It was the cold that brought her round finally… the cold and the ache in her joints…

“Arse” Kallisti sighed, seeing the desolate snowy landscape before her, goosebumps raising over her bare skin. “I fucking hate the cold!”
The last thing she remembered were the two Frost Giants charging her as she sighted down the knocked arrow at them, then a sound from behind and blackness.
Now here she was, trussed up in almost naked in the wilderness, expected to die from exposure.

“Almost” was the important mistake! The dire wolves left to guard her – and probably meant to finish her off eventually – watched her with studied boredom, as though they had done this many times before.
Flexing her wrists, brought a sly smile to her face… oh dear how careless…

The sky gradually darkened as the eclipse obscured the sun and the temperature fell lower.

Patience, patience…

The training from her youth seemed such a long time ago but it still kept her focussed…

Focus…

She tugged sharply at the manacles around her writs, her fingers folding over tightly as the not tight enough rough iron manacles scraped the skin off and she fell from the chains, her hands diving into the boot-tops to draw the hidden daggers!
Landing splay-legged she span and lunged at the nearest dire wolf, her daggers slashing at its eyes. Yelping in pain, it leaping away blinded, colliding with the nearby rock and then running blindly off the edge of the precipice.
The second wolf jumped at her but she twisted and dodged as much as the chains on her ankles allowed, raking the daggers down its side, the sharp blades scoring bloody wounds down its flanks.
Enraged, it twisted to attack again but Kallisti rolled with its leap, her daggers braced forward as the force of its jump and its own weight impaled it on the blades.
The Third dire wolf sat and watched, its ears twitching as Kallisti heaved the dead wolf off herself. Glaring at her third adversary, she knew it was too far to reach with the chains on her ankles so crouched as best she could to be ready for the attack.

The dire wolf instead gave a low “whuff”, turned away and loped off. Frowning, Kallisti watched the wolf trot off into the distance while retrieving the spare set of lockpicks also hidden in her boot.

Freed from the leg manacles, revenge was on her mind…

The Frost Giant roared in pain as she hamstrung it, leaping aside as it fell forward, allowing her to leap onto its back, plunging her daggers into either side of its neck just under the ears.

Breathing heavily, Kallisti stood looking at the carnage she had caused to the small Frost Giant camp.

Glancing up at the ongoing eclipse, she sighed, the back of her head still throbbing, her hands skinned, claw scratches on her arms and a broken fingernail.

“I fucking hate the cold!”