Peeking around a tree, Sana broke into a smile as she watched Solitude guards run along the upper wall. The guards were shouting out to each other as they ran along the entire perimeter of the city searching for the newly escaped bandit. Sana had made a break for the tree-line of the forest outside the city after she escaped, which was a story in itself.

After being tossed into her cell, Sana was forced to watch as all her well-earned coin, armor and weapons were shoved into a wooden chest and placed in a back room. Sana attempted to pick the lock on the door with a single lock pick she managed to hold onto when the guards took all of her belongings, however, the metal snapped when she twisted the lock too early, therefore destroying her only attempt at escaping.

She wandered back and forth around her cell listening to the cries and moans of other prisoners, who had been trapped down here much longer than she had until she grew bored. Leaning against the back wall, a few pieces of stone crumbled against her weight. Sana took a closer look at the wall and could see light through the new cracks. She looked behind her to make sure no guards were patrolling nearby before pressing her hand against the stones.

Slowly one of the stone bricks crumbled apart to reveal a backside to the wall. Sana smiled then pushed on another brick, however, this stone seemed to be holding up the rest of the wall. The brick broke and fell but not without taking a few others with it. This caused the whole section of the wall to collapse and crash down with a large BOOM sound. Eyes wide, Sana quickly climbed through the hole and ran down the tunnel.

She followed the twist and turns of the forgotten castle until she was under a manhole cover. Shouts behind her could be herd as she climbed up an old wooden ladder. Lifting off the manhole cover, Sana climbed outside of the hidden tunnel onto a raised ledge by the city entrance. She kicked the rotten ladder down from the hole and the wood snapped as it hit the stone floor below. The voices of Solitude guards could be heard from where Sana had just climbed up from as she pushed the cover back over the manhole.

Taking a deep breath, Sana peaked through the small holes down into the tunnel to see four armed men run past. They leaped over the rotten ladder and rushed out of view as they continued down the tunnel.

And now here she was, outside the city while everyone else was searching for her inside. She smiled at the stronghold before turning and running off into the woods. Sana continued down the hill using the trees to keep herself hidden from people walking along the main road. If they saw her, they would immediately know she just broke out of prison. It was quite obvious because she was still wearing the tunic the guards made her wear when they took her belongings.

It was about mid-day and soon the temperature would start to drop. The thin material of the tunic would be useless at protecting her from the cold. So she needed some new clothes, and Sana had enough common sense to know that if there was a big city, then smaller buildings would be nearby.

She stayed hidden in the trees until she came across a farm. As the bandit stealthily circled around the building trying to climb in through a window, a guard approached the farmer outside holding a bounty.

“If you see this woman, contact the authorities immediately.”

The bounty had a charcoal-drawn picture of Sana’s face as well as a surprisingly high bounty written under her name.

Inside the building, Sana had climbed into a bedroom and quietly opened a dresser. She pulled out a heavy fur coat and some gray trousers from the drawers then took a pair of boots by the bed. After sliding into the boots and pulling on the coat and trousers, Sana climbed out of the window and snuck back into the trees.

The bandit watched patrols of men walk along the cobblestone road as she made her way through the trees and down the hill away from the city. When she reached the edge of the tree-line, Sana was greeted with the busy docks of the harbor.

Two giant ships were moored at the marina where merchants could be seen loading and unloading goods from the vessels. A few smaller boats were also bobbing next to the wooden walkway of the harbor. It seemed impossible for the bandit chief to pass by unnoticed, but Sana needed to cross the river.

She approached the cliffside and dropped over the edge, sliding down into a patch of bushes growing below. Carefully, Sana crept out of the greenery and snuck over to the set of stairs that led down to the harbor. Instead of going down the stairs, Sana leaped over the railing and landed on the ground below. She pressed her body against the frame of the dock as she continued underneath the structure and towards the moored boats.

When the water started to lap at her feet, she reached up and began climbing through the protruding planks. Soon the bandit found herself in front of one of the smaller boats at the end of the dock. The only problem was, she had no way of climbing into the said boat without being spotted by the guards passing above, and the water below was too cold for comfort based on the random chunks of solid ice floating on the surface.

Sana’s grip began to slip right as one of the merchants unloading a box of cabbages tripped over a wooden plank that was slightly higher than the others, dropping his entire load. As the cabbages rolled everywhere, Sana took her chance to swing up over the edge and roll into the unattended dinghy.

She quickly untied the mooring line and pushed the small boat away from the dock towards the open water. Chancing a look over her shoulder, Sana caught the tail end of an argument between the merchant who dropped the cabbages and one of the Solitude guards. The guard gave the smaller man a rough shove in the shoulder and the merchant staggered back a few steps before rushing forwards and tackling the guard into the water.

The shouts from the harbor provided perfect cover for the bandit chief as she rowed across the river undetected. Once she was safely on the other side, she climbed out of the dinghy and ran under the shade of the giant stone arc above.

The noise from Solitude harbor faded away as she jogged North-East along the rocky beach and towards the familiar snowy hills from the day before.

The group of mages, that had her thrown in prison in the first place, took the long way around when they were going to Solitude. The five had passed through a small part of the Drajkmyr Marsh instead of crossing the icy waters under the great arc like Sana just did. It was much longer but a much safer path to the city.

After a few minutes of jogging to put a comfortable distance between her and the great city, Sana found herself at the edge of the familiar archipelago of small frozen ice chunks that had floated in from the ocean. The Ice and protruding masses of land in the freezing water separated her from her goal. In the far off distance, the hull of the Ice Runner could be barely seen through the light snowfall.

The water was deep enough for half of Sana’s boot to be submerged underwater but shallow enough to safely wade through without any spilling into the footwear. When the water began to deepen, Sana stepped onto one of the small icebergs floating by and continued through the archipelago by leaping from floating object to floating object.

By the time she had passed through the small isles and ice, the snow had thickened and dark clouds covered the sun above casting the hillside in shadows. Any previous form of visibility was gone, making it difficult to see anything.

It wasn’t until Sana, wrapped tightly in the fur coat, was right in front of the rock outcrop she and Jennie had hidden behind that she knew where she was. Looking over the fallen tree stump where her crew was tied to, The Ice Runner’s hull could barely be seen through the thick snowfall. The medium sized vessel was still beached along the rocky shore where Rosé and Lisa so wisely chose to “park” for the time being.

Sana made her way through the heavy flakes and inside her ship to find everything right where they left it. All the bounties yet to be filled, all the mead safely stored in Sana’s secret hiding place, and all the remaining gold the five bandits had collected over their adventures. The only difference was the sudden infestation of mud crab. The creatures must have been buried under the ground when the ship was crashed, creating an opening for the giant crustaceans to climb up through the bowels of the vessel.

The bandit chief slid past the mud crabs without alerting them of her presence then pulled open the wooden door to her chambers. Inside, she took one of the swords from her collection and went back outside to exterminate the infestation. No matter how stuck up and rude the elves were, Sana had a personal experience with an elvish maid in the neighboring country, she couldn’t deny that the craftsmanship in their weaponry was impeccable. The elvish blade easily sliced through the hard chitin killing the crustaceans in a single slash.

Once all the mud crab were eliminated and tossed overboard, Sana began prepping for a trip to Dawnstar.

~ ~ ~

Residing in perpetual snow and ice, the city of Dawnstar is relatively small compared to the neighboring city of Solitude. But when compared with Winterhold to the east, the fishing town seems bustling with life. Consisting of two rival mines, a small dock, a local Barracks, and a small number of residents, Dawnstar is not considered large but it's also not small.

The town’s guards were constantly patrolling through the forever snowy streets and around the border of the area. Dawnstar has no high walls to protect it from attackers, instead, the surrounding hills covered in trees and snow keep the city safe from the south, east, and west, while the enormous sea to the north provides trade and safety.

It took a bit of patience, but Sana waited near one of the snowy hillsides for one of the Dawnstar guards to walk by on a patrol. She waited until the guard walked past the snowy outcrop she was hiding behind before grabbing him by his shoulders and yanking him backward.

Caught off balance, the guard slipped in the snow and landed on his back causing the powder to fly everywhere. He wiped off the snow from the mask of his helmet and the first thing to greet him was a large rock coming at his face. His helmet chimed as the rock smashed into his head, knocking him out cold.

Grabbing hold of his fur boot, Sana dragged him further behind the hill and out of view of any other guards that happened to be nearby. Pulling off his helmet, the snow beneath the two slowly started to turn pink from the wound on the guard’s head. Sana continued to undress the man until he was left in just his undergarments, then used his own sword to slit his throat.

The armor was too big for Sana to wear normally but would do just fine for her plan: sneak into the Dawnstar barracks, free the girls, make Lisa and Rosé fix the Ice Runner, go back to plundering. No faults whatsoever.

Using the snow to wash off any blood from the helmet before placing it over her head, Sana left for the barracks in full guard attire. Perhaps if her life had gone a different way, she wouldn’t have become a bandit and maybe had done something others would consider productive like becoming a city guard. But that’s not where the gold is, so instead, Sana took to killing and taking what she wanted. Eventually, she met Jennie and Jisoo while killing vampires in the mountains, but that’s a story for another time, then Lisa and Rosé crashed into her life just like they crashed her ship into the frozen beach. Sana was never going to let that go.

Now the bandit was casually walking through the evening snowfall towards the barracks disguised in guard attire. She pulled open the wooden door and was immediately surrounded by the heat coming from inside the building. Two guards sat passed out in wooden chairs, Sana assumed that too much ale was consumed by both parties.

She made quick work of the two by pulling out her elvish dagger, a gift from the maid, and silently slicing open their throats. She took a now bloody ring of keys off the belt of one and then continued to the jail cells down the stairs.

“Whiterun is so far. It’s far from Dawnstar. It takes an hour by horse. I’m sleepy.”

“Jisoo, Stop singing. I’m trying to see how much straw I can stick in Lisa’s bangs before she wakes up.”

“She’s a heavy sleeper. You could draw on her face and she still wouldn’t wake up.”

“Ooo there are some bits of charcoal near the torch, go grab some.”

“Hahaha, now she had a circle around .”

“I never knew you such an artist, Rosé.”

“Thank you.”

Sana could hear the voices of Jisoo, Jennie, and Rosé echo through the small and relatively empty jail. The only people down here were the crazy quartet and a sleeping guard. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, Sana could see the three women huddled around Lisa, who was sleeping in a crumpled bale of straw.

The only other guard in the building was leaning back against a wooden chair with his feet up on a table. His face was obscured from view but snores could be heard coming from his helmet. Sana casually walked out into the room catching the attention of Jennie who tapped on both Jisoo and Rosé. The three women watched as Sana walked around the room until she stopped behind the single guard.

As she quietly drew her dagger out of its sheath, a piece of hay fell from Lisa’s bangs and landed on her nose, causing her to wake up with the loudest sneeze Sana had ever heard. The guard jerked awake as well and reached for his sword. He turned around to face the girls and ended up face to face with Sana, well, more like helmet to helmet.

“Oh… is my shift over?” The guard asked Sana while relaxing his grip on the sword.

“Yeah,” Sana nodded then pointed at the guard’s stomach, “I think you have a little… something, right there.”

As he looked down at his chest, Sana drew her dagger and slammed it into his torso. The blade went in-between his ribs and caused a cracking sound as Sana twisted the weapon. The guard cried out and tried to pry Sana’s hands off the handle causing the two to stagger and topple over the table. The wood splintered under both their weight and the items were strewn over the floor. The guard reached out and grabbed hold of a bottle of ale that had fallen off the table and smashed the glass over Sana’s helmeted head. The shards of shattered glass flew through the room and into the holes of Sana’s helmet while the alcohol stung Sana’s eyes.

The two separated and rolled away from each other, Sana covered in glass and alcohol, the guard in blood. Both drew their swords and swung at each other. The metal clashed over and over as Sana blindly swung and the guard struggled to stand up straight. The guard knocked Sana’s sword out of her grasp and charged at her, but she twisted out of the way before the sharp metal could pierce her skin.

The guard spun around to face her once more and was quickly met with Sana’s armored fist. The punched cause him to drop his sword and stagger back. Sana didn’t wait for him to regain his balance and swung once more. Blood ran from the holes in the helmet as Sana sat on top of him and socked him in the face with her metal gauntlets over and over.

Making sure he was dead with one final punch in the bloody headpiece, Sana stood up and faced the four women in the cell.

“Who… who are you.” Lisa asked awestruck

All four women gasped as Sana reached up and slid off her helmet, flipping her hair she did so.

“Happy to see me?” Sana smirked as they all stood up and rushed toward the cell door.

“Sana!” They said in unison.

Sana pulled out the key ring she had taken from the guard upstairs and unlocked their cell. Now reunited, all five bandits snuck out of the barracks and into the snowy night. They huddled together as they made their way back to the Ice Runner.

“Wh-wh-why is D-Dawn-st-star so c-c-cold.” Lisa chattered out.

“I don’t know. We wouldn’t even be here if you two didn’t crash the damn ship.” Jisoo smacked the brunette and the redhead on the head.

“If I can still move my fingers after this, I’m skinning you both alive.” Jennie threatened while exhaling on her fingers.

“Look, I said I’m sorry thirty times. What else do you want me to do?” Rosé looked up at Sana.

“Well, you can start by fixing the ship,” Sana smiled then squeezed Lisa shoulder with her bloody gauntlet, “And Lisa can help too.”

“Wh-wh-what?” The only response the bandit got back was a tighter grip on her shoulder.

“Wait,” Jennie stuck out an arm to stop the group from walking, "what's that up ahead?”

Further down the cobblestone road, a growing light could be seen. As it got closer, the bandits could make out a group of people walking down the road holding up torches in the night.

“Guards! Quick, into the woods.”

Sana pulled Lisa and Rosé by their coats and dragged the two over to the snow-covered trees. Jennie and Jisoo quickly followed behind and the five crouched down behind the snow bank.

“Why are there guards patrolling all the way out here?” Jisoo whispered to Sana.

“I may or may not have broken out of Solitude prison to come get you guys.”

“You broke out-“ Sana clasped a hand over Rosé’s mouth to keep her from yelling. When she removed it, Rosé asked her question much quieter, “You broke out of Solitude? How?”

“That's a story for when all five of us are not on a wanted list.” Sana whispered back.

The group walking down the road soon came closer and the bandits all gasped.

“Those aren't guards, those are the mages that captured us in the first place.”

“Wh-Why do we-we-we keep running into-to to them?”

“It looks like there’re more of them.”

“Yeah, the tall one is really pretty.”

“Rosé, stop drooling, it will freeze.”

“Shhhh! They’re right there.”

The group of mages from before quickly walked past the bandit’s hiding spot. They were still dressed in their colorful robes. If Sana was right, Momo was the one on the blue and Mina was in yellow. She definitely remembered Seulgi because she was the one who took her to prison. And the cute little one was Dahyun, Sana remembered her because she has the cutest cheeks.

The other two Sana didn’t know. The taller one that Rosé had been staring at was beautiful. Her posture was perfect even as she walked through the frigid night. The smallest one seemed strangely intimidating but adorable at the same time. Her cute little beauty mark could be seen in the torchlight as the group passed by.

“Do you think they went to Solitude to get those two girls?”

“I don’t know, but that tall one is hard to look away from.”

“You have frozen drool hanging from your mouth, Rosé.”

“Ca-ca-can we p-p-please get out of th-th-this cold.”

“Lisa’s right, we’ll go back to the Ice Runner then we’ll follow those mages. I want to give them a piece of my mind, especially the cute one in green.”

“What was that last thing?”

“Uhh, nothing.”

When the group of mages had disappeared into the snowfall, the five stood up and quickly made off for the Ice Runner. Lisa ended up catching a cold and Rosé was struggling to pry off the icicle of drool. Jennie and Jisoo quickly went into their quarters and began getting ready to chase after the mages. Sana cast the guard apparel off somewhere in Lisa and Rosé’s room, then returned to her chambers.

All five of the bandits met on the main deck of the ship and set out after the group of mages. It took quite a bit of jogging, but eventually, they caught up to the group of six women at the shores of Winterhold. The remains of the city towered above on the cliffside as the group followed the mages up the cliff path. Intense winds were blowing in from the sea causing the colorful robes to flap around. More snow continued to float down as the gap between the two groups shrunk.

When they reached the top of the cliff, the mages turned right and began walking towards a large stone bridge. Choosing this time to attack, Sana motioned for the group to split up so they could attack from all sides. Lisa and Jennie climbed up one of the snowy hills to the right of the group while Jisoo and Rosé circled around the abandoned buildings on the left. Sana continued straight up the middle until she was a sword-length away from the mages.

Drawing her sword, Sana reached out for Seulgi’s shoulder but was pulled back by a strong force. Her blade knocked out of her grasp, Sana was shoved face down into the snow.

“You have committed crimes against Winterhold and it’s people. What do you say in your defense?” The guard above her pushed her further into the freezing snow.

“Get off of me you !” Sana tried to twist out of his grip to no avail

“That's what I thought.” The guard stated moving around above, he pulled out a thick rope and tied it around Sana’s wrists.

“By order of the Jarl, stop right there!”

Sana heard more shouts near the hillside where Lisa and Jennie were as Jisoo and Rosé were dragged over to Sana by more guards.

When all five had been captured and bound at the wrist, one of the guards motioned for them to be taken away.

“Enjoy the Chill,” he said as they were dragged to their feet.

The last thing Sana saw before a sack was thrown over her head was the light from the mages disappearing into the huge building across the magically suspended bridge.

~ ~ ~

The five are dragged through the snow and placed into a carriage. They couldn’t see where they were going because of the sacks over their heads. Eventually, the rocking of the carriage stopped and water could be heard nearby. They were forced out of the carriage and onto a rickety boat. They sailed for a while through the frigid ocean until one of the guards started shouting.

“Separate cells. Don’t let these five anywhere together, especially that one. She’s the one who broke out of Solitude.”

With a kick to the stomach, Sana was thrown off the boat onto solid ice, the cold seeping into her already freezing body. More grunts were heard as her crew were also thrown off the boat onto the ice. A strong pair of hands grabbed Sana by her bound hands and yanked her upright then began dragging.

The chime of keys on a key ring echoed through the cave the five bandits had been dragged into. The hands pulled once more and tossed Sana onto the hard ice again. A metal door screeched as is was slammed shut next to Sana’s head. Once all the bandits were thrown into their cells, footsteps echoed through the frozen cavern signaling that the guards were leaving.

Rolling onto her side, Sana struggled to pry the sack off of her head. When she could finally see, she was greeted with the bars of a metal cage. The space was barely high enough to stand up in. The cage itself was one of many inside the room of pure ice.

Still, with a bag over her head, Rosé was curled into a ball in the cell adjacent to Sana while Jennie and Jisoo were both sitting cross-legged in theirs. Lisa was a chattering mess in the cell furthest away from the four.

The only other living thing in the cave was a massive frost atronach. The giant magical creature was made completely out of ice, and if it wasn’t swaying back and forth, it would look just the like the giant Ice stalagmites erupting from the floor. Sana assumed that if it saw anyone trying to escape, it would leap into action and crush them to death with its giant frozen ice spears.

A few of the other cells had the remains of past inmates. Frozen in the same position they died in, probably from hypothermia or starvation. The guards were kind enough to let the five bandits keep their fur-lined armor but nothing else. No food. No water. And the worst thing about this place; the freezing wind outside was nothing compared to the surrounding chill of the cavern.