Anna and Elsa made their way up the well-traveled dirt road. Out of the corner of her eye, Anna noticed Elsa looking at her up and down with a stern look of concentration knitted into her brows. The piece of bread Anna had given her was still in her hands, uneaten.

With a mouth full of her own bread, she muffled out a "What?" toward the scrutinous gaze.

"Are you sure you're comfortable?" Elsa said with her brows still knotted, and her eyes tinted with slight worry.

Anna took a hard swallow of the bread in her mouth before replying.

"I told you, Els, it fits great. Stop worrying about it!" Anna did a little twirl, demonstrating that her new outfit was entirely to her liking.

Using the fabric from the maid's skirt as a base, Elsa had reformed it into a simple sleeveless dress that she then augmented with an outer layer of ice fabric. A bustier that was laced in the front by magical thread down to her waist and then extended into a long skirt down to her still-oversized winter boots. Other than the brown underlayer of the maid dress, the rest of the outfit was a dark green, as requested.

"If there is one thing better than you buying me clothes, it's you making me clothes." Anna shot her a signature, toothy smile which put her eyebrows at ease.

"I mean, a new pair of boots would be great too."

"I told you, boots are too complicated! And I don't even know how they are put together."

"I was kidding! Really Elsa, don't worry about it."

Anna turned to look ahead of them and enthusiastically shot her finger forward with an exclamation. "Hey, look! That must be the hunting lodge!"

The dirt path they had been following so far had been a long road through nothing but dense forest. However, at the head of the road before them stood a looming and discrepant sight standing tall and abrasive amongst the trees surrounding it.

Multiple pointed roofs stood atop a base of dark walls made from darker wood. Small spires extrude out of the main shingled roof like new growths of a tree born out of the main trunk. A single tower rose above all the rest, thicker and taller than the lesser spires.

A castle made of wood deep in its domain of the dark forest.

The girls walked up toward the front of the building. There was not a single sound or hint of light coming from inside.

"I wonder if anyone's even home," Anna said while mentally preparing herself for whatever lay behind the doors. Next to her, Elsa just nodded with her apprehension.

"They could still be out on a hunting party," Elsa said in response as they walked up the short stairs.

Anna slowly opened the door. They were greeted with a vast cavern of a room. From the outside, the lodge appeared to be multiple stories tall, however, the inside revealed that it was actually a large, central space with multiple rows of windows and a very high ceiling.

Multiple round tables were spread out, each arrayed with an assortment of intricately carved chairs. A central fireplace slept off to the side. The windows cast plenty of light, but because of their placement and the shape of the room, it still felt uncomfortably dark with shadows scattered all about.

The high walls were filled from floor to ceiling with the trophies of past hunts. Antlers and horns of all manner of animals. Tusks of varying sizes including some so big they must have been from some unknown creature, white as Elsa's skin but taller than any man and curved into sharp points.

Then arrayed along the lower wall, circling around the entire perimeter of the room…

"Wolves…. So many wolves…" Elsa looked at each one with a look of revulsion on her face. Then a tinge of pain hit her heart as she gazed up at the countless rows of antlers hanging on the walls. Thoughts of her guardian flashing before her eyes.

"I thought these people hunted monsters. I don't understand. I am more of a monster than these animals."

"Ok, for one, Elsa, you're not a monster. Two, lots of people think wolves are monsters. We don't have much of a wolf problem in Arendelle, but maybe down here in the Diutlands they have just tons of wolves attacking people or something."

"I highly doubt that. There are too many here to have just been a problematic pack."

In the stillness of the vacant room, there was a faint sound, almost imperceptible to the ear. Almost.

Elsa's ears perked at the distinctive sound of a *nock* and *fwip* and her hand reacted just in time.

"Whoa, Jesus!" Anna exclaimed as she stared cross-eyed at the tip of an arrow hanging in front of her face with Elsa's hand gripping tight around the shaft.

Putting herself between Anna and the hidden attacker, Elsa cried out, "Who's there? Show yourself!"

From a dark doorway on the opposite side of the room, Elsa caught the shimmer of another arrow tip. It slowly moved out of the shadows revealing a well worn, yet ornate crossbow held by a pair of weathered hands that led toward a hawkish nose and predatory eyes.

"Impressive. Now get out." The voice was craggy and withered. "This is no place for a couple'a princesses to go sight-seeing."

Anna stepped out from behind Elsa and gave a stern look toward the shadowed figure.

"We aren't princesses! And besides, even if we were, you just shoot the first person that walks in your door? Not even a hello? What's wrong with you?"

"Only jägers are allowed in here. Everyone knows that. And if you ain't jägers then you're trespassers."

"We are hunters! From the Norslands."

The man raised a skeptical eyebrow. "You two're jägers? Well then, let's see your marks."

"Uh… our marks?" Anna asked as she looked at Elsa who just shrugged her shoulders and shook her head.

The man chuckled as he lowered his crossbow and stepped out from the alcove and into the light from the windows.

The two women saw that he was a fairly tall man, quite lanky despite the girth in his midsection from the comforts of a long and successful hunting career.

He wore sturdy riding boots with spurs dulled from use. A long brown cloak covered a simple vest and hunting belt. The top of his head was adorned with a wide-brim hat accented with a tattered feather that looked like it had once been a brilliant gold but had become dim with age and adversity.

He turned his body to the side and pulled back his cloak to reveal an intricately carved horn hanging off of his belt.

"If you really are a part of the jagdgilde then you would have one of these. I'm pretty sure the Norsr guild uses them too. Now, unless your minds had a temporary lapse, I take it you don't have one. So, would you like to take another stab at an excuse as to why you're trespassing into my jagdschloss? Or should I keep firing arrows until you leave?"

Anna stepped forward.

"Hold on a sec! Ok, we aren't a part of the guild, but we want to join."

The man's chuckle subsided to an almost bored looking scowl.

"You two want to become monsterjäger? Don't make me laugh."

In a split second, Elsa twirled the arrow still in her hands and flung it toward its previous owner. It stuck into the frame of the doorway, whizzing past his face. He turned his beady eyes toward the arrow and then back toward the women standing across from him.

He didn't flinch in the slightest.

"We are serious," Anna said. "We've already taken down a mountain troll and a horde of zombies in the Norslands just getting here."

"A mountain troll you say? I don't suppose you have any proof of these…. amazing feats?"

"Well… not exactly." Anna looked a little sheepish at the admission but it still did not deter her resolve.

This time, Elsa stepped forward.

"If you doubt our abilities then let us prove them to you. Give us a quarry and we will bring proof of our hunt. But looking around this hall, I doubt you even have worthy prey for us. We are monster hunters. I see nothing here but common animals. Is this a guild for hunting monsters or chasing rabbits?"

Anna looked at the other woman whose face had become deathly serious.

Whoa, she's gone into Tronsvyk mode. Nice save! I hope she doesn't break something…

The man's lips curled into a deep and unsettling smile, fangs bared and eyes narrowing into cutthroat slits.

"These are no animals, little girl. You see, we've had a bit of trouble 'round these parts with a werewolf. It's killed twenty people so far. Ten of them were jägers. Blasted creature strikes without warning. No one has even seen it that's been left alive. We had to cull as many wolves as possible to increase our chances of killing it. No telling which of these filthy animals is the bloodthirsty beast."

He placed his crossbow on top of a table and sat down. He then placed his hat next to the crossbow, revealing a pronounced widow's peak, and leaned back into the chair. From under his vest, he pulled out a piece of cloth and placed it on the table, turning it toward the women and pushing it forward.

They slowly, apprehensively, walked forward. They leaned over the table and looked at the cloth. Elsa picked it up and looked at Anna. Anna scanned over the words written in thick, black ink and then looked back toward Elsa who was still looking at her with a question mark across her face. Anna tilted her head in confusion before realizing.

"Oh, you don't know how to read Diutsch do you? Sorry I figured you can read ancient Norsr so…...nevermind. It's a hunting contract. The quarry is a werewolf. Details are vague, there is a description of assumed sightings and killings. And a reward for a successful kill with proof."

"If you little ladies want to get your feet wet, then try that on for size. Just bring the proof of the kill back to me or any other jägermeister and you will be rewarded. Since you aren't guild members yet, your reward will be admission into the guild along with your own mark as proof of membership."

He leaned back even farther in the chair, placed his hands over his protruding stomach, and plopped his feet up on the table.

"Of course, if you can't handle it, you can always go back home and do… whatever it is you people do up in the north. Build snowmen or what have you."

Elsa gave him a look of anger and defiance.

"Just have our mark ready. We won't be long."

"Heheh. I like that. Tell me your name so that I know what to write down in the victim log. Since you hunt as a pair, I only need one name for the record."

Elsa looked toward Anna for what to say. Anna just looked back and nodded her head with a knowing smile.

"Elsa. Elsa Isskjoldr. Don't worry about how to spell it. You won't need to write it down."

"I'll keep that in mind. You may call me Percival von Leitch. Jägermeister of Jagdschloss Steinadler. Happy hunting."

He bid them farewell with a menacing grin and the women were thankful to be rid of his rapacious gaze.

Glossary:

German Words

Jäger - Hunter
Jägermeister - Master Hunter
Jagdschloss - Hunting Lodge
Jagdgilde - Hunting Guild
Steinadler - Golden Eagle

A/N:

A note on translations

I am not a German speaker. I rely on google translate and general google searches. If anything seems overly wrong I apologize. Also, keep in mind that this is a fantasy and not historical. There will be purposeful misspellings of things such as the language being called "Diutsch" instead of "Deutsch" or "Norsr" instead of "Norse" etc.

Percival von Leitch

In case it wasn't clear (or for anyone who doesn't know), this is Percival C. McLeach from "The Rescuers Downunder". It is a favorite of mine and when trying to think of an antagonistic hunter character my mind went to him. I altered him to fit in a medieval/renaissance time period and germanic setting.