Damn, damn, damn! Cursing, Havir kicked the tree that bore battle scars. He was too late! When he heard in the village that his thief was an unusual beautiful girl and that some men of the village were on the way on behalf of the lord of the castle, all the alarm bells were ringing. Probably his thief was one of those elves. Little intelligent, but pretty to look at and for that very reason she was either already dead or at least would be soon. Count de Rais was an old acquaintance of his and was disreputable even in the mage world for his collection of beautiful women, which was not entirely voluntary on the part of the victims. And he now had to risk his much too beautiful face to save her. Great, the day was off to a really good start. Mumbling curses, he teleported to the count's castle. De Rais and he had run into each other often enough that he knew exactly where to look, but this time Havir didn't feel like reigniting their argument. He wanted to get in, get his prey, and get out without running into him. This vain fop actually believed he could outdo Havir the Great in beauty.
"You're not going to be rude enough not to say hello, are you?" he sighed, barely feeling the stone floor of the dungeon beneath him. So he had been expected, great. He should have guessed, de Rais had been keen to add him to his creepy collection for years.
"Actually, I had wanted to avoid it." shrugging his shoulders, he turned to his unwilling interlocutor. The count's slender figure leaned casually against one of the stone walls and regarded him from shining brown eyes. The beautiful face was surrounded by his wheat-blond hair, which hung over his broad shoulders in light waves. Irritated, the mage wondered how long de Rai's servant had to tinker with this hairstyle, which looked deliberately natural, but seemed rather as if he had stolen it from a three-year-old.
"Like a common tramp." he shook his head in amusement.
"Common?!" indignantly Havir sparkled at him. He had been called many things, after all, but common?! This was an open declaration of war!
"Surely you won't be miffed, great Havir." mockingly, de Rais eyed him.
"Just give me what's mine." Havir crossed his arms in front of his chest to keep himself from turning him into a toad.
"I guessed it wasn't up to me that you'd come to see me after all these years." he actually seemed slightly offended.
"I guess the only one who wants to visit you is Lokas the Lord of the Underworld the others come by necessity." He just didn't like the guy, he felt the need to destroy this arrogant little human along with his castle, but first he needed what he was here for. He trusted de Rais to have left the elf somewhere with a henchman to kill her if he didn't come back. And then Havir's nice deal with the council would be off.
"You should be a little friendlier if you want your little girlfriend back." for a moment he was confused, which girlfriend?
"The one with the long hair..." the count became visibly impatient as the mage did not respond.
"Maybe, I've never seen her."
"Since when has Havir been so noble and rescued damsels in distress?" Whether she was a damsel or not, she brought in quite a bit and he didn't want to do without that. He didn't dare to damage his goods because of that fool.
"He didn't want to talk about the book before he mentioned it. The lord of the castle had a penchant for magic, believing he could become immortal, but Havir could not tell how much he knew about the thief and her cargo. Some of the people claimed that bathing in the blood of an elf would give eternal life. Absolute nonsense but de Rais would be foolish enough to make an attempt.
"Then why do you want her? If you supposedly don't know her."
"She's my great-great-great-great-uncle's 15th cousin on my mother's side."
"Ahso or is it perhaps because of that?" triumphantly he took out the Book of Salam from behind his back.
Damn! The plan had clearly gone awry.
"I'd like the poetry album too, that's right." de Rais looked disillusioned at the mage's meager response.
Perhaps what he held in his hands was not as valuable as he had thought. Uncertainly, he also looked at the leather cover.
Even if, that girl in his cage was valuable enough no human had such eyes! She had to be a magical being. Hach and she fit so perfectly into his nice little collection. He was still quite enraptured by his new toy.
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