Winter was enjoying her time in the mountains, learning every part of the snow glazed forest and visiting the Northern Village.

However, she missed her home. She missed sneaking out into the village. She missed her governess. She missed Raul and his jokes.

She missed it all and yet she felt peaceful here.

The winter had cut her off from her Kingdom allowing her time to think.

Did she want to go back or did she want to run away?

It would be wiser to run away. After all, she was a coward and a weakling. Going back would be a death sentence. Her sister had taken the throne from what she heard. In the coming spring she was to ascend to the throne.

Her father had died as well. Mason had delivered the news to her. The King was dead, The Princess is missing and Parliament was in session. 

She had cried that night, the storm raged in as she lets her tears fall. Luca had stayed with her and Mason covered her with a blanket, not sure what to do with her.

When she had woken up, Mason was gone leaving Luca to protect Winter.

It's been weeks since she was found and quite frankly, she was getting sick and tired of sitting around so she decided to go exploring. She didn't go too far of course.

Here she was, sitting on a log watching the mountains. It felt surreal and odd. She was used to seeing the capital and it's busy streets.

Soon the sky turned darker and darker as the wind picked up.

She hugged the cloak closer to her body and got up. The clothes that she was wearing belonged to a lady friends of Mason. When Winter inquired on the topic, Mason had turned red and asked if they fit her.

He had given her a new name: Winry.

He said that it would be easier to go into the Northern Village of she had a different name and covered her hair.

"Luca!" She called out to the estranged she-wolf. There was no answer, only the still mountain air.

Deciding that waiting around in this weather wasn't going to help, she walked back to the tiny log cottage. The trees all looked the same but Winter kept walking, the trees would clear and the cottage would come into view.

Only the thing was that it didn't.

'I could have sworn that I'd walked this far. I'm not lost.'

There was still no sign of Luca anywhere.

The snow crunched beneath her feet as she walked onwards. The sky darkened with each step and Winter could only clutch onto the black cloak.

The temperature dropped as she kept walking. It was as if she was walking in circles. The cold seeped through her gloves and she felt numb.

That memory of the river resurfaced. The fear of being chased and the painfully numbing cold water.

She stopped in her tracts and looked around. The trees were covered with frost and their branches swung menacingly in the wind, as if they were grabbing for her.

"Who goes there?" Someone yelled. Winter thought that it was Mason's voice but eventually realized that it wasn't.

"Have we caught a little winter fox?" Someone else said.

Winter saw the lanterns in a far off distance and hid behind a tree.

"Found anything, Donavon?" It was the first voice which was gruff and deep.

"Thought I saw something here," the second voice sounded closer. The forest floor around her illuminated with light, casting the shadows.

Looking up she saw that there weren't just two people, but five.

"Probably just a deer. You probably scared it off," This was a different voice. The accent was off, it didn't sound Ataraxish at all.

She clapped one hand over her mouth and listened to them talk. They stayed there for what seemed an eternity. Winter had no escape, she had to stay exactly where she was.

"Let's report in, the lot of you! We have that shipment from the Queen tomorrow. Let's go!"

'Shipment? Queen? Their Morgan's men?!"

The light from the lanterns receded and Winter noticed how late it really was. The moon peaked through the canopy of trees, illumination small portions of the ground.

The whe she felt that the time was right, she ran. She took off as quickly as her feet would allow. The forest was treacherous at night; the tree roots stuck up in odd angles, you couldn't see anything clearly, and she was alone.

She didn't know how long she was running but she could feel her feet tiring and her breathing becoming labored.

'I should have never left! How can a girl like me who lived in a tower ever survive without help?! What's Mason going to think when I'm not there? He'll probably think I abandoned him!. I don't want to die out here! I want to go home and see what Morgan has done! Why?! Why is this happening to-?!'

Her thoughts were interrupted when her foot snagged on something. There was a sharp snap and a sudden click. Next thing that she knew, she wasn't on the ground, she tried to get up only to realize that her legs wouldn't move and that she was in a net.

'No! No! No!' She chanted. 'I must have ran into a trap! How could I be so stupid?!'

Struggling only made it worse.

The sound of her heart reverted through her ear and she tried desperately to untie the knots.

"Hey, Donavon! We did get a pretty little fox! Come and see!"

Suddenly the forest was illuminated in a yellow light as the lanterns and the men carrying them came near. There were Morgan's men. They would take her back and Morgan would kill her or worse.

Winter quickly pulled in her good as she tried again to untie herself.

"You're right. It's not a fox but it's pretty," Winter could see that this man carried a knife in his boot and a sword in his hand. "What's your name, little girl?" The man with the sword asked. 

Winter stayed silent, hoping for some type of miracle.

"Must be a mute," another man came foreword. She realized that it was the man who a foreigner. His accent was so thick that it hard to understand at first. "We could take her to Blackbird."

"He'll probably take her for himself or sell her. She's just a girl after all," the one called Donovan said.

"Or we can just let us go," another said. He sounded much more gentle and not as gruff as the others. "She is just a little girl."

"Mute little girls can speak in their own way, Simon." Donovan said. He pointed the sword at her. "C'mon, girl. You're gonna meet the famous Blackbird!"

"Hey!" She growled, trying to kick away.

"Oh! She has a voice!" Simon said.

"Who's Blackbird?! Why he's the most notorious smuggler in the north! What's the matter with you? Asking who Blackbird is! Ha! There isn't a man, women and child who haven't heard of him," A redhead said.

"Cut her down!" Donovan yelled at someone.

"Alright, your majesty," Simon said sarcastically.

Winter felt the rope snap and she was sent towards the ground, luckily a pair of arms caught roughly.

"Not exactly light for a little girl," the one called Simon said as he strained underneath her weight and then dropped her.

Winter landed with a slight 'poof' in the snow and then Donovan grabbed her arm harshly, pulling her up.

"Stop yapping, Aron. Let's take the girl back to him before-"

A growl cut of the what the man was trying to say.

Each one of them went silent. Donavan tightened his grip on her.

The night only held the wind and the filling of snow, nothing else but the dim glow of the lanterns around them.

Then Simon gave out a cry as he was pushed to the ground by a familiar and giant she-wolf.

"Get her off me! Get her off me!" Simon yelled as Luca pinned him down and opened her mouth wide to reveal sharp fangs that would tear his throat out in a second.

She then turned her teeth to the men and snapped as they tried to prod her with daggers.

"What's that demon doing here?"

"She's not a demon, you know?" Winter said. "She's actually quite nice. Well......without the fangs and all she is."

"Is this monstrosity yours, girl?" Donavon placed the sword against her throat.

"No, Actually a friend of mine," she said trying not to breath too deeply.

"Let's her go, Donavan!" Mason yelled as he stalked his was past his wolf and up the the remaining men. "Hurting little girls! Is this what the Guild has turned into?! You're no better than the witches men! I ought to talk to Blackbird and see what's going on his stupid head of his-"

"Um....Mason. Do you mind calling off your dog? She's crushing my lungs," Simon interrupted.

"I should let her tear your neck out, boy!"

"Mason," Winter said. "As much as happy I am to see you, do you think you can tell him to remove the sword away from my neck. Please?"

"Let her go, Donavan."

"This pretty little girl. I don't think so, she sell for a nice price."

"That's my niece!" Mason snapped. "Let her go or I'll swear that Luca will tear out your throats one by one."

Winter could feel Donavan tense but he slowly lowered the sword. She kicked him in the shin and ran towards Mason who pushed her behind him.

"Get on Luca, she'll take you home," Mason told her.

"What about you?" She asked.

"I'll be fine, now go!"

Winter wasted no time. Luca got off Simon and kneeled, letting Winter on her back.

"Let's go home, Luca!"

Luca looked at Mason as if she was waiting for a command. Mason nodded and Luca took off into the forest and back to the cabin where they would be safe.

The woods blurred together with the falling snow and wind, leaving Mason behind. Winter looked back hoping that was going to okay.

Once Winter left safe and away from these men, then did Mason start yelling at all of them.

"You fools! Is this what Blackbird is having you do? Assist the witch of a Queen and doing her dirty work! Tell me! How man girls have you taken and sold just because the queens soldiers need some playthings!"

"Mason, I know you're mad-" the foreign man said.

"How many?!"

"It's not like that. We don't have a choice-" Simon tried to reason.

"Let me repeat my self. How. Many. Girls?" He said through his teeth.

"Somewhere into the forties," Donavan said. "That's how much we've heard that they've taken."

"They?"

"Oh, come on! Do you think of us as that low?" The redhead, Willis said. "I mean we are scum but we're not that terrible. We joined the guild for a reason."

"If you're not the one who's kidnapping girls from the mountain villages, then who else?"

"The guild split up after you left. Not everyone thinks that Blackbird is the best to leave in charge so they decided to flee and join that witch of a queen."

"And you let them? What happened to the code?"

"There is no more code, Mason. It ended the moment that you left," Simon said.

Mason sighed and turned around, heading back to his cabin and far from this place and his former men.

"Where are you going, Mason? Don't you wanna get a drink?" The redhead asked.

"No, I'm heading home and tomorrow I'm gonna have a talk with Blackbird," Mason growled. "I'm gonna give that idiot a piece of my mind!"