The third and and final novelette in the Sirronde's World series. Sirronde faces an ultimate challenge as she discovers she must go up against the Shadow during the Dreadnights, that wintry time of year when the Goddess's archenemy is at its strongest -- and with no help but that of two most unpromising traveling companions: a flawed young man and a kitten. Her fate lies in their hands (or paws) and theirs in hers as the three venture into the darkness under the mountain, none of them knowing whether any of them will live to see the dawn...