The charge struck the Bolton line like a falling tree.
Corvyn rode at the front, Shade crashing through the snow with powerful strides. Nightfeather rose and fell in his hand, the Valyrian steel blade cutting through spear shafts and shields alike.
A Bolton soldier lunged toward him.
Corvyn twisted in the saddle and slashed across the man's chest, sending him tumbling into the snow.
Behind him, Ser Halric roared like a beast.
The knight's heavy sword smashed against a shield, splintering wood and knocking the Bolton holding it flat on his back.
"Push through!" Halric shouted.
The Ravaryn riders drove forward toward the northern rocks, forcing their way through the tightening ring of enemies.
But the Boltons were ready.
More soldiers rushed in from both sides, trying to cut them off before they reached the trees.
Corvyn saw the danger instantly.
"If we stop moving, we die," he said through clenched teeth.
Another Bolton soldier stepped into his path with a raised spear.
Nightfeather flashed.
The spearhead split in half, and the man dropped before he could scream.
The rocky slope loomed closer.
Just a few dozen strides away.
Halric rode beside Corvyn now, blood streaked across the knight's armor.
"You see that gap?" Halric asked.
Between two massive stone outcrops, a narrow passage led upward into thicker forest.
Corvyn nodded.
"That's our road."
He spurred Shade harder.
The stallion surged forward through the churned snow.
Behind them, horns blasted again.
Ser Roderic Bolton's voice carried across the battlefield.
"Stop them!"
Bolton soldiers rushed to block the narrow passage.
Three men stepped forward with long spears, bracing themselves between the rocks.
Corvyn leaned low over Shade's neck.
"Hold fast," he murmured to the horse.
Then he rose in the saddle.
Nightfeather swung in a deadly arc.
The first spear snapped.
The second soldier stumbled back as Corvyn's blade struck his shoulder.
Halric crashed into the third man with full force, knocking him aside.
"Through!" the knight bellowed.
The Ravaryn riders burst into the rocky pass.
The ground rose steeply, forcing the horses to slow as they climbed between the towering stones.
Bolton soldiers tried to follow.
But the passage was too narrow.
Only a few could enter at once.
Corvyn reached the top of the slope and turned his horse.
Below, the valley swarmed with Bolton men.
Ser Roderic Bolton stared up at them from his horse.
For the first time that night, the smile had vanished from his face.
Corvyn lifted Nightfeather slightly.
Not in challenge.
In promise.
Then he turned back toward the dark forest beyond the rocks.
"Ride," he said quietly.
The survivors of Ravenhold disappeared once more into the endless woods.