Wrapped in his luxurious fur cloak the Count wound way up the, surprisingly well kept, road north. He had just came from the Lady White's holdings, somehow every year the lowly Count has been able secure small feasts with her and her councilors. With lips red as a rose, hair black as ebony, and skin white as snow; Lady White was truly the fairest of them all and Aleksei often told her of her great beauty. But most of all the Lady enjoyed compliments to her other qualities as it can only become a bore to hear the same line over and over. So the young Count always seemed to show interest in the Lady's intellectual prowess and talk about how she has secured her power in the Land of White. Aleksei often pressed her for a story or two from earlier times, while Aleksei saw it as somewhat depressing when the twinkle in her doe brown eyes appears. In the end, its all about keeping up relations between the great Rus Tsardom and the surrounding Houses. An added bonus was a small piece of information that the Lady had let fly after a glass of wine or two. Lady White had said that she sent some of her loyal men to investigate rumors of "ill omens" in the City of Wolftown. She said with with a smile, she seemed to emanating beauty from her pores, and said,

"Young Count Aleskei, I need you make way to Wolftown with great haste. For I trust my men, but there is something about you that I trust," with the honey dripping from her tongue Lady white had to be enchanting the Count, " and if this task is complete I shall owe you a favor." Aleskei unaware of the masterful magic that enabled him to be a mere pawn in this strange game of manipulation instantly accepting saying that, "Of course I shall help you Lady White, it would be my pleasure." And almost immediately he sent word to Igor, his life long servant and remaining father figure, to meet him in Wolftown with a modest amount of coin and bring with him three of his most skilled men ready to investigate for Lady White. The magic, still working him, almost made him set out while the sun was setting and the already harsh winter becoming harsher. Luckily for him Lady White was known for her compassion and asked him to stay the night in one of the guest chambers before setting out on the morrow.

The sun did not shine that morning, but instead grey clouds ran across the sky as if to warn travelers of danger in the land. Aleksei was oblivious to this as he had woken slightly late and had to rush out of the castle practically still pulling on a bit while he mounted Eva, his horse. She, the horse, was a glorious sight. The horse was pure black and seemed to give off power due to her size. One of the few things in the world that Aleksei loved was his horse and he often found her the best stabling before he checked her hooves to make sure she didn't have a hidden irritant. Setting off at a good pace the Count and his mare made there way north, toward the city of Wolftown.

It was closer to nightfall now, the skies somehow became darker as the winds picked up and snow began to drop with it. The cold did dig into the Count, but he was not yet too uncomfortable; there have been some harsh winters in Rus, just not this harsh. With Wolftown in the distance Eva was spurred forward hoping to make the next hour or so shrink down into something more manageable. 

They were making good time till the Count and his midnight mare were stopped in their very tracks by a ghastly sight. On the ground lay four men, each of them surrounded by the crimson color of blood. Aleskei muttered to himself, [i]"This is horrid, what marauder did this?[/i]" He continued to investigate the bodies of the men, noting their wounds.[i]"The first was stabbed in the gut and left to bleed out while the one behind him had his throat slashed and it left a macabre grin. The other two seem to have been shot with an perhaps a bolt and then ripped out which left a very gruesome hole, but they seemed to not have suffered. They were the lucky ones who didn't suffer."[/i] He mounted Eva again and gave a second look to the messy scene. [i]" Perhaps this was an ambush. Interesting."[/i] Aleksei put the thought on the back of his mind no longer caring for anything besides a fire.

The gates of the town were iron wrought and told of the heroic story of Beowulf, the iron work must have cost a small fortune for the figures were detailed. Aleksei had mentally noted that hopefully he may have at least gate telling the story of his life. As he entered the city he was startled as he heard his name yelled at the top of somebody's lungs. He rotated on his saddle and saw a man waving wearing fur cuffed leather armor, it was the youthful Alexandr, one of his top men. "Master Aleksei, follow me this way, Igor has a room for you out of the cold and some promising information."

Once inside Aleksei shook off the snow and hung his cloak on a hook. Still following Alexandr through the strangely crowded inn he arrived at a room and Alexandr firmly rapped on the door. In the room was a familiar loud voice that brought Aleksei back to his childhood, "Go away, in the name of all the gods, I do not need another drunkard." Aleksei smiled before he opened the door to see the bemused face of Igor and the other two travelers, Vlad and Maks who are both men in their early forties. "So shall I go Igor or..." Aleksei trailed off the smile on his face going from ear to ear. "No no, but there have been a multitude of drunks knocking on the door like it owned them money. How goes your work? Wait no time for small talk, there are small troop movements north and if you are still interested in helping the Lady White I suggest that we follow them. In fact there have been promises of reward and any of that can help your... plans..." Intrigued at the news Aleksei suggested they get mounted now and if they do no tarry they could catch the rear end of the column of troops. At the suggestion of their lord they left the paid room and ventured into the cold following a young Count fueled by desire and greed.