A wonderful first Advent to you all * winku *
Aaaalso ... I'm sorry that the chapter took so long, but nya ... So, right on time for the first Advent it is now finished, even if at Shadow Play spring is slowly approaching and winter is saying goodbye ...
By the way, I have planned to name all the chapters soon, so don't be surprised if the chapters that have only been named Chapter 1, Chapter 2 and so on have any names.
Yeah ... well, I wish you a lot of fun with the chapter and hope, as always, for many comments!

Lg, Lodchen

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I woke up when Michael was about to saddle Nox.
I was still cold and noticed that I was shivering, but I wasn't as cold as the night I fell asleep.
"Good evening." Michael said suddenly and tossed me a piece of bread, then he sat down next to me.
My fingers were so stiff that I could barely catch the bread.
"Good mo- uh ... evening." I returned the greeting. I still hadn't really gotten used to getting up in the evening and sleeping during the day.
As I ate, I looked thoughtfully at Michael. There were hundreds of snowflakes in his hair and his clothes were covered in snow.
He looked more like he slept under the snow than on top of it.
Thoughtful and freezing, I nibbled on the now stone-hard bread. Michael sat across from me, as always in silence, when I ate my rather late breakfast.

When I finally finished eating, Michael, who had just got up, gave me his hand and helped me to my feet.
He held my hand a little longer than necessary, which I was pretty grateful for because his hand was comfortably warm compared to mine.
But finally he let go of my hand again and took the blankets from my shoulders and stuffed them back into the backpack, which he had already attached to the Nox saddle."Keep him for now," he said as I started to give him his cloak back. Gratefully, I wrapped the thick fabric tighter around myself and put my hood on.
I looked up at the completely starry sky.
In the light of the still almost full moon, the small clouds of steam that my breath formed were clearly visible. I looked at Michael again when he went to Nox, took his reins as he walked and then trudged through the snow, where he sank back to his waist. I followed him as fast as I could in the deep snow.

A few more nights and days passed in which I was terribly cold, and actually it was a miracle that I still had all parts of my body with me when we finally left the mountains behind us. It was getting noticeably warmer, even with snow still covering the frozen ground.
I gave Michael his cloak back, and from then on I only saw him again with the hood pulled down over his face.
It also seemed to me that Michael was getting a little more nervous every day, and I noticed that he often glanced up at the sky when the sky was clear and you had a good view of the moon, which was slowly filling up again. and had the stars.

One evening Michael woke me earlier than usual.
The sun hadn't even set, it was relatively warm and not a single cloud covered the sky.
Nox was already saddled and before I was even really awake, Michael had already taken the blankets from me and put them in my backpack.
"Be so good, and sprinkle a little earth over the ashes. We skip breakfast today, we will soon be in a village, there you can have some real food." He said while he attached the bag to Nox's saddle. I nodded and did what he asked.
Then we went on.
We didn't have a path to follow because of the snow, but apparently Michael knew the path well.He didn't seem unsafe a single time and so it didn't take very long before we actually reached a village.
I was visibly pleased.
Finally eating something warm again would definitely do me good. Michael didn't seem very enthusiastic, however.
He pulled the hood down as low as he could and kept his head down as we walked towards the village. I wondered again why he was doing this, and a cold shiver ran down my spine as I imagined what kind of crimes he might have committed and therefore been declared outlawed, or, worse, maybe he was on the run ?
I realized once again that I didn't really know a thing about him, even though we had been traveling together for a long time.
After a moment, Michael fingered his belt, then handed me his wallet.
"Here. Take a room in the inn and buy supplies for two weeks ... That is, if you want to continue with me." Michael paused for a moment and gave me a questioning look.
I nodded. Of course I wanted to go on with him.
"Good. And make sure that Nox gets food and water and is housed in a stable. It will be better if you don't see us together," he added.
I nodded. “Good.” I said, still a bit taken by surprise that he gave me his money and left the responsibility for Nox.
Michael was silent for a moment, he seemed to be considering.
"If all goes well, we'll stay here for a few days. Spend it as you please, but make sure you wake up before dawn every morning so I can talk to you before the sun comes up - if I need to. If there are any ... "Michael hesitated for a moment before continuing," If there is any incident, you grab Nox and ride on.
I will come to you at some point on the way, if not you will wait a few days in the next village.But go now, it's getting late. "He said, and nodded towards the village.
I nodded, still completely perplexed, took Nox's reins and walked on to the village with the huge horse.
That statement confused me even more than the fact that he gave me gold and nox.
What incidents did he expect or fear? Did it have something to do with the fact that he hid his face? Or what he was - that he was a vampire? Or was it all connected somehow?
I glanced back over my shoulder, but Michael was out of sight. Footprints led sideways, however, into the darkness.
I turned back and walked on.
I felt strangely being watched, but tried to calm down. Surely it was just my imagination. Or Michael looking over at me from the darkness.
Nevertheless, I quickened my pace a little.


Half an hour later I was sitting in the inn, an empty plate and an empty bowl in front of my nose.
I was holding a steaming mug of tea in my hand.
It felt good to finally get something warm in my stomach again, but slowly I got a stomach ache, I was probably overeating.
So I sat there with the steaming tea in my hand, was happy to finally have a roof over my head again, and looked at the people around me.
Most of them were men, except for the young barmaid, who wore a white bodice and apron and had to turn away an intrusive guest every few minutes, I saw only one other woman sitting at a corner table with a young man.
Most of the men appeared to be normal farmers who met in the evening for a glass of mead in the inn, but two men looked quite wealthy, I suspected they were merchants from a town.
A man's voice could be heard again and again out of the general murmur, it belonged to an old man who was sitting at a table in the middle of the room, and while he was talking wildly gesticulating with his arms.A crowd of children sat around him, apparently he was telling them the wildest stories about robbers and pirates and God knows what else.
I smiled when the man suddenly jumped up from his chair and let out a loud roar.
The children gave a startled scream, then continued to look at the man with wide eyes as he continued to tell how he had killed one troll after the other with his bare fist.
I looked away from the man and the children again and looked into the flames of the fireplace that burned next to me. I watched the dancing flames, how they constantly changed their appearance, first shriveled up and then rose again, dancing, as they surrounded the wood in the fireplace and slowly but surely continued to devour it.
I remembered what the old man had said about telling the children about the trolls.
I knew now that there were werewolves and vampires, why shouldn't there really be trolls too?
Maybe they really existed, and they lived somewhere deep in the green forests where they were seldom seen.
I took a long sip of my tea, which was quite cold by now.
I've been sitting here longer than I thought. I finished my tea and continued to watch the play of the flames while I thought about all the other beings that everyone knew from stories that were either feared or simply didn't even believe in .


I woke up to someone touching my shoulder. I blinked sleepily and raised my head to see a figure with a long cloak, the hood pulled down over his face. It took a little while before I realized it was Michael.
“You should go to sleep young lady.” He said and for a moment he smiled slightly.
"Have a good rest, we don't have to meet tomorrow morning and don't forget, we've never seen each other."He added so quietly that even I could hardly understand him. Then he turned away and went to a corner table.
I looked after him for a moment, then got up.
My gaze fell briefly on the host, who eyed Michael suspiciously. I noticed that the taproom was pretty empty.
There were only 5 other men at the tables besides Michael, and they were obviously dead drunk.
The fire had burned down quite a bit. I winced when a man grabbed my arm and turned to face him.
"Has this man bothered you?" asked he. I shook my head.
“No, he didn't.” I said. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that Michael was looking over at us.
It was kind of comforting that I knew he was always around.
The man continued to look at me for a moment, then dropped his hand and nodded.
"Well." He meant. I just nodded, then said goodbye and went up to my room.
I closed the door after me and slid the bolt, then opened the shutters and looked out into the sky for a moment before I went to bed.
No sooner had I closed my eyes than I fell asleep.
I was really dog ​​tired.