both put on a hat from which only their pointy noses were just peeking out. Even Jack Bulton was wearing winter mittens. The three piglets most resembled one wrapped sausage, so close were they to each other on the horse with a checkered blanket tied around the three of them. Robert pulled his fur coat a little tighter and was horrified for a moment when he smelled the smell of smoked, slightly burnt flesh on the leather inside. But at least it was warm. For a moment, Robert missed his own yellow boots. He got sweaty feet in them so often that he thought they would keep his feet warm better than the elegant ones he was wearing now. At the front of the group, Arian walked with a bow in his hands. Hector had already warned them that something dangerous might jump their way, so Arian had set himself up as the leader of the group.
Robert couldn't stop thinking about the test. He knew that some candidates were going to drop out of this test anyway and the group had become quite close in the meantime. He had even come to appreciate the company of Alex Tikker, who barely spoke and the three piglets who kept whining about food. Robert was also afraid that he might be the one who wouldn't make it since the previous test had been successful mainly due to Leo's actions. Robert looked sideways at Leo, who looked a bit like a young man again. Her hair was tightly knit and almost completely hidden under her woolen cap. He saw how her breath blew clouds in the air and she looked far ahead to the horizon.
For three days they went straight ahead mainly on the recommendation of Slander and Arian who showed them the way. White, snow-covered fields were interspersed with dense pine forests and narrow roads between large ice ponds. Apart from the occasional sound of a bird or a skittish winter fox, there was not a living creature to be seen in any fields. In the evening, Jack and Arian made a large open fire at just enough distance from the tent. They slept close to each other with their fur coats still on and the front of the tent open so that the smoldering fire still provided some warmth for the frosty nights. Robert bent his toes every morning to see if there was any life left in his cold feet. After the second night, he poured a scoop of warm ashes into his boots every morning to get through at least the morning with warm feet. Around noon of the second day, they shared Lilian's last buns and Arian, with Hector's help, managed to put a deer buck on a spit in the evening. The warm, tender meat felt like a feast.
"I could swear I heard something," Slander said on the afternoon of the third day. "Somewhere in the woods. It sounds like a kind of trampling'.
"Oh well, it's probably nothing," Alex responded somewhat arrogantly. "But the sound is getting closer," Slander said, his voice cracking a little in fear. Nearby, behind a dense row of trees, crouched a Behemoth, a giant, hippopotamus-like creature with long horns. It could blow down a tree in a breath, for it had a blowing power that would make even the big bad wolf jealous. Hörk and Pörk were just arguing about who would eat the last piece of deer leg when suddenly the Behemoth jumped out from behind the thick trees and blocked their way. It was still a young Behemoth because he was only an oak tree tall. Slander and Vlander quickly hid behind Alex Tikker who was shaking on his legs. Robert, who was just sitting on a horse, cringed at the sight of this strange creature.
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"Perfect!" screamed Hector. 'This is the ultimate opportunity to put my invention to the test. Come on, let's see what a genius I, Hector Bokduclingstorminshoven, am with the bow gripping knife glove! Finally I'm going to be famous, famous, FAMOUS!" The group had known for some time that Hector was not in a good mood, but they had never seen him so crazy. No one moved. Only Arian enthusiastically took out his glove and cocked the bow.
"Wait!" screamed Jack, suddenly. "We can just take him out without killing him. It's still a young animal, so it probably just wants to play. Behemoths tire easily, so if we can exhaust him, he falls asleep and leaves us alone." Jack thought of the young Behemoths he used to see from time to time in the mountains and where the dwarves mainly ran around the creature to wear it down as quickly as possible.
"Good idea," Leo agreed. She slipped off her horse and took her bow knife glove out of her inside pocket. "If we swing our grappling hooks around him and let him run around like that because he wants to grab them, I'm sure he'll get tired quickly."
Not everyone fully understood what was meant or could no longer think completely clearly out of fear, but with instructions from Hector, Jack and Leo they stood in a large circle around the creature. Alex Tikker stood at a distance holding the reins of the mounts to restrain them. He tried with all his might to keep a roaring stallion with him.
The plan was to tire the animal so that it fell asleep. Everyone clicked open the glove's grappling hook. Automatically, a grappling hook on a long rope shot out of each glove. Slander and Vlander climbed the tops of the nearest trees, tied the ropes tightly and let themselves dangle down by the hooks. Immediately, the Behemoth began snapping at them. Robert, Leo, Jack, Arian, and Hector climbed on the sturdiest lower branches of the trees and threw themselves down alternately on the hook and swung back and forth between the Behemoth and the trees. The creature started snapping around, jumping. Finally, the three piglets quickly ran circles around the creature's legs. For a moment, the Behemoth looked like a puppy that wants to grab its toys. With cheerful, deep growling sounds, the beast jumped around until it shook to the ground. Robert heard the donkeys start braying, and he wondered how much longer Alex would be able to restrain them. Slowly but surely, the pace of the Behemoth slowed down. He spun slower around and made smaller jumps. Slander and Vlander climbed the tree again and the rest also swung a little further away from the Behemoth. Only the piglets didn't give up and kept running around the creature's legs at a rapid pace. Suddenly, the Behemoth stopped snapping and jumping. He took a few steps back and dropped his lumbering abdomen to the ground. The tree next to it was shaking so violently that Slander just barely tumbled out. Then the Behemoth's head also sank to the ground and a last wind came from his nostrils like a deep sigh. After that, it was quiet.
"He ist verschwunden!" exclaimed Gnörk and gave Hörk and Pörk a high five with his paw.
Leo patted Robert on the shoulder. "I didn't expect this," she said with a laugh.
Slander and Vlander clambered out of the tree and landed softly on Jack Bulton's shoulders. Arian reached out and then put them on the ground. Then he rolled the rope of the grappling hook back onto the pulley of the glove.
Everyone was relieved, but Hector was delirious. "All of you remember this day as the day I saved the world!" he shouted euphorically and couldn't stop kissing his bow knife glove. He hopped back towards the horses, donkeys and luggage with the rest of the group in his wake.
Suddenly, Hector stopped. "Where the hell did that big black stallion go?"
Leo stopped by Hector. "A better question, where the hell did Alex Tikker go?" And together they looked at the road where only one horse and two donkeys are still grazing.
Behind a thick spruce, Pepin the Tierlantine looked at the spectacle with the Behemoth going on. It was almost funny to see and Pepin thought that with a simple stab in the neck of the creature, this would be done much faster and with less breakneck speed in the trees. But because they were all so busy swinging, no one was keeping an eye on Alex Tikker and the two horses and two donkeys. Pepin thought it was strange that the witch hunter did not take part in the fight with the monster. Only the Tierlantijn saw how Alex tried with all his might to calm the black stallion down. At one point, he saw Alex push his scar-covered face against the stallion's with their eyes close together. The stallion immediately stopped snorting. Alex then hoisted himself onto the animal's back and gave it the spurs. Together they disappeared in a few seconds between the pines on the same way back from whence they came. Pepin chuckled. Whether it was from the shock or some other reason, Alex had been eliminated from the game and from the story for the time being. Pepin patted the snow off his white coat and crouched down. In a flash he shot to his feet and sprinted faster than a winter fox across the ice fields towards the caravan of the jury to report on the first fallen king candidate.