Snow fell quietly on the battlefield, blanketing the gruesome scene that had taken place an hour prior. 

Valerius Strand sat astride his black war stallion, watching as his men picked their way through the carnage. The sounds of war still thrumming in his ears. 

"How many of our own?" He inquired to his second-in-command, nodding over to the ever growning mass of bodies. 

Jacques De Claire brought his reed pipe to his lips and inhaled. the sweet scent of sparkweed enveloped around him like a cloud.

"Thirty-five confirmed. They're still counting," he pointed a yellowing finger to the larger pile of bodies. "They're separating the Altraxians from our own men. They want to give our men a proper burial."

Valerius nodded along with him, taking the sparkweed pipe that Jacques offered to him. The Altraxians were getting bolder, straying further and further across the border that separated the kingdoms of Skáld and Altraxia. 

He and his men ahd been lucky this time, with the unexpected snowfall working in their favor, and having the element of surprise, but next time they might not be. 

"General!" One of his soldiers called to him from the pile of Altraxian bodies, he could hear the panic in his voice. "We've found soemthing that you'll want to see!"

Jacques snorted, "The yound soldiers, always so excitable. We're we like that?"

Now it was Valerius's turn to snort. He could barely remember what it was like to be a young soldier; having been enlisted eighteen years ago at the age of twelve. Jacques having been enlisted two years before him. 

"Perhaps you De Claire, but I was held to a much higher standard."

Jacques laughed, a loud belly laugh, choking on sparkweed smoke, "Perhaps dear friend, but I distinctly rememer a young boy who came rushing into the dining tents yelling about the dragon that had been watching him from the tree tops while he pissed! Come General, let's see what has gotten the men all riled up!"

Valerius chuckled fondly at the memory, flicked the embers from the pip and passed it back to his friend and slid from his horse. 

The two of them made their way over to where the young soldier stood. By now, a small group had come to gather around. In the middle, a soldier was crouched in the muddied snow beside an Altraxian body. The men muttered and whispered to each other as they walked past. 

"What's going on?" Valerius addressed the young soldier who had beckoned him over. 

He looked no older than eighteen, his face round and boy-like, was caked with mud and dried blood. The traces of a patchy blond beard could be seen on his chin.

"Look at this sir." And he nudged his companion to the side to show Valerius and Jacques what had caught their attention. 

The two older men reeled back at the sight. The smell of decay cutting through the sparkweed smoke. 

The Altraxian body was covered in dark black veins, blood streamed from his clouded eyes. His lips looked as if they had been torn off, leaving him in a permanent snarl. His face and stomach was bloated and unnatural, but that wasn't what caught Valerius's attention. His wrists and ankles had been bound together. 

"Fuck." Jacques coughed. 

"Do you think he was a prisoner?" the young soldier- Jean questioned, his eyes curious as he reached over to touch the corpse. 

Valerius stopped him, grabbing his arm, causing Jean to jump. He wasn't sure why he felt such uneasiness when he looked at the corpse. 

"Sir?"

"Don't touch it. It might be an Altraxian sickness."

Jean pulled his hand back with a look of shock and disgust on his face. 

"What should we do with him?"

Valerius thought for a moment before saying, "Leave it. The wolves must eat too."

***

Night came quickly and the snow had began to fall heavily. 

Valerius and his men had taken refuge in the treeline, a little ways away from the battlefield and just south of Skáld’s Pass. Their tents were pitched right beside the base of the Völva Mountain. The wind has picked up, it howled through the mountain pass like the voices of lost souls. 

Somewhere on the abandoned battlefield, a corpse twitched and rose. Its attention was drawn to the campfire just beyond the trees and it started its lumbering walk towards it. 

Others rose and followed suit.