Kerwin waited two days for his apprentice to return, before setting out himself.

He had sent the fool boy into the forest to pick mushrooms. He had thought the townsfolk were having a go at him when they said the forest was haunted and cursed by both gods and men. None of their stories matched up and even if he had been inclined to believe them, he didn’t then. Now he wasn’t sure. Anything can happen to a teenage boy alone in a strange place.

He reached the edge of the forest at dusk. The road split into two, one continuing on to Twon and the other heading though a corridor of trees that became so overgrown that there was scarcely path to follow at all.

Red glowing insects floated, swirling on the currents of an icy breeze, like embers of a wildfire. The shadows on the ground seemed darker than the encroaching night sky. Something yipped nearby, appearing for a second, then disappearing into the leafy branches of a large bush.

Kerwin shivered and stepped forward onto the path that led into the wilderness.