AUTHOR'S NOTICE: This took far too long to write due to exams and… other things… CUUUURSE YOU BAYLE!

P.S.: I openly welcome reviews and criticism in order to improve both this story and future works.

"_"- Speech

'_'- Inner thoughts

[_] – Tier Spells/ Skills/ Martial Arts

{_} – Signs and Magic

8th HUNT: Red, Blue and Black

The fresh snow, crunching beneath hooves and heavy boots. The terrified screams of the humans. The flames painting the dark night's sky in hues of red and the way the embers danced in unison with the falling snow. This was what Imlerith lived for. But it wasn't perfect yet, no. For the general had yet to spill any blood himself.

Normally, he would have joined the fray with his riders but the firm hand of his king landing on his shoulder had halted him in his tracks. Eredin's cold gaze could be felt even from beneath his helm. It had become especially frigid these days, to the point where even Imlerith felt a bit unnerved by it. The silence between the two was finally broken by the general. A foolhardy attempt to change his liege's mind.

"My king I shoul-"

"No."

Before Imlerith could even try and plead his case, it was rejected. Indignation swelled with him but he did not try to argue further. It was clear that the issue was considered closed. Turning his attention back to burning village, the general could already tell it was over. The peasants had been corralled together and the riders were already busy selecting the fittest amongst them. It seemed like this raid would yield a fair number of slaves.

A success anyway one looked at it. Yet, all Imlerith could feel was disappointment. These raids were always so boring. A peasant with a pitchfork wasn't considered a fight by the Dearg Ruadhri. That is, if there even was any resistance. Most of the time the humans just accepted their fates and surrendered. And now he was denied even to join fray.

Eredin's hand finally left his shoulder, he had forgotten it was still there, stuck in his head as he was.

"You'll get your fight. A confrontation with the White Wolf is certain." His king had seen through him immediately. "It may not be today or tomorrow but sometime soon." And Imlerith couldn't wait for it. Normally, that would have been the end of their conversation and yet it seemed that his lord wasn't finished. In quiet tone, barely above a whisper he continued. "However, I need you here and now. In the present. Even more so given recent circumstances…" Eredin trailed off but it was clear what he was referring to.

"Any news from Caranthir? Maybe some progress finally?"

"The wards are much more complex and powerful than originally suspected but the navigators assure me they can be breached, given sufficient time of course."

It still felt so surreal. What they had discovered… It could change their understanding of everything. Perhaps even make the girl unnecessary in the long term. Caranthir and the vast majority of their navigators had been sworn to secrecy and put to work immediately. Unfortunately that meant that the Red Riders were now left with the minimal amount of mages needed to still be operational, significantly limiting both the numbers they could bring and the scope of their activities in other worlds.

Between searching for Cirilla and maintaining a steady supply of slaves, they were so overstretched that they could field at most 20 riders and only a handful or so hounds per outing. Even then most of the time their number was closer to a dozen or less. Their limited manpower let them to be overly cautious and only attack easy targets such as already ravaged villages along the frontlines.

Furthermore, with Caranthir out of the picture for the foreseeable future, Eredin had grown much more protective of his sole remaining commander, refusing to let him anywhere near unnecessary dangers and acting like Imlerith's own shadow would attack. 'One might say he has become a tad paranoid… Almost as if he knows something I don't…'

"My liege, you have been acting strange ever since that day. If anything is bothering yo-"

"Speak of neither that nor Caranthir's task anymore. You needn't concern yourself with it unnecessarily and let it distract you from you own duties. Speaking of which, how goes the search?"

The fact that Eredin was so quick to change the topic clearly showed that something was definitely wrong but Imlerith realized that inquiring any further would be pointless, choosing instead to simply go with it.

"Avallac'h has hidden her well but we'll find her. And if not then the witcher will lead us to her eventually."

A single "Hmm" and a nod was all the general received in return. This marked the end of their conversation. The awkward silence returning in full force as they stood and gazed at the soon to be ruins of Vephe. By now, all the slaves had been chosen, so all that was left was massacre the remaining humans and open the portal back to their realm. Pleas and cries went ignored as steel met flesh. 'Won't be much longer until we are back in Tir ná Lia. We would have already been home had we more men with us. Every minute spent in this backwater is torture.'

It seemed like their navigator was of the same opinion as he hadn't even waited for the slaughter to be finished before opening the portal. The slaves were already being ushered inside.

Bored, Imlerith was just about to suggest to his king that they start preparing for departure when out of the corner of his eye he saw something strange. A ways away from the duo's position the blazing remains of what once was a hut illuminated the nearby area. For a brief moment, the elf could have sworn he saw something or someone skitter into the nearby wheat field. He wouldn't have caught it if not for the briefest glint of something in the light of the fire. And it seemed he wasn't the only one to have noticed it as his liege tightened his grip on his sword.

While trying to not be too obvious, the general made sure to carefully position himself between Eredin and said field. Keeping his gaze locked a bit to the side of the area in question, in an attempt to hide the fact he had been alerted to the presence, Imlerith strained his peripheral vision, hoping to catch the slight glint again.

And he did. Unfortunately for him, it appeared that his attempt to feign ignorance had been seen through. The general could now clearly see what had been glinting, as a golden blade now rested lodged inside his shield. It had launched itself at him at such a high speed that Imlerith barely had the time to put up his shield. To make matters worse, it hadn't been the only one. An exact copy of it had tried to hit Eredin but had been deflected out of the way. The same couldn't be said for their forces. More of the blades had found their targets and now three of their hounds lay skewered on the ground. But what enraged Imlerith was the sight of the portal closing and their sole navigator pinned to a hut, still writhing in pain and desperately attempting to pull the projectile out.

The suddenness of the attack had caught the riders so off guard that for a few brief moments they could do naught but stare dumbfounded at the injured mage before springing into action.

Just as the general was about to go and introduce his mace to whatever fool had not only dared spill Aen Elle blood but also stall their return, the blades rushed back to where they had come, the one stuck in his shield ripping a small chunk on its way out and stopping Imlerith in his tracks. With the possibility of another ranged attack, he instead moved back and made sure to position himself in such a way that their opponent had no clear shot on the king.

Their remaining raiding party had split in half - one half moving to secure the navigator while the other assumed a protective detail around Eredin.

They waited for the next attack… And waited… But it never came much to Imlerith's confusion. Their foe had all the advantages, so why weren't they doing anything? Had they retreated? Perhaps they were repositioning to try and get a better position?

A million possible scenarios raced through the elf's head. One thing was certain though – they were way too out in the open. The other half of the party had already moved the navigator into one of the few huts not on fire, a few of their number coming up to plug any holes in their formation. They had to get to that hut.

'Easier said than done.' Currently, the unknown foe held all the cards. The fact that Imlerith couldn't be sure of their enemy's position meant that those blades could come from any directions. Add to that the possibility of them hiding even more tricks up their sleeve… The short run to the hut could prove very costly for them.

'Our resources are already stretched thing, so we must prioritize limiting casualties… Hmm… If we use the humans as cover we should be able to reach the others. 'A solid plan all things considered. Just as he was about to give the order to grab the dh'oines he came to a sudden realization.

The humans were gone. Of course they were. The riders had been far too preoccupied ensuring their protecting their king and escape route to spare any thought about the villagers, who predictably had ran away the moment their captors had been distracted.

The passiveness on their enemy's side was meant to serve as a diversion, filling their heads with paranoid thoughts solely of what might come next and preventing them from noticing the peasants getting away.

'There goes that idea.' Imlerith was getting more pissed off by the second. And still there was no sign of their wannabe hero. 'If our hidden friend doesn't want to come out then we'll smoke them out.'

"I want two volunteers with me to search the wheat. The rest stay with the king and make sure he gets back to Tir ná Lia in case we aren't back soon." Not many were eager to join him on his hunt but eventually two riders stepped forward. However, before the trio could move out, Eredin finally broke his long silence.

"Only the two go, Imlerith stays."

"My king-"

"You are staying right here. That's an order."

'Damn that paranoia of his!' Eredin's behavior was making Imlerith reach levels of annoyance never thought possible. Still, his king had given him a direct order… 'Hopefully, the sooner Caranthir is finished, the sooner Eredin could go back to normal.' Wordlessly, the general settled back into a defensive stance in front of his liege.

Now that it was clear that Imlerith was going to abide by his orders, the two volunteers felt a sudden sense of regret for stepping forth. Their already shaky courage evaporating by the second and giving way to doubt. A fact so obvious to everyone around them that Eredin decided to throw them a bone.

"You are permitted to take to remaining hounds with you."

Seeing as this was as good a deal as they were go going to get, the two riders carefully left the formation, their comrades huddling closer to fill the gaps left in their absence, and slowly made their way into the field, followed by the party's three remaining hounds. Soon enough, they left the light of the nearby fires and were swallowed by the surrounding darkness.

As soon as they were out of sight, Eredin gave the order to move.

"Hopefully, they'll distract our hidden friend for the time being. To the navigator! Go!

Unbeknownst to the Eredin, his little diversion had already been taken care of.

A pair of wrathful green eyes stared deep into the eye holes of the helm of one of the two unfortunate riders. A massive sword, black as night, pierced the rider's rib-like chest plate. The unnatural limpness of the armored figure betrayed the fact that said blade and the gauntlet resting upon the rider's shoulder were the only things keeping it upright.

Careful not to make too much noise, Lakyus pulled Kilineiram out and slowly lowered the body to the ground. Shaking off the blood from her sword with a slight twist of her wrist, the woman willed the floating swords to return to her, said swords ripping themselves out from the corpses of the strange dog-like monsters around her. A short distance away from Lakyus, the headless corpse of the other raider could barely be seen, obscured by the crops.

All in all, it had been a rather quick ambush. Still, it was a hastily prepared one and many things could have gone wrong. The adamantite adventuress was sure that if Blue Rose's resident rogues were here, they would have already been critiquing their leader's work. 'Tina, Tia…'

How long had it been since that day again? Since they had been separated. 'Has it really been over a year already?' Suddenly, her chest felt tight and Lakyus' mind was filled with memories of better times. However, just as quickly as the thoughts had come, they were gone. Now was not the time for reminiscing after all.

Her original objective had been to simply determine what the situation was but after seeing the peasants being slaughtered, her body had moved on its own. And although she had failed to kill what she assumed were the leaders, at least the people had got away. 'Seems the enemy's retreated to regroup for now.' They had both the numbers and a better position, though judging by the two she had taken out, the raiders weren't that strong. 'Still, I should head back to camp and come up with a plan of action.'

Retracing her way back to the camp, the adventuress carefully avoided a dog-monster-thing's remains, however as she was doing so, her boot hit something hard. It was quite dark so she couldn't make out what it was without taking a closer look but it didn't feel like a rock. Kneeling down to examine it, Lakyus quickly ascertained the true nature of the strange object – the still-helmeted head of the decapitated rider. It seemed to have had rolled away from the rest of the body until it was stopped by the dog-thing's fallen form.

Curiosity got the better of the woman and she slowly picked it up and lifted the skull-like helm off of it. Green eyes, a similar shade to her own, stared back at her. The exsanguination painted the man's already pale complexion, a ghostly shade of white. A mop of black hair blended in with the darkness of the night. The head's youthful features were frozen in what seemed to be shock. Had she seen him on the street, Lakyus would have thought him attractive.

Just as she was about to drop it, her hand accidentally brushed the side of the head and she suddenly froze. It seemed she had missed something quite important… The pointed ears… She always forgot that this land's elves had much shorter ears than the ones she was familiar with and could be masked with the right haircut.

Lakyus' thoughts were drawn away from the long-eared race by the armored hand that suddenly appeared on her shoulder. Startled, the Rose dropped the severed head and turned her head towards the intruder so fast that whiplash was a real possibility. In those brief moments, all manner of horrible scenarios played in Lakyus' head – had the enemy found her? – was this the end? However, instead of a skull-helmet, a familiar pair of heterochromatic eyes looked sheepishly at her.

"Uh, sorry for scaring you." Apologized Antilene, Lakyus' current travelling companion and (so far) the only person from her world she had met. "What the hell were you thinking?!" Whisper-shouted the blonde adventuress in response. "What if I had attacked you?!

"I doubt you would have done much damage…" Mumbled the other woman, her scythe casually resting on her shoulder.

"I didn't quite catch that."

"I said I am very sorry." Came the much louder reply this time. Seemingly satisfied with the Antilene's answer, Lakyus was about to move on to the matter of the raid on the village but then – a mischievous glint appeared in Antilene's eyes. "Though I must admit I didn't expect the famed leader of the Blue Roses to squeak like a little mouse when startled. Especially when it was just little ol' me."

Lakyus most certainly had not and she would die on that hill, she still had her pride as an adventurer thank you very much. Honestly, to think that the only person she could relate due to their shared circumstances had this sort of personality. To make matters worse, she was from Slane, a nation that Lakyus had had… history let's just say… Oh, and as a final twisted joke by the gods, Antilene was an absolute monster in terms of strength.

Sighing to herself, the Rose was about to fill her companion in on the details of their situation when something clicked in the blonde's head. Something was missing. Something very important… or rather someone. "Antilene, where's the girl?"

"Oh her. You were taking too long so I told her to wait back at camp while I went to find you." Came the woman's matter of fact reply.

"You just left her there?! Alone?!" Yet another round of whisper-shouting ensued.

"…I left her a knife if that makes you feel better." Yup, people from the Theocracy were beyond Lakyus' comprehension.

Setting the matter of leaving defenseless children alone in the middle of the night aside, the adventuress decided to get to their biggest problem at the moment – the raider occupied village. After being briefed on the severity of the situation, Antilene's entire posture changed – whereas before she had been oddly relaxed, now her body was tense. Like a coil ready to spring at any time. Lakyus could have sworn she had heard her companion mutter "Why is it always elves?" or something along the lines of it.

"So… Any ideas as to how we go about clearing the village?" Asked Lakyus.

"Go fast and hit them hard?" Came Antilene's suggestion. A strategy Gagaran would have certainly liked. Lakyus could roll with it.

"I can take the West part of the village while yo-"But before she could finish, the blonde cut herself off. Suddenly, Lakyus felt a chill run down her spine. One moment she was fine and then her every instinct was telling her run away in the reverse direction of the village. Opposite her, it appeared that Antilene had also felt something. For brief moment there was silence. Then it was broken by Lakyus "Is it just me or has it got even cold-"

Before she could finish her thought, Antilene tackled the blonde to the ground out of the blue. "WHA-" The Rose, held tight in by her companion, tried to exclaim, however it was lost in the frigid gale that swept over the wheat field. It was so strong that Lakyus feared that they would be swept off the ground. In fact, from what she could see, Antilene's scythe embedded in the ground was the only thing keeping the two from that fate. When the winds finally subsided, a most unbelievable sight appeared before Lakyus' eyes.

What had once been a rather large wheat field was now a frozen hellscape. Most of the crops had been ripped off and swept to who knows where but some still remained, frozen solid. With the field gone, the two women could clearly see the village from where they stood. The once burning huts had been incased in ice. A thin white mist had fallen upon Vephe and in its depths a giant silhouette could be seen moving about. For a few moments there was stunned silence between the two. That is until was finally broken by Antilene.

"Well, this sure is different…"

Author's Notes:

Oh boy, Eredin done goofed now. Also poor Antilene, she just can't escape from getting involved with creepy elf kings.

Now, this chapter took a long time to write – mainly because my exams (and partly because of Shadow of the Erdtree). Now, I am gonna say it right now – I plan to use a mix of both fully original monsters as well as ones established in canon (Overlord and Witcher) for Geralt's future contracts ( Yes, Geralt out on a job chapters are coming… sometime in the future…) . The main reason for this is the fact that I love characters to be faced with the alien and the unknown.

Anyway, hope you guys liked it and well – I'll see you next time.