She woke up next to a tree. The other men asleep and the horses tied to the branches. Katherine quietly stood up and looked around. The sun was nearly peaking up from behind the horizon. Sun was slightly breaching through the cracks in the trees. The forest was so thick only a few rays of light made it to the base.

Abruptly a loud rustle came from behind her. She slowly turned her head and reached for the hilt of her blade. A small head peaked out of a thick bush then revealing a long thick scaly body. The long yellow snake with large brown black spots on it’s back slithered out. It hissed and stuck it’s tongue out. Then struck. It’s teeth several inches long and dripping with poison. Katherine swiped her knife at it and cut the edge of it’s mouth. The tooth barely scraped her arm. A tiny sizzle and the poison seeped into her wound.

Katherine gasped and fell to her knees. The snake recovered and carefully approached her. It squinted it’s eyes at her and lunged for her. Katherine dodged it’s bite and slammed into a tree. She took her knife and slashed at the serpent and thrusted the dagger at it. The snake retreated into the bushes but came back to strike again behind her.

“Back off,” Katherine ordered and swiped at the snake. “Go.”

It was about ten meters long. Katherine leaned her back up against the tree, her lungs burnt, and heart felt like it was doing hurdles. Blood pumped through her body, her heart pounded in her head like a clock counting down the seconds until the serpent killed her; terror crippled her. Her scratch didn’t swell but only remained as a normal cut.

Katherine threw her knife in a panic at the snake and speared it in the back of the neck. It writhed and twisted in pain. The knife pierced deep enough to cut through it’s esophagus. Darion stood up in a fright and thrusted out his sword. He rushed at the snake and beheaded the serpent. The blood sprayed all over him and her as the decapitated snake twirled and spasmed violently. Darion’s skin burned and boiled where the blood hit him. But not Katherine. She let out a little shriek and fell to the floor.

Darion let out a yell of pain and tried to wipe off the blood. He sheathed his sword and rushed over towards Katherine. “Your skin has n-not burned,” he said slightly stuttering. “The blood has not punctured you skin.” Soon all the knights were up, woken by the sudden violence, and stirred fully waken by the beheaded snake. The leader of the quest came forth and bent down to Katherine.

“What is going on,” Ser Tiagon shouted back towards the other knights. “Calm down.”

“There was a great serpent,” Katherine said still in shock. The knights were disturbed and mingling around. Poking their swords into the snake.

“Stop it,” Ser Tiagon shouted again. “You’re acting like little children, don’t poke the snake!” He paused and said a little calmer. “Your skin withstood the gore.” He took off his gloves. “Did you know that it is said the blood of the serpent is more powerful than the ichor of the gods.”

Darion came up next to Ser Tiagon. He took a balled up dirty sponge and disinfected her skin. The sponge sizzled by the touch of blood and burnt down to the core until there was only a small piece let. But got most of the blood off.

Katherine rubbed off the excess blood and carried on with her business as usual. “You know what happened? Don’t you?” Darion later asked her. “You have a gift, the gods have blessed you."

"What?" Katherine questioned, confused and scared.

"Immune to any poison. Your body just formed an armor inside you to protect you from it.” Katherine looked puzzled at him, nodded, and picked up a bundle of stick then walked away. She put the roll of branches on the back of the grey horse and climbed up.

"Set out to the edges of the forest," Ser Tiagon raised his sword.

Darion hoisted himself up and took hold of the reins. Quickly they headed off through the jungle. She held onto the mount’s bridle, all men gave their horse’s names, all brave horses that survived wars, like the king’s horse who lasted a whole decade until the king of the south slaughtered it in a war for the Deep Forest. Katherine thought of a name but none came to mind. She thought to make the time pass as they traveled across the vast jungle. This horse was trained for battle, not spy quest, and traveling. He was trained for battle. Charger, the name suddenly came upon her. Charger, she declared.

It was sun rise now and the sky was bloody orange. The first row of mountains passed by as the sun rose and fell. The third day went by briskly. Behind in the distance the mountains disappeared and all there was was frost. The Deep Forest lay in the distance in front of the long desert surrounding the Ryrie Capital.

Katherine ate a thin piece of dried pig and drank a little rum. A layer of cold ice spread across the vast fields. The horse trotted across the slick grass and frozen lakes. Katherine held on tight to Charger and Darion held tightly to her. The sun concealed behind clouds made it look like it was cowering from some hidden monster in the large span of frost. The troop of men and horses trekked across until the horses collapsed drained of energy.

“We have to take a break,” Ser Tiagon said to them. Charger collapsed onto the ground on it’s side and let out a loud snort of relief. Cold air came out of his nostrils and gradually faded. There was no food in the frost, only cold ice. Ser Tiagon scooped up some ice and put it in his bottle. Katherine followed and put some ice in her water holder.

Darion set down a thick overcoat made of bear fur on the ground and laid down. Katherine crawled over to him and sat down. Her clothes were wet from the frost.

“We’re almost at the desert,” Darion said and looked up at Katherine, “take as much ice as you can. Wipe some on the horse to keep them cool in the desert.” Katherine rested next to him and curled into a ball.

"I'll keep you safe," he said, his green eyes dreary. "You don't have to worry about anything... anyone hurting you."

"Don't be sad," Katherine said quietly.

"Don't worry about me," he whispered and closed his eyes.

"And don't worry about me either," Katherine laughed. "I'll be fine."

The sun was still up but fatigue finally overtook her and she wiped out.

*

Katherine woke up to the sound of horses wading through an ice cold lake and the touch of stinging cold water. The horses were shoulder high in water. Katherine sat up in shock and wobbled on the saddle. Her ankle dipped into the water. Darion grabbed her arm with his massive hand.

“How long was I asleep?” She asked.

“About a day,” he replied. “You were exhausted, you needed the rest.”

“You’re going to kill the horse,” Katherine said, panicking. “What are you doing? This is an insensible decision.”

“We had no choice,” Darion whispered sharply. “It wasn’t my decision.”

Katherine held onto the horn of the saddle. “What if going to Ryrie Capital wasn’t the best decision, the council didn’t even think this over for a second.”

“Yes they did,” Darion argued, “they’ve been discussing this situation happening for a long time. They knew this would happen.”

“Then why didn’t they do anything until now?” Katherine questioned harshly.

“They didn’t want to start a war," Darion said. She could sense that was the end of that conversation.

The long lake seemed to dilate the farther in they went. Now the water was up to the edge of the saddle. Katherine raised her legs up so they wouldn’t get wet. Her leg muscles burned and ached.

Suddenly their horse let out a loud shriek and fell. Katherine and Darion plunged under water. The water stung and burned from the coldness. Something in the distance swam away leaving a trail of blood. It’s tail rippled back and forth as it swam farther away.

Katherine wiggled around and writhed under the water. She could feel the air right above her head but she just couldn’t reach it. Her left leg was pinched under the horse. Air bubbles escaped her mouth and her body burned, of heat and coldness. The cold congealed her muscles and her legs became numb. Her fingertips insensible and hands frozen. The water turned her arms blue and lips purple. Darion was nowhere in sight. The water stung her eyes every time she opened them.

It felt like hours before someone scooped her up. The air flooded into her lungs. But then they dropped her. She descended into the freezing cold water again. The bitter icy water went into her mouth. The paralyzing liquid froze her gumbs and fiercely numbed the roots of her teeth.

Katherine tried to move her arms and legs but she couldn’t. Her lungs burnt and her heart pumped in her ears. There was no sounds, silence, tranquil, but then the started to water splashed around her. A loud pop from inside her ears then a thump came from behind and came closer. Her ears were numb and sounds were now distant. The interior of her ear went numb and soon everything went silent, again.

Someone lifted her up again but she couldn’t breath. The air was on the brink of her mouth but she couldn’t inhale. Her throat was unavailing, Katherine opened her eyes and saw Darion’s face, and felt nothing. Horses were running in every direction and men were spread across the lake like fish.

Darion held Katherine above the water and pushed her onto a piece of frozen ice. He pushed the piece of ice off to land. Katherine slowly turned her head with the last piece of strength she had until she couldn’t feel anything. Her eyes were stuck open. But they didn’t burn and her mouth was completely numb. There was no more pain, she let herself go, and soon felt strangely sleepy. The sky spun and her heart started to slow down.

The beat slowed and plummeted into deep cold darkness.

*