Excerpt: In the Land of Ice and Fire

Isn't it strange, how the things you try the hardest to remember are the very things that time rips away from you? The tinkling laughter of a friend, the wrinkles in a parent's face, the smell of bread frying over a wood stove? Maybe the way the snow glittered like crushed diamonds as it hung heavy from the bare branches of the oak and maples, hoarfrost almost blinding in the bright morning sun, or the eery rattle of leaves shaking in a fierce autumn storm. The shape of a lover's lips, the taste of his breath. Those little comforts, you would think time could leave those alone! But no! Like a jealous child time strips away the very things that make life bearable, leaving you with everything that should have been forgotten. The gagging smell of burnt flesh and cloth, the glare of bone against blackened skin, the hollowed skull that is a reminder of the hoarse cries for mercy from the bubbling lips of a friend in agony, the sting of a lover's betrayal as he tries to take what is not his to receive... snow, blinding the eyes. Cold, a thousand mouthed beast, biting at the flesh with razored teeth. The blackened tips of your own fingers slowly rotting away, until the bones push through... and the nightmare vision that watches you, the creature from the north, the wolf who spawns demons from her mouth, the bringer of chaos... she is gathering her pack, and soon she will begin her hunt...