The sky glowed in a bath of blood. The sun had risen.
The scouts defiled at a canter through a narrow trek on the bluff mountainsides coated in thin ice. Ariadne gave the reins a sudden tug.
"Stop!" She shouted, slipping off the mare. Quivering as she dropped to her knees, she clutched at her chest. Cold breaths gathered about her lips in puffs of haze while she gulped the air but couldn't feel any in her lungs. Tears rushed down her cheeks like floods spilling over banks.
Decurion Pero Salvitto brought his mount to a trot as he leaped off and loped to the back of the file. Crouching down before Ariadne, he offered his arm. "M'lady?" he said, his voice warm, trying to calm her. "We can't stop here. It isn't safe yet."
She nodded, meaning to explain. All she managed were a few splutters of Julius' name amidst an inconsolable sob.