In Germany, the trains ran perfectly on schedule, as well-timed as a clock. The instant they passed over the border and into the Austro-Hungarian Empire, that efficiency he had come to associate with the Germans in his short time there began to dissipate. Hux had experienced no more than a quarter of an hour's time wasted in his journey from London to Hungary, but he would arrive at his final destination a full day behind schedule. More, if the idiots they allowed to be engineers in this portion of the world didn't finish fixing the engine soon. They had ground to a standstill more than an hour ago, and yet Hux had seen no sign that the repairs would be finished anytime soon.

Under other circumstances, he would have asked his neighbors if it would perhaps be faster to walk to his destination, for according to his map, it couldn't be far away now. However, as he had traveled across Europe, the class of the passengers had gone the way of the timeliness of the train. Hux sat lodged between an old woman who had leaned her weathered, leathery cheek against his shoulder and fallen asleep almost immediately upon coming aboard and not stirred since and a man who reeked of equal parts goats and cheap liquor. Both seemed to be locals, but he doubted either spoke a word of English. A request for directions to Ucigas Stele Castle was rather beyond the small arsenal of Romanian phrases he had learned before beginning his journey, and so Hux resigned himself to waiting for the repairs to be complete.

A dozen wolves howled at once, and a tingle of fear coursed up his spine. Hux had neither seen nor heard any evidence of the creatures in well over an hour, yet these sounded close. He craned his neck to peer out the cramped compartment's single window, but with the lamp burning bright inside and the pitch black sky outside, he could see little. Only his own gaunt, tired face greeted him. Hux settled back as comfortably as he could into his seat and willed himself to fall asleep.

He had almost succeeded when the compartment door opened. "There's someone here to meet you, Mister Hux." The steward was white as a sheet, and his accent colored his words even more than it had earlier in the day.

"Who is it, might I ask?" The woman next to him began to stir as Hux stood, but he paid her little mind.

"A representative of Lord Snoke. You said you were going to Ucigas Stele, yes?"

At that, the woman grabbed the sleeve of Hux's coat. "Nu!" she cried. "El este monstru din iad!"

He tried in vain to tug his coat away from her grip. "Excuse me, but I need to go. I have very important business that I must attend to."

"Nu." She shook her head and continued to hold on with all her might. If she did not let go, he would have no qualms about breaking her fingers. Elderly or not, she had no right to impede him from leaving this compartment. She pressed something into his hand, a small wooden crucifix on a string the correct length to be worn as a necklace. "Domnul fie cu tine." Finally, she released him.

Hux chose to ignore the change. "Yes, I'm supposed to meet with his master." He did not spare the woman so much as a glance as he made his way towards the door, stopping only to grab the briefcase he had stowed on the shelf above him.

The wolves howled again as the steward led him off the train. Thick snow crunched beneath his feet as Hux reached the ground. He strayed no more than a step or two away from the steward, for he could feel the eyes of the wolves upon him. They were so close he could hear their footsteps, and Hux had no doubt that they waited just beyond the tree line for any sign of weakness. The sensation sent goosebumps erupting up and down his arms. "The servant asked that you be brought to his carriage. It is only a short walk from here. Do not worry. Your luggage has already been delivered to him." With that, they took their first steps into the woods. No, not quite into the woods, Hux noted, for they followed a time-worn trail so narrow that they had to proceed single file. He watched the trees closely for any sign of movement, but the area was eerily still. With no wind to rattle the branches that had long since lost their leaves, the trees could have been petrified for how little they moved. A forest of death if there ever was one, and Hux had only a short, slender steward and his own extremely limited abilities to protect him from its dangers.

They turned a corner, and a road became visible. In the dead center waited a black carriage pulled by two enormous horses. Though their midnight coats and deep eyes spoke of the devil, they remained as motionless as statues. Hux saw no sign of a driver, but he spotted his trunks strapped to the top of the carriage, and the door stood open.

The instant he reached the road, he rushed for the carriage, decorum be damned. After nearly a week spent on cramped passenger trains, the plush, velvet-lined interior of the coach felt even more luxurious. A figure appeared, seemingly out of thin air, in front of the door, and Hux jumped, fully expecting it to be a wolf. Instead he found himself confronted by a tall, dark man. "I hope you have had a pleasant journey, Master Hux," he said, his voice deep and flavored with the harsh, husky tones of the East. Hux could see nothing of his face, for his tall hat blocked his features. "Settle in. We shall arrive at Ucigas Stele soon."

He could have sworn that the man closed the door without touching it, and that the wolves began to howl again the very second the carriage began to move, but perhaps those were just the imaginings of a travel-wearied mind.