“Run, Eleanor! Don’t look back!”Desmond roughly pulled Eleanor’s arm, dragging her through thick, snow-covered undergrowth. The forest outside the village walls was pitch black, lit only by the pale moonlight that occasionally pierced the pine canopy.“I... I can’t go on,” Eleanor gasped, white vapor puffing from her mouth. Her velvet dress, soaked through with snow, was starting to freeze, becoming a heavy burden that pulled her down. “My legs... they’re numb.”“If you stop, you die. It’s that simple,” Desmond hissed without slowing his pace. His sharp ears caught the sound of dogs barking in the distance. Not village dogs, but the Church’s tracking *Mastiffs*. The sound was deep and vicious.“They released the dogs…” Eleanor sobbed, her foot catching on a root. She tumbled face-first into a snowdrift. “Just leave me! You can run faster alone!”Desmond stopped. He turned, staring at the noble girl shivering violently on the ground. The

"Smells like weed and dried blood. Interesting interior design choices."Desmond kicked the flimsy wooden door open. In his arms, Eleanor was shivering violently, her skin as pale as a corpse. Her feverish delirium had stopped, replaced by short, shallow breaths that sounded like crumpling paper."Who dares interrupt my nap?"The voice came from the dark corner of the room. It was hoarse, low, and wet.Desmond stepped inside. The hut was warm, filled with purple smoke that smelled sickly sweet. Animal bones hung from the ceiling, clattering against each other in the incoming breeze.A woman rose from a pile of bear skins. She wasn't old and wrinkled like in the fairy tales. She was young, wild, with tangled red hair that hung down to her waist. Her body was wrapped only in thin rags that barely covered her ample curves.Isabella. The Pagan Witch."A man..." Isabella walked closer, her hips swaying with a hypnotic rhythm.

That night, Blackwood Castle stood starkly atop the rocky hill, blanketed in snow and a deceptive silence. The Baron's standard had been taken down, replaced by the red banners bearing the Church's Sun Cross.At the foot of the castle's south wall, three figures crouched in the shadows of the frozen moat."This way," Eleanor whispered. Her voice no longer trembled from the cold. She pointed to a narrow gap between the foundation stones covered in icy moss. "This is the old kitchen drain. Father sealed it ten years ago, but I know how to open it.""Smells like refuse," Isabella commented, sniffing the air and pulling her fur cloak tighter. "Are you sure this is an entrance fit for a Queen?""A Queen enters any way she pleases," Eleanor retorted coldly. She felt the stone wall, pressing three different stones in sequence. *CLICK.* A stone slab shifted, opening a dark, musty-smelling passage. "And right now, the Queen wants to use the back door to slit the throats of the pigs inside."De

"WATER! GET WATER TO THE WEST WING!"Eleanor’s scream was nearly lost in the roar of the explosions. The ceiling of the castle’s main hall had partially collapsed, dropping burning timber beams. Thick black smoke choked their lungs."It’s useless, Your Majesty!" Isabella coughed, wiping ash from her grimy face. "That’s Holy Fire! Ordinary water won’t put it out. We need sand or blood!""We don’t have sand!" Eleanor retorted in frustration. She looked around. "Where is Desmond?!"Desmond was busy at the main gate. He was holding the giant door bar with his shoulder, feeling the impact of the battering ram from outside.BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!Each impact rattled Desmond’s bones."The defenses are breached!" Desmond yelled. "Isabella! Set up illusions in the corridor! Confuse them when they enter!"But there was no answer.Desmond turned his head. He saw a sight that made his blood boil.Near the gear

"Lay him down there! Hurry!"Eleanor’s voice sounded panicked, shattering the silence in the north tower’s pinnacle room—the only part of the castle that hadn’t burned because it was built of solid stone.Isabella and Eleanor supported Desmond’s heavy body. The man was barely conscious. The burns on his palms from blocking Kian’s holy sword had spread, creating black tracks that crept up his arms like poison.THUD.They lowered Desmond onto a pile of thick fur rugs."He’s burning up," Eleanor touched Desmond’s forehead, then snatched her hand back in surprise. "It’s like touching a furnace.""That’s Holy Poison," Isabella knelt on the other side, roughly tearing away the remnants of Desmond’s armor and tunic, exposing the man’s broad chest to the tower’s cold air. "Kian’s energy is corrupting his Demonic tissue. If left untreated, his heart will stop within the hour.""Do something, Witch!" Eleanor commanded, her tone re