Lightning ignited the sky as they fled through the forest. A deafening pearl of thunder shook the air, the leaves hissing and rattling as though in frantic warning of impending doom.

Ignoring Torrinth’s silent offer of his back, James doggedly weaved an uncertain path behind Fen, his arm attached to Torrinth’s shoulder like a crutch. Wellin was far from recovery, yet he managed to limp beside his younger brother with as much haste as James could muster. They had long since left the stifling confines of the black forest and were now trailing a path through woodland thick with vegetation.

James pushed on through his exhaustion, enduring the scrapes and stings of the undergrowth as if only these bodily distractions could keep his mind from tearing apart. The dream he had so recently suffered had been an utter violation of his senses. The breaking of his legs might have been illusory, but the damage to his mind was not. Each deafening clap of thunder brought back the nightmare of the demonic man and the hideous monster of tentacles he had conjured from the ground.

You will suffer…

James flinched as a new sound echoed out of the sodden depths of the forest, a piercing cry which momentarily cut through the ceaseless hammering of rain. It might have been the cry of a dying animal, but James recognised the shrill blast of a horn blown through furious lips.

Torrinth placed a restraining hand upon his chest and brought him to a halt, drawing his sword in the same instant. Beside them, Tavin and Fen had already un-shouldered their bows, their slender arrows trained upon the shadows dancing between the trees. As the seconds passed they remained completely still, training their weapons on the shifting darkness. But when the forest eventually parted, it was Leander and Kirrin who sprinted out to greet them. Both were sorely winded and it was some time before either could speak, their hands braced upon bended knees.

‘Something is wrong,’ Leander panted.

‘Their wayfarers have been executed by the kabavar,’ Kirrin continued breathlessly, ‘but somehow they know our location.’

Everyone turned as James suddenly groaned, gripping his head between wet hands. The others could not hear it, but the dreadful wail of the siren was once more detonating above their heads.

‘They’re here!’ he gasped. ‘The weevil are here!’

No longer doubting his ability to sense the presence of the monsters, Torrinth slung James upon his back as Tavin did likewise with his wounded brother. And then they were all running for their lives through the forest.

The ground pitched sharply downwards as they passed into a narrow defile between two great shoulders of granite; the ground littered with rocks covered in thick blankets of moss. Their progress slowed as they picked their way through the hidden debris, flashes of lightning turning the narrow corridor into a shifting gauntlet of nightmare shadows. From Torrinth’s swaying back, James peered up at the overhanging trees, jutting from the tops of the ravine. This time when he saw the sinewy forms lurching between the trees, he knew what he was witnessing.

‘Weevil!’ he screamed to anyone that would hear. ‘They’re up there!’

The monsters were flanking them along the tops of the ravine, their eyes burning like cruel diamonds in the darkness. Fen and Leander loosed arrows into the air, crumpling the half-seen shapes as they appeared. But for each that fell, another took its place screaming its rage into the night.

‘Quickly,’ Kirrin yelled into the storm, ‘they seek to cut us off!’

Ahead, the narrow throat of the ravine loomed like the entrance to a tunnel, and those monsters now tumbling and cart-wheeling high above their heads, were closing upon it like two drawing curtains. The weevil now moved in a frenzied mass and in their desperation many threw themselves to their deaths. But as the ravine steadily diminished towards the forest floor, some few survived the fall. Dazed and broken, they ambled towards them, baring their pointed limbs like drawn swords. Leander danced and weaved between them, her blade a wicked blur of black on black. Her face was a mask of fury as her sword swept eagerly between them, splattering the granite walls with their blood.

The monsters were fast, but across the open ground the warriors were faster, and soon they were rushing through the narrow tunnel that was their only escape. When the forest ended, it was without warning. The seemingly endless canopy of branches and leaves that had accompanied their quest for the past week was suddenly replaced with open sky. Lightning blazed through bloated storm clouds, igniting the sheets of rain lashing down from the heavens.

Craning his neck from Torrinth’s jostling shoulders, James watched in horror as hundreds of weevil streamed from the dark line of the forest like furious ants leaving their nest. And there, rushing from the mouth of the defile that had led them from the forest was another kind of black. A dark tide of men sprinted across the open ground, their drawn blades flashing like silver claws.

‘Kirrin, the crossing?’ Leander cried, firing two arrows in quick succession into the jumble of dark shapes closing in upon them.

The tall warrior narrowed his eyes, looking for stars that were no longer visible in the sky. Casting about, he stabbed the blade of his drawn sword to the east and together they made their desperate retreat across the plateau.

They heard the river long before they saw it, roaring above the sound of the storm like a murderous animal. Soon a ribbon of black emerged from out of the gloom, its dark waters furious and swollen. Across the wide expanse of water, like the vast wall of a glacier, lay the smouldering edge of a white forest.

‘There!’ Kirrin yelled, pointing as he ran.

In the distance, the tall pillars of a stone bridge loomed out of the darkness. But as they drew nearer, James’ heart lurched, for what he saw was not a bridge but a ruin. Two granite pillars flanked the entrance to what had once been a wide, graceful arc of stone. But within the gulf that now existed between the two banks, only a tumble of river-washed granite protruded from the raging waters.

Just as James was beginning to think Kirrin had made a fatal misjudgement, he saw a flicker of movement within the gulf between the immobile granite pillars. An impossibly narrow bridge of wood and twine had been strung between the ruins, spanning the gulf between like fragile scraps of cobweb.

It was a scant bridge indeed, and when Torrinth placed James back upon his feet, he realised he was expected to cross it unaided. His legs felt leaden and uncertain, the left side of his body dragging him down, as though the return of his body’s numbness were yet another enemy conspiring against him.

The shouts and curses of the men now overwhelmed the screams of the weevil, who now parted to let them through. Arrows, loosed from archers clattered against the stone pillars, sending James sprawling to the ground. But the warriors gathered around him did not flinch, instead calmly returning fire with their wooden arrows, deftly felling each man that dared contest them with such weapons.

‘Get onto the bridge, now!’ Tavin yelled, discharging the last of his arrows into the charging ranks of men.

Fen leapt onto the bridge like a ballerina and ran lightly across it, as Torrinth pushed James forward. The boards were wet and slippery beneath his feet, but somehow the sandals Bettiny had given him held fast as he inched along its length. He had made it three quarters of the way across when the bridge bucked violently beneath him. Miraculously, his feet kept their grip, but it was his numb fingers that betrayed him in the end. The tautened twine slipped from his hand and with a yelp he began to pitch sideways. For the third time in this miserable chapter of his life, it was only the sure grip of the old man that kept him from falling to his death. Torrinth’s hands rounded painfully on his shoulders and he was thrown unceremoniously onto the river bank. The impact winded him, but before he could recover his senses, those same strong hands were reaching under his arms and dragging him into the waiting forest of white.

Falling to the ground beside Fen, he turned to watch Leander sprinting across the bridge, followed closely by Kirrin. The tall warrior nodded curtly as he passed the young woman before running on into the forest of white. Alone now, Leander turned to face the horde racing to the other edge of the riverbank. The first men were clambering onto the bridge when she swung her sword and severed the thick twine anchoring it to the ground. With an audible twang, the bridge recoiled from the bank, sending the men screaming to the black waters below.

With her bow held aloft, she screamed her defiance at the men and monsters now gathered upon the opposite bank. Those archers still remaining of their number fired across the raging gap between, but their skill with such weapons rendered their threat harmless.

As relatively safe as she might have been, James looked on with growing foreboding. It was the same fear he had felt watching her stalk through the forest in retreat from Venn; her simmering rage garnering a recklessness barely held in check. But the fury she expressed now was something closer to madness; her rage so possessing that she could not ignore the taunts and jeers now being slung across the river in place of arrows.

Tavin glanced uncertainly to his brother, who looked grimly on, absently snapping off an arrow embedded in his wooden armour.

‘Bring her back, Kirrin!’ Fen cried from behind.

On the other side of the river, a glowing figure emerged through the press of dark men wearing the tattered remnants of a silk robe. Standing before the army of men and monsters, Bettiny blazed a grin of malice across the gulf between them. In her hands she held a bow as tall as a man, drawn across her body with inhuman strength.

Caught off guard, Leander stumbled, dropping her bow as she scrambled for cover behind a granite pillar. An instant later, the great arrow detonated against its surface, showering the air with splintered wood and pulverised stone.

Bettiny grinned, mechanically reaching for another arrow as long as a spear. With her fevered eyes trained upon the opposite shore, she addressed a tall, emaciated warrior at her side. Her voice was shrill and full of menace, her words carrying above the noise of the storm for all to hear.

‘Fell the trees, ford the river. Bring the man to me alive. Kill the rest.’

The soldier moved off with alacrity, barking harsh commands as saws and axes were swiftly brought to bear upon the nearest trees.

Drawing the monstrous bow across her body, Bettiny’s tattered robes began to flutter frantically as her bare feet slowly rose from the ground. The soldiers standing around her drew back in fear as the glowing scarecrow body climbed into the air and out across the river.

With her back to the granite pillar, Leander shouted her own command into the storm.

‘I have erred! Take Jame and flee to the Citadel at once!’

Kirrin grimaced, his hand still clutching his drawn sword now rendered useless by distance.

‘Do something!’ James cried.

Kirrin gravely regarded the quivers hanging emptily from Tavin and Fen’s waists. They returned the same anguished appeals, but each of them recognised the defeat that had befallen them. Kirrin’s face wilted, his features softening to dismay. For the first time, James looked upon the man he had grown to hate and felt only pity for him.

‘Leander is now Lord of Galendar, her orders bind us all.’

Kirrin said the words that were due of him, yet he remained where he stood, his feet planted firmly to the ground. James turned back to watch the glowing body sailing across the river, no longer able to endure the helplessness radiating from the other man. The thought that another person would die because of him was suddenly too much to bear. A grim resolution crystallised within his mind and he quickly snatched Tavin’s bow from where it lay beside him. The young man registered his bewilderment, but James had already turned to address his brother.

‘Your orders were to take me and flee,’ James said, his hands rigid upon the bow.

Kirrin regarded him coldly, uttering a curse beneath his breath as though unable to believe his audacity.

‘But you can’t obey your orders if I’m not with you,’ James said.

Understanding dawned, and for the first time the other man smiled grimly. James turned and walked out alone to the tumbled ruins of the bridge. His only consolation for this impetuous act was that the enemy wished to take him alive. Whatever happened, Bettiny’s arrow could not be used upon him.

Bettiny’s manic eyes blazed in her head as she sailed past the middle of the river, the obscene arrow protruding from her bow like a compass point unerringly aimed at the granite pillar. Her intent was such that she hadn’t noticed James emerge from the trees, but Leander stared back at him in shocked incomprehension, her last arrow grasped uselessly between her limp fingers.

‘Hey!’ James shouted above the howling wind and rain. ‘Hey Bettiny, it’s me!’

The floating apparition halted in mid-air, the raging black waters thundering across the stone ruins beneath her.

‘I command you to leave!’ Leander screamed.

James looked on with a defiant smirk. For once, Leander’s words would have no power over him. Instead, he turned to face Bettiny’s hate-filled eyes. Like a weather vane pivoting to a sudden change of wind, her hands brought the mighty bow to bear upon him. A flicker of hesitation seemed to pass across her face, but her fingers pulled even tighter upon the straining bowstring.

James felt his confidence evaporate as he stared up at the arrow now pointed at him. His free hand fumbled at the coarse material of his robes, his fingers restlessly seeking purchase upon solidity that was not there. His despair and helplessness had allowed him to confront the woman who had once been his nurse, but now that he was the target, he felt the paralysing stench of his own cowardice bubble back to the surface.

‘I… I’m… I’m going to give Leander this bow, and then…’ James stuttered.

Bettiny’s grin returned to her porcelain face as her shrill voice cut him off.

‘What a brave little man,’ she sneered. ‘But, I don’t think you will be doing that.’

Her hand pulled ever tighter upon the bow, drawing protesting creaks from the overwrought wood.

‘You were to be taken alive, but a gift so easily given cannot be ignored.’

James felt his heart pound beneath his drenched robes. He wanted to turn and run but his legs were frozen in place. He registered movement from the corner of his eye and found that the others had come out to join him, their upturned faces defiant and proud.

Bettiny’s mocking laughter cut through the storm like a scream, drawing his gaze back to the arrow wavering before him. Despite his terror, his eyes narrowed as a keening sound cut through the violence of the storm. From out of the darkness, a bright blue light winked into existence.

Blinking the stinging rain from his eyes, he watched a curious shape take form within his mind. It was a beautiful thing, but also terrible in its abstract perfection. The shape shifted and grew, suddenly expanding into the depths of his mind like a solar flare lifting off the face of the sun. Holding his head between his shaking hands, he doubled over. But for once it wasn’t the aching pain of his brain tumour that crippled him, but a fear more terrible than any he had ever experienced.

Somewhere, far away, he heard Bettiny’s perverted voice rise to the pitch of a scream.

‘Watch, forest filth, as I rip your precious little man apart!’

Still clutching his head, James looked on through the seething blur behind his eyes to the arrow that would end his life. At that instant, he welcomed the end it would bring to the madness blazing through his mind, but with one last futile gesture, he raised a hand to ward the killing blow.

All sound ceased to exist. The wind howling in his ears, the loud churning of the black river, these sounds no longer registered upon his senses. Believing the unnatural quiet signalled the ending of his life, James tentatively opened his eyes. His left hand was still raised before him as though to catch an apple falling from a tree, but from out of his palm a pale thread of light streaked into the air. Numbly, he raised his eyes from his hand and traced the beam of light into the sky until they rested upon Bettiny. The demonic woman’s eyes were widened in shock, her body as rigid as a board. The coiling shape that had occupied his mind until an instant ago was now writhing across her body like a convulsing serpent.

Along the line of light binding his hand to Bettiny, he felt vibrations pulse towards him like a voice carried upon a tautened string. Within his mind an image began to resolve out of the blue light. He saw an old man sitting cross-legged upon a stone slab, the billowing fabric of a tent surrounding him like angry waves. Across an unknown distance, the man’s opaque eyes widened in fear.

Bettiny’s face sagged as the glowing shroud emanating from her body winked out of existence. Her lips no longer moved, but her voice echoed inside James’ head like the dying notes of a mournful song.

Jame, I’m so sorry.

A crippling pain blossomed inside his head as the writhing shape recoiled back inside his mind. The thundering roar of the river ricocheted back into his senses and he turned to find Leander drawing her last arrow across her face.

James wanted to scream for her to stop, to tell her that the real Bettiny had returned, but as he pursed his lips together he realised he had forgotten how to speak.

With a shrill whistle, Leander’s arrow streaked into the air, shattering the overwrought wood of Bettiny’s bow. The vast energy stored within the tensed wood was released in a shower of splinters, and Bettiny was flung down amidst the ruin of her weapon. Before the crushing pain inside his skull rendered him senseless, James watched her body flutter down to the raging black waters, where it was consumed like a flake of snow swallowed by the night.