Kathrin avoided another slash of Julia’s blade, both her and Orwell had long come to the realisation that Julia was being controlled like a puppet and that she was controlled through the strings of darkness attached to her, so obviously they tried to cut through these strings, but failed all attempts, as when ever they tried to attack one of the strings, Julia was forced to move in such a way that the attack would hit her instead of the strings.

They both came to the conclusion that, whoever was controlling Julia, did not see her as something valuable worth to keep alive at all times, whoever was behind this clearly saw this as nothing more then a game. As a way to play with them, seeing just how much they were willing to go, to free Julia.

Even before, Julia could not hope to even put so much as a scratch on her mother during non serious training and clearly the one controlling her right now was even less skilful, in addition to the limited movement the strings could actually provide, so the chances of either of them actually getting hit was almost zero.

Yet this battle, this fight, was far more emotional taxing then any flesh wound could ever be. Having to see your own child being controlled, probably tortured and used, was something more painful for Lady Kathrin then anything else imaginable, the perfect torture. Something a certain blond haired individual found rather entertaining to watch from high above the ground.

Hanna laid on a tree branch near by, watching the show and she enjoyed every single second of it. Next to her was the director of the play, Luisa, using Julia’s and the shadows of the forrest to move the actors on stage, to Hanna it was a truly beautiful play, one could truly feel the suspense the actors had, it truly was a first class drama.

Her entertainment was broken for a moment, as she suddenly detected movement in the underbrush near her tree, she was tense for a hot minute before the familiar face of her pet Adeline came into view. Hanna relaxed and gestures for Adeline to come join them on one of the tree branches, to which Adeline happily obliges and soon she sat on a thick branch near Hanna.

“So, how did it go? What did you do to him? Did he suffer, please tell me he suffered." Hanna asked, petting Adeline‘s head for a bit, like one would a dog‘s.

Adeline hummed happily at the affection for a moment before answering.

"The fool is dead, he shall never get in your way ever again, my beloved Hanna." She sighed dreamily as Hanna whispered her a silent 'good girl' before returning her attention back to the performance before her. To Hanna it was like a dance, elegant but deadly and tragic at the same time for those involved, a truly beautiful sight indeed.

Luisa, a sadist at heart as well, would have probably enjoyed it far more then she currently did, if she hadn’t had to keep her concentration up at all times, so Julia could be controlled, while also preventing her to speak, so she couldn’t give them away, but in the end a sadistic smirk and the lone giggle of glee escaped her from time to time regardless.

Adeline couldn’t care less as to what was happening down there, she was praised by Hanna, Hanna had given her affection and Hanna herself seemed pleased and happy and as a result, Adeline was happy, nothing mattered but Hanna, Hanna was the only one that mattered after all.

They all were basically sinking in their own fantasies and entertainment and as a result relaxed and ignored the world around, nothing mattered right now but this one thing. And because of that none of them noticed when a figure scaled the tree the three were sitting on and positioned themselves right behind them.

By the time Luisa‘s sensitive elven magical sense picked up the gathering mana behind her it was far to late to stop what was about to happen.

"[Magic Push]!“

A shockwave of magic rammed all three of them and send them flying out of the tree and into the nearby underbrush with a loud crash and all they could do about it was scream in confusion and pain as their bodies made an unceremonious date with the thorny bushes and the hard forest floor.

Besides the pain, multiple cuts and bleeding the sudden attack had a single more effect, as multiple tendrils of blackness and shadow suddenly vanished, releasing Julia from Luisa‘s cold and Hard puppet control.

She fell to the floor with a quite thud, the tears she had shed the entire fight finally had sound added to them as she cried and sobbed while lying on the forrest floor, whispering to herself. In a flash, Kathrin was next to her, cradling her daughter with tears of her own, whispering words of relive and comfort to her scared daughter.

Orwell watched the scene with a somber smile on his lips, he had seen such a scene many a time in his life in Querum and every single time it warmed his heart, the love between family and their shared bond was something truly beautiful, even in the noblest of family’s one could imagine, family was important even there.

He was soon joined by Klara, the Mage, who had joined his hunters group not even a week ago, at first he wanted to object her coming along with him and First Lady Kathrin‘s search, as she didn’t knew the forrest as well as the other hunters, but Orwell was that big a fool to ignore the advantages of having a magic user with them.

In the end it was her who led them here, saying she had sensed a mana activity not far from her and they should check it out, so went and stayed hidden to find the caster while Kathrin and him went on a head normally and low and behold they found Lady Kathrin‘s daughter being controlled via magic.

So in the end he was pleased that he decided to take her along after all.

He wanted to enjoy the moment now, to witness such raw happiness and relive was something magical all on its own and he wanted to let the two family members have their time together.

As Klara reunited with the group, she silently went over to Orwell, a smile of her own on her face at sight of family being reunited.

"I think it’s time for us to go back now, it will get dark soon and while this forest isn’t exactly dangerous at night, it is still rather easy to get lost with no light to guide us." Orwell called out after a few moments of letting the family embrace and comfort each other. He was also under the assumption that Julia probably wanted to leave the forest, to be save in their Camp, not under threat from whatever had captured her here.

The two nobles gave each other one last squeeze before Kathrin helped Julia back to her feet, she had difficulty standing upright, her legs wobbly and she only took unsure steps, but with help from both Orwell and her mother the two soon made their way, back from which they came and towards the safety of the camp.

Or at least they tried, but their March was abruptly stopped by Karla screaming in terror and pain. She had stayed behind for a few moments to make sure nothing attacked them on their way back, that’s why she was further back compared to the rest of the group which would soon be her death sentence.

Turning around they saw Klara with her knees on the ground, blood dripping onto the floor as a completely black spear had lodged itself into her shoulder. Orwell rushed over to help the young women, but before he could reach her another blast of darkness hit his path towards her, causing a explosion of magic to blind him because of the resulting smoke.

"Oh You guys aren’t leaving already are you? The fun will only begin now after all. Hahahahah!" Behind the smoke a voice rang into the forest.

Orwell recognised it immediately and cursed the day that wretched girl entered his life, he knew something was up with her, HE KNEW IT, but no one had shared his views and the one who does was now wounded on the floor.

Further back, Julia started to breath hard and fast, having also recognised the voice immediately, tears formed in her eyes and she started to Mutter to herself in horror and terror.

"She can’t be here… no please… not again…"

Her mother picked up on her daughter‘s reaction and quickly put two and two together, anger consumed her as she understood that the owner of that voice was the reason for all the pain she and her daughter had recently went through.

As the smoke lifted three figures were revealed, that of course being Hanna, Luisa and Adeline. Each one of the girls were littered with bruises and cuts from their recent, forceful encounter with the forest underbrush, after Klara ambushed them on the trees.

Hanna‘s shirt was somewhat torn, revealing bits of cut skin underneath, her trademark smirk was on her lips and to Orwell‘s great confusion two cat like ears and a thin tail adorned her form now.

Her two companions seemed less bruised by the fall then Hanna, but Luisa seemed grumpier then usual and Adeline seemed almost feral, gripping her longsword in her hands so hard her knuckles were turning white from the effort and clenching her teeth, making a sound that resembled growling.

"Did you miss me Orwell? Come on admit it you missed me didn’t you?" Hanna asked, winking at Orwell, who only returned a cold hard face.

"Can‘t say I did you bitch-" Adeline actually growled at Orwell after he said that word, but Hanna raised her hand lazily to tell her to stay back, like one would try and calm down a dog, and it worked, for now.

"-but I must say you seem different from when I last saw. Is this, perhaps, your really body?“ Orwell asked, knowing the answer so it didn’t shock him when Hanna grinned and gave him a happy nod.

"You always were soooo smart Orwell! You knew from the beginning that we weren’t what we seemed didn’t you? But alas you were alone with your suspicions, until this disgusting worm showed up at least."

At the last part she glared at Klara, who used the time of their conversation to stand up and waddle next to Orwell and glared at Hanna, the two had a glaring contest for a while before Hanna continued.

"But all of that won‘t matter anymore, for you see, we‘ll be leaving Querum today!"

"HUHHH?!!" The following exclamation of surprise and confusion did not come from Orwell, nor did it from Klara or Julia, it came from Luisa who stared dumbfounding at Hanna, who only returned a bored expression in return.

"What do you mean we Are leaving today?! WHY are we leaving today?!!" She spoke in an exasperated tone, like she just heard the most idiotic thing imaginable, Hanna in return only raised an eyebrow at her.

"Because we have been found out obviously? Our truths have been revealed, so we have to move. I thought it was quite obvious to be honest. How on earth did you not get that?"

Luisa‘s right eye twitches for a moment and she started to shake, she knew if she were to have an outburst here, right now, there would be consequences, heavy consequences. But Luisa was right now a bit to angry to care.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE HAVE BEEN FOUND OUT???!!! IT‘S ONLY THESE FOUR PROPLE, PEOPLE MIND YOU, YOU WANTED TO KILL ANYWAY!!! SO WHO ON EARTH WOULD STILL BE THERE TO EXPOSE US!!!!!"

While Hanna and Luisa started to argue about if they really had to leave Querum or not, Lady Kathrin, who had been busy getting Julia into a save hiding space, finally approached the group. She had drawn her weapon, an elegant longsword with a jade green hilt, with the family crest. Her plan was to confront the tormentor of her daughter to single combat and get revenge on her, but just as she was about to interrupt the two girls arguing, she took a closer look at Hanna.

Her eyes went wide with realisation, she recognised  these cat-like ears, the thin black tail and sharp claws, they were the same she saw over 30 years ago, back in her old family home. It was a cold night, everything seemed normal, but then the screams started downstairs, they accumulated quickly and soon the smell of burning wood reached her senses.

She had been with her mother, in her personal study at the time, her mother had told her to stay behind and leave through the window as she would go and check what was going on, Kathrin didn’t listen though and after a moment she walked out the same door her mother had, only to find a gory mess on the floor.

Everywhere she looked blood, corpses and fire was found, all the personal of the manor had been killed. She looked further down the hall and saw what would haunt her to this day, her mother was dangling from the bloody claws that had been rammed through her throat, before having her head ripped off and her body fell to the ground. The assailant looked like a normal girl, but she had cat-like ears and a thin black tail that wiggled around.

The creature laughed a maniacal laugh, before walking into a room and disappearing.

As soon as Lady Kathrin recognised what Hanna truly was, she was consumed by rage and anger and wanted nothing more then to kill the monster, as well as the two companions of hers, everyone who was on the side of a Dark Margenko was only a beast themselves after all.

So she did. Her sword was swift and and precise and it would cleave through the beasts head and finally give her the revenge she had yearned for for decades. Sadly this was not to be, as her strike was blocked by the long sword of Adeline, the sound of metal against metal was heard through the forrest and multiple birds flew away into the distance, their sleep disturbed.

Both Hanna and Luisa jumped back in shock at the sound, finally ending their prolonged argument, Orwell and Klara, how had been silently talking as to rather flee right now or try and fight Hanna’s group, also jumped back in fright, but both parties quickly recovered, while Adeline and Kathrin were locked in a standoff, both glaring with hatred at each other.

Hanna grinned with insane glee and her eyes sparkled a crimson glow.

"Would you look at that, someone finally took the first step and took the path of violence, but don‘t worry, I‘m not offended, I love violence after all!" She brandished her claws, while Orwell drew his own longsword and took a battle ready pose and Klara conjugated a Ball of magical energy in her palm. Luisa‘s grumpy mood also took a turn, as a sadistic grin made its way on to her face and she summoned multiple javelins made of shadows from her own.

"THIS WILL BE FUN! HAHAHAHA!!" Hanna screamed before jumping at Orwell, her claws ready to be wet by blood.

 

Meanwhile Feralt and his squadron of 20 people were running through the forrest, they had been searching Lady Kathrin, who had not returned at dusk and as such a search squad had been send into the forrest, lead by Lord Feralt himself.

"Quickly men the source of the noise can’t be far!" On their search they had heard a sound, and as the battle hardened knights they were, had quickly recognised it as swords clashing.

And now they were on the way to investigate whatever had caused that sound and Feralt was sure Lady Kathrin would not be far from there, he just truly hoped she had not engaged the Dark Morgenko alone, if it truly was inside these woods after all.