The snow hits my face with each furious swing from the deathly blizzard we have found ourselves trapped in. It's been two days of travel from the camp, and the ever-thickening forest seems only to grow more prominent, even our heads are hidden from the watchful eye of the moon, the leafless branches intertwine and block all but the faintest of lights.

"Boy, I'm regretting coming to this shit hole," Indri says shivering, her knuckles white with how tightly she holds on to the fur on her back, a couple of hobgoblins laugh.

"Wanna go back to doing nothing?" One of them says, earning a few chuckles from the group, but Indri remains silent "If you had done some work in the camp you would have gotten used to it already"

"If I had as much hair as you have on your back I wouldn't need this" She smirks at him, and the laughter increases.

Thorum used his tent to protect us from the worst of the blizzard, without it burning some campfires would have been impossible. He sits alone with a sizeable leathery book in hand, writing in it.

"Lina" I speak up, and the Huani perks her ears "Help her keep warm" She looks at me disturbed by my order.

"Kitty, whatever you can do to help me keep warm, I swear I will forever be in your debt," Indri says in the most eloquent and proper way I have ever heard her speak.

"I have a name"

"Lina, please, I will eat your pussy I swear, but help me"

Lina looks at me once more, silently asking me to not make her do this, but I hold her gaze silently until she stands up, and walks up to the shivering woman, taking off a layer of her fur tunic and joining her beneath the thick fur in an embrace, sitting with her. Indri moans as she sinks her face in Lina's neck.

"Empress, you are so warm...I love you"

The men laugh once more, but I do notice a bit of envy in their eyes. If it comes from Lina's heat or the pair's closeness to each other, I can only guess. Bringing her with us may bring difficulties, having to watch over her, but it is also a great opportunity to figure out some information about the Startears and I do plan on using this time without her brother to try and pry some information from her...although, maybe I do not need to do so myself.

It's so dark that I'm certain none can see beyond a few meters, even for my eyes it is difficult to discern tree trunks from illusions, but we should reach the foot of the mountains in the morning, and from there, it will be the first time since I came to this world, that I will see something other than the trees, and the plains.

Lina and Indri end up sleeping together, the Djhalnari refusing to let the Huani go and depart from her heat. Once the first rays of the sun come, they wake up one by one, while I am already up, always last to fall asleep, and first to raise. Without the blizzard and the pitch-black darkness of winter, we can see the white stony peaks of the mountains an hour or two after departing from our improvised camping spot.

"There they are, the Mother Mountains, always embracing her child, mankind," Thorum says with a quick hm at the end.

"Everyone stop and wait" I speak up, jumping down from the warg who growls at me "Lina, come with me" I order, grabbing a bag with my clothes, and Scarlet's amulet. We walk deeper into the woods "I guess it's better if you see me first, to avoid confusion"

"What do you mean?" She asks leaning against a tree, raising an eyebrow as I begin to undress.

"Jorr was ordered not to show nor tell any of you, but I have an artifact that changes my appearance to that of a human, I need to wear it before we meet the witch we have come to help"

Once naked, I pause for a moment, feeling, strange. Since Morgana saved my life with her demonic magic there has been no scar in my body, or rather, they come and go, but this is the first that my body is without one in sight. Breaking free from the surprise I don the amulet, with a bit of hesitance remembering the pain of it the first time, but of course, there is no such thing anymore.

Only the fire, and soon after, the new me.

Lina is shocked by it and looks at me from head to toe, missing words. I wear my armor and together we join with the group, who are alarmed by my sudden appearance, but I soon prove my identity and share a bit more of Scarlet's involvement with the camp, but just enough. I also make sure they remember to refer to me as Nakor from now until I take this amulet off.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

As we make our way up and into the mountains through a wide enough path, clearly rarely ever walked upon, I can sense my men unsure of how to feel about my new appearance. Especially Lina, who can't seem to stop glancing at me, and Indri, whose eyes are suddenly full of poison and disdain.

"You know" Thorum speaks next to me, the ever-larger peaks and stone walls of the mountains taking up more and more of our view as the vegetation comes to a sudden halt "The mountains are where the Betrayer has put several forts full of devils that prevent most other creatures from pouring into the human lands"

"And so?" Curious information, but none I covet.

"Well, those forts are also watched over by men from Luath, who have their own men from my kind to help them keep the obelisks...do you see my angle?"

"We are not helping the kingdom"

"Maybe we are, maybe we are not. You never know with the Betrayer, she holds that name for a reason after all" He scratches his nose and looks back, is he making sure the others are far enough? "But you can be sure she will look after her own interests, first and foremost"

"Like we all do"

"Almost all," He says, then he speaks in a much softer tone "Don't let her know about the Djhalhanari in your camp"

Now he does pick my interest, I glance at him and see the seriousness in his eyes.

"If I should know something then tell me the whole of it. Besides, Morgana must have informed her of them by now"

"Not even I, with my long life, dear try to claim I know what the Betrayer thinks...but one thing is certain, she is obsessed with the Starblood, and if someone like hers is after something for so long, and so adamantly...I would think thrice before giving it to her"

"She has Starblood..."As soon as the words leave my mouth, his tiny smirk makes me realize the obvious. How do I know? Even back then when I first met her I was already sure I couldn't trust her, but the vial she gave saved me, right?

"I see you must be conflicted. Listen, Morgana and I know each other, we have worked, together on a few different matters, and while we are loyal to the Betrayer, we know whatever she is after, can't mean anything good for Volatia. So trust me, she has not informed of the Djhalhanari, or at least, she has not told the whole truth. Scarlet is capable of creating Starblood, but it is not as pure as she claims, only the Ahajhalnar know its secrets, and only they can recreate its purest form...or so I thought"

He glances back one more, then looks at me. I understand and raise my hand, making the group stop. I walk with him further ahead, away from everyone else.

"She has not told me everything either, it is wise to keep valuable information for yourself after all. But do listen to this. Those siblings, somehow, are able to get the purest Starblood she has ever seen. They are invaluable, if the wrong people knew this none can tell what would happen"

"And you tell me" I reply, arching an eyebrow.

"I do. She may never tell you this, but Morgana wants to trust you, so she can share with you what she knows and let you in on what is going on in Luath. Compared to me, she is extremely hard to convince...it wasn't just the two of us, we worked together the most, but there were two others who helped us gather...information"

"If you want my support then you need to stop holding in what you know, and spill it out"

"I'm afraid I cannot do that, what I have done is enough already, and I'm only telling you because Morgana won't be able to speak on your behalf forever, why do you think she is at the camp because Scarlet just so happened to choose her? No, she wanted to come and make sure the siblings were kept hidden. And you must do the same"

"Why would you trust me with this then? What makes you sure I'm not blindly loyal to the witch?"

"Because I have no choice. You are not an ordinary goblin, that is for sure. And if you want to know more, then you will have to win over Morgana, without her knowing that I have told you this. You must prevent Indri from drinking the vial in front of the other Scarlet Witches. There must be no chance of the Betrayer knowing about its purity"

"...I will consider it, but know that between my life or that of my men, and theirs, my choice is obvious," I reply after thinking in silence for a bit, then I hold his gaze until he nods.

"Understandable" He answers and walks ahead, kneeling and looking around, a large valley forms ahead, creating dangerously tall cliffs that would spell death if anyone were to fall from the heights. And at the bottom of it, only stone "There is a path to the left that leads to the closest Luath fort, but we are taking the right, so we have to advance for a couple more hours until we can cross the valley"

I'm left with a lot to chew on while we keep following Thorum. It always feels like I'm one step behind, just barely catching up on what's going on in the world. But with what he has told me, I feel like a child. Everyone, anywhere, I'm lost. Shadows between shadows, like trying to say which drop of rain is the biggest, lies upon lies, layers of secrets.

And now Morgana seems to be the key to knowing more, my mind travels back to the only thing she has said to me that stands out in my memory. Scarlet Dawn and Twilight Children.

But busy as I was thinking about what Thorum had shared, time passed, and we reached the crossing to the right. The first thing I saw, was the small group of cloaked people waiting for us.

"Good, the sooner we meet the witches the better" Thorum says standing still with his arm crossed, the group of witches approaching us.

I raise my hand to let everyone behind me know they are not an enemy and ride further ahead to speak with their leader first, who I knew would be her.

"Murderer," She says as soon as I'm within earshot. Her words make my blood boil, and it takes a deep breath to keep calm "The least I wanted was to see your face again" She takes her hood off, and undoes her bloodied scarf, throwing it aside "Fuck this, I don't even need it anymore"

It is then I notice the small glimpse of an amulet hanging from her neck, surely, just like mine.

"Scarlet wants me to aid you, is this everyone in your group?"

"It is," She says, her red eyes looking away from mine and back at her witches "We were thirty when we came"

What? There are only five of them, including Anaid herself. Just how strong, or how numerous are the harpies? With renewed resolve, I rest my hand on the handle of my blade. This won't be an easy fight.