Book 'Never Dream of the Wild Hunt'

"Plague, smallpox, and tick infestation!" Jannis mutters as he wakes up shivering and hungry. Because he didn't stock up on supplies during the summer, he has no choice but to get up. With Wendel, the goblin, he sets off to find his friend Motte. She's away with Salamander the Blackbird, who finally wants to write his "Book About Everything." But it's the time of the Twelve Days of Christmas, the nights of the Wild Hunt, when the Queen of Heaven and her subjects fly out into the night to spread fear and terror...

"The Wild Hunt, Motte," said Wendel. "The Twelve Days of Christmas belong to her. Then the Queen of Heaven rides over the forest. Percht, Motte! Percht! And she is a mighty queen, oh! And her servants follow her like a tail. Like a comet's tail. Oh! Witches, Motte! Wizards! Woden! I heard Woden blowing his hunting horn. I saw the nightjars coming down from the sky. Like a flock of starlings. Like a single bird made up of many birds. I saw it. Oh!"