Antonius felt horribly cold as though all the warmth in the world had disappeared he remembered something sitting by a fire with the rest of the officers but he couldn't remember past that he heard a voice a woman with a thick accent "are you awake? whats your name?" "Antonius Cornellus" "just relax Mr. Cornellus sleep now we will talk again later he relaxed and fell once more into his deep sleep
When he awoke again there was a young woman who appeared to be about 18 or 19 standing over him she had blond hair and blue eyes like most northerners he no longer felt cold he felt quite warm now and he asked "where am i?" "you are in a town referred to as Frost-fall in the common tongue Snow Mane" "what did you call me?" "oh sorry its just something the town has taken to calling you after they saw you for the first time you were freezing to death when i first found you along with another when i went back for the other though he was gone it was very near an imperial camp and with the name you gave me and the armor you were wearing i must know are you an imperial soldier?" the question sent pangs of guilt through him she had taken him in and taken care of him and now he had to tell her he was one of the bastards invading her homeland he mumbled "yes i am i'm an imperial legate a valuable prisoner for king Axuroth no doubt or my death will be used as propaganda for the army of the north" she looked thoughtful for a moment and then said "if you wish to avoid capture i don't blame you go east to the capital city of the eastern province the Province Warden is sympathetic to the imperial army although secretly don't openly share that he knows the north can't hold out forever against the imperial army not without supplies anyway which he gets from the your city of ilarus he has established free trade policy with the east even though it is under your empires dominion Axuroth tolerates it because he too isn't stubborn enough to admit the supplies from the east are vital to the kingdoms survival oh something else whenever you leave you should go by a different name yours is too obviously an Auroran name How About Anthony and as for your last name Snow Mane" "I've been meaning to ask why do they call me Snow Mane?" "well.." she looked a bit sad "..I think you had better have a look at yourself in the mirror he stood up and went to the mirror he was covered in bandages and felt pain shooting through his back as his eyes examined the details he noticed his once jet black hair had gone white as snow even though he was only 30 the woman came up to him and said "I'm sorry but its the mark of a man touched by an ice wraith your hair will most likely never be the same again" "it's fine oh i never never asked you your name" "Its Christine you can stay here as long as you like"
Anthony had spent the next 3 weeks in Frost-fall the people of the town didn't know who he was so they grew accustomed to his presence after some time he told them he didn't have a last name and to just call him Anthony Snow Mane they seemed to be a bit touchy on the subject of the ice wraiths so some children looked at him in fear from what he figured it must have been that he had been possessed as he saw a picture of what the victims of ice wraiths looked like in a book on them so he was told not to walk about at night or he may be mistaken for one in addition to his changed hair he found his cold tolerance had increased often walking outside in the snow in little more than pants and a shirt but he fount heat to be incredibly bothersome so he stayed in a closed off section of Christine's home with the door shut and the window open he hoped it would pass soon as Auroran summers could become quite hot but he was more worried that he wasn't quite human anymore he had read about ice wraith victims to find out and found that they had been blessed with unusually long life spans often living over 100 years before disappearing from society at least thats the few that survived encounters anyway as he had only found 3 stories of survivors they were often shunned by society neither man nor monster but something else entirely in other news he had heard that the imperial army reached the capitol of the north with little to no resistance but for some reason morale was still high among the villages and towns Anthony greatly enjoyed Christine's company she was a very curious girl and asked many interesting questions what the imperial Military and political structure was like where he had been what he had done she never seemed to run out of enthusiasm for listening of fantastic tales of elves and great heroes among men from the past and he in turn was happy to tell her he was just telling her about the Imperial Civil War from almost 200 years past when a party of men entered the city all wearing armor in the Northern style the man at the head was tall and muscular Anthony rapidly moved his eyes from left to right scanning everyone almost 1000 men much bigger than the small raiding parties they were used to the man at the head of the procession saw Anthony and dipped his head slightly and said "Snow Mane" Anthony was stunned most people looked afraid of him but this man looked like he had respect he pulled off his helm to reveal locks of white hair and icy blue eyes and then Anthony Realized this man was a Snow Mane too he then continued "i am Jek King Axuroth's Right Hand Pleasure to meet you"