The riders left the narrow trail and plunged into the deeper forest.
Branches clawed at cloaks as the horses forced their way between tightly packed pines. Snow lay thicker beneath the trees, muffling the sound of hooves and swallowing the path behind them.
Corvyn led without hesitation.
Shade pushed forward through the undergrowth, the stallion's dark form blending into the shadowed woods.
Behind him, Ser Halric muttered quietly.
"I hope you truly know where you're going."
Corvyn did not turn.
"I know where the Boltons are not."
Halric gave a short laugh.
"Fair enough."
The forest grew darker the deeper they rode. The towering pines blocked most of the moonlight, leaving only thin strips of pale silver cutting through the branches.
One of the riders glanced nervously over his shoulder.
"No horns," he whispered.
Halric noticed it too.
The Bolton horns that had echoed through the forest earlier were now silent.
Too silent.
Corvyn slowed Shade slightly.
"They're searching carefully now," he said. "They know we left the road."
Another rider spoke.
"Then why not chase us?"
Halric answered.
"Because they don't know where we went."
For a few moments the riders moved through nothing but silence.
Then a raven's harsh cry echoed somewhere above the trees.
Corvyn looked up instinctively.
A dark shape circled slowly between the branches before gliding deeper into the forest.
Halric followed his gaze.
"Your birds again."
Corvyn nodded slightly.
"They're restless tonight."
A faint sound suddenly reached them from the distance.
Hooves.
Not close.
But not far either.
Bolton riders were still searching the woods.
Halric leaned forward in the saddle.
"If they spread wide enough, they'll find us eventually."
Corvyn guided Shade around a fallen tree trunk.
"Then we make sure they search in the wrong places."
He slowed the group again.
"Dismount."
The riders obeyed quickly.
Corvyn pointed toward a narrow ridge rising between the trees.
"Lead the horses up there," he said. "Walk them across the stone."
One rider frowned.
"To hide the tracks."
Halric's grin returned.
"Gods, I like the way you think."
The men guided their horses carefully onto the rocky ridge, hooves scraping softly against stone instead of snow.
Below them, the white forest floor remained untouched.
To anyone following the trail, it would appear that the Ravaryn riders had simply vanished.
Halric glanced back toward the dark woods behind them.
"Roderic Bolton is not going to enjoy this."
Corvyn looked out across the endless pines.
The Wolfswood stretched like a black ocean under the night sky.
"Good," he said quietly.
Somewhere far behind them, a Bolton horn finally sounded again.
But this time…
It echoed in the wrong direction.