My each step meant another contact with the snow. And every time my boots met with the ground there was a loud noise.

Creak creak creak.

Damn with all attempts to move soundless. I just walked normally, pulling my hood deeper and deeper on my forehead, trying to protect my face from the chilly wind.

Of course it didn't really work. I was getting colder and colder. And, though I wouldn't admit it aloud, scared. The though of freezing to death alone drove me to panic, almost insanity.

I was slowly losing my touch. There was nothing there to use to my defence, not a chance to build anything. My bag was somewhere in the bottom of a frozen river and who knew where Zo was. Maybe he wasn't anywhere anymore and that would be my fault, my fault, my fault. I couldn't bear that though.

I tried desperately to force myself to push forward- but my legs were already trembling and I was suffocating. I needed air so much yet I just couldn't breath. The cold air made me shiver despite warm clothes that I had been wearing.

I know that the trace I was leaving couldn't be more visible but I didn't even try to cover it up. It was hopeless and I would only lose energy. There was no way to walk on that fucking snow without leaving footprints in it.

He was following. I know he was- he told me he would and he kept his words. He'd lie to others, but not to me.

I was the Sun and he... He was the Moon. And it was night, dark, his time. Riario was going to catch me soon and there was absolutly nothing I could do to stop him. He knew that, I knew. We both knew.

So now it was a race of some kind. Because he could capture my alive or stumble over my dead body. What would be better? Should I just turn back and shout, hoping that he will hear me and he will be fast enough to... To rescue me?

The image of warm fire, extra clothes, maybe some food and a horse that would spare me from wandering on foot was tempting. Of course there would be consequences- once he captured me, he would never let me go. But I could rest... Sleep. Stop worrying about the cold.

The reality, as always, was far more cruel. I fell down suddenly, stumbling over something that I could not see. I rolled down a little bit, stopping when my back met a tree. I hissed from the pain of that contact and tried to stand up.

I couldn't.

Just couldn't. I had no strenght left and even the will of surviving was leaving me.

I closed my eyes, embracing a numb feeling of not caring anymore. I wasn't even scared- just tired. The last thing I remembered before I lost my consciousness was some distant shouts.

[Some time before]

"Are you sure?" Zoro frowned, looking around. "We're in a bloody middle of nowhere, you know. There's no way someone lives there."

I was lost in thoughts but heard him anyway. I sighed a little. I was exhausted anyway, dealing with his complains weren't going to help me. We probably should take the rest, our horses were tired and so did we. But I didn't want to stop just then.

"The signs are clear." I casted a quick look in his way, almost daring him to argue. I wasn't so sure myself if I had chosen a right directions.

"You mean the fucking Turk told you that?' he raised his eyebrows. I stared at him, without a word. The silence only made him sure. "You need to stop following him like a dog, Leo. You aren't his bitch, are you? ... If he exist, I mean."

He wanted to make me mad, then cool down and rethink that matter. He succeeded in his first task, because the anger filled me. But I swallowed down an annoyed retort. He was right, a little bit. And I didn't want to start a shouting contest just there. I had heard stories about avalanches in this mountains caused by dumb people who couldn't shut their mouths. Not my ambition to join them.

"You've seen him once, remember?" anger was gone as fast as I returned my thoughts on the view in front of us. My fingers began to twitch, dance in the air. I wanted to draw what I saw there. The trees were diffrent, not so high but stronger than the one that you could find near Florence. There was a lot more green there, too. Only then I noticed that there was not so much time left to the twilight.

"You mean that tavern where you got into someone else's fight?" he laughed, without much joy in his voice. "He was there, yes. But then he was gone and you started getting crazier and crazier."

"He's real, Zoro. I'm sure. Anyway, you will see snow," I changed the subject, forcing my horse to go faster. "First time in your miserable life. Aren't you excited?"

"I like things wet, but I'm afraid cold is not a best feature." I rolled my eyes after I heard that comment. Of course he would say something like that. "But poor Nico will be disapointed. We are traveling, exhausting our asses and he has to stay in Florence..."

I nodded my head slightly. Andrea got sick and there was no one who could take care of him. Nico agreed to do just that but he was probably angry at us for going out of the city without him. No matter, I was going to make it up for him after our return.

"I though you were happy to leave him behind, out of our trouble."

The sun was slowly heading down. It was bad, very bad. We hadn't got as far as I wished we would that day. Obviously, we couldn't continue on our journey in the dark. Zo or one of the horses would probably stumble over some root and break their legs, slowing us even more.

"I was." He smirked a little. Finally he stopped frowning over everything. "But now I'm not so damn sure. If I am to freeze here, he could at least join me."

"It's not that cold." I reached for my bag but didn't take anything out of it. I had to force myself not to grab some paper and charcoal to draw. "Yet."

"It's fucking cold, Leo." He looked up to the sky. "And it's going to rain soon. We will catch some disease and die."

We had to stop, I knew. I narrowed my eyes, trying to spot a good place to sleep.

"It will only get colder." I felt almost bad for dragging him behind me. "If you're such a delicate princess, maybe you should head back now?"

"Are you fucking kidding me?" he sended me an offended glare. I turned a little, so he didn't see my smile. "No way I am leaving you alone there. I'm damn sure you'd hurt yourself in less than one hour."

I opened my mouth, but an answer to his words never came. A long, lonely howl sounded somewhere in the distance. I blinked rapidly.

"A wolf," I guessed. I saw Zo twitching as we stopped our horses.

"Bloody fantastic," he mumbled. "Should I start my confession now?"

I considered our options, looking around. The animal (most probably a whole pack of them) wasn't near. But it could move fast and catch us. Depending on exactly how much of them were there we could or could not fight them. But it was a great risk anyway. Especially if they would attact when the night fell.

"Grab dry sticks and dead leaves, everything to make a fire." I jumped down to the ground and tied my horse to a tree. "We will make it if we hurry."

"Aye." He joined my search for materials without much heart in it.

After some time we collected enough to make a small fire.

"We need more." I clenched my teeth. It was not enough for a whole night, of that I was sure. I looked at a pile as if I could make it bigger just by glaring at it.

He patted me on the shoulder in a protective way. He probably just wanted to clean his hands, all this sticks were so dirty.

"You prepare the bonfire, I will take care of this shit." His lips twisted in a smile but his eyes told me to focus. "Just... Don't kill us, will you?"

And off he went. I crouched and started doing my job. There wasn't much work but I hurried anyway. I wanted to find some time to draw a little. Maybe a sketch of Zo collecting dry leaves? ... Leaves. Book of Leaves. Fuck, all my thoughts leaded to that thing. Maybe it was not worth it? I had doubts, yes, but I couldn't stop searching for it. I needed it. All I had to do to try a little bit.

That particular journey wasn't about it, not directly. The Turk told me that in that mountains lived someone who knew my mother. My mother, which face I'd forgotten. I needed to find her even more than the Book. I was longing for her, hoping that she was a better person that my father. That she could help me.

Zoro tossed some more materials on the ground and checked the horses. They were snorting and struggling, trying to get free from their bridles. The fact they were so nervous didn't really help to create nice atmosphere. Zo sat next to me and we waited in silence. The sun almost disappeared by this time. There was no way I could draw.

The howls sounded again, this time there were more of them and they were closer.

"We will be fine." I noticed how tensed he was.

"Aren't we going to set up a camp?" he shivered a little, again. It was indeed getting colder. "You know, we could use some warm..."

I sighed a little bit and leaned forward to finally light the fire. The flames began to dance and fight the darkness.

"We can, if you want some fucking wolves to eat our blankets." I got up on my feet and went to the horses. I looked up on the tree and sigh. "We could climb up them. Then they would be hopeless."

"We would lose our mounts," he pointed out, raising his hands to warm them a little bit. "And then how do you imagine going forth? Or back? Fuck, Leo, that's not an option."

I took the bags from the saddles and throw them on one of the branches. I patted my horse, hoping they were close enough to the fire.

"We may not have a choice." I tried to calm the poor animals down, but they just wouldn't stop neighing. "I will sit with them. You climb up on that tree."

"What?! No fucking way!" he got up quickly, clenching his fists. There was some very close howl. I hit him right in his chest. He was a little bit stronger than me but stumbled back anyway.

"Now!"

He looked at me, worried, but finally completed what I said. Few seconds and he was high above the ground, safe and sound.

Just in time. A big shape jumped of the bush. I couldn't see it very well- it was too dark. But its yellow eyes were glowing, fire reflecting in it. The horses had gone mad but they were tied well. Or I hoped so. I picked up a burning stick and waited, cursing myself for not taking a bow with me. I heard a loud growl. They weren't even trying to be quiet.

"I can see five- no, six! - of these fuckers," said Zoro. He really have a good sight then. I barely saw anything apart from the bonfire and the horses. "They are circling you around. You should come up there..."

That was going to be a long, painful night.

They were scared of fire and not hungry enough to risk getting hurt. That was a good thing but I didn't know how long would that last and if they would give back in the morning. I tried to focus on anything else but I was counting our chances, calculating the strenght of their jaws and the speed they could run.

"Leo!" Zoro yelped suddenly. I guess that shout saved my life in a way. I got so caught up in my thoughts I nearly didn't see an attack coming. The wolf was swift, young, brave. Stupid. It jumped out on me with a quiet growl. Instinctively I took a swing with my stick.

I hit it. It whined like a puppy and leapt forward, knocking me down on my back. Fortunatly it didn't stop running and disappeared in the dark. I had some time to sit up and took my weapon before the next attact came.

This time I was fully prepared so I hit the animal without trouble. It ran off too, snarling at me angrily.

My heart was beating fast and my hands were trembling. I found myself unable to ease my rapid breath.

"I'm fucking going down!" there was some noise as he moved on his brench.

"No!" there was desperation in my voice and I knew it. "The last thing I need now is to have to worry about you too!"

As I had time to argue with him! The fire was slowly burning down so I had to rake in it a little bit. Of course another stupid fucker had to jump then. I flung myself on the ground, almost not making it. The wolf landed directly in the bonfire.

Sparks went flying from the fire as the animal howled in utter horror. It tried to get out but ended up falling down. I didn't waste my time. I picked a dagger from my pocket and stabbed it in his head. There was blood. I laughed hysterically as the smell of burning flesh filled the air.

"Oh my God, Leo." Zoro was even more scared than I was.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," I barked out with some problems.

The attacks stopped then. The wolves were there, but didn't dare to mess with me anymore. I had even harder time keeping the fire, since the dead wolf was lying in the middle of it. But it was a moment of peace and I could rest a little bit. Put the blade out. Calm down.

And then it started to rain.

First raindrops were shy and didn't really do that much damage. But I know straight away what they meant. The plants were going to get something to drink. We and our things were going to get wet. But, maybe most importantly, the fire was going to dissapear in seconds.

"Leo...?!"

I jumped on my feet, a dagger in my hand. I cutted the ties that was keeping the horses in place. I wanted to give them some chance, small or not. And then I was racing to the tree as the rain became heavy. I didn't even reach my destination and the bonfire had already been gone.

I leaped for the tree, almost missing it. It was a matter of seconds though- they were going to attack me soon. In that very moment. My hands tighten around the trunk as I tried to find a place to put my feet. Zo was shouting hopelessly on the tree.

I shouted too- a little bit- when I felt a sharp pain in my leg. I kicked hard with my free foot, hitting something soft. There was a loud crack, a yelp and then there were hands all over my shoulders, pushing me up, away from the wolves.

Zoro hugged me. I snuggled in his chest, not carying about anything anymore. We were both soaked now.

"It's good, this branch is able to hold us both," I mumbled, laughing a little bit. Damn, I was so lucky that my boots were so thick. They took most of the impact.

"You're so messed up, Leo." He giggled as helet me go and tied me to the tree with a rope. "Now you won't fall down. How's your leg?"

We both ignored the neighing of our horses, so full of terror. They were probably being torn apart now. The wolves were howling almost happily and I felt sick.

"It's fine, I guess," I shrugged my shoulders. "I'm gonna live. And walk straight"

He sighed quietly, but we were sitting so close that I heard it without a problem.

"Now we are damned."

"Let's get some sleep, shall we?" I tried to sound brave and calm but most probably failed.

It was hard to fall asleep on a tree, trembling from the wet and all the sounds of horror that we were hearing

But I'd always had problems with sleeping so it didn't really matter to me.

"You look like a ghost, Leo." Zoro pressed his lips in annoyance. I rubbed my eyes and yawned a little bit. "You should eat some of this meat. Damn with your vegetarianism, those few nuts won't give you enough energy."

Yes, he was right. I was still very hungry, my stomach was rumbling. Eventhough I tried to focus on my foot, checking if it was alright, I couldn't really think about anything else than food.

It wasn't really the meat itself- I had eaten it when I didn't have any other choice. I just wouldn't be able to force myself to swallow the wolf that I had killed. Some of its body wasn't completly burned so I cutted a good pieces and gave them to Zoro. I felt like vomiting through and I didn't really know why.

It wasn't like I had never seen a body that badly damaged.

"Leo!"

I realized that I was staring into space with blank expression on my face.

"What?!" I shot back, squinting my eyes. I guess I was a little bit too loud. "I'm trying to think here!"

"Did you hear that?" he raised to his feet, looking around. I closed my mouth and listen. There it was! In distance, sound of hoofbeats. He turned to face me, excited smile on his lips. "Maybe we are not as dead as I thought!"

I calculated that there were at least four of the horses. Somebody was, without a doubt, riding them. Somebody armed and in hurry. I doubted that they had good intention. They were probably some bandits who would happily kill us. Because really, no one would chose this route by accident. It was just too dangereus and didn't lead anywhere.

As Zoro said, we were in the fucking middle of nowhere. Far, far away from civilization.

"Hurry." I quickly extinguished the fire, grabbed my things and forced Zo to hide in some bush near the way.

"What?" he hissed, trying to stand up. I didn't let him, wraping my arm around his waist and pushing him down.

"Shhhh." The ground was cold and wet. I shivered a little bit but then held still. I hoped the shrubs were thick enough to hide us. I didn't see anything anymore so maybe yes.

The hoofbeats came closer and then, suddendly, stopped. Zoro tried to raise his head but, again, I prevented it.

"The fucking wolves got them," we heard. I blinked. Was someone following us or what? "They are really beast, good you shot them down."

"It's not good at all!" argued another voice, obviously nervous. "He will be furious when he finds out! We were supposed to bring that Florentine runt alive. We will as dead as they are in no time!"

"Are you scared of our little Count?" mocked the first voice but I didn't really pay attention to their bickering anymore. Only one word mattered.

Count. Who could they adress that way? Ha ha ha! Count Girolamo fucking Riario.

But just how exactly he found me that quickly? Few people knew where I had gone. And that included Nico, Andrea and Lucrecia, who would never betrayed me like that. It was possible that someone followed us from the city gates up to here but not likely. They wouldn't let us go that far. They would caugh us earlier so they would not have to go that far.

"Shut the fuck up," someone else said. He sounded more intelligent than the other two. "That bonfire is still fresh and it has just stopped raining. So they had to survive the night."

I cursed under my breath. We were so cold that we just couldn't help lighting a small fire, eventhough it was hard to find dry materials to do so. And now that gave us away.

I was curious- what would Riario do if he learned that I was dead? Believed that? Kept searching, knowing that I wouldn't let something like that kill me off?

"So they must be on track again!" there were some excited murmurs. Idiots. "We must hurry or they will go too far."

"Don't be absurd. They have lost their horses. They will wander on foot now." I could imagine his eyes checking the surroundings. "They are probably somewhere near."

Fuck. The guy wasn't as dumb as a common highwayman.

Zoro looked at me, unspoken question in his eyes.

"We steal their horses," I whispered to him. "And run as the devil himself is following us."

"He is, isn't he?"

I smiled a little, couldn't help it.

With a small hand gesture I instructed him to stay low and carefully raised my head over the branches. I immediately spotted one horse tied to a tree not so far away from us. There was one huge man standing next to him, raking in the bonfire. Others hadn't jumped down on the ground. I counted them- six in general, a little bit too much for us to take. One was so close that I though he would notice my head but he had his back turned on us.

I lowered myself again.

"One horse is tied to the tree where we hided." I tried to kept my voice as low as possible so I had to basicly touch his ear with my mouth so he would understand everything. He flinched a little bit. "Six people. Big, armed. One will discover us in seconds."

"Get the horse," he answered, reaching for his sword.

I didn't like this plan- I was the one to plan here!- but the time was running out and I couldn't really think about anything else. Anything better.

Riario wanted me alive but I wasn't so sure about Zoro. But they probably weren't able to recognise us, anyway. So we were both safe now.

I didn't expect my companion to do something as stupid as he did. He jumped out of the bushes and started running. Running in direction opposed to them, shouting. I cursed him under my breath.

And I was the one supposed to be mad! We had no chance on winning that.

I waited for a few were some shouts and hoofbeats. I hesitated for a moment. That didn't make any sense at all! But... I guess that's how he felt everytime I did something stupid without a word of explanation.

And I did trust Zo, didn't I?

I leaped out of my hiding spot and rushed to the free horse. Of course it would be too beautiful just to be able to jump on it and go help my friend.

The man I spotted before was still standing next to the bonfire. He noticed me straight away and he reached for his weapon. But it was just one person, I could handle it...

At least I hoped so when I took a first swing with my sword. He blocked it easily. Strength that he used forced me to take a step back. He moved, began to circle me. I smiled a little bit, just to tell him I wasn't scared of him. He laughed.

I couldn't just play with him, spend a whole day there. Zo needed aid. So I attacked him again, this time trying to land a powerful blow on his right hip. He parried it and made a quick counter. I jumped out of the way of his blade.

He wasn't that bad himself- but I was swifter than him. So the key (Key, ha ha ha) to win this battle was speed no strenght.

I faked an attack on his left side. He moved to blocked it so he missed the real hit - one that stab him through the flesh of his right leg. He screamed like a girl and fell down. Easy. After all he was just a bandit.

The rest of the band came back just in time to see me jumping to him, wraping my arm around his shoulders and pressing my blade to his neck. Of course they were leading Zoro with them. He was bound by his wrist, nothing that he couldn't free himself from given some time. He smirked at me.

"Give up or I will kill him," threatened the one holding him. The situation was very similar to one that we handled few years ago. Zo also got caught like that and I was told to surrender.

I did. We landed in prison for some time. But here the circumstances were diffrent. Back then they wouldn't hesitate.

"Give up or I will kim him," I repeated after him, holding my victim even tighter. He hissed a little bit.

"We don't care about him!"

How lovely. They were probably just faking it. Or not. Maybe they wanted me to murder him finally and allow them to beat me up.

"But you do care about us, don't you?" I raised one eyebrow. "After all you don't really know which of us is Da Vinci, do you?"

"Maybe you will end up killing the artist?" added Zoroaster. He was already working on freeing himself from the bonds. "What do you think he will fucking do if you bring his worthless companion to him instead of the real target?"

I could see how their jaws clenched as they realised that we were right. And they had to think of different way to defeat us. Thinking was undoubtedly hard for them, idiots. I relaxed just a little bit.

My hostage striked me with his elbow, hitting me straight in my chest. I really should see that coming. I stumbled back, all of the sudden losing my breath. He jumped on me, knocking me down on the ground, not caring about his leg. I stab him but it doesn't really matter anymore. His body held me still anyway.

A hard kick landed on my hip, preventing me from standing up. I hissed in pain, trying to roll away quickly just to get stepped on.

Then came another blows- not hard enough to damage me to badly but not nice too. I held still so they would see that I am not struggling anymore and they can fucking stop.

They raised me to feet and reached to bind me. I could see two of them close to me. There weren't on their horses anymore. One was dead and two were probably taking care of my friend. Bastard.

I heard Zoro's roar. I hoped it was because he had just broken free.

I kicked the one who was trying to use rope on me straight in his stomach and send him backward. I turned just in time to caught a blow of the other one. I hit his jaw with my head and ran away from them. The fucking fight was getting ridiculous. I had to remember never let Zo command again.

We were lucky that they were shitty fighters.

I jumped on the closest horse, urged him to go fast and led it to them. They moved out the way as I galloped to rescue Zo.

Only he didn't really need that. He did even better job than I. His opponent was lying in the ground, unconscious and he managed to get himself a horse too. And to take our bags that we left- I didn't even know when exactly.

"One of the fuckers had gotten away," he cursed as we reached the trail again.

I bared my teeth angrily. We were moving fast but the two that I did not kill had already started chasing us. And somewhere there was Riario, waiting and laughing like a madman... Maybe not.

"We will be fine." I shaked head.

"You say that a lot!"

"And we always are!"

There were a lot of trees there so I didn't really see our surroundings. But suddenly the forest thinned out a little bit- probably because of a crossroad in front of us.

Three ways crossed there. One, from which we just arrived. One that we had to head to. And one from where another gang appeared.

"Artista," said the men in the front. I recognized him immediatly. After all it was hard to forget that voice, that black hair, eyes dark as night and a twisted smirk on his lips.

"Count," I answered, as always faking politeness.

We could try to rush, hoping to reach our destination without them catching us. But it was impossible. So I turned around and forced my horse to vanish among the trees. Zo followed, of course.

One should never leave the trail. Mountains were too dangerous.

"You won't get away!" Riario usually spoke quietly, but he was able to shout very loud when he wanted.

Could that situtation get even more fucked up?

Obviously.