It is my fault. I have been too soft with these bastards. Ser Angus talked to himself as he walked on the loose snow. He could hear the snow squish when it wrapped at the side of his boots.

He stomped on the snow, releasing his anger until he got exhausted. He paused and took a long breath by leaning his hands on his thighs.

The fatigue had not appeared for no reason.

The castle was not visible anywhere. Now pine trees reigned for tens of miles. Trees were greener, with less snow covering their leaves. He kept his patience by listening to the birds chirp in the forest.

Amidst the singing birds, he heard a moose.

Sound wasn’t loud, barely audible in whistling of mountain wind, but he could hear it. It, for sure, was close. And if it was close enough to be heard, then it would not be much farther from his spear tip either.

He unclipped his spear from his back. He let himself disappear in the dark shade of dense forest, following the occasional sound.

From inside, the noise was much audible due to the reverberation. Despite of the echo, he could tell the direction from where it was reaching to him.

Ser Angus froze after hearing the moose’s tramps. He didn’t expect it that close. Maybe it was not the same moose he was following, but it did not matter to him.

Bush ahead of him moved.

He held the spear over his shoulder straight away. His hands remained steady yet storing a great force with a precise aim.

A fawn hopped out of there, flapping its ears and dusting off the snow.

Ser Angus tightened his grip after realizing it was well within his range. The fawn sneezed and hopped but did not run, for it was too young to determine what danger was.

I sentenced three men to death. Ser Angus breathed, Should I kill this too?

His arm locked upright as his mind battled to come to a conclusion. It rested there, even when his thoughts swindled somewhere else.

Wouldn’t Fierlo choose to come here? What could take him to the barren mountain?

Ser Angus took a gander at the fawn, chewing on fallen leaves.

Its ears flinched. The fawn jumped backward once and vanished in the row of trees. Birds screeched from their nests, warning the animals of something Ser Angus couldn’t anticipate.

Ser Angus couldn’t stop himself from spinning back after hearing a loud rumble from a distance.

The snow on the mountain started to descend. Snow roared throughout its way down, but settled quickly. After the avalanche, the mountain just had some patches of snow left on it. As for the snow, almost entirety of it was at the base of the mountain.

The avalanche had ended a while ago but Ser Angus could still feel the ground vibrating. Trees trembled too, shedding the layer of snow from its leaves.

Some of the snow fell on Ser Angus.

A thick haze of snow hovered in the sky when the ground stopped vibrating. Compressed wind hit his face, bringing more snowflakes in his direction.

There was a sudden breeze, then everything went quiet.