A group of four foresters made their way through a solid wall of falling snow. The storm that started in the morning did not stop even by the middle of the day.

“Arvus, I told you not to go in this weather. - the voice was barely audible due to the raging wind, but the one who uttered these words did not doubt that they would reach their addressee.

“After the sky clears up, there will be no point in looking. - the speaker was clearly out of sorts, but his party members did not pay attention to it. Because they knew the reason why the strongest of the warriors of their village had not been able to sleep peacefully for several days.

I know you won't agree, but...

- Stop it, Virn. Leave if you want, I don't keep any of you here. Arvus's cold answer made him a little angry, but Vearn didn't say anything.

“They have been gone for the fourth day, and he can’t come to terms ... Although, who am I kidding, if someone from my family was missing, I would behave the same way.” - Thinking about this, the senior hunter pulled his hood tighter and silently followed into the darkness of the snow-covered forest.

Four hours later they returned, but as before, empty-handed. One of the hunters was a woman, it was she who tried to calm the anger of her commander, bursting out, who now and then clenched his fists in anger, piercing the skin with his claws.

- Take it easy. Corvus was with them, and his experience surpasses any of us. I won’t be surprised if even today he tells you how they have been running from the black guard all this time. - the firmness with which the woman tried to fill her words seemed implausible even to her, but it was impossible to leave everything as it was.

Arvus did not answer, continuing to walk with the same sullen look.

Such situations have happened before, but very rarely and not with entire detachments of hunters. Now it was winter, and with each group someone from the elite was walking to save them from a stupid death at a dangerous time.

But…

They were supposed to return about three days ago, and that's with the recent storm. All four understood that, most likely, they were no longer alive, but the forest people were a very close-knit people and never left their comrades in trouble. That is why these three were here now. They are one of the strongest warriors in the village, they did not leave their leader, with whom they went through so many battles, although they could not help him much.

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It was not far to the city, and only Arvus forced himself to return by force. He was always so, restless, stubborn and beyond measure tough. The rest attributed it to the fact that he was special, but Arvus himself knew that he just had such a character.

The storm never let up. The furious wind howled with terrible force, breaking against tall and strong forest trees and scattering almost meter-long clouds of snow, but this did not prevent the gray-eyed hunter from feeling the familiar smell.

When Arvus stopped and turned his head to the side, everyone became alert.

"What's in there?" – the same thought arose in the head of the other three. Each of them trusted Arvus implicitly, for their leader had never been wrong about such things.

- It smells like blood. And it's not an animal. - a gloomy voice came from under the gray hood, when Arvus began to slowly walk in the direction from which the wind brought the smell.

Without saying a word, the others lined up at three-meter intervals and followed him. None of them smelled blood, but they had known the forest walker ahead of them for too long.

Each held a bow in his hands and only Arvus - two large daggers, which he inherited along with the armor. He himself chose them as a reward, because it was this style of fighting that he liked the most.

But now, a hunter walking next to him noticed how the commander hid them back in his belt. Without hesitation, the others, noticing this, did the same with their bows.

It wasn't until they got closer that they realized why. A completely naked body lay in the snow. Even through the thick layer of snow that had fallen from above, one could see a huge amount of blood around him.

– Hmmm. White?

The hunter woman asked a perfectly legitimate question. All representatives of the forest people were born with green hair, but the body lying in front of her had short hair, merging with the snow that covered the entire forest.

She, like the other two, stole a glance at Arvus, but only for a brief moment.

One of the hunters crossed his arms over his chest, about to pray to the Goddess and the spirits of the forest about the death of his brother, but he was interrupted by the voice of the leader:

“He hasn't died yet.

Hearing him, the hunter rushed to the body. Turning him over, she opened four huge longitudinal wounds on his stomach, inflicted by the claws of a beast she knew well. Taking out a flask with disinfecting juice from her bag, she poured all its contents onto the wound without regret, but this did not satisfy the woman. She stretched out her hand in the direction of one of the woods, and in a moment there was another flask, with which she did the same.

- It's a pity we went out for a short time, there is nothing to cover him with.

All this the woman said, checking the barely audible, on the verge of silence, heartbeat and breathing of the poor fellow. She tried her best to wake him up, but when she carefully opened her closed eyelids, she froze for a moment.

- Blind?

The eyes of the half-dead woodsman were completely white, they had no pupils or any impurities of a different shade. One solid white, the same color as his hair.

- Stop messing around, if he lies here a little longer, he will definitely die, if not from wounds, then from the cold. - saying this, one of the hunters raised his upper body, while the other took the poor fellow by the legs.

"I wonder where he's from?" the woman muttered.

- What's the difference. First, he must be saved.

Arvus silently watched as his comrades carried away the wounded. The momentary joy that appeared in his gray eyes faded at the same moment when he realized that this was not the one they were looking for.