Oh dear ... I'm really sorry for people ^^ '' '
I had no idea what to write for quite a long time ^^ '' '
So now, FINALLY, the new chapter ... I hope it will soon be faster again ^^ '' ''
As always, I am happy to receive commissions and reviews!
Lg, Lodchen

PS: Omg ... Asti I hope you don't kill me now ^^ '' '
... * look around * * Darki claw and hide behind *

************************************************** *****************

When I woke up, I felt more rested than I had since been with the old woman.
I yawned heartily and looked out the window, through which the sunlight fell on my face and warmed me.
Satisfied, I stretched and got up.
It was relatively warm, you could clearly see that spring was slowly but surely coming.
I went to the window and looked up at the blue sky, which wasn't covered by a single cloud.

My gaze wandered on to the snowy peaks of the mountains over which we had come. They were still very close, and although we had only arrived in the village on the last evening, the exertions of the journey and the icy cold in the mountains already seemed to me as if they had been forever.
I looked down at the path that ran in front of the inn, some children were playing there and between the houses, the wind was blowing fragments of individual conversations up to me.
It was only now that I was back in a village that I realized how much I had missed other people while I was out with Michael.
It had been so quiet the whole time.
It was different here in the village, and I found it really pleasant, but I would still travel with Michael and not stay here.
I wondered what he was doing right now. He was probably sleeping, after all, he couldn't stand sunlight.
The growl of my stomach tore me from my thoughts. I took Michael's purse and left the room.
After locking the door on me, I went downstairs to the taproom, where only a few men were sitting and eating lunch.
I also got some food and ate while I considered how I would spend the rest of the day.
I wasn't used to that much free time, at home the work in the fields and housework had taken up most of my time, so I never had much free time to spend as I wanted and the little time I had Most of the things I had I had spent with my brothers, but I didn't have them here.
I wondered what they were doing and how they were doing. Had they been looking for me? And if so, when did you think they gave up looking? Did you think i was dead? Or did they think that I had found work in some village nearby? Could they be very angry because I just ran away?I sighed softly. So many questions and I probably wouldn't get an answer to any of them.
Unless I would meet one of my brothers again at some point, but ordinary farmers rarely crossed the mountains, and I doubted any of my brothers would ever have a reason to.
And even if we did, we would certainly not meet, after all, this country was certainly quite big here.
I sighed and finished my meal, then got up and left the inn.
I went to the stable and looked for Nox. He seemed satisfied and was nibbling on a bale of hay when I entered the stable.
He only lifted his head for a moment and looked at me, then went on eating and paid no more attention to me.
I checked to see if he had enough water, then went back outside. It was cold, but not nearly as cold as up in the mountains. I strolled a little through the village and looked around.
I was shocked when suddenly an old man stepped out of a side street as I passed.
"You shouldn't be walking around here anymore, it will be dark soon ... just yesterday a girl was found dead exactly where you are standing now. You don't look so dissimilar to her, huh? Watch out, girl!" he warned me.
I was about to take a step back from him when he leaned over to me and added softly: "And if you get caught, nobody should say that old Heinrich hadn't warned you!"
I took a step back from the man, whereupon the old man came only one step closer.
He was pretty scary to me and slowly I was almost a little scared of him.
Then the man looked at something behind me.
“Leave the girl alone.” A voice rang out from behind me almost at the same time.
While I turned to see who had said that, I saw out of the corner of my eye how the old man turned and stomped off. I looked at the man who was now facing me.
It was the same man who had been in the pub the previous evening.
"I ... um ... thank you guys." I stammered a little unsettled, and continued to look at the man. He smiled slightly.
"Not worth talking about. I hope he didn't scare you too much? I don't know why, but he always likes to scare strange girls and tell them stories."
I looked around and saw a few drops of blood in the snow.
A cold shiver ran down my spine.
Apparently at least this story wasn't a lie.
The man followed my gaze and was silent.
“This man, Heinrich, he said that a dead girl was found here yesterday.” I said and looked at the man who was standing across from me.
He silently continued to look at the red spot in the snow and I was about to repeat what I had said when he finally looked at me again and replied: "Yes, that wasn't a lie for once.She was found there shortly after sunset. "
Almost automatically I looked around, and now that I noticed that it was slowly getting dark, another cold shiver ran down my spine and I felt watched, slowly I was really scared.
"What happened?" I asked to distract myself somehow.
The man shrugged.
"I don't know either, I wasn't there when she was found," he answered me.
I just nodded in response. I should go back slowly, now the sun had completely set and it was getting noticeably colder, even if it was already icy.
The man seemed to guess my thoughts because he said, "It's getting dark, I'll walk you back."
We walked in silence through the alleys back to the dining room.

When the man opened the door for me, the smell of roast meat and the babble of voices hit me.
We entered and almost automatically I looked around for Michael, but I couldn't see him anywhere.
He was probably still asleep, after all the sun had barely set.
I sat at the table with the man for quite a while and talked to him about irrelevant things until Michael walked into the taproom.
The man looked at him immediately and gave him a hostile look, as did several of the other men present.
I couldn't exchange a single word with Michael for the rest of the evening, as he was being watched by at least one man the whole time and the said men almost jumped up when Michael made the slightest attempt to get up.
Your whole behavior struck me as quite strange, I was glad when it was getting late enough that I could say goodbye to the man without appearing impolite.
I said good night to him and then disappeared upstairs to my room.
I didn't dare turn to Michael, but I felt his gaze on my back. I sat down on my bed thoughtfully.
What did these men have? A cold shiver ran down my spine.
Somehow it was all really pretty scary.
A noise at the window made me jump.
I was about to turn around when a hand came over my mouth and stifled my screams.
“Quiet, it's me.” Michael slowly took his hand from my mouth.
"What have the men got? They looked at you as if they wanted to kill you!" I really thought that he was beginning to owe me an explanation.
Michael's mouth twitched briefly in a crooked smile. I wondered what he was thinking.
“Not here. Come with me.” With these words he lifted me up on his arms and jumped out of the window.
I gave a startled cry.
Had he suddenly gone mad ?! To my astonishment, however, we landed gently on the ground, he let me down again and just kept walking as if we had just hopped down a small step."So what have these men got against you? Why do they look at you like they want to kill you and why do you expect an incident?" I asked when we had left the village and gone out into the fields and I had recovered from my horror.
Michael was silent for a moment and looked up at the moon, which was now almost full and half covered by clouds.
"These men are werewolves, they have that against me. They know who, or ratherwhatI am. Normally I wouldn't be here that close before the full moon, but I guess you're safer here in the village than anywhere near.
And not only do they look like they want to kill me, they intend to. Today they tried but they didn't find me.
The only reason they didn't try tonight is because it is much more convenient for them to just kill me during the day when I sleep, "he said.
I looked at him with wide eyes. He talked about these men trying to kill him as if he were talking about something trivial like the weather.
Michael looked up at the sky again.
“We'll stay here for two more days, we'll travel on after the full moon.” He finally said, before he and me started back to the village.
Michael suddenly stopped in one of the dark alleys.
It was so dark that I could hardly see anything, even though there was a full moon the next night and the sky was covered by numerous clouds.
Michael's hand went to his sword hilt and he looked around. I was just about to ask what was going on when he pounced on a figure standing on the wall of a house just a few steps away from both of us. Only for a brief moment the moon broke through the cloud cover and I was able to take a quick look at the figure holding a dagger to Michael’s throat.
I hadn't even seen her before.
She wore a long cloak and a hood completely covered the person's face.
After a moment, however, the figure raised its head so that some light fell on it.
It was a woman, as I now realized.
The dagger at her throat didn't seem to bother her in the least, and the next moment I realized why.
A third person lunged at Michael from behind, I shouted a warning at him, but it was too late and Michael was pulled away from the person and onto the floor.
The