From her tower room, Bracken could stare outside at the roiling storm. It was just beginning. The snow falling with a deceptive gentleness. Above everything grey cloud hovered, blocking out the sun. The wind began to pick up. It started to sing through the wind, and in through Bracken's open window. She breathed in, and smiled. The white of her teeth flashed, and suddenly she looked like a predator ready to pounce.

Beneath her mane of unruly warm brown hair lay a mind ready to be free, free from the dominion of the castle's lord and all those like him. She knew it would happen soon; her dreams had told her so. The information she'd witheld might have prevented the coming attack ... but Bracken had seen no reason to tell her current master everything. Let him figure things out as any normal man would, without the guidance of a dreamer.