"We can't keep running." She mutters.

"I know," he sighed. The wiremen fey flowed from the trees in a glittering swarm. Scuttling to the rise, they began to climb, digging their claws into the ice as they edged upward. Steel limbs flashing, they crawled up the icy slope like ants, barely slowing down. "What are these things?" Ash whispered. He raised his arm, and the air around him sparkled as a glittering ice spear formed overhead. With a flick of his hand, he hurled it down the slope, into the ranks of the oncoming fey.

She sighs, shaking er was, a cloak of layers of palm trees forms around her, she quickly hugs it to herself, shivering.

The spear hit one directly in the face, punching through the wires and tearing it from the hill. It clattered down the slope, arms and legs flailing, but the other fey leaped over the body or skittered aside, and kept coming. Ash whirled his steed around, his face grim. "We can't outrun them," he announced, and there was the faintest hint of fear in his voice. "They're faster than us, and will overtake the horses long before we reach a trod. We have to make a stand."

She sighs, fisting her hands and glaring at the nearly dead trees around her. They began to shake, soon theirroots were coming out of the ground and we're grabbing hold of them, tearing them apart. Then the trees themselves came alive, their Branch's swinging the things around until they broke. They were trampled on by the numerous amounts of trees, all the while Claire was shaking, her power was dim in Winter, taking large amounts of energy.

"Not here." Ash shook his head and pointed down the other side of the slope. "Theres an abandoned fort on the edge of the wyldwood. Ariella and I used it as a hunting lodge. If we can reach it, we might have a chance."

The other side of the slope fell away into the same break-neck drop. Far, far in the distance, the snow-covered treetops met the writhing gray mist of the wyldwood.

A raven circled them, giving a harsh cry as it passed overhead as the first of the wire-fey clawed its way to the top. Ash kicked his steed into motion, charging for the edge of the rise. His horse gathered its legs underneath it and leaped into empty space.

She follows him, her horse leaping with his.

They fell for what seemed like an eternity. When they finally hit the ground, the horses landed with barely a jolt and immediately plunged into the forest. Behind them, the wiremen poured down the slope in a glittering flood. Finally, they burst through the trees into a snow-covered clearing. In the center of the grove, a crumbling tower rose skyward in a precarious upside-down L, as if it might collapse any moment.

She frowned up at it, reluctant to go near it.

"Come on!" Ash leaped off his mount, ignoring it as it raced away into the trees.