The rest of the night passed without any dreams. Whatever had caused my fever seemed to be gone for now. I noticed that Luthias was gone and quickly got dressed. Memories of our kiss the previous night warmed my heart and I'd hoped to see him soon. I saw Heinrich nearby and ran up to him, excited.

His expression caused my joy to slam to a halt.

"We're moving out," he said glumly.

This was nothing new.

"So?" I asked.

"To Sleepy Hollow."

My stomach iced over.

"We can't!" I objected.

"We've been given our orders. Luthias made it clear that we are not to argue," Heinrich sighed.

I had gone from being the happiest woman in the world to wanting to weep in a matter of seconds.

"Where is he?" I asked.

"He's over there talking to the American general."

Without thinking, I ran over to the two men.

"We can't go back there!" I said breathlessly. Luthias gave me a bone-chilling stare, as did the American man.

"Get back to work," Luthias snapped, obviously displeased with the interruption.

"Don't you remember the-"

I was cut off when Luthias's hand clamped over my mouth. His grip was hard enough to hurt my jaw.

"Speak out of turn again and you will be punished. Do I make myself clear?"

I swallowed hard and nodded. Luthias shoved me roughly away and I retreated on shaking legs. The American was obviously pleased at Luthias's rough treatment of me. I supposed he'd never forgiven Heinrich and I for taking their horses. I tried not to cry as I slunk away towards Daredevil.

"You shouldn't have interrupted him," Heinrich said. Anyone else would have snapped at him, but I heard the sympathy in his voice.

"The witch is there," I sniffed, "she wants Luthias dead…we can't go back, Heinrich!"

"I'm sorry, Ad—Ruth," he sighed, "it seems we have no choice."

I choked back the tears and tried desperately not to cry anymore. I couldn't let the others see me with a tear-stained face. Tightening my resolve, I busied myself with getting Daredevil's grain rations and brushing him. The horse seemed to sense my depression and nudged at me. I petted him and buried my face against his warm shoulder.

"You won't let him be killed, will you?" I whispered.

He thrust his velvety nose into my palm and licked it.

Just as I was finishing up my chores, Heinrich came to get me. Luthias wanted everyone in the center of camp.

I noticed that he intentionally refused to look at me as he barked out our orders. We were to eat quickly, get our stuff packed up, and head for Sleepy Hollow. I shivered and wondered if I'd ever get warm again. It seemed that winter would never end.

We rode in silence side by side for a long time. My mare was subject to endless distractions and I had to keep reining her in from them. She was being particularly uncooperative when Daredevil reached over and nipped at her. For a fraction of a second, I smiled when she snorted at him.

Luthias seemed deep in thought and I didn't try to talk him out of it. He was never very much of a talker on these long rides. Heinrich was behind us somewhere, so I couldn't talk to him, either. I heard the other soldiers conversing in whispers behind us. I heard a few of them talking about what I'd done earlier and my face heated.

"He follows him around like a little lost puppy," one of them said, "if I didn't know better, I would say…"

"It would make sense. They share a tent."

If Luthias heard any of those comments, he did not acknowledge them. After what seemed like an eternity, we arrived in Sleepy Hollow.

The place was just as ominous as before. There seemed to be a gloomy cloud over the place, one that never seemed to lift. My stomach ached when I thought about the clearing.

We arrived at the place we were going to make camp at. Luthias turned Daredevil around so that he was facing us.

"You know what I expect of you. Now do it," he said curtly.

No one wasted any time. We had camp set up faster than we'd ever managed to before. I moved to go collect some firewood.

In my moments of despair and panic, I had not realized just how close to the clearing we really were. My blood froze when I reached it.

There were the two little girls, every bit as real as in my dream. I shrank back into the relative safety of the trees and prayed that they didn't notice me. Peeking around the nearest tree, I watched.

"Stop your whining, Tabitha! Mother's too ill to get the wood and you know it!"

The one called Tabitha spitefully stuck her tongue out at the other girl. They looked like twins, but the other one was clearly the more dominant one.

"Mary…someone's here," Tabitha said suddenly, "I feel it."

Mary looked around and I ducked my head back behind the tree. For a split second, I could feel her gaze.

"You're imagining things. Now, come on. We've got to get the wood back inside."

I watched as they retreated into a cave.

A cave?

My heart went out to those little girls. I didn't dare wait until they came back—I ran towards camp. I quite literally ran into Luthias. Running into him was like running into a brick wall: I merely bounced off of him and fell backwards.

"Sorry," I said regretfully, brushing the snow off.

"What's the matter with you?" he asked irritably. I was trying to figure out whether this was part of the act or not. With him, it was hard to tell these days. Dropping my voice to a whisper, I spoke:

"The girls from my dream live over there," I hissed, "the clearing's not very far from here."

His nod was barely perceptible.

"Where is our firewood?"

His voice was stern because a few of the others had glanced over at us. I shrank back, wanting to smack my forehead. I'd left the pile of wood I'd gathered in the woods. Heinrich conspicuously walked past us.

"You," Luthias barked, "surely you can get the wood back to the camp. Take this incompetent one with you."

"Yes, sir," Heinrich said. As we hustled into the woods, he gave me a questioning look. After we were safely out of earshot, I informed him of the nightmares and what I had seen.

"How do you know they aren't just dreams?" Heinrich asked.

"I just do," I sighed, "I can't explain it."

Heinrich used his axe to chop off a sizeable limb.

"What's the matter with you? You've been acting strange since we left."

"I told him the truth," I sighed.

"And?"

"He kissed me."

Heinrich stared.

"My God," he laughed, "that would actually mean he has feelings…"

I gave him a Look.

"Sorry, it's just that I never pictured him…you know."

I picked up a few smaller sticks that could be used for kindling.

"Okay, so he feels the same way. What's the problem?"

"I want this war to be over with. I'm sick of pretending. I'm sick of always being on my guard and worrying that I'm going to be caught. I want to be with him."

I froze.

"What?" Heinrich whispered.

Up ahead, of us, a girl in a pink dress stood leaning against a tree. She smiled coldly. In her hands, she held a stick.

"Ashes, ashes…" she sang, "you all fall down!"

She snapped the stick and all Hell broke loose.