In the dream, Talon waited for the things to come and tear him apart. He felt the bark against his skin, the forest floor on his legs. But the smell. He never smelled the forest in the dream. Not like now. Now, it was so strong&.

　　Pawe.`

　　Sosa was here. Sometimes, in the dreams he had to watch while the things came and&

　　but the smell& why was&?

　　His eyes opened. His head hurt so badly it left lines of pain across his vision. The dream faded, yet still the bark still scraped against his back. Something twisted his arms at the shoulder. He tried to move but they were stuck behind, something bit into the skin at his wrists.

　　Pawe. Wake up, don`t move.`

　　Four men held his daughter. Rope had been tied to either wrist and was being looped around the wide trunk of a darktree. They sat her against the bark, her arms fixed behind. Talon came to understand his own discomfort. She wasn`t struggling, why wasn`t she&

　　Then he really saw her. Her forearms were badly marked and cut, her face was swelling under dark bruises.

　　Sosa.` His throat was dry, words cracked. He pulled hard on the ropes that bound him, but it simply dragged on already raw skin. A hundred points of bark left splinters in his back and sweat mingled, stinging, with the blood.

　　Something heavy pressed into his neck, a warning to keep still. Sosa was not looking at him, or even her captors, but staring ahead. He followed Sosa`s gaze.

　　There were too many people with faces that did not have room for logic or compassion. Then he saw what Sosa saw.

　　Please don`t struggle, Mmawe,` Sosa was saying. Kala was slumped between two men who dragged her, her bloodied knees scraping on the forest floor. She was not struggling. Blood ran from her nose and threaded lines across her lips to drop from her chin.

　　Kala!` Talon fought his bonds, grating his back as she struggled to get to his feet. The heavy thing lifted only to thump back down on his neck and he slumped as coloured lines covered his vision.

　　Pawe! Stop!` it was Sosa again. They won`t kill her if we don`t struggle, please Pawe.`

　　What happened? How had this happened?

　　He`d waited no more than a few minutes with Raela to make sure Orolo passed out with the juice the healer had fed her and then he`d run back to join his wife and daughter. There had been people, a commotion and then&

　　A dull pain ached across his shoulders from more than just the pull of his restraints which twisted them uncomfortably behind him.

　　Fear written onto the faces of people who had cried over his son, people who walked behind his father`s procession, people who had worked his fields. Any who might have fought for him, for his family, for Kala, were absent. Beyond the hubbub, Jode`s voice poured fear into the crowd.

　　Sosa.` His voice was that of a helpless child.

　　I`m here, I`m here. Mmawe will be okay, I promise, just don`t fight, please just don`t fight or they`ll kill her too.`

　　He nodded to show he understood, but his head hung against his chest and throbbed. Every part of him hurt. He couldn`t remember them coming for him, wasn`t even sure what the last thing he remembered was.The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

　　She`ll be okay if she doesn`t cause trouble.` Sosa spoke softly. Jode said. He said it to everyone.`

　　I hope she burns the bastard in his sleep.`

　　Sosa managed a breathy laugh. The gathering receded out of the trees taking the semi conscious Kala with them and leaving Talon and his daughter alone tied to their respective trees.

　　Did you see them?` Sosa said after a few moments.

　　He knew what she meant. Yes.`

　　It was the dark,` she said.

　　I saw.`

　　In their eyes. I thought it was just Orolo, but then I saw the others. They all looked the same.`

　　I see it.`

　　Pawe?` She stopped. Talon opened his eyes and looked at her again. It hurt to open his eyes or move his head, but he wanted to see his daughter, even if what they`d done to her face brought him sadness and blinding rage.

　　You,` he swallowed, desperate for moisture, call me Talon. I told you.`

　　She was peering at him, her eyes filled with tears. Did we bring it? Is what they said true? Did we bring the dark into the village?`

　　Talon shook his head. I don`t see how. If all it needed was to follow someone home, it would have happened after every funeral.`

　　He heard his words, but he had to wonder. He and Sosa had disturbed the dark and the bodaki within. Perhaps it was they who had caused the unrest and perhaps their sacrifice would see it ended.

　　All he could hope was their sacrifice would at least save Kala. But Sosa&

　　Don`t let it in.` Sosa`s voice floated softly across the dusk air. Don`t let it in. I see it in you, like I saw it in them.`

　　He took a breath. She was right. It wasn`t over, they still had to fight. Somehow.

　　Can you get free? Can you move at all?` he asked.

　　Sosa shook her head. I`ve been trying but the knots are all up my arms, I can`t move. I can`t even work them loose.`

　　Keep trying.` He hurt, every part of him hurt, but he tensed and wriggled, trying to gain some play that would let him free a knot. Nothing would give.

　　The voices from the village receded. Even Jode`s perpetual oration was too distant to be heard. The sounds of the forest were now all that was left. They worked unyielding ropes as night, and the dark, grew closer.

　　Something very close screamed.

　　They`re out there,` Sosa whispered. They`re fighting over us. Already. They`re fighting over us.`

　　Keep trying.` Talon shouted, but his own bonds were too intricate to allow any movement. The only thing giving way was the skin on his wrists. There was noise to his other side and he snapped his head around expecting to see that the dark had flanked him but to the other side lay another figure, arms bent backwards and tied by the wrists to another trunk. He hadn`t seen her before and only now she`d made noise. She must have been unconscious.

　　Oh, no. Orolo,` he called. Can you hear me, Orolo?` Helpless to comfort or calm her, Talon had to watch as she slowly woke, struggling and confused. One eye was swollen shut but the other flew open as she saw the darkness, now creeping closer. Her feet kicked out trying to stand, breaths short and fast. Her one eye drew wide.

　　No. No. Help me,` she whispered, her feet pushing at the earth trying to move herself away.

　　Orolo,` Sosa`s voice cut across. She sounded strained, helpless. Orolo listen to me, don`t look at it, don`t look. Orolo can you hear me? Look at me. Please look at me.`

　　Orolo looked at Sosa, but the dark surged forwards anyway. She screamed thrashing and helpless, her body half covered by the darkness.

　　The dark changed. The girl stopped moving, stopped screaming. Instead she jerked, not in panic, but in pain. Something pulled her by the legs into the darkness. Her shoulders gave with the wet pop of a heavy stone dropped in the stream as her arms strained against the rope.

　　The stench of metallic blood filled the air. She twitched and jerked, her arms twisted the wrong way until they were above her head and something in the darkness tore at her helpless hidden thighs and belly. Orolo screamed, not from fear but from helpless agony.

　　She screamed, and still the darkness ate her.

　　She looked over at Talon, still screaming, as the dark crept up her chest, shoulders, neck and before it covered her head, blood splattered from her mouth in a cloud. In the next moment she was gone and the dark poured over her tree hiding the arms that twitched where they hung from the ropes.

　　Oh, no, Pawe. Orolo. No.` Sosa had her eyes pressed against her shoulder.

　　Talon fought hard against the bonds that slowly sawed through his wrists. He had once escaped having to watch one of those things eat his daughter but for what? Had they been saved for this? At least having to watch while they ate his daughter meant she was spared the horror of being the last one left alive.

　　Sosa,` he called as the dark closed in on his own feet. I`m sorry, Sosa,`

　　I love you, Pawe. Talon. I love you Talon.`

　　A wave of black washed between their trees. Had it covered her, or simply separated their trunks?

　　He turned his head, eyes full of tears. In the night, things fought over Orolo`s warm flesh. When the dark reached Talon`s feet, he didn`t close his eyes or turn his face away but stared defiantly into the blackness.

　　From the dark, eyes stared hungrily back.