I could not leave. Not again, not yet. Not with the first snowfall on the doorstep and so much work to do. Days of work turned into weeks as the temperatures fell and we desperately tried to get as much work done as we could.

And then, one chilly, beautiful morning the snowflakes began to fall in clusters so thick you could feel the weight on your skin. More and more fell from the sky until you couldn‘t see your hand in front of your face anymore. Winter came with a vengeance, taking over completely and transforming the landscape into a white wonderland in a couple of hours.

We spent a day in the Wreckage, huddled up around brightly lit fires, and still, the snow did not cease to fall.

It was too much. So much, in fact, that I suspected nature to be influenced - if by the forces of the Wyld itself or something else, I was not able to say. I reckoned that it had to do with the absence of the Aspect of Winter, the part of the broken Mad King that should have taken the reign now, which I had slain for the Aspect of Autumn. The Mad King would rest now, I suspected, powerless and recuperating.

That meant that only the natural Nightmares and creatures of the Wyld now stood between us and the tide of darkness that had consumed part of the Wyld and the Fallen Empire.

Grim and a couple of his hardest most weathered men ascended the pile of ships to report to me in my Raven‘s Nest. I stood in the wind shadow of a bulkhead, watching them come. They lacked the kind of careless grace that, let‘s say, Simue would have shown while climbing slippery ships in a snowstorm, but they were surefooted and steady.

“Grim.“ I nodded, as I clasped his arm, followed by a curt nod to the group of weathered veterans, whatever they might have been in another life.

I led them into the captain‘s quarters of the Raven‘s Nest, where I passed a bottle of rum to combat the cold and let the men take a couple of moments to let the warmth seep under their wet and frozen cloaks.

“If you are anything like Grim, you hate ceremony with a vengeance.“ I began. “But useless words even more.“

A look around into the sly smiles and gruff nods showed me that I seemed to be on the right path.

“Look. I do not know how to say that right, but I want to do for you what I have done for the free knights of the Wyld. Grim has vouched for every one of you and I would like to make it official. Give you a permanent place in Ravenport, something others can aspire to be.“

They were not happy. As hunters, they were keen to keep their lives private and not too much intertangled with civilization. “You are as much responsible for the success and the survival of Ravenport as any fighter and any knight. You have defended us and fought for us time and time again. I just want to repay you, build something on top of your deeds instead of just letting time sweep you away, forgotten.“

Still, they just stared at me with earnest but grim eyes, so I continued. “I would found a knightly order for you, only Grim would strangle me for that, so I thought about something else, something that will put you on the same step of the ladder without any of the...ceremony. It would include me being a patron of the group, sharing some of my...strength with you, forming a bond between you and Ravenport.“

“Fuck off.“ One of the hunters murmured and eyes glistened under their hoods as they turned to me.

“Look,“ I said, “It is just a title. A job description. So that, when everything is said and done, you have a position that can be paid and respected. All I need you to do is give an oath now. To the Raven and Ravenport. Nothing more, nothing less.“

“Do it.“ Grim finally took part in the awkward conversation. “What are you waiting for? That the Lord Protector begs you on his knees? You know what he is, you know what is happening around here. You may have been burned by oaths before, as have I, but I will be the first to say the words if it helps you ladies to open your godsdamned mouths.“

“Oaths, Nobility...they got us in this mess in the first place.“ One of them rumbled into his frost-crested beard.

“So, take part in it!“ I pleaded. “Take a position of respect and power and work towards a fairer future. With the influence of an order you will have a say. I do not want to rule this place a tyrant. I want it to be a free haven. For men like you.“

Who would have thought to be the hunters of Ravenport to be so stubborn? I sent them out into the snow again, an hour or so of pleading later, with only Grim staying back.

“Why does it matter?“ Grim said into the silence.

“You know it matters. I need an oath, the intent, and the ceremony to form an order. To give them Skills.“

“Find different words. They will not swear their fealty to you like a knight.“

“I do not want them to! But I need to be their patron to help them and to have them help me.“

Grim shrugged. “They will say the words if you ask them to. You made your case and they want to protect this place like everyone else. They are your men. They just hate being bound.“

“Let‘s call it that. Give them every freedom they want. The unbound Rangers of Ravenport. They swear to protect and serve Ravenport and accept me as their patron. Will they do that?“

Grim nodded. “It will do, I reckon.“ Then his eyes narrowed. “What are you doing?“

What I was doing? What I should have done a long long time ago. What I had done to Cogar, when he laid before me, dying. I channeled Essence into Grim, and lot‘s of it. Making him my Companion, binding his fate to mine and bind us together. The system accepted and Grim‘s eyes widened as he received the notification of his level up.

“I? I am not giving you the same choice as the others.“ I grinned. “We are companions, whatever words you say or do not say. We can have a neat ceremony of the Wyldlings, for becoming brothers in spirit, if you want. But they do cut your hand to do it, and I know you get weak knees if you see blood.“

“You cannot make me.“ he spat. “What have you done? I just leveled up and the system says I am your chosen.“

“Grim, listen. I need you. It‘s hard to describe, but I am becoming...different. You know I am a Twice-Born. But now I am leaving my mortal self behind, one piece of my past self one day at a time. I need you around, to call me out on my bullshit, to keep me grounded. To keep me interested in the problems of Ravenport, big and small. Not just you, either. Cogar, Simue, Higgins, Thimotheus and Veneir. But, besides Cogar, no one talks to me like you do. And Cogar’s main interest is not the success of Ravenport. He is a Wyldling, after all. I need you to step up for that role in Ravenport.“

“I get to say to you whatever I want?“

I nodded solemnly.

“I am in.“ He grinned. “And fuck you, you head in your arse wearing high noble piece of Twice-Born garbage.“

I sighed. That would turn out to be a long night, as for the first time since I have known Grim, he just did not stop insulting me for one second.

We found the words we needed, in the middle of the second bottle of rum that night. Curt words, and a tough ceremony. A branding of a stylized raven on the shoulder of every Unbound Ranger. The oath to protect Ravenport and the formal acceptance of the Raven as their patron godling. A minute of silence in the middle of a snowstorm.

I had spent every ounce of Essence I possessed. Every ounce I had accumulated in the battles and by completing the quests. Just ten men had taken the oath of the Unbound, with Grim at their helm. I had given them the [Walk the Night Unseen] and [Eyes to Pierce the Darkness] because I had a dangerous assignment for them in mind. As soon as I had the Essence, I would grant them the [Raven Companion] Skill as well.

They were to cross the Shattered Lands in the deep of winter and explore the forest of the Mad King in his absence. They were to check the boarders for the creatures of darkness, to look for a contact to the forces of Cogar and the Bear Clan, and to fight the darkness wherever it showed its twisted head. I was blind, in the north, beyond the glades and woods the Mad King controlled, and I wanted eyes and ears as close to our enemies as we could manage.

As the snow swallowed Grim and the Unbound Rangers, my eyes followed their shadows as long as they could, and I continued to stare into the whirling and dancing snow long after I had lost sight of them.

I felt...not done. I just sent ten men into the war with the darkness, into dangerous and unknown territory and...I felt I had not done enough. I summoned Kingsbane into my hand and gripped its handle. To gift them a Skill would be expensive and I planned to murder a lot of Nightmares to afford giving them the aid of the raven companions, or better, the experienced souls of Ravenrock.

That I could do. Murder creatures to give my people an edge. That felt like my wheelhouse. The storm swallowed me as it had swallowed the rangers.

It still was snowing, days after, as the lookouts shouted for the arrival of ships at the corner of Shipwreck Bay. I was among those running to the railings, shielding my eyes from the snow, trying to steal a glance of the new arrivals.

Slowly, rowed rather than sailed, the two longboats I had given to Simue and her group crept along the coast towards us. They were lying deep in the water, close to shore, too heavily burdened to dare the open waters.

The boats were full of people, twice as much as had left with them. Simue had returned, and she had brought refugees with her. I made for the pier as fast as I could, seeing the boats arrive as I ran across the cobbled stone.

Miserable faces, hard and weathered, each of the dulled eyes wearing the expression of someone who just had crossed the ocean in a snowstorm with no ceiling or wall to protect them from the razor-sharp and icy winds. They were weak, cold, and sick and for an hour or two we did what we could to carry them into the lazaret, into the warmth, and to give them hot broth and freshly baked bread.

They were shivering, groaning, but with every minute that passed in the warmth, life returned into their bodies. Simue was among them, the small silent woman shivering like the rest of them, worse even, for her body was fragile, even if she was not.

An hour or two passed until she found the strength to return my hug and look at me with something other than misery. There was a new edge to her, something I could not place, something dangerous hiding behind her eyes as she mustered me as I mustered her.

But she was back, she had been successful, and we had twenty or so rebels to look after. It was a good day, for all the snow that had fallen.