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Toryn looked anxiously at his feet as he tried not to stumble from the narrow ledge down into the ravine. To his left, the river surged through the narrow gap as if agitated by the rocks' attempt to delay its journey. At each twist, water splashed up, groping for their feet as if trying to snatch them from the cliff in its frustration. Toryn shouted to make himself heard above the gushing water. ‘It might have been better in the dark. Then I couldn’t see what’s waiting for me down below.’ He braced as another wall of water slammed into an outcrop at his feet. ‘Would have been better if the builders had made it wider.’

Hamar laughed and called back. ‘It has been. It’s easier going than when I last came this way.’

‘Just how narrow was it?’

Hamar stopped and turned. ‘It wasn’t made for big folk. I reckon it was built by the dwarfs who used to live in these parts, or perhaps even cobtrolls.’

‘We’re not far from the Kolossos range. And way back then there were settlements under the hills to the west. We found evidence of one near to where that stone used to be.’ Hamar shuffled a few more paces. ‘Ah, this will do nicely. We’ll rest here.’ He disappeared into a cave carved out of the rock. Toryn followed, happy to be off the ledge and away from the angry river. He took off his rucksack and rubbed his aching shoulders under his damp clothes.

Toryn looked behind Hamar. ‘It’s bigger than I thought, room for ten at least.’

Hamar rolled his blanket onto the floor. ‘Would have been a busy route before our kind came this far north.’ He banged his head on the low ceiling and cursed. ‘Definitely smaller than we are, whoever built it.’ Hamar peered to the back of the cave. ‘Must have been cobtrolls. See, there’s a bend at the back to shelter them from sunlight. They shun the big, fiery ball in the sky.’

Toryn grinned. ‘Why? Do they burst into flames?’

‘Course not. No, it’s their eyes. Can see well in the dark, far better than you or I, but they’d be practically blind in sunlight.’

Toryn unwrapped the last fish and held it to his nose. ‘Smells alright. I’ll light a fire.’

‘I suppose that’s one advantage of it being colder. The food lasts longer. But never you mind, this time tomorrow we’ll be feasting by a roaring fireside in Greendell.’

‘And then what?’ Toryn snapped the twigs. ‘Six months of doing what I’ve been doing for years back home?’

Hamar sighed. ‘Let’s get there first, eh. This gorge forks farther up, we turn right and it’s only a few hours before we reach the small plain nestling between the hills. Greendell sits right in the middle.’

Toryn made a small pile of sticks and struck the flint. He turned to Hamar. ‘Back at the Singing Stone, you said you’d seen the words on those rocks before. Can you remember where?’

‘Thought you’d ask.’ Hamar sat. ‘A place called Durran Wood.’ Toryn pushed a stick through the mouth of the fish. Hamar pointed to the fire. ‘Careful, not too close. You don’t want to scorch the flesh.’ He took a smoldering twig from the fire and lit his pipe. ‘The locals call it Wyke Wood.’

‘The fish, lad. Keep your eyes on the fish.’ Hamar shuddered. ‘It most certainly wasn’t. And I reckon it wasn’t one of the mischievous sods who’d cause an outbreak of boils on your backside if you didn’t pay them. No, the fiend in that wood was far worse. And still causing problems from what I hear.’

The shelter darkened. Toryn blew on the fire. ‘Is it far from here?’

‘Far enough. Stands to the south of Mawlgrim Mire. In fact, they make good neighbors. You wouldn’t want to pass the time of day in either. The wood’s a dark place, sturdy fir trees, only ones capable of growing that far north. Tall with thick growth that turns the middle of the day to night. Very dark.’ The flames flickered in Hamar’s wide eyes.

Toryn waited for him to continue, but this was a story the old man seemed reluctant to share. He pressed. ‘How did you come to be there?’

Hamar drew on his pipe. ‘It happened in my second year of service. We were following up reports of the usual suspects up to no good in the area. Anyways, we found their tracks soon enough and came across a deserted campsite, right on the edge of that damned wood. But the strange thing was what the tracks told us. These rascals are easy to follow as they blunder about without a care, but’ — he frowned as if trying to work out the mystery — ‘they left their camp in one line with an equal gap between them. We counted sixteen tracks. Just lined up facing the trees and walked right in. Very unlike them. They took nothing, no weapons, supplies or equipment. We found all their provisions left behind.’

Hamar gazed at the shadows dancing on the wall. He let out a long sigh. ‘We weren’t keen about going in after them, not after what the locals had told us. Strange goings on, noises at night, livestock dying of fright, even people disappearing. They’d abandoned the settlement of Durran ten years earlier, said it was too close for comfort.’

Toryn remembered their supper. He took it from the fire, broke off a piece and handed it to Hamar. ‘How come you’ve not mentioned this before?’

Hamar placed his pipe on a rock and accepted the fish. He took a bite and watched the entrance as he chewed. ‘There are certain things you don’t want to remember. I must’ve pushed the events of that day deep down, or most of it at least. But seeing the letters on those rocks dragged it all back up. The funny thing is, I can’t say for sure what happened, we were all… changed, altered afterwards.’

‘You went into the wood? I thought you said you—’

‘We had this new captain, keen to impress his seniors, so he insisted we go in and either capture them or find their dead bodies and take evidence back with us.’ He pointed to the rucksack. ‘Pass me the flask, my mouth’s gone dry.’ Toryn realized he had a morsel of uneaten fish in his mouth. He chewed as he passed the water to Hamar. ‘Thanks.’ He took a long drink and wiped his beard. ‘We convinced our captain to wait until morning, making sure we camped a fair distance away. The following day, twelve of us go into the wood.’ He shivered. ‘Straight away it didn’t feel right. The sun shone that morning, but it grew dark once under those trees, and a chill soon crept into your bones. If there’d once been paths, the scrub had long since smothered them. Despite it being a small wood, a mere thicket compared to Foranfae down south, we feared losing our way in its shadows. So, we set markers using fallen branches to guide us back out.’ His eyes widened. ‘Then we heard the screams. I thought I’d long forgotten them. Heard nothing like it before, and never want to hear the likes of it again. At first, we thought it were children, but they’d never be in that place alone.’ His hand clenched the flask and his face paled. ‘They had to be the cries of the poor fellows we pursued. These were tough Ruuk, used to terrible hardships, living with violence, but I couldn’t imagine the suffering and pain causing them to shriek as they did.’

Hamar took another gulp from the flask; Toryn noticed his hand trembled. ‘Well, we’d heard enough. We pleaded with the captain to leave as there’d be none of them left to capture. Thankfully he agreed, vowing to come back in greater numbers later. But if we’d had a hundred men, I still wouldn’t want to face what’s lurking in them trees.’ He placed the fish bones on the floor. ‘Then the screaming stopped, but that made it worse.’

‘It was the silence. And we suspected whatever tormented those poor souls now came for us.’

Toryn shuddered. ‘What about the writing?’

‘I was getting to that. You see, we didn’t find our way out as intended. We followed our markers, but some mischievous imps must have moved them, leading us in circles. We wandered about for hours, becoming more uneasy and confused. Then we noticed markings scratched into the tree bark. Ruffians pass messages between themselves in such a way, but these were the same as those on the rocks at the cave. Just to see them made you feel unwell.’

‘How did you get out?’

Hamar snapped the twig in his hand. ‘Not all of us did. And I don’t rightly know how I escaped. I can remember feeling dizzy, stumbling about, and hearing whispers all around us.’

Toryn’s face tingled. ‘Whispers? I heard voices back at that cave.’

‘Told you they were the same.’ Hamar held his gaze. ‘I have no memory of how, but I found myself alone among those dark trees.’ He took a deep breath. ‘Then the screaming started up again, but this time it had to be my fellow guards. I’m not proud to say….’ He swallowed. ‘I’m not proud to say I ran.’ He stroked his chin. ‘We’d trained together, fought, laughed and survived many a scrape together, but under no circumstances would I go back to help them. I ran, bumping into tree trunks, tripping over roots, but I kept going. I don’t know how long I ran, but when I eventually got out, it was already night.’

Toryn could barely speak. ‘How many escaped?’

Hamar's lips held tight. It was a full minute before he spoke. ‘Just me, my old friends, Jacken, and Tombold, the one who told me the story of the Archon.’ His head dropped. ‘We lost nine, including the captain.’ He ran his hands down his face. ‘That explains why we felt funny the other night. Those markings are an incantation, I’m sure of it, casting its devilry on that poor Singing Stone.’