Violant, riding on Huwcyn’s back, turned to Arinnefja who was on top of Hrimnir right next to her and said with a sweeping gesture: “Welcome to Avallach, Nefja.” while pointing at the lively castle town visible from the forest edge.

About three days ago, back in the forest cave in the other march, the injured young lady had learned about the troll’s fear of loneliness. It was understandable considering the genius’s status as outcast in troll society – or however you would like to call the social interactions among trolls.

Faced with this quite surprising turn of events, Violant offered a place to stay in Avallach for the troll inventor who hadn’t quite discovered her own talents yet. Arinnefja had been very surprised, for she knew about the dislike against trolls that was widespread among humans, not to mention various denizens of the other march.

“Yes, there are prejudices.” Violant had confirmed “But I don’t see any problems for you, Nefja. I can call you so, can’t I? Although physically a troll, your personality is much gentler and smarter than any troll I ever met or heard of. Of course there will be people recoiling when they meet you at first. I did too. No offence please. But as they get to know you better – like I did too in the past hour or so – they will judge you for your character, not your origins. Avallach is quite the open-minded place, you have to know. And first and foremost you still have me vouching for you, don’t you? My word has weight in Avallach. Trust me.”

It wasn’t very easy to persuade the anxious troll to come to Avallach but in the end the prospect of making new friends outweighed the doubts. Arinnefja was desperately starved for love after all. The promise that she and Hrimnir would never lack anything from food to lodging was the decisive factor in the end.

As soon as that was resolved and Arinnefja proceeded to pack up the few belongings she had, Violant informed the others that she originally hadn’t come alone to the other march but got separated from her companions nonetheless. One of them, Hraban, was crucial for contacting the wild hunt. The red-haired girl planned to keep her promise to the redcaps after all.

Dougald and Donnell, reinforced with Hrimnir’s good nose, had left to look for Huwcyn and Hraban. A grey horse accompanied by a black raven wasn’t necessarily easy to find in the forest but conspicuous nonetheless.

Arinnefja had stayed back (the packing was already done) because she didn’t want to leave her patient on her own. Violant felt touched by the troll’s gentle thoughtfulness.

After the ceffyl dwr and the night-raven had been brought to Violant’s current whereabouts – Huwcyn was as wary of strangers as ever – the girl had immediately sent Hraban away to contact the wild hunt. For a lack of writing material the night-raven had to serve as a guide instead.

After the arrival of the wild hunt lead by nachtjäger Banadietrich himself, Violant had introduced the two redcaps to the wild huntsman and asked him if he would be willing to let them take part in his host. He had been willing but more importantly he had asked who was responsible for critically injuring his liege. When Banadietrich had once sworn his loyalty to somebody, then this loyalty was unwavering and absolute.

Listening to Violant’s recalling of the happenings of the last 24 hours, the nachtjäger was so terribly enraged that he immediately started a merciless witch-hunt. The twin redcaps were an invaluable addition for this undertaking since they in fact knew many of the hideouts used by the witches and warlocks who had relocated to the other march. But no matter how homicidal redcaps were, they normally deliberately kept their hand off of sorcerous folk, since it was never a good idea to get involved with the infernal demons accompanying them.

Sometime later the decapitated heads of the sorcerers and sorceresses who had the bad luck of falling in the hands of the wild hunt had been presented to Violant. The young lady had been appalled although she still thanked the ghost host for their good intentions. But however gruesome she found the view of the heads, she would have felt better if Mansie’s unmistakable face had been among the presented heads. That he wasn’t meant that he had escaped and she wouldn’t put it past him to already plan atrocities he wanted to commit against Yteland, be it the great troll uprising, be it something different.

Only after the wild hunt had departed again, taking Dougald and Donnell with them, Violant made her way back to Avallach in the company of the troll. Injured and hurting all over like she was, she still had to accept Huwcyn’s seemingly endless severe scolding. The water horse never got tired of reprimanding her for her recklessness.

Entering to Avallach, the coal-black Arinnefja on top of the snow-white Hrimnir drew the gazes of their surroundings on herself. Timid as she was, the troll woman attempted to hide her face in her mount’s neck fur. Not that this action led to any less attention coming her way.

Hrimnir, who kept his cool, simply followed Violant, Huwcyn, and Hraban up the castle hill. The guards originally wanted to deny entrance to the young lady’s new companions but bowed to her words demanding entry for her new friends.

Violant left the two in Mortimer’s capable care. The vampire butler somehow had gotten wind of his mistress’s imminent return and already stood ready in the castle courtyard to receive her. It was also him who took care of Huwcyn’s grooming after the return – Violant originally wanted to do so herself but her mount had strictly forbidden her to do so – as well as racking his brain where to accommodate the unexpected guests. Arinnefja was too tall to simply enter the castle and bringing her mount to the stables would only lead to the horses inside being scared to death by the appearance of a giant wolf.

The first thing Violant did after entering Avallach Castle was seeing her foster father in his study to report about her mission. While doing so, the still ailing girl had to be supported by her maid Abigail.

Orderic was understandably distressed witnessing the state his daughter returned in. Since he knew just too well about her stubbornness her allowed her to report to him – the course of events in this investigation of a witches’ Sabbath was clearly different than what he had imagined – before immediately sending her to the sickbay. Of course it was the hoary schrat Alarun who took care of Violant’s treatment.

Arinnefja settled down easily in Avallach and was quickly accepted. It was even easier than what Violant had expected. On the other hand although there were prejudices against trolls, the heavy enmity against them that shaped Violant’s image of trolls had mainly been formed through the experiences of the great troll uprising that hadn’t yet and possibly never would happen this time around. Especially the huge gap between Arinnefja’s monstrous appearance and her gentle, thoughtful and timid personality that was the exact opposite of what would have been expected won her many sympathies. Of course there were still enough people who were hostile against the troll and equally unsettled at the prospect of having a giant wolf nearby, but those weren’t people who mattered.

Interestingly, the troll quickly got close to Hanarr, and that although the dwarf originally had a deep dislike for trolls. The smith soon learned to appreciate the newcomer’s open and industrious mind though which led to a revolution in arms production in his smithy. That, however, was no wonder since Arinnefja already had invented a precursor of magic bombs and firearms which further was refined in cooperation with the dwarven smith. Those magic weapons which had been a nightmare for humanity in the great troll uprising thus ended up in the hands of the house of Avallach instead, and in a much more developed and much deadlier form than anything which had existed in Violant’s previous lifetime.