Chapter 1

1.1 Woman stumbled along the snow-choked forest road. Her clothes, not suited for winter cold to begin with, were now ragged, tattered, and caked in snow. Frostbitten face bore an expression of desperate hope.

Helen felt ... cold. Oh so very cold. No, that wasn’t exactly right. In truth, only her torso and thighs actually felt the cold now. Her hands and face burned, and her feet felt nothing at all, so much so that she dreaded that if she looked down, she would see that her feet had broken off, and she was marching on frozen stumps.

Hunger gnawed at her guts, but compared to the cold, it was a minor concern. She prayed silently, asking for strength to reach the village she had spotted yesterday from a barren hilltop. It was her last chance, for people lived sparsely in this region, and she would be unable to reach another settlement in her condition.

1.2 Despair was tearing at Helen’s newborn hope. She feared something like this would happen. Growing panic brought back memories of the atrocities she was fleeing – massacres that had slaughtered most of her family – and their horrors still haunted her fitful sleeps.

Villagers in all the houses she tried turned her away, despite her pleading, crying, and offering to work for them. “We don’t like your kind ‘round her!” they shouted. “Nothing but trouble travels midwinter” grumbled another, pointing a gun at her. “Go away before I let loose my dogs on you, hobo trash” threatened another.