Shiver walked straight out into the storm.

Each time the bitter cold wrought itself across her skin, she felt her heart begin to race, and breathing grow laboured.

Her Fear attempted to draw away her attention in other ways. The ice shades this time took the form of Blaze, Marta and Pov. Frozen blood dripped from hollow eye sockets, and they sported melancholy grins as they trailed behind her.

How unimaginative.

They were just products of her mind, far from the harbingers of death her Fear would have her believe. Now that Vale was safe, she needed to-

No – how?

Nausea overwhelmed her as she recognized figures in the distance heading straight towards her.

The only people that knew of the cave were Marta and Pov-

She felt numb. Had they gotten to them? What more could she do? She could handle two or three but she stood no chance against four, five, no six of Dag’s thugs that she could see. She needed to draw them away from the cave.

She had no doubt that the figures had spotted her, and the only thing she could do was create a sense of urgency to divert them. Maybe she would be able to lose them in the snowstorm and circle them back to the city?

No – if she did so, Dag would send some of his men to the cave to grab her when she returned, and they would find Vale.

She had to give them an opportunity they couldn’t resist.

She stumbled, clutching her side, feigning injury. Her nails bit into her palm, drawing blood. She realised that the lord’s blood was still on her hands. She marked her mouth with it, to give them the impression that she was in a much poorer state than she was.

Betraying no indication that she had spotted them, she stalked around the mountain towards a frozen lake that lay in a small grove of trees. True to her assumption, Dag knew that he had the advantage when he saw her limping and clutching at her side, seemingly unaware of their presence. He called on his lackeys to follow him, circling around and cutting her off as they walked onto the frozen lake.

‘What a coincidence Shiv, nice to see you. You alright there? Looking a little unsteady.’

Dag approached, with many of the men that had accompanied him for his attempted robbery of the carriage. She coughed, licking the blood close to her mouth, drawing their attention to it.

‘Boys, we’re gentlemen. Give the lady a hand.’

While he was as dull as a courtesan’s used razor, even a dull blade could cut.

As they closed in on her, she stumbled back, falling onto the surface of the frozen lake and slipping away from them. Two men stepped unsteadily towards her on the frozen surface. Dag, confident and at ease, motioned for the rest of his men to encircle her on the lake. He was complacent, maybe she had a chance.

She crouched down, as if doubling over in pain, and when the two extended their arms out to grab her, she struck.

Her leg shot out, hooking one of the elves at his ankle, making him tumble into his partner. Shiver lunged, accustomed to the icy surface of the lake. Her familiarity of the terrain was her only advantage – a meager one compared to their numbers.

The look of shock on Dag’s face was priceless, but it was brief. He recovered quickly, regaining his swagger as the rest of his men collectively surrounded her.

‘Always feisty and full of surprises, you are. Finally, the Feardamned little ice devil I know emerges.’

Shiver shot back a retort, keeping his approaching lackeys in her periphery.

‘Speaking of surprises, I’m stunned to see you standing after getting squashed by your master’s carriage last night. Somehow it actually managed to improve your looks.’

Dag’s face darkened, self-consciously raising a hand to his recently broken nose. She looked to the others.

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‘And you lads are looking an awful lot confident after letting your peers die to some plants. Not only that, you sold out to the lord that murdered them. Must be fee-‘

Midway through her sentence, Shiver broke into a sprint, sliding between two of the lackeys blocking Dag. Catching him offguard, she used the same tack to hook his ankle and bring him to the ice. Not wasting a moment, she slammed her fist into his already broken nose.

She didn’t fight fair.

But neither did they.

Recovering quickly, Dag’s men leapt onto Shiver, knocking her off their boss. One especially burly one held her in a lock, and she sank her teeth into his forearm, kicking wildly. The lock held.

Spitting out a wad of blood, Dag shot her a bloody grin. But knowing how tenuous his advantage was, he wasted no time.

‘Search her belongings.’

One of the younger elves – he must’ve been around her age, ruffled through her satchel. He retrieved her unfinished loaf of moldy bread, holding it aloft.

‘She’s got nothing else on her sir.’

Wait a minute… She recognized that voice.

‘Areld? Smith boy?’

The boy refused to meet her eyes.

It was him. The boy with a crush on her. How precious. Oh, how Pov would flip at the sight of this. Laughs wracked her body, unsettling Dag and his henchmen.

‘Tell you what, shoot these two and I’ll give you a kiss.’

She winked in his direction, shooting him a bloody grin. He blanched at the sight of her charming smile and started to shake.

‘Leave her to her damp bread. Never let it be said that we aren’t generous men.’

Dag snatched the bag from Areld and threw it at her feet. He was just gloating now.

‘I’d give that line a 5/10 Dag, you’ve improved since yesterday.’

Shiver spat derisively.

‘Must be nice to have a fancy new employer to fund your new nose. All you have to do is a kill a dirty little orphan. Easy.’

A vein pulsed on Dag’s forehead, grimacing at the accusatory looks from his men.

‘Look, you know as well as I do, we’ve got to earn our gold somehow. Can’t be picky. Areld, crossbow.’

‘B-but sir, I thought we were bringing her to the lord?’

‘Want me to send a bolt between your legs boy? Perhaps it’ll help you think straight. If we let our guard down for a second, she’ll slit our throats, this one. We kill her here. Then we find that lord’s package.’

Dag muttered under his breath.

‘Idiot didn't even give us a description of it. What does he expect... Feardamned miracles?’

The boy paled, avoiding eye contact with Shiver as he handed over a sleek crossbow which, from its make, was far out of Dag’s paygrade.

‘How did you find me?’

Dag scratched at his head sheepishly.

‘Surely you didn’t think you could keep that cave of yours a secret? Half of the lower circle has heard your sob story, Areld took extra care in finding it! Isn’t that right lad!’

Despite his gloating, Dag began to shift his weight restlessly from one foot to another. He slowly noticed that his posse weren’t united in their task. Killing another orphan in service of a lord? Those on the street helped one another. Most of them were orphans themselves.

Shiver spat at the apologetic glimpses some of the men gave her.

Feardamn their guilt.

‘Greld, if you would my good man.’

Greld, the muscled thug holding her in a lock, abruptly strengthened his grasp on her.

‘Sorry Shiv.’

A whisper from Greld. A small consolation. With a twinge of the trigger, Dag sent an arrow straight into her abdomen.

So it’s a slow death for me. Couldn’t even aim straight to send me off with dignity.

Or perhaps he was just too much of a coward to kill her outright.

As the sound of their footsteps against the snow faded into the distance, she heard the sound of other footsteps approaching as the gale picked up. Her old friends, the band of merry frozen cadavers. Shiver chuckled, unable to move and bleeding out. She shut out the haunting figures that were slowly approaching.

‘I should at least go out with a full stomach.’

She crawled towards her bag. With all of her determination, she reached for the piece of mouldy bread that Dag had left for her. From the pouch that Blaze had lifted from the lord.

She wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she let it go to waste. Staring at her lifeblood leaking from her abdomen, she couldn’t help but let out a laugh which nearly made her pass out from the pain.

Then her fingers curled around something small. She drew her lips into a weak, bloody grin.

‘Guess I’ll be eating better than I thought, though you’re no replacement for Mr Popsicle. I’ll be seeing you soon my love.’

She popped the ball of chocolate she had taken from Blaze as a tax for her feedback.

Chewing, she immediately spat it out. It tasted nothing like chocolate. It was sour. It even gave the moldy bread a run for its money.

Strangely enough, she resented that more than being cornered by Dag and his posse.

She couldn’t even enjoy her last snack?

‘Tastes worse than Avalkin’s ars-‘

Darkness took hold of her.