By the time Andrey was back, it was already night. Around the fireplaces, Yetis were cooking their meals. The camp had gone near-silent, the Yetis steeling themselves for the battles ahead. A light smattering of snow glided down, snowflakes covering the Yetis' hoods and evaporating against the fires.

Away from the rest of the Yetis, Frostnova quietly sat on a frozen log, looking towards the snowy pines.

"I've been thinking about what you said." Andrey's "voice" broke the silence.

"And?"

"I don't have a choice. My fate is uncertain if you die."

"So, you understand our predicament now."

"Unfortunately."

"The harsh truth leads to better decisions then blissful ignorance." Frostnova noted. Had she still trusted the Empire, she would be dead in the mines rather than here.

"That doesn't make it any less painful."

"Are you not used to it?"

"What?"

"The pain. It surrounds me wherever I go." Popping a chili candy into her mouth, Frostnova sighed slightly as the weak warmth spread through her body.

"This is new."

"You'll get used to it eventually. For your own sake, however, try not to get too attached to any of the Yetis."

"If they die?"

"Yes, tomorrow, or before this… or later."

"You believe this will end one day?" Frostnova let out a grunt of annoyance. Andrey had an annoying tendency to pick up on her mistakes.

"We all have our dreams."

"I see… well, good luck tomorrow." Andrey paused for a moment, as if thinking. "How can I help?"

"Point out anything important. Like last time."

"Understood."

They spent the rest of the night in silence, before Frostnova returned to her tent, tucking herself in and conserving what meagre warmth her body produced.

Waking up as the sun rose, she checked all of her various items, before quietly walking out the tent and to a large clearing that served as their staging ground.

"Our objective is simple." Surveying the assembled Yetis – nearly fifty of them – she continued. "A twelve-strong Infected Patrol group is currently being lured towards a nearby clearing, under the pretense of inspecting our tracks.

"There is a possibility that they will not arrive, or will be aware of our presence, as we are relying on an Infected sympathizer formerly from the Army.

"However, there are no large Infected Patrol groups nearby, so defeat is unlikely. Good luck, everyone. I will lead the attack."

The assembled Yetis nodded.

"Oh, and don't die!" Petrova shouted out, making everybody break out into chuckling.

Frostnova gave a small smile. Leave it to Petrova to make everybody laugh before a battle. It did wonders for morale.

"Follow me." The assembled Yetis formed a loose group behind her, ready for any attacks if they came. Quietly, they made their way through the sparse forest, eventually reaching their destination.

"Groups one to three, spread out and prepare for an ambush on either side. Four and five, guard them. I will attack from the center." The Yetis quietly fanned out, crossbows loaded and blades unsheathed.

Frostnova hid behind a small mound of snow, making sure to take regular looks at the clearing.

Now came the stressful part.

Waiting.

"You realize that this will take at least five hours, right?" Andrey asked after a while with no small measure of boredom.

Frostnova sighed. She had group after group of Yetis ask her this question before, all with the exact same tone. "What, are you expecting the enemy to be on time? If they're early, then this entire ambush is a bust."

Fortunately, unlike Petrova, he shut up after that.

The sun slowly crawled through the sky as they waited.

The trees towered over the hidden forms of the Yetis, hiding them from the sun as they lay there. A few of the Yetis shivered, but nobody made a sound.

As it reached midday, they arrived. Resplendent in their polished grey-black uniforms, they marched forwards in a tight group, following the old hunter as he led them to the trails in the clearing.

"Show us the tracks, hunter." One of them, the touches of red on his uniform marking him as the leader, demanded.

Quietly, Frostnova readied her wand, whispering out a chant as ice coalesced around the tip.

"At once." Having apparently decided taking the role of the servant was ideal, the hunter quickly shuffled over to the tracks, pointing towards the cart tracks in the ground.

"That?"

Dual ice spikes formed around the tip of her wand, lightly swirling around as if in anticipation.

"Yes. As you can see, the snow here has been pressed down."

"Hmph. There could be so many other things that caused that. Why do you insist they are tracks?"

Another ice spike joined the group, Frostnova quietly aiming the trio towards the leader and the two closest Patrol soliders.

A flash of annoyance crossed the old hunter's face, before being quickly suppressed. "Because, sir -"

"I do not need your excuses. Do not waste our time." The leader turned, and his subordinates imitated his actions.

Sparing a look at the trees, the old man quietly lay down on the ground.

"Attack!"

Before any defense could be mounted, the spikes of ice shot out, colliding with the leader and his subordinates. Easily punching through the meagre armor of the Infected Patrol, the spikes ended the lives of a quarter of the Infected Patrol before the battle had even started.

Surprised, training kicked in and the Infected Patrol frantically attempted to load their crossbows in response.

Barely a second later, a volley of bolts collided with the crossbowmen and ended their lives. Though weak, the bolts made up for it in pure number, a veritable cloud of them catching the Patrol captains and breaking through their armor.

The remaining three Infected Patrol made to run, only to find themselves surrounded by the Yetis, outnumbered almost ten to one.

"I knew you were cooperating with those filthy Infected, old bastard!" Out of anger, one of the Patrol captains threw his knife towards the hunter, the knife tumbling through the air as it sped towards him.

Effortlessly dodging it, the hunter raised his crossbow and fired. "Are you any better?"

As the bolt embedded itself in the captain's skull, the Yetis fell upon the last two Patrol captains, virtually tearing them apart with their numbers.

Within moments, the battle was over, the captains barely able to react, let alone counterattack against the overwhelming numbers and ferocity of the Yetis. Quietly retrieving the bolt from the corpse of the captain, the hunter walked over to Frostnova, before nodding and gesturing to the south.

"Their camp is this way. Follow me." Silently, he began walking towards where he had gestured to. Frostnova followed, making sure to leave behind a small group of the Yetis to collect any items the Patrol had on their persons.

"That was fast." Andrey said. "Sorry I wasn't able to provide much help."

"I can handle myself, Andrey."

"Mhm. That hunter… he's acting a bit high and mighty, isn't he? You just killed eleven people for him."

"Most soldiers would have spit in your face, then put a crossbow bolt in it. Relatively, he's better."Inwardly, Frostnova sighed.

"And the rewards are worth it, if they exist at all." Frostnova motioned for her Yetis to spread out and stay alert - ostensibly for security – before continuing. "Though an ambush is still a possibility."

An ambush could be waiting just around the corner, after all. Studying the landscape of flat, snowy hills and plains, Frostnova doubted it, but the Yetis had come up with ambushes in worse.

"Not seeing anything." Andrey said.

"Check the camp for any people, when we get there." Frostnova turned to the hunter. "Are there any hunters in the camp?"

"No." Not turning his gaze away from the path ahead, the hunter said.

As they crested a hill, the camp appeared in the distance, a disorganized mess of smoldering fires, grand and small tents, with a variety of looted objects piled up into a hill in the center.

"We would appreciate it if you did not take all of the foodstuffs. The rest are yours." Unaware of Andrey's misgivings – unaware of his presence at all – the hunter said with the same neutral tone.

"Mhm." Frostnova nodded. "Fan out, check the tents."

The Yetis spread out in groups of five, methodically searching the tents both for valuable supplies, and for any dangers.

Frostnova herself began walking towards the pile of loot in the center, seeking to inspect them somewhat before they took them.

As Frostnova did her work, Andrey quietly watched, pointing out anything she could have potentially missed – though he wasn't much help, given his patchwork knowledge. He could recognize much of the armor, even describe it down to the tiniest manufacturing detail – but he could barely distinguish between a box of food and trash.

And after she was directed to a box of trash for the third time, Frostnova had apparently made it her job to change that.

"Ursus military standard, got it? Food has an orange border, and trash is just any random box laying around without it." She explained.

"What if they hide items in the unmarked boxes?" Andrey asked.

"Doesn't matter. We don't have the time. Staying here for a week to inspect each and every one of the boxes is an easy way to get surrounded and wiped out. Especially now. We have to reach Patriot in two weeks."

Ah, that. Andrey had almost forgotten that short meeting where their plans had been explained. It almost seemed like an eternity ago, though it was a few short days.

He supposed those few days were more than half of the life he remembered. It felt strange, and he was certain that he had at least twenty years of experiences – yet when he tried to draw upon them, his mind pulled a blank.

Every time. It was a strange sensation, a fleeting impulse to recall something accompanied by the utter lack of anything to recall.

So absorbed was he in his mind that he almost failed to hear Frostnova. "Andrey? Check this."

Turning back to her vision, he saw her holding a grey box with a small red stamp on it.

"These are official documents, or anything important. Some Patrol leaders will draw small icons on them instead, but they mostly look the same."

"Let's see…" Opening the box, she was surprised to see a glimmering jewel set in ornate silver instead.

"I doubt that's an official document."

Frostnova let out a rare chuckle. "Yeah…"

The chuckle lasted for a few fleeting moments before she took a deep breath and suppressed it. Soon, she was back to business.

"Anyways, that could be worth quite some LMD, if we were to find a place to sell it." Frostnova kept the box, before walking back towards the center of the camp, where the Yetis were now gathering. "It's been a while since somebody's been able to make me laugh."

"Well, none of the Yetis are in your head 24/7."

"Mhm." Walking towards the Yetis, Frostnova straightened her clothes slightly, preparing to address them before they moved out again.

"So, where to now?"

"Back to the plan."

AN: I was originally expecting the battle to be at least 500 words, and maybe around 1000. And then it took all of 199 words. Well. Anyways, I'm still quite satisfied with this chapter. Do leave a review if you have anything to say or any feedback to give, and thanks to all the reviewers so far!