Katelina and Jorick trooped towards their destination, two black figures against the whiteness of the snow, the swamp of star strewn night stretched endlessly before them. Their breath exhaled in puffy clouds that billowed into the darkness, but disappeared into nothing, so that only the footprints they left behind proved they'd ever passed that way.

To avoid detection, they abandoned the road in favor of the deep dark ditches. Jorick then declared that they must take the long ...