The soldier, though, cried out and fell, lifeless, in the snow beside her. Kyra stared, baffled, wondering what had happened.

She looked up to see Dierdre standing a few feet away, her bow raised, having just fired. She looked down and saw the arrow piercing through the soldier’s back. She felt a rush of gratitude. She saw a fierceness in her friend’s eyes she had not seen before, could see that the vengeance her friend was taking on these Pandesians was cathartic for her.

Kyra thought the battle was over—but she suddenly heard a rustling in the wood, and she turned to see a soldier taking off. She recalled what happened last time she’d let someone escape, and without thinking she turned, set him in her sights, raised her bow, and fired.

The arrow landed in his back and the man fell face-first in the snow. Dierdre looked at her as if with surprise, but this time, Kyra felt no remorse. Kyra wondered what was happening to her. Who was she becoming?

Kyra stood there, breathing hard in the silence, surveying the carnage. Several soldiers lay there, their blood seeping into the snow, all dead. She looked over at Andor, Leo, and Dierdre, and slowly realized they had won. The four of them had become one unit.

Kyra kissed Leo’s head then walked over to Andor, still snarling at the dead soldiers, and caressed his mane.

“You did it, boy,” she said to him gratefully. “You freed us.”

Andor let out a sound, like a purr, but harsher, and for the first time, his visage softened a bit.

Dierdre shook her head remorsefully.

“You were right,” she said. “It was stupid of me to come here. I’m sorry.”

Kyra turned and looked out through the wood line, across the clearing, remembering the food. The pigs were still roasting there, hundreds of Pandesian soldiers close by, still not alerted to their presence. She saw all the carriages, too, the faces of all those boys, and it tormented her.

“We are lucky they didn’t spot us,” Dierdre said. “This must have been a patrol group. Let us go. We need to get as far away as we can, before they do.”

But slowly, Kyra shook her head.

“I’m thinking the opposite,” Kyra replied.

Dierdre furrowed her brow.

“What do you mean?”

Kyra looked back over her shoulder, at the trail back to freedom, and she knew the safe thing to do would be to ride off quickly and quietly, to continue on her quest.