Snowshoes, although something Vas had made many jokes about over the last few days, had actually made all the difference. The Scouts had been able to outdistance the Risen to a greater extent than he’d ever imagined.

They’d been marching west for almost twelve hours and still couldn’t even see the Risen to the south. However, they could see a line off to the north, where the Risen there were marching.

Once the Scouts were able to get enough west of that line, they could march directly north and outdistance the Risen altogether.

If they were lucky, they might get multiple days of advantage.

Vas had originally thought that the trek would be far more difficult, and full of deadly situations, but the additional layer of ash had slowed the Risen down where it barely hindered the scouts. On top of that, the Risen seemed to have suddenly become disciplined, so there was little danger of the wave from the south catching up to the wave in the north, which would have essentially pancaked Vas’s entire squad.

An entire week had just about passed since Vas’s battle with Hades, and they’d been traveling without incident since. Were they really going to make it back to the Wall?

“Weather sure is getting colder.”

“Guess we’ll have to sleep completely naked tonight.”

“Joust, if you are having any dirty thoughts I am going to make you be the little spoon.”

“Spare me, for I have sinned.”

“That’s better.”

Vas heard a noise for a moment. He stopped and looked around. Then he realized what it was.

Birds.

They were nearing a forest. Vas had thought the ash would push them all away, but then again where would they go?

Most of them would probably choke to death on the ash.

Vas coughed.

Maybe he would choke to death on the ash.

“It seems the wind is picking up,” Selene said from beside him. Vas almost jumped.

She had a ninja-like sneaking ability, and often caught him off-guard. But he didn’t jump. He wouldn’t give her the satisfaction.

She didn’t seem to notice.

“Yea. We might need to make shelter,” Joust agreed.

“If there’s a blizzard coming, we should go as far as we can before it starts. It’s more dangerous than setting up a shelter now, but it might buy us extra time before the Risen in the south catch up.”

“I wish they stopped during a blizzard. Everything should stop during a blizzard.”

And so the Scouts pushed on. The wind continued to pick up, and it became more and more difficult to tell which direction they were going in. Vas pulled out his compass and started using it as constant reference. He would need it once they entered the forest anyways.

“Hey, are you going to kill any animals with that compass this time,” Selene whispered.

Vas groaned. “Alex just never stops telling stories, does she?”

“Actually, I’d already heard that one. But she was telling it again yesterday.”

“Stupid wolf.”

“Don’t worry Vas! The stories about you fighting Hades will be WAY more popular when we get back to the Wall!”

“I hope you forget them all.”

“I write them down.”

Vas blinked.

“What? Where?”

“Like I’d tell you!”

Vas shook his head and looked up. They were almost to the forest. After they reached the west side of the forest, he planned on heading straight north. He hoped they could reach around the Risen at that point. The maps he’d memorized hadn’t stretched much further west than this.

The wind and snow kept picking up, and in less than a few minutes, snow was swirling all around them. It was cold, but not unbearable.

“Do we make shelter?!” Alex shouted.

“I think we can keep going!” Joust responded, “It doesn’t seem that bad!”

Vas nodded, then realized they couldn’t really tell. Visibility was low, after all.

“Let’s try and get through the forest!” They all seemed to be in agreement.

A few minutes passed, and Vas found it fairly difficult to keep walking in a straight line. Even watching his compass while he walked just made him dizzy. It seemed like he was walking in circles when he was walking straight, and seemed like he was walking straight when he walked in circles. The way the snow killed most visibility made it so that Vas couldn’t set a point as west. He simple had to look at his compass and walk through swirly mist that was supposedly west.

Instead of continuing this way, Vas and Joust began working together. Vas would point in a direction and Joust would walk in that direction. When Joust started drifting to the side, Vas would shout at him to stop. After that, Vas and the two girls would walk up to Joust and the process would start again. This alleviated Vas’s dizziness and also made him sure they were traveling in the right direction. Even though the going was somewhat slow, they were still able to make good progress.

The icy wind nipped at their faces when it could, but the Scouts were prepared for much colder weather than this. The Risen would keep walking during these conditions, so Vas figured that meant the Scouts should as well.

Walking through a blizzard. What kind of stories would Alex tell about that? If she so much as insinuated that Vas led them through it, he was going to slap her.

Their slow pace continued for around three hours, which is when the gusty wind finally became calmer and snow and ash stopped swirling around.

“Was it really a blizzard, or just blustery weather?”

“Isn’t that what a blizzard is?”

“I’m pretty sure it has something to do with warm air and cool air combining and blah blah blah.”

They all looked at Joust. “I thought you were interested in nature stuff,” Vas commented, speaking for them all.

Joust shrugged. “Animals, sure. Animals are interesting. Weather patterns though? Not so much.”

Another solid hour of marching west brought them to the edge of the forest they were in. Squinting, Vas thought he could make out the Risen to the south.

“That’s them,” Selene confirmed, following his gaze.

The ones in the North were now too far ahead to see.

“It looks like the line ends around where the middle of the forest will be. I think we can march straight north.”

“We’ll find out for sure when we get closer,” Joust supplied.

“Great. Closer.”

Vas agreed with Alex’s sentiment. Closer to that many Risen was not where he wanted to be.

Nevertheless, it was where they had to go.

And so to the north they marched. Alex muttered something about her snowshoes, and Joust seemed to have a quick rebuttal. They were just out of earshot, so Vas was unable to participate.

Instead, he clicked open the sheath for his miaodao and held the blade in front of him as he walked.

The edge was chipped and warped in multiple places. Vas very much regretted that he hadn’t grabbed his nodachi back from Hades’ corpse.

This would just have to do.

“I’ll get my sword to you if yours breaks,” Selene said from beside him, “I have a pair of long knives in my pack I can use instead.”

Vas glanced at Selene’s weapon, a katana. The weapon type was extremely popular due to its cutting ability, and Selene had kept this one in great shape.

“Maybe I’ll just use my bare hands on them.”

Selene smiled. “That was what I liked about you when we first met. You’re so… Savage.”

Vas raised his eyebrows and looked at her. “You like the idea of me crushing skulls with my hands?” Selene scrunched her nose up. Vas agreed, it wasn’t the most pleasant image.

“I like that you are on my side. I like that you fight with everything you have. It’s reliable.”

Vas sheathed his miaodao.

“I’m glad you never give up.”

They walked quietly for a few minutes. Vas didn’t know what to say or how to say it, so he simply paid attention to his surroundings.

“Vas, if we get into an unwinnable situation, can you take Alex and get away?”

Vas blinked. “Wha-” “Joust and I have talked about it. We want to get Alex home no matter what. You’re the one who memorized the map. If worst comes to worst—” Vas held up a hand, silencing her. Alex was apparently close enough to hear their conversation, because this was the time she decided to butt in. “That’s a death flag, you know. In a story, it would be a death flag. Unless the person in the story points out it’s a death flag. In that case, I think it’s cancelled out.” Alex punched Joust after speaking. “Don’t make stupid death flag plans without me again!”

“Sorry!”

They all walked for another minute in silence.

“If they see us we will run. If they catch us we will fight. Don’t play the hero, and I will get you home alive. All of you.”

Vas watched a tear leak down Selene’s cheek before she turned away. She cleared her throat and nodded after a few moments.