No light. No castle. No sleighs. No noise. No people.

I was alone in a forest somewhere and I had no clue where.

Well, I guessed Minerva and her minions had decided to use magic.

On me.

s.h.i.t.

I pushed up to my knees and brushed the snow off my thin gloves. Gloves meant to be worn to a ball. My cloak meant to be worn in a sleigh with a fur over me, curled into the side of a hot guy.

I was not prepared to be in the cold in the middle of nowhere.

This was not good.

And it got worse when I caught movement through the moonlit forest.

I shot to my feet, my eyes glued to where I caught the movement.

Then I saw something out of the corner of my eye, moving in another direction.

I turned to that and started backing up.

Another movement from yet another direction.

I put one hand behind me in order not to slam into a tree and kept backing up.

One of the things moving stepped out from behind the shadow of the trees.

And at the impossibleness of what I saw, I went completely still.

It was a man, a sword at a slant on his back.

But his head was the head of a bird with a sharp, pointed terrifying beak and creepy beady eyes.

"What the h.e.l.l?" I breathed.

He lifted his hand and went for his sword.

I saw another movement as another one stepped out of the shadows.

He was going for his sword too as I heard the hiss of steel when the other one drew his from his scabbard.

Another one appeared in the moonlight, his sword already unsheathed.

Okay.

Well.

I was so totally right.

This was not good.

And in my fabulous gown in the middle of a forest, not knowing where the heck I was, I had one option open to me.

Run like h.e.l.l.

I took that option, turned, grabbed my skirts, yanked them up and did that like the devil himself was on my heels.

And, seriously, he was.

All four of him.

I didn't look back. I was not going to fall over a fallen branch like some stupid b.i.t.c.h in a horror movie.

No f.u.c.king way.

If they were going to get me, they were going to have to catch me.

I had no idea where I was running and I didn't care.

I just ran.

I heard them giving chase behind me and they seemed close.

f.u.c.k.

s.h.i.t.

f.u.c.k.

I kept going.

Then I heard something from in front of me. It sounded like someone (or something) crashing through the snow.

They were coming at me from another side.

c.r.a.p!

I shot to the side and kept going, my breathing labored, my slippers encased in snow, the tops of my feet covered in it. It was awkward dashing through tall snow, and thus not easy, but I kept right on going.

"Miss Maddie!" I heard shrieked.

I kept going but I knew that voice and I couldn't believe I heard that voice where I was.

That voice was Loretta's.

Then I saw her and Meeta racing through the snow ten feet to my left.

What the h.e.l.l?

I couldn't ask what the h.e.l.l. I could only do one thing.

So I did it.

I ran their way, shouting, "Keep going. Go, go, go!"

They kept running as I ran to them and felt and heard those things chasing me.

I made it to them and Meeta threw back her cloak. On the run, she handed me a dagger.

I took it, and suffice it to say, I wouldn't have a problem using it on whatever creatures were chasing us. If I got that chance (which I hoped I didn't), I wouldn't hesitate.

But as I took it, I saw she was heavily armed. She had a knife belt on with more weapons. I was still running so I didn't have it in me to count all the blades she brought, but what I saw made me feel hope, even as I felt shock not only that they were there but that they'd come prepared.

"Where are we?" I asked, still running.

"We run toward Brunskar," Meeta gasped.

I wasn't sure I wanted to go back there.

"But-"

Meeta cut me off. "No talk! Run!"

I thought this was good advice so I kept running.

Until I heard them close in. Loretta cried out and I looked over my shoulder to see one of the bird-headed men had her.

f.u.c.k!

"No!" I shrieked, turned, but Meeta was already there.

She yanked a short sword out of her belt and, without delay and looking like it wasn't the first time she did it, she cut his head off.

Okay. Maybe she wasn't Spock.

Maybe she was a Maroovian Russell Crowe-ian type gladiator.

There was no time to cheer, however, the others closed in.

One was close to me and I ducked like I saw Apollo duck when he was in the swordfight back at the inn. His sword whiffed over me and I came up, already thrusting my dagger forward. I plunged it in his gut and he fell back.

"Bad magic," Meeta whispered, and I turned to her to see her beating back another one.

I also noted the one whose head she cut off didn't fall even as I noticed Loretta was down, back on her hand, her own short sword raised, fending off a third.

No, the one with his head cut off just stood there as another head was growing in its place.

And worse. Another creature was growing from his severed head!

I had no time to totally freak right the f.u.c.k out at this; another one was rushing to attack me.

"Aim to maim!" I shouted. "You cut something off, it grows a new one."

Alas, Loretta had managed to cut the arm off the one she was fighting and get back to her feet and the severed arm instantly started forming another creature.

I got my dagger in one and he fell back from me only for another one to close in.

"Keep moving toward Brunskar!" Meeta shouted, leading the one she was fighting in the direction we'd been going.

It must be said, I liked her mettle, but we couldn't see any light through the trees. Even if we were heading that direction, the castle was far away. We couldn't fight and make it there.

The good news was, I was a total amateur and I could tell these-whatever-they-were-were not real good at this s.h.i.t.

The bad news was, their arms were longer, as were their swords, and as I fought the one I had on my hands, I noticed two more form out nothing.

"She sends more," Meeta snapped, sounding peeved.

Just peeved.

Seriously?

Then I felt even more but I couldn't tell seeing as now I was battling three.

All with one dagger.

We'll just say I was doing a lot of lunging, ducking, swaying my torso back and rolling through the snow.

My dress was totally ruined.

As were my cloak and shoes.

And I was pretty certain I'd lost a comb along the way.

This all sucked.

What sucked way worse was that I knew we were all dead.

This was because we were surrounded. I couldn't miss it even as I battled on, breathing heavy, my heart thumping in my chest, my blood roaring in my ears. I heard Loretta's terrified pants and Meeta's grunts of effort.

We were surrounded.

They were pressing us in.

I felt Loretta's back hit mine. Then Meeta's.

If just one of them got a good swipe in, they could take all three of us out.