The Death Bridge

After she finished treating her wounds, she looked at Mili and said to the doe "Let's go. I've got ten Shadow Beasts to skin, and you have to keep me company". The doe snorted in protest. Raven laughed. "Alright. I know you don't like those things. Go on then! Go do whatever it is that you do when I'm not around", she said as she playfully threw a small stone at Mili. The doe quickly scurried away. Raven laughed and stood up. "{Well, let's get this over with}", she thought as she slowly limped away.

__________Meanwhile__________

"Alright, lads! We'll make camp here tonight!"

The wagon slowly came to a halt at the man's words. The men spread out, each going to do their task. They all felt happy and completed their tasks merrily. After a while, the camp was set up and a fire burning brightly. The man spoke again "Bring out our esteemed guest lads. Let 'im join us on this fine evenin'." The men laughed as a few of them went to the wagon to carry out their orders.

They brought the white-haired man and tied him to one of the horse posts. "Our guest has arrived lads! Now, let's celebrate! A fine lootin' we had today, eh?", the men cheered in agreement to the big man's words. "Riggar! Bring the wine!". At his command, another man came forward with a case of wine. "Drink up lads!", the big man said. The men laughed and each of them grabbed a bottle of wine. They started to sing and dance. The white-haired man just looked at them with an expressionless face. Then he turned his head away, focusing on the chains around his hands. He knew his magic wouldn't work, so he tried to figure out how to break the chains.

Suddenly the big man appeared in front of him and the white-haired man quickly looked up. "I assume ya can read eh lad?", the big man asked. But he received no response from the white-haired man. Instead, he just silently looked at the big man with a cold expression. The silence made the big man slightly uncomfortable. "Are ya mute or somethin' lad?". No response. The big man looked around. Seeing his men were still dancing and singing, he quickly loosened the chains from the post and led the white-haired man towards his tent.

Once inside, he glanced outside again to make sure no one saw him. Satisfied, he turned around and looked the white-haired man dead in the eye. "Now you listen to me carefully, or you'll be in yer grave before we've e'en reached the slave markets. Yer gonnae read me thes letter. An' if anyone hears about thes, you're dead." The white-haired man was stupefied at the big man's request and his mouth was partially open from disbelief.

"Ach, get on with it! Yer waistin' my time!", he said to the white-haired man as he held out a piece of paper. The man slowly took the paper and started to read. After he finished, the big man grabbed the piece of paper. Anger flashed across his face. "So that's what they're plannin' eh? We'll just see 'bout that!" He grabbed the white-haired man and took him back to the wagon. "Remember, you breathe a word 'bout this, and you'll be rottin' in the ground!", the big man warned. "You've earned yerself a full meal. You'll get it in the mornin' ", and with that, he closed the wagon's doors and locked them.

__________Three weeks later__________

"There we go!" Raven said as she finished tying the last knot in the leather strip. She finally finished the walls in her shack. She stood back and looked around, feeling proud of what she had accomplished. "Well, I can finally call this a home!", she said with a smile. Sighing happily, she started to clean her home. After putting everything back in their place, she grabbed her sword and walked to the door. The unstrung bow against the wall caught her eye, and she sighed heavily. "It's only been three weeks… I should wait another week or two before I can even start to use my bow again…". She sighed again and left her home.

It was still early in the morning and so Raven decided to patrol the main road that led into the forest. She walked slowly. Her leg was better but still far from healed, and after a while, she had to stop and rest her leg. She sat down and looked around. She saw the sun hide behind a sea of clouds. The clouds were dark and omniscient. "{Oh no… I need to hurry up. Those clouds do not look good}", she thought. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, gathering her strength. "Let's go," she said as she stood up. She tried to ignore the slight pain in her leg as she picked up her pace.

After what seemed like hours she reached the edge of the forest. She started to look for signs of trespassing. She continued to follow the road away from the forest when she reached the end of the road, a freezing wind started to blow. The sun's light has disappeared and the world around her was turning ominously dark. Raven felt a shiver running down her spine. "{What's up with this? This doesn't look like a normal snowstorm… this looks bad… I need to get back quickly}", she thought worriedly. She turned around and started to walk back as fast as she could. Just when the trees at the edge of the forest entered her line of sight, the snow started to fall.

The snowflakes gently tickled her skin as she kept on hurrying back to the forest. The pain in her leg became stronger. She felt the cold air burning her throat every time she took a breath. Her eyes started tearing up. She closed her eyes for a moment and the burning behind her eyelids caused a single tear to roll down her cheek. She opened her eyes and tried to focus on anything but the pain in her leg.

The clouds turned even darker. When Raven glanced upwards she felt the fear in her heart awaken at the sight of the violent looking sky. A drop of water fell in her eye causing Raven to flinch. She turned her face back down and started to run. "{This storm is all too sudden! What's going on?}", she thought as she tried to ignore the throbbing pain in her leg.

The soft drizzle turned violent. The snow stung her skin and the rain felt like rocks falling down on her. Her lungs burned from the freezing air and her breaths were white.

She finally reached the edge of the forest. She dashed into the forest, running and dodging trees as she made her way back to her home. She felt thankful for the trees that blocked some of the raindrops. Her clothes were soaked and her wet hair painfully hit her face as she darted through the forest. Her shoulder started to pain with all her movements. "{At least the cold dulls a little bit of the pain}", she thought. Her feet turned numb and her legs felt as if they were no longer part of her body, with a mind of their own. She wanted to stop, let her leg rest, but she kept on running.