From Bad to Worse

The storm it seemed had no intention of waiting until nightfall but rather choose to make its own coming swiftly and suddenly through the mountain passage. Blinding snow and racing winds turning the noon day into the darkest of nights in but a handful of minutes.

Thankfully for this at least Ursa was well prepared and had the means both magical and mundane to protect herself from the harsh elements but also knew that those who tracked her likely had the same advantages and mounted on warhorses were no doubt gaining ground on her with each and every step she made.

A deep breath escaped her lips as she glanced behind. Well aware that the storm would make it impossible for her to see her enemy until they were already upon her and that as skilled as she was with the sword and spell the fact remained that even on a good day she would be hard pressed to deal with one skilled knight on open ground. In a contest versus eight of them she knew well enough that she stood no chance at all.

Ursa paused than removing the heavy leather riding gloves she wore looking at the ring on her hand wondering if she was close enough to the ruined fortress to use the spell she stored in the ring.

"Travel the greater distance" was a spell she had recorded in her books but had elected not to commit to memory in favor of something a little more aggressive. A choice she regretted now given that she had not only paid a small fortune in coins for the spell to be cast but had also traded certain favors to get the damned Wizard to perform the task for her in the first place.

She was still considering whether to use the spell or not when the sound of metal upon metal reached her ears and then the sharp hissing sound cut through the air as a pair of poorly placed crossbow bolts came spiraling out the darkness just missing her by inches.

A soft curse escaping her lips as she her gaze moved again to the darkness knowing that even if she did not yet see them she knew they were there and they in turn knew where she was as well.

Ursa spoke the command word and the spell was cast.

...

In the span of a single breath she found herself once again in the very place that continued to haunt her nightmare's to this day. The great hall of ruin that had once been the Fortress of Gray Haven.
Standing it seemed upon the very spot that she and her companions had been overwhelmed so many years before.

Ursa's gaze drifting to the spot on the ice-covered stones still stained by her own blood this many years later.

She did not have time to dwell upon memories, however. Movement in the shadows of the hall coupled with the sound of Heavy Armor and weapons being made ready alerted her at once to the reality that the spell she had cast had not allowed her escape from her enemy but rather had placed her right where they had wanted her. She had only just drawn her weapon as the first of them charged towards her from the darkness.

...