Dawn`s light had not yet crept into the sky. Talon`s fear was reflected in his daughter`s eyes. Her face, illuminated by a small torch, was that of a much older woman. Had he done that to her? Between her fingers she rolled the wooden beads of a small bracelet.

　　Where`d you get that?`

　　Sosa looked like she might throw up. Someone gave it to me for Ego.` She glanced at Eleris as if she didn`t want the guardian to know. Last night we had visitors.` She tried a smile, but it sat uncomfortably.

　　Talk to me. Remember what we agreed. It was your idea.`

　　I`m scared. I`m tired.` Sosa said. Then after a little gloomy pause she added, I can`t go out there again.`

　　I`m frightened too. I don`t want to do this again,` Talon admitted.

　　I can`t climb another tree. I can`t run from monsters again.`

　　Eleris was over the far side of the room with the largest piece of fruit he`d ever seen. She returned having cut three large crescents from it.

　　Here.` Eleris handed them each a large slice. This will sustain you, but isn`t so heavy you can`t run.`

　　They slurped the watery flesh. Eleris seemed to be watching them. There is no need to be afraid. This trip will be a little different, I imagine.`

　　They went down the stairs and out into the deserted village where Eleris broke into a jog. It was gentle but by the edge of the village, where his age-induced sleep stiffness had warn off, he was able to lope alongside her easily enough. It felt good to be moving. Concentrating on his feet and his breathing made it hard to worry about where they were going. Sosa`s expression told the same story, though it was sad to see the fire of curiosity was gone from her face.

　　They carried nothing. Eleris wore her armour and several weapons, but their hands were free.

　　Should we take water?` Talon asked.

　　No need. Now quiet, you`ll need all your breath.` As if to prove her point Eleris quickened the pace again.

　　The forest was in darkness, but it looked very different to their own early flight. The night air was still and clear. The sounds of the forest were still loud, but screamed of life. Of the bodaki and their smothering blackness, there was no sign.

　　There was a path, not clear, but a parting and bending of the undergrowth. If they were not on it, Talon doubted he would know it was there. Why did Eleris come this way so often as to leave such a mark?

　　The guardian stayed ahead but kept a check on them. Talon worried she would expect them to keep this pace the whole way, but Eleris slowed to an ambling jog, somewhere between a trot and a run. The change let some muscles rest, while others got tired.

　　He and Sosa had moved slowly, walking and marking trees for direction, but with the path to follow they were travelling far faster. Eleris switched between the faster jogging and this trot several times. Talon coped far better than he would have thought, but he and Sosa exchanged fortifying glances. Soon he felt himself starting to droop, but Eleris slowed, then stopped. They had made it to her hut, and the sun had not yet reached its highest. Sosa and Talon rested while a far less tired Eleris went inside. She returned with the spear and jammed its haft into the ground so it stood up beside them.

　　I can`t believe we made it this far so fast.` Sosa was out of breath but not gasping.

　　Old soldier`s trick. Now, don`t sit, just stand and rest a moment.` Then she disappeared into the trees.

　　I`ve never moved so far so quickly.` Talon said.

　　We`ve never needed to move so far,` Sosa laughed. We`d have circled the village eight times by now.`

　　Where`s she gone?` Talon looked around. There was no sign of the guardian.

　　Not sure. We`re okay.` She nodded at the spear. It wasn`t glowing, not really, but when he looked at it just right, it was shining with a light as bright as a burning torch. The trees above them were starting to sway as wind tugged at them.

　　I think there`s a storm coming.` Talon said.

　　Do you mean Eleris?`

　　Talon shook his head, but the smile left his face. She`s not going to make things worse, is she?` he asked, as if Sosa would know.

　　What do you mean?`

　　He looked at his daughter, sorry he`d spoken aloud and brought those lines of worry back to her face. She was no little girl any more, she was a woman. Her childhood carefree expression was dead and what was left was a woman who knew things, had seen things she should never have had to see. That was his fault. Talon shook his head.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

　　No,` Sosa said sternly. Remember what we said. Especially out here, none of that. Now out with it.`

　　Everything we`ve done has made things worse. We got involved and that`s why Halo is dead, then we went after Gris and everyone died, we only just made it back. Now we`re here and I can`t help but worry&`

　　Pawe, it will be fine. You`ve seen her, she`s amazing. She`s run all this way and barely broken a sweat. Even the forest, even the dark is afraid of her.` Sosa looked around at the clear forest, devoid of the black. In the far distance it swirled, nothing more threatening than a dancing dapple of leaf-cast shade. She`ll kill Gris, the village will be safe, this will all be over.`

　　We never asked her that.`

　　They`d come seeking a woman Ego had painted as something of a tyrant. Talon could see how a youngster like Ego would see her this way, but she was not the woman they`d expected. They didn`t actually know her at all.

　　Eleris reappeared bearing three of the large waternuts. She stabbed two holes in the top of each. Drink the juice. Don`t eat or you will get the stomach cramps when we run again.`

　　They sucked the sweet, milky water from the shells. Eleris stashed the remains in her hut. Talon plucked the spear from the ground.

　　Here,` Eleris returned, would you like me to carry it?`

　　Pride wouldn`t allow him to say yes. Fortunately he had a daughter.

　　Yes,` Sosa said, because he`ll not admit that this is hard for both of us. We`re used to hard work but more heavy lifting than running.`

　　Eleris smiled. I do this a lot. I will carry your spear.`

　　It is yours anyway,` Talon said. It`s your payment for helping us.` Eleris had agreed to come before they discussed the cost. It seemed only right she should have it. It might save her carrying it through the forest and back.

　　The guardian looked at the bronze spear head. We`ll take it with us, anyway.`

　　Talon watched her face carefully. You don`t think you`ll be able to help us, do you?`

　　Of course she can help us,` Sosa said, have you seen her? She`ll defeat Gris, no problem. He`s just an old man.` Then Sosa looked down embarrassed. She was clearly smitten, and who wouldn`t be? Sosa was the best of him and Kala, but here was a woman he would be happy for Sosa to aspire to.

　　Eleris` smile was grim. We will see what we will see.`

　　You never asked us about him before agreeing to come.` Talon said.

　　No.` Eleris tightened the straps on her armour. Tell me more.`

　　He`s strong, but I think you`re stronger. We think he has control over the bodaki. Some villagers think he is one, but I don`t.` Talon had to stop himself babbling. She`d already agreed and he might change her mind with some foolish word. I suppose we don`t really know anything about him.`

　　You told me everything of use already.` Eleris sounded dismissive. Come on before your legs stiffen.`

　　You will kill him for us?`

　　I`ll see what I can do.`

　　The liquid sloshed in his stomach as they jogged, and he was glad to not have eaten the flesh. The path here was less defined and in places not even visible. Eleris picked her way through even the obscure sections with confidence.

　　Would they really make it to the village in this single day? He hoped so. If the hut was half way between the villages they were making good time. The wind was getting higher and when clouds became visible they were threatening. He didn`t want to be out here when a storm hit.

　　The breaks became increasingly frequent and Eleris occasionally left them to rest while she scouted for sustenance. Each time she handed Sosa the spear.

　　She knows her way around the forest well enough.` Sosa remarked once they were alone. Talon just nodded. I`m worn out. Eleris looks like she could go for days, still. And she`s doing extra foraging trips.` She gazed after the warrior.

　　Talon wondered if they would ever feel normal again. Would Sosa always dream of the questions she never got to ask? He had lost a son, something he could never forget. What would it be like to go back to the fields and tend crops without him, knowing that this was all still out here, knowing the world was not what he had thought it was? Would he be able to go back to the village and never leave again?

　　He was pulled from this reverie by Sosa whose eyes widened as she stared behind him. She snatched up the spear as he span around. The dark had kept a shy distance but no longer. It did not drift closer so much as materialise, the air before them growing opaque as they watched. Sosa held out the spear, threatening the manifesting blackness and they took a step closer to each other.

　　Where was Eleris?

　　What`s happening?` Sosa grasped for him and he held her, trying keep the shiver from reaching his muscles.

　　It`s okay, it`s just the dark. The spear will keep it away.`

　　But they will follow it. Or does the dark mean they`re already here?` Sosa whispered.

　　Eleris will be back,` Talon said. She`s just been longer than normal, that`s all it is. Don`t worry, don`t worry.` But his words felt hollow. The dark didn`t just get closer, it also crept inside him.

　　There had been moments when Talon had wanted to stop, to give up, where it felt easier to die than try to go on. Those feelings had come from the dark, but these were far deeper. This hopelessness soaked into his very ki with crushing intensity. It sapped his will to survive, to even move. He could take the spear from Sosa and just end it. For both of them. He was shocked by the strength of the urge, but even that shock was deadened against the screaming volume of this singular desire. He`d felt like this before. This was more than just the whispering darkness.

　　Sosa looked at him, her eyes mirroring his surprise, his struggle. She held out the spear and they both clung to it. Even its ethereal sparkle dulled under the onslaught. The spear`s touch was enough to quiet the baying thoughts to a suffocating smother, but the dark kept creeping closer.

　　I`m scared, where is Eleris?` Sosa whispered.

　　The dark closed in and the light from the spear sputtered like a candle in the rain. They were coming, those things and the spear they had relied on was going to fail them. Talon had almost had to watch something tear Sosa open and eat her while she screamed, he could not let that happen again. He would much rather she died at his own hand, swiftly and without suffering. It should not be a decision he had to make, but it was better than watching one of those things tear her to pieces while she still breathed.

　　The darkness came closer.

　　They were lost, Eleris was gone. They were abandoned.

　　He reached for his daughter`s neck, hands closing around her spine. He could break it, but it would be easier, more definite to push her throat onto the spear`s point.

　　Something ran at them from the dark, grunting hard, then the blackness parted as it flew at them.

　　He was too late. They had come.

　　Sosa screamed. Talon might have screamed too, he could not be sure.

　　Something grabbed them, but it didn`t rip them open. Instead it spoke to them in a voice he almost didn`t recognise, a voice he had never expected to hear so distorted by fear. In a desperate, breathless whisper, Eleris managed only one word.

　　Run.`