The harsh winter wind whistled up from the lush valley far below as the White Rabbit Tribe’s best adventurers worked their way along the perilous cliff trail. Violent gusts tugged at their cloaks and long white ears, carrying the strong scent of pine and the distant, deathly howls of creatures they wished never to meet. The trail lay buried beneath three feet of fresh snow. In the distance the sky darkened with ominous rolling clouds, the storm’s edge sweeping inexorably closer, ready to bury the pass under another blizzard or avalanche. They would have to hurry, but the worst was almost over. In a few hundred more feet the ground would level out and the constant uphill battle would end.

  Lilly’s flute quietly sang out. Its trembling notes seemed to attack the very ground around them. Her melody, shimmering with real magic, melted the snow ahead of the covered wagon, turning the impassable terrain into a slushy stone path the mule could manage. Water and slush trickled in rivulets around hooves, creaking wheels, and boots, only to freeze again beyond the reach of her spell. Her small shoulders hunched, furred fingers tight and deliberate on the intricately hand-carved wooden flute. Each breath was careful and precise, the music of a bard carrying a burden too heavy for her small heart. She remained intently focused, playing so quietly that from forty feet away it could not be heard.

  On the bench beside her, her sister Rose guided Bill the mule with steady hands, her gaze fixed forward, undistracted by the storm that crept closer. Her ears flicked at every shift in the wind, eyes searching the trail ahead for danger. It felt like they were being watched. It felt like they were being followed. Hunted. Her paranoia kept her on edge, but it had saved the party more than once. Her keen senses were the best in the village, and she was unmatched with the care of animals. Her crossbow lay loaded and ready on her lap, quiver of copper bolts close at hand. She knew they would be needed. It was only a matter of when and where.

  Behind the wagon, two stout figures braced their weight against its flank. Venus’s muscles flexed as she strained to help push, fingernails digging into the wood while her boots splashed determinedly along the slushy trail. Her breath fogged, her jaw clenched, but her eyes stayed sharp. Beside her, her sister Daisy also strained against the wagon’s weight as it climbed the steady slope. A shield was strapped across her back, emblazoned with the image of a purple crocus flower, symbol of her goddess. Likewise, the black iron mace swaying from her hip bore the same design. She whispered prayers with each exhausting breath, maintaining her blessings upon the party as they struggled forward. The wagon’s large closed tent blocked sight of her twins up front, but Lilly’s steady quiet music was always enough to guide her resolve.

  For over three hours there had been nothing but this, almost peaceful. The sigh of the wind, the groan of wood, the trickle of meltwater, and the labor of mule and rabbit struggling to ascend the high mountain pass as Lilly’s flute cleared their path. Rose knew they were almost done with the ascent. Soon the resting area would come into view and the worst would be behind them. Then the adults could ride and rest their aching arms and legs, perhaps passing out the dried fruits and freshly baked bread they had prepared. Food and drink would be for all but Lilly though. She would have to play until they were clear of the snow, down in the valley below. They had no time to stop at the resting place, as they had many times before. If they were to beat the looming storm, they would have to push through the pass as quickly as possible and hope Bill could hold out until they entered the next valley where the green dragon lived. The dragon should still be in hibernation, and if they were fast enough, they could even make it back home before it woke from its yearly slumber.

  Lilly paused her spell for a heartbeat to catch her breath. The silence felt sudden and heavy. Rose glanced over with a small smile. "Keep going, little songbird. Bill’s legs are starting to complain louder than you are." Lilly managed a tired giggle, the sound bright and fleeting against the wind. Daisy’s voice drifted up from the back, soft but warm. "You’re doing beautifully, girls. We’re almost there. When we reach the valley, I promise hot stew and a full night’s sleep." Venus grunted in agreement, her push never faltering. "And I’ll carry Bill down the last stretch if he quits on us." The brief exchange passed like a shared breath, a flicker of family warmth amid the cold. Then Lilly’s flute resumed, quieter still, but steady. The wagon creaked onward.

  Daisy could hear some commotion on the icy trail behind them. It had been getting closer. They were being hunted. She had hoped the frozen meltwater would dissuade anyone from following, and that the coming storm would cover their tracks. If only they could reach the resting place before they were attacked, then at least the wagon would be safe. She knew a pack of white wolf hunters would be on them soon, but they were being abnormally loud. She listened closer and thought it was the sound of battle. Perhaps they had been attacked by a gorlash or the giant eagles. Either way, she was thankful for any delay, and it raised her hopes that they could make the pass summit before the attack. If they were lucky the wolves would be destroyed and their attackers so injured as to not bother with them. They were not to be trifled with. They had killed white wolves before, and they would be happy to do it again. The distant snarls turned to sharp yips of surprise, then screams of pain cut short, followed by heavy thuds against snow and stone. The distinct sound of a fading wolf's cry as it disappeared into the valley, two thousand feet below. A metallic tang of blood drifted up on the wind, sharp and coppery, mingling with the pine scent. Daisy’s ears flattened. Whatever had struck the wolves was fast and merciless. Hopefully it would have its fill and not bother with their small troop and wagon.

  At the head of the wagon, Rose’s body stiffened. Her ears tilted forward. Her nose twitched. Something was wrong. Instinctively she dropped the reins and grabbed her crossbow. Her eyes narrowed, scanning the rise and fall of the drifts that lay unmelted ahead, the way the blowing snow caressed their surfaces. The shadows were not all from rock and snow. Then a drift of snow itself moved.

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  A massive shape tore upward from the whiteness, snow exploding skyward. A gorlash. Larger than any they had ever seen, nearly twice the size of a polar bear. A horrifying demon of snow, its body a nightmare of fur and muscle, with horns jutting from its skull, razor-sharp teeth and powerful claws that could crush a man and tear off limbs. It leaped out so fast it was terrifyingly unnatural, its eyes glowing red with a hunger that froze your blood as its roar echoed through the valley.

  Rose’s panicked voice split the air. "GORLASH!" Her first shot embedded itself deep into its thigh, and she scrambled to reload while reciting a spell of calm. But it was too late.

  Lilly’s flute shrieked, the final note an ear-shattering screech. Her melt-water spell collapsed, and the slush beneath them began to stiffen and freeze. The cool wind from the valley below pressed upward, quickly chilling water into brittle sheets. Ice spread like cracks in glass beneath hooves, wheels, and boots. Lilly’s scream rose in place of the beautiful flute, shrill and ragged, shaking the very pass with terror.

  The wagon shuddered as wheels slowly became trapped in the spreading ice. Venus and Daisy broke from the back of the wagon, racing up each side of it to meet the threat. Venus grabbed her weapons hanging on the side of the wagon and splashed through the icy slush on the cliff valley side, bloodlust in her eyes. She had slain gorlash before, but never one this big. Not yet anyway. She smiled to herself at the opportunity.

  Daisy charged forward on the cliff side, mace drawn and shield already firmly in hand. Taking care not to slip and fall under the wagon as she pressed herself between it and the cliff. She could see the creature clearly now, and began casting her first spell.

  Venus however, never made it. Her boots slid on the freezing slush, her balance torn away in a moment of clumsy bad luck. She slammed into the wagon’s frame head first, the world spinning as she lost all sense of direction. "Daisy!" she cried to her sister, her arms flailing and clawing for anything to hold on to, but her body pitched over the edge and was swallowed by the void of the misty valley two thousand feet below. The sickening thud of her bouncing off the cliff wall on her descent echoed up from below.

  Daisy did not see what happened, nor did she hear her sister cry out her name. The wagon blocked her view of the incident, and all she could hear were her daughters’ unbroken wails. All she could see was the monstrous monstrosity that loomed before them.

  Rose’s second bolt loosed with a sharp twang as her aunt screamed and slipped into the valley below in the corner of her eye. The bolt struck deep into the gorlash’s chest as the mule’s head was bitten clean off in a single bite. There was no time to mourn Bill, or all their adventures together. But her heart sank at the idea that her aunt, their best warrior, was gone. The beast’s roar of pain tore down the pass like an avalanche, echoing like thunder. Lilly’s cries only grew louder, fraying into hysteria as she dropped the flute and looked for a place to hide. Rose tried to reload, but her panicked fingers betrayed her. A bolt slipped from her grasp, then another, clattering and sliding across the icy ground to join Lilly's flute.

  Daisy strode forward, planting herself in the gorlash’s path, shield firmly in hand. "By the light of faith and the divine goddess above!" she shouted, slamming the ground with its rim. A shimmering glow flared around her, warding her in heavenly brilliance.

  The gorlash’s strike fell half a heartbeat later. The blow crashed hard against her shield, the ward splintering but holding, yet rattling her to the bone. Daisy’s mace cracked into its thigh, driving home the bolt that Rose had placed there. Staggering back for but a moment as the creature’s fury drove it forward once again. The second strike from the beast hammered her ribs. She felt them snap like dry twigs as her breath abandoned her. A third strike hurled her to the side, smashing her against the mountain wall, her leg twisted beneath her mangled form, shield cast aside and broken in two. Her breath came in short, ragged gasps, each motion agony. Yet her hand glowed faintly as she whispered the divine words in reflex and pressed her trembling hands against her broken ribs. Healing light stemmed the flow of internal bleeding before she passed out in the snow, somewhat alive, if you could call it that.

  The gorlash lumbered toward the wagon, stepping onto the side of the dead mule and crushing its ribs under its weight. Lilly’s screaming voice was raw but somehow louder at the sight of her mangled mother and her own imminent death. Rose had finally slid another bolt into place, teeth gritted as she whispered the spell of True Aim. If she could hit it in the eye, perhaps through to the brain, they might stand a chance. Only a critical hit could turn the tide of this battle. She would spend all her luck, focus all her mana and pull out all the stops. "Divine Grace!" she roared, casting another spell, one her mother had taught her, as she fired another shot.

  But the gorlash ducked its head just in time. The bolt sliced across the top of its head just above its right eye, leaving a bloody cut. Howling, it lashed out, more enraged than ever. She could not believe she had missed at such point-blank range.

  Rose’s resolve crumbled like dust. Her arms dropped limp to her side, and the crossbow tumbled and slipped to the icy ground. With her eyes closed tight, she resigned to her fate. So this is how it ends, she thought, body tensing. Better a fast death than to die slowly, her thoughts flashing to her mother’s broken body still half alive on the ground.

  Abruptly Lilly’s screams stopped. Rose assumed that her sister must have been killed. That she would be next. There was nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. The wind stilled and the mountain fell silent. Rose’s ears twitched at the absence of all sound. Or was it her who was already dead? Even the cold was gone.

  There was only nothing.