Chapter 1

Yona and her companions were trekking through the snowy forest. It the first winter since Yona and Hak had fled from the castle and begun their journey. It was cold and snowing, making for terrible weather to be outside in. The only upside of the heavy snow was that the footprints that they left behind were buried in snow almost immediately. This made it easier to avoid being followed.

After a few hours of hiking in the bitter cold, the seven of them decided to set up camp. They set up the tents as quickly as possible in order to keep the snow from piling on their shoulders. Hak, Jaeha, and Shin-ah went out to see if they would be able to find a living thing for them to eat. Meanwhile, Yona, Kija, and Zeno went to find dry wood for a fire. Yoon stayed in the tent to made medicine with his current supplies.

While they were out, Hak, Jaeha and Shin-ah caught a four rabbits. They were about to head back to the tent in order to prevent freezing from the cold, when Shin-ah stopped and raised his mask over his forehead. Hak and Jaeha asked what was wrong.

"People" he muttered.

Immediately, Hak and Jaeha braced themselves for a possible fight.

"Who?" Hak asked

"Soldiers"

"Really?" Jaeha asked

"They're chasing someone." Shin-ah realized.

"Are they chasing Yona or Yoon?" Hak asked carefully.

"A young girl," Hak and Jaeha tensed "with black hair."

"We should go and check it out." Jaeha decided. "Lead the way, Shin-ah."

The three of them braced themselves against the cold, and headed in the direction of the people. The snow seemed to be slowing a little bit as they were able to see more than 5 feet in front of themselves. When they saw the situation up close, the three of them stopped in their tracks.

There were about 40 soldiers going after one person. Hak and Jaeha weren't able to see the person very well but, it was apparent that it was a girl. She had black hair that reached the back of her knees. Her clothes were worn and much too thin for the weather. Despite all that, she was evading the soldiers very well. The young girl narrowly dodged trees and made as many turns as she could. Plus, every once in a while, she would grab onto a lower branch and catapult herself into the tree it belonged to.

After she had jumped into a tree, a few of the soldiers drew their bows and shot at her with arrows. But, she lithely dodged all of the arrows and jumped to the next tree were she jumped down. Once she had jumped down, the chase resumed. This time though, a few of the archers shot arrows at her while running. Without even looking, she dodged those arrows. Soon afterward, a few of the archers stopped and knelt on the ground near a small clearing.

After vanishing for a little bit, the girl came back into sight and ran into the clearing. The soldiers that were following her surrounded the clearing. The girl observed this without looking worried. Then, the soldiers went into battle. A few entered the clearing with spears and swords. With these, the soldiers attacked the girl.

This shook the three of them out of their shock. How could they use weapons on a small, defenseless girl? Jaeha took out one of the men in the trees while Hak and Shin-ah began making their way into the clearing through the heavily armed soldiers. They didn't make it very far before most of the other soldiers began entering the clearing as a group. When they looked, the three of them froze.

The girl that was being targeted by all of these trained men was not at all defenseless. She was dual wielding swords that she seemed to know how to use very well. It seemed as if an entire war had broken out against one young child. Archers rained arrows down from the trees while swordsmen and many others with weapons attacked from the ground.

The child seemed to be handling her own. She would slice through a volley of arrows with one sword while facing several soldiers with the other. Suddenly, she jumped onto the helmet of a soldier. Two arrows, one from both her left and her right sliced the air that she had just been standing in. With incredible balance, she jumped from the heads of one soldier to the next. After a few minutes, two more arrows flew out of the same areas. This time though, the arrows weren't aimed for the same spots. The young girl noticed them both and dodged the first easily. The second caught her in the back. Rather than falling, she landed on her feet and continued to fight the enemy soldiers.

This made Hak and Jaeha angry. Why would they work so hard to hurt this girl? They took out the men with renewed strength. But, before they could take out all of the archers, two more arrows pierced her. After the three of them took out the archers, the little girl finished off the last of the 30-some mercenaries that were going after her head on. Shin-ah pulled Hak and Jaeha behind a bush. They were about to protest when he put his finger to his lips and then pointed at the girl. He wanted to watch what she would do.

She then sheathed her swords and pulled out rope from her sleeves. Using the rope, she tied up the soldiers that she had knocked out. Once they were all tied to the trees surrounding the clearing, she pulled out the arrows that were still embedded in her skin. Then, the little girl looked around the battle field and collected the arrows that were still intact. She then stared in the direction of the three behind the bush, giving them the eerie feeling that she that they were there. They thought she was going to come and attack them but instead, the girl turned and headed into the forest. Once she was gone, they all let out sighs of relief.

"I was sure that she would attack us." Hak commented. Jaeha and Shin-ah both agreed.

"Shall we follow her?" Jaeha suggested.

Shin-ah shook his head and pointed to the soldiers, some of which were regaining consciousness.

"I agree it will be safer but, she was badly wounded." Jaeha said

"She noticed our presence." Shin-ah argued.

"He has a point. She would probably attack us if we followed her." Hak conceded

"So, we extract information from them?" Jaeha asked looking at the soldiers. Shin-ah nodded.

When they got closer, they could hear some of the soldiers grumbling. "Why didn't the arrows work?" "We coated them each with enough poison to take down to full grown horses instantly."

"Would you mind telling us why you did that?" Jaeha asked

The men that were tied up looked at the three of them; each with a deadly weapon in their hand and a dark look on their face. The soldiers gulped fearfully. But, they agreed to tell everything that they knew.

They said that they were from a land across the ocean. Their queen had given instructions to them to bring the girl to her either dead or alive. There had been other infantries that had been after her but they had all been wiped out. Apparently she was so strong; she had taken them all out. The soldiers would either have one of their bones smashed to bits or they would see that happen to one of their friends and they would quit. The order had been sent out a few years ago but still, no one knew her name or exact hair color as she never told anyone her name, and she knew how to dye her hair. They had no malice towards the girl but, they had been given orders by the queen of their land. If anyone dared disobey her orders, they would lose their head.

"Did the king of this country allow you all to come in and hunt down this girl?" Jaeha asked.

"I don't think so." said one of the soldiers. "But, the heads of the fire, earth, and water tribes allowed it so, we were forced to come."

"What does your queen have against this young girl in the Kouka Kingdom?" Hak asked.

"We aren't sure but, I think she used to live in our kingdom." Another soldier answered.

"Is there anything else you know?" Jaeha asked, flashing his knives.

"No. Please don't kill us." A frightened man said.

"If we cut your ropes, you must leave and leave the girl alone." Jaeha said menacingly.

The men all nodded and swore never to even come close to her again. Once the men were gone, the three realized what time it was. They had to head back or else, their comrades would worry.