White Gorge II

The snow-covered woodland looked as though it had been through a fierce battle. The snow and bushes were littered with the scattered corpses of winter wolves. The bodies were dissolving into black particles that drifted away like wisps of smoke. The victors were clearly the ones who were not lying dead on the battlefield: the human knights from Cruz.

Marquis Yuxi watched the scene expressionlessly as he slowly advanced through the clearing between the woods. With a crunch, his leather boot sank into the snow. "Damn it." Yuxi muttered a curse, frowned, lifted his foot, and took off the boot. He slapped the shaft, shook out the snow inside, and put it back on.

A gray-white winter wolf crawled out from the bushes and whimpered softly at him several times. Yuxi raised his head and rubbed his chin. "About fifteen minutes ago? They fled north?"

"Who are they? That bunch of Cruzian?"

"Figures. There's no one else in this forest."

"Don't worry. They're merely making a last stand. They can't have gone far."

The winter wolf whimpered softly. Yuxi seemed to understand what the beast was trying to say and reached out to stroke its forehead.

Though he was no longer as dashing and self-satisfied as he had been in Ambersell, he had indeed been killed once in that war, slain by the sword of a soldier amid a rout. The injuries he suffered then had left indelible scars on his body. His skin was now as white as paper, lacking all luster and moisture. His exposed arms and hands were frighteningly emaciated, like a skeleton's. One eye was permanently blind, so he wore an eyepatch decorated with an engraved, hollow skull pattern to conceal it.

A fatal wound remained on his chest as well—a puncture inflicted by a greatsword