The riders did not slow until the valley and the shouting Boltons were far behind them.
The forest thickened again as they moved deeper into the Wolfswood, the towering pines swallowing the last echoes of battle.
Snow fell softly now.
Quiet.
Almost peaceful.
Corvyn finally raised a hand.
"Stop."
The surviving Ravaryn riders brought their horses to a halt among the trees.
For a moment no one spoke.
Only the sound of tired horses breathing filled the cold air.
Ser Halric slid down from his saddle with a heavy grunt.
"Well," he muttered, wiping blood from his blade, "that was unpleasant."
Corvyn dismounted as well.
His boots sank into the fresh snow.
"How many?" he asked.
One of the riders counted quickly.
"Six… including us."
Halric let out a slow breath.
"Six out of twenty."
The number hung heavily in the forest.
Corvyn said nothing.
He simply looked back toward the direction of the valley.
Somewhere out there, Roderic Bolton and his men still searched the woods.
But the forest between them was wide and dark.
Halric followed Corvyn's gaze.
"You thinking about going back?"
Corvyn shook his head.
"No."
"Good," Halric said. "Because that would be very stupid."
One of the younger riders spoke quietly.
"My lord… why were they here?"
Corvyn looked down at the snow.
The question had been turning in his mind since the first horn had sounded.
Bolton forces that large did not wander the Wolfswood by accident.
They had come with purpose.
Halric voiced the same thought.
"That wasn't a scouting party."
"No," Corvyn agreed.
He tightened the strap on Shade's saddle.
"That was an invasion force."
The riders exchanged uneasy glances.
Halric frowned.
"Then Ravenhold isn't their real target."
Corvyn nodded slowly.
"They were moving south."
"Toward the Weeping Water," Halric said.
Corvyn looked toward the distant hills beyond the forest.
"If the Boltons cross the river…"
"They'll be inside Northern lands before anyone knows," Halric finished.
The realization settled over the group like frost.
Corvyn swung back onto Shade.
"We ride for Ravenhold."
Halric mounted as well.
"And then?"
Corvyn's grey eyes hardened.
"Then my father sends ravens."
He looked once more toward the dark forest behind them.
The Wolfswood was silent again.
But something had changed.
What began as a hunt in the forest…
Was becoming something far larger.
War was coming to the North.