(Warning: mention of abortion and threat of male rape.)

We were not given time to bury Henrick.

The last I saw of him was that two of the dryads grabbed him by the arms and dragged him off into the undergrowth. I have no idea what happened to his body after that. I would guess, based on their appearance and use of language, that the dryads would behave towards him with the same kind of reverence that the elves would, which would mean none whatsoever. He was simply meat now, whatever it was that made him a person was gone.

It had been shocking and the sudden violence had driven the wind from my sails.

I hope that I never get used to violence. I have seen it many times and have partaken in it many more times. I have seen more violent ends than Henrik suffered, certainly more painful ones and death where it took a lot longer to die. He was dead in seconds after all and I have seen men crushed to death between ships and frozen to death. I myself have thrust a spear into the rib cage of men and had the end of my spear explode out of the back of my opponent before having to pull the spear out of their body using my foot as leverage. Followed by having to stab down onto the neck to finish the job.

But somehow, this had been worse. I think it was the fact that I couldn’t do anything about it while it happened. I was restrained. So I couldn’t do anything. I was injured, so I couldn’t do anything. I could only watch as a man, a good man for all of Trayka’s implications and sniping, died nastily and violently.

And when it was over, all I could hear was the sobbing of the woman that was already blaming herself for his death.

The Dryad who seemed to be in charge, Flax-seed, stood before us and there was no apology or sympathy in her face, which seemed a little bit incongruous given that the person that was comforting Trayka the most was one of the other Dryads. Trayka was clinging to her in the same way that a drowning man might cling to a piece of driftwood.

Or a child might cling to a parent.

Flax-Seed stood before us.

“You have a choice,” She told us. “One way or another, you will be coming with us to the place of our dwelling. If you try to escape, you will die. Give us your word that you will not try and your weapons and your belongings will be returned to you on the understanding that if you break your word, your death after we have what we need from you, will be awful.

“If you feel that, morally or ethically, you cannot give that word then we completely respect that. You will be bound, drugged and carried the rest of the way. Yes, we even have poisons that can affect a Witcher’s physiology.”

There was that moment when I realised that Kerrass and Stefan were expecting me to speak again.

Trayka was now sobbing quietly into the tunic of the Dryad that was holding her.

“May we act in self-defence if we are attacked?” I wondered.

Flax-Seed smirked a little. “That would be the main reason that you are being offered your weapons. There are older and far fouler things than we Dryads in the deep parts of the forest. You might even consider yourself lucky that we found you before you blundered your way that deep.”

“I think that Trayka, the daughter of the man you just killed…”

“Murdered,” Stefan corrected, a little louder than I think he intended,

“... might disagree.”

Flax-Seed nodded. “It is not murdering a man if you are carrying out the remit that you have been granted by the Lord of the forest.” She pointed at Stefan. “Bind him. Drug him, you need not be gentle.”

I sighed as two of the burlier dryads, not Flax-Seeds guards, pounced on Stefan and once again wrestled him to the ground. Flax-Seed came over to him. “Your little Emperor will not protect you here.” She told him. “And the Schattenmann was given his remit by the Sun that you serve. You are in our lands now and you are subject to our laws. Do not forget it or your death will be… awful. And every time that you rebel, we will take away some of the privileges that our other prisoners have. Their lives and well-being are now in your hands.”

The little healer dryad came and offered a thorn with black venom coating the outside of the thorn. At Flax-Seeds nod, the thorn was pushed into Stefan’s neck.

“We can make use of you,” Flax-Seed told him. “Whether you are willing or not.”

Stefan screamed, his eyes bugged out and his pupils widened before he started sweating. Then, the screaming just cut out.

“No,” the healer said to me with a little shrug. “That is not the same thing I used to take your pain away.”

“There are degrees of punishment.” Flax-Seed agreed.

“Then… uh….” I began. “I do not think I can speak for Trayka.” I gestured to the still sobbing woman. “You did just kill her Father and she is the reason that he was here. She is unlikely to be coherent or intelligent for some time and I cannot say I blame her.”

“We can give her a painless drug to make her docile until we can talk to her,” Flax-Seed said, nodding to the Healer who took another thorn and dipped it into a different bottle. The Dryad holding Trayka shook her head.

“I will be responsible for her.” She said. “I can well remember how this feels.”

“Very well,” Flax-Seed said. “But no weapons or belongings. Ensure she arrives at our refuge, safely.”

Trayka’s dryad nodded and led Trayka away.

I exchanged glances with Kerrass who nodded.

“My friend will swear to keep his swords and his knives in their sheaths,” I said. “For me, I could not make use of my spear even if I wanted to. But I would be grateful for the return of my knives. I find that I am no longer as comfortable without them.”

More than one of the dryads laughed at that. Even Flax-Seed smirked a little. “Very well.”

My knives were brought to me and I arranged them about myself. Belly, boot, back and eating knife. Then we set off. Just like that.

I find myself wanting to explain the joke. Why did I make a joke about my comfort with the knives when I had just seen Henrik murdered and Stefan… well… drugged and imprisoned is the best way to think about it I suppose. The question has several answers.

The first is that the first duty of a prisoner is to escape. That would be far easier if our captors were relaxed. Hence the joking.

The second answer is that I tend to make jokes when I’m afraid.

The third answer, maybe a little unworthy of me, was that I could kind of see the dryad’s point. What they had done to Henrik was awful but they could have done much worse and then Stefan insulted them, forcing his moral… standpoint onto them when they had already shown that they were not subject to our moral… standards. And his comment could have endangered all of us. Stefan had lost a lot of his sympathy from me when we had found the man that had hung himself.

The fourth, and most ruthless answer, is that we were here to do a job. We were here to communicate with the Schattenmann, and the dryads were clearly the best means to do that.

The march was both easier and much more difficult than it had been when we had just been blundering into the forest itself. Easier because the dryads knew the route to take and were pushing the undergrowth aside for me in order to make my passage easier given that I was injured. It was more difficult because I had an injured ankle and was walking with a crutch.

The dryads themselves were not unfriendly. I learned numerous names that I promptly forgot on the grounds that they were very similar to each other. They were all based on plant names. So there were many different forms of “bark” as in Willow-bark, Elm-Bark, Oak-Bark and so on. Also blossoms, seeds and various other iterations. So Willow bark got confused with Willow Seed and Willow-Root and Willow-Flower.

I did, briefly, form a theory that there was some kind of caste system at work in that they were given a tree or a plant according to their skills or their positions in their society. But I didn’t get enough data to be able to confirm that theory. It seems unlikely in retrospect.

They spoke an older dialect of Elven to us and among themselves when it was time for more complicated communication. Other than that, they had an extensive and highly evolved set of whistles and hand gestures that they could use instead of the Elven dialect.

Largely, I think, because it saved time.

We camped that night. I slept in the newly re-erected healers hut. The justification was that she had herbal oils and steams that would aid in my healing. Whether they did that, I do not know because after eating my dinner sat with Kerrass, I collapsed into the Healer’s tent and slept in a way that I only sleep when the nightmares finally retreat after battle.

Kerrass slept in a bower made from twisting some of the branches together to form a kind of hammock. He agreed that he too slept better than he had in a long time. For his part, Stefan was coaxed into a gentler drugged state in order to be fed some soup before he lay back down and returned to a drug-fuelled sleep. The healer, again, answered an unspoken question.

“Flax-Seed was making a point,” she said.

We didn’t see Trayka. She had been walking behind us in the marching order and she was taken off with the other dryads to sleep somewhere else.

One thing that did surprise me was that the dryads were not vegetarians. They hunted and fed us meat which they roasted with herbs and other vegetables. It might not have been fit for the table of the Duchess of Toussaint, but after the days of trail food, it smelt and tasted delicious. I pointedly asked about the stories involving people hunting and eating the animals of the Black Forest and disappearing, but the dryads laughed at me as if I was making another magnificent witticism. “You are already disappeared.” They told me before offering me a second serving.

Which I took. I was starving.

They treated Kerrass and me as guests, if not the honoured variety. Stefan was treated like a prisoner and Trayka… I don’t know really. I was under no illusion though. Near where we ate, there were two large, well-muscled Dryads that had large bows strung and arrows fitted to the strings. They laughed and joked with the rest of them but I had no doubt in my mind that Kerrass had one and I had the other and if either of us acted up, then those arrows would just appear in our chests.

At one point, two other types of Dryad that I thought of as “Warrior Dryads” turned up and replaced those initial two. I allowed myself a little smirk.

As I say, I slept like the proverbial dead man.

The following morning, we were woken gently. The healer checked my ankle and declared that I should be able to walk normally by the following day. I was astonished.

“How long was I unconscious?” I wondered. “Weeks.”

She shrugged. “Only a couple of days.”

“Then it can’t have been that bad a…”

“Your skin was broken and there was a lot of blood lost.” She cut me off. “The leader of our patrol was furious with the clumsiness with which you were taken as if I had not been nearby anyway, there was a danger that you could have died.”

I felt myself go clammy and she laughed at my face.

“Not that much danger. But there were bones sticking out of your skin and there was, a lot of blood.”

“And you fixed it? How?”

She shrugged. “It’s all about the proper application of knowledge.”

“I know people that would pay a lot of money for that knowledge.”

She smiled a little sadly. “Ah, but at what cost to my soul.”

I had no answer to that.

We set out shortly after that, we were hiking steadily upwards again which seemed to rob me of my breath a little more than I would have expected. I was instructed not to worry too much about it as I was healing and that that healing would take up the majority of my energy at the moment.

Like before, we stopped regularly, drank plenty of the drink that was provided for us. It was certainly a water-based drink but it tasted fresher, cooler and there were definitely more earthy, herby tones to that flavour than there is in water. I swapped with Kerrass and his portion had the same taste to it and we swapped back. Much to the amusement of those women guarding us.

Towards the middle of the day, it occurred to me that there was much more light around and I asked Kerrass if I was imagining it but the Healer answered my question for Kerrass.

“You are not imagining it.” She told me. “You are deep within the Black Forest now, towards the very centre of the thing as it used to be. Soon we will reach the ridgeline and start to descend down into the hollows that contain the heart tree and the very heart of the forest.”

“That’s very poetic,” I commented, causing one of the guards to snigger. Despite my best efforts, I was beginning to like these dryads. “But I was asking about the light and why I can see now when I couldn’t see earlier in our journey.”

“Also, what is the heart of the Forest?” Kerrass put in.

One of the guards openly laughed. “You walked right into that one,” she commented.

“Then you can answer it.” The healer snapped.

The warrior held up a hand in surrender.

“I cannot go into specifics.” She said. “The heart of the forest is a tree. A huge tree that is so vast that you or I can barely comprehend how huge it is. There is not another tree like it in all of the Black Forest and I will admit that I doubt that you will find one in the entirety of the continent. It is so vast that we would still be several days travel from it, even now but you are walking under the eaves of that same tree. We don’t know why and our… what you would call scientists, can’t figure it out either. It allows sunlight through its leaves in order to feed the vegetation beneath it. So as you approach the heart of the forest and therefore get closer and closer to the trunk of the tree, there is more of the tree’s leaves above you and therefore it is letting through more and more of its light.”

“Thus, allowing me to see.”

“As you say,”

I began to get the feeling that the healer was a youngster in the society of the Dryads, or whatever it was that passes for a young dryad. The others seemed to be amused by her while also seeming to care about her deeply.

We stopped briefly for lunch and were advised that it would not be long before we arrived at the dryad’s home village, or town or whatever it was. Trayka joined us for that small meal. It was little more than a kind of honeyed travel cake mixed with nuts, oats and various dried fruits. It was delicious and all I could think was that I wanted more of it, but it fed me and kept me energised for the continuing journey.

Trayka looked well, or as well as I could expect. She looked hollow-eyed and tired. I did not ask her how she was bearing up or how she was doing. The answer was obvious.

Instead, I remembered the death of my own Father. I remembered the rage that I felt at his passing before he could tell me that he loved me or that he was proud of me. I remembered standing over his corpse and screaming insults at him until I finally broke down into my sister’s arms. So I could well imagine how Trayka was feeling having lost a Father that she both loved and hated before either of those feelings could be properly resolved.

When we were getting back on our way again the older dryad that had consoled Trayka when Henrik was killed came back to collect her again and the two wandered off together with the dryad’s arm around Trayka’s shoulders.

And if you are getting confused between all of the separate dryads then I cannot blame you.

As promised, we came over the top of the ridgeline and started to climb down the embankment. It was not a difficult path and it had obviously been well-travelled over the… centuries I suppose. The way was also well trapped and now that I was more used to them… and I suppose they were no longer hiding from me, I could see many dryads standing watch in the trees. Not for the dryads the watchtowers and wooden platforms were used to keep guard from outsiders by human forces.

I leant over to Kerrass.

“Is it like this in Brokilon?”

“No,” He replied. I have only been there once a long time ago when I was conned into trying to kill a monster. The monster was a pretence and the locals were hoping that the dryads would attack me and that I would act out of self-defence. But no, it’s not like this. Those dryads were afraid and angry, always on the defensive and I can absolutely understand why. These dryads are secure, confident, happy even” He looked around and smiled. “I like it here.”

Yet another of our guards looked over at Kerrass in astonishment before eyeing him appraisingly.

I did not know that we were entering the dryad village until I was standing in the middle of it and at first I didn’t have much time to examine it because Flax-Seed came to stand in front of us.

“You will go into that building there to rest.” She pointed and I saw that it was like a giant… Bulb of some kind of huge plant that had been hollowed out. A welcoming light came from inside that door

“You have one hour.” Flax-Seed went on. “After that hour we shall come for you and you will be informed as to what service you must render us in order to be allowed to remain alive.”

“What happens after this service is performed?” Kerrass asked. “Will you allow us to leave?”

“All your questions will be answered then,” Flax-Seed replied. Before walking off and entering another large building that looked like the flower of a tulip. Only huge and wooden in nature.

The guards, although friendly, were no less insistent for the way that they crossed their spears in front of us and firmly pushed us towards the house that had been indicated. I only managed to have a quick look round as we were moved. I got the gentle impression of a small town that was made up of tented huts like the temporary one that had been made for the healing that I had taken on.

They were made from stacked and arranged branches that had been wrapped in some kind of leafy fibre but instead of being made up of cut branches, they were instead made up of living branches and roots that had been grown in place. This left me with the feeling that the settlement might have been much bigger than I was actively aware of given that it was so naturally made, that picking out the buildings from the rest of the trees was all but impossible.

The other thing that I saw was that there were no fires but there was plenty of light.

When we got into the building that we were assigned to itself, it put me in mind of no less than some kind of inn without walls. The only difference was that it was round and built around a central pillar, rather than square in shape. And yes, the central pillar turned out to be a tall, straight tree that had had the bark stripped off before it had been treated with some kind of chemical component. The room was well lit from bowls that were placed into the walls that gave off a light that was so similar to firelight that I was genuinely surprised to find that there was no actual fire in the bowls themselves.

In the centre of the room, using a series of wooden troughs and pipes, water was falling into a trough that was built around the central pillar. There were also well-made beds around the edges of the room and the ground was covered in soft carpeting that looked to be made out of knitted, fibrous wool.

Shortly after Kerrass and I entered the room, Trayka followed us in and looked around with tired, dead-looking eyes. A little while later, a still bound and manacled Stefan was pushed into the building and his guards bent and untied his bindings.

Yes. I wrote that right, they untied the ropes rather than cut them.

After we had all arrived, I took the time to go and examine one of the light bowls to find that they were filled with a strange liquid, it hurt to look at due to the brightness, but deep inside the bowl I could see some small stones and rocks that were submerged and it was these rocks that were giving off the light.

One of the armoured Dryads came in. She propped her spear against the entrance frame of the door before she pulled her club in her hand. It was obviously treated wood, maybe fire-hardened, and it had a large bulbous head. The way it moved in her hand suggested that it was really heavy although it didn’t seem to give her any difficulty. Kerrass’ long training told me that she wasn’t expecting a fight, but she was ready in case it started.

“You will stay here.” She told the four of us. “You will not leave before we come and get you. The water in the trough is perfectly clean for drinking and if you wish to freshen up, there are bowls and jugs under the beds so that you can carry the water elsewhere. Food will not be brought as you will be summoned before it is time to eat.”

“What if we need to take a piss?” Stefan was trying to be defiant but I rather think that something had broken in the young man.

“You will not be waiting that long.” She told him.

“Yeah, but what if I really need to go?”

She stared at him for a long moment. “Then hold it.” She told him before dismissing him with a slight but precisely made turn of the shoulder. “You will be taken from this place in a short while to learn your punishment for transgressing against the forest and the Schattenmann. All of your questions will be answered then. Be aware that for those of you that gave your word that you would not try to escape, we still hold you to that oath. For those that preferred the life of a prisoner, know that if you try to escape we will also kill one of your companions and that you will be forced to watch, knowing that it will be your fault. The difference between your death and theirs will be that their death will be relatively pleasant and yours will be the stuff of nightmares.”

She turned and left, putting her club-mace thing back on her belt and taking up her spear as she went out the door.

“Well, that was chilling,” I commented before moving over to the water trough. There was a shelf of cups and small bowls nearby and I took one before drinking deeply. It has been a while since I had tasted water that good.

Kerrass joined me.

“So how are we going to escape?” Stefan wanted to know.

“I’m not,” Trayka responded quickly. I had turned around, appalled at the thought. Kerrass was still drinking but of all of us, it was Trayka that responded first.

“I mean, you can try if you want,” She continued. “But don’t include me in any of your plans.”

“But we are prisoners here.” Stefan protested.

“Yes.” She said. “But more than ever, it is important that I find out what happened to my brother. That way, my Father would not have died for nothing.”

Stefan took a deep breath. “We can escape. We can come back here with an army of holy warriors. We can mount a crusade and take back our lands for…”

“These people would destroy any army,” Kerrass told him. “Do not fool yourself. There is a reason why Temeria never properly invaded Brokilon in the North. Nor did Vergen or Cidaris. And they could have done, but they never tried. The trees and woodland are so thick here that to mount a proper campaign you would need woodsmen cutting the trees down as you went. All the while the dryad’s frighteningly accurate, archers would be picking you off.”

“And that is before you take into account the fact that they are supported by the Schattenmann and whatever else.” I pointed out. “And remember that these lands are not “our” lands. They have never been as this land has been labeled wilderness on every map that I looked at.”

“The Schattenmann isn’t real.” Stefan was sweating. “It is just a trickery of magic that these creatures.”

“Have you forgotten the priest on the church already?” I wondered and his head sunk down to his chest. “Or the story of Piotr, or even Trayka’s eyewitness accounts. That shit cannot be done by magic alone, even a powerful Mage or Sorceress would struggle with that kind of…”

Stefan muttered something about illusions.

“To perform the kind of magical feats that they describe, would require a whole team of mages expending more power than can easily be conceived,” I told him. I have no idea if that was true but it sounds right and I rather thought that Stefan needed to hear it. “And speaking as someone who is marrying a mage, if you ask two different magic users how to fill a bucket full of water they will argue over the matter. Magic has been harnessed as a whole towards one goal only a handful of times in modern history and one of those times was when the mages came together to ensure the survival of our landing on the Yaruga and the Pontar.

“Illusions couldn’t pick me up and slam me against a wall,” Trayka said. “I looked into the eyes of the Schattenmann and he is real.”

“You forget something else,” Kerrass said harshly. “We are not here to fight these people. We are here to talk to the Schattenmann, to make contact.”

“Blasphemy and…”

“And you knew that that was what we were here to do.” Kerrass finished. “You knew what we were here to do and you came with us anyway, making noises about talking to him and banishing the fear of him. You agreed with our efforts. You were going to appeal to him for the release of the priest. What changed?”

I looked into Stefan’s eyes then and I saw it. I think Kerrass did as well while Trayka had turned away.

Stefan was afraid.

“You were beaten,” I told him gently. “It happens to all of us sooner or later. You were beaten and you cannot fight back with stronger things. And even then, there are some things that cannot be beaten with a sword.”

“And you do not use swords to talk to people.” Kerrass finished.

Stefan found some anger.

“These people that you want to talk to killed Henrik. Killed those other people that we found. Do those people not deserve justice?”

I sighed.

“Stefan, I have travelled a significant portion of the continent…”

“That’s not the point.”

I ignored him.

“And one thing that I have noticed over and over again is that one person’s hero is another person’s villain. Murder can be self-defence, treason can be freedom and theft can be survival. These Dryads, these… people. Have their own nation, their own God-King. Those people… we… were intruding on their lands. If the situation was reversed, you would not even blink at the God-Emperor or the God-Empress as she is now had minions who dole out summary justice. Indeed… she does exactly that, except she calls them magistrates and judges.”

“It’s not the same.”

“Why not?” I demanded.

He didn’t answer.

I sighed and went to sit on one of the beds. “You do not answer because the answer is unfair. It’s not the same because one side is your side and you agree with them.”

“As I said.” Trayka went on. “I will not be trying to escape. And from what she said,” Trayka waved at the door. “If you try to escape you will be killing me so…” She shrugged. “I would say that that makes you my murderer. Just as I murdered my Father. And before you start, we knew what we were getting into. Including you… The Witcher has never hidden his intentions about what he was here to do. The reason I came with him was that I also knew and agreed with his mission. You claimed to do the same. Were you lying? Became if you were I swear that I will do my very best to throttle you before the Dryads get the chance to kill you.”

Then she turned her back on him.

“So try to escape if you must, but I will try and stop you. And I have my weapons and you don’t.”

Kerrass and I looked at each other and shrugged. Stefan looked as though he had been beaten up again.

I took the comment about freshening up as an order rather than a suggestion as there was a more than small feeling that I would be arguing for my life and for the lives of my friends in a short while and the thought of freshening up in order to… adjust my mental thinking from one form of battle to another, was attractive.

It’s called “The courtly mindset”. A term that was coined by Lady Jayne Grey. A more obvious pseudonym I could not imagine but the lady has authored a number of treatises on the mindset of the courtier as well as a couple of books on proper etiquette and the attitude of a Lady. The latter one was something that my sisters all found offensive but the stuff on the mindset of a courtier is invaluable and I would recommend it to anyone that wants to pursue a career at court.

It was required reading at my Father’s castle. Make of that what you will.

The same guard or I think it was the same guard, came back for us a while later. I had been pacing backwards and forwards while I thought. I couldn’t tell you what I was thinking about but I was doing a lot of it. Kerrass was dozing on one of the beds while Stefan and Trayka were consumed with their own thoughts.

“Have you all finished arguing with each other?” She asked with a slight smirk. “I must admit that I found it very informative what you said to each other.”

“You were listening?” I winced as Stefan seemed to want to be outraged.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“Of course, we were listening.” The guard told him. “You are prisoners. You gave us some things to think about and I rather think that your companion was wiser than he might have let on.”

She didn’t say which companion but I took that as a good omen as we filed out the door at her insistence.

I was surprised by the number of people that were there. Again, I didn’t really get to spend too much time looking around as the place where the prisoners were kept was conveniently close to where we were taken to face our judgement. But they really did come out to see us. I have no idea how many there were and I didn’t really count. But there were a lot. Far more than I expected.

The thing that stood out about them was obvious. They were all women. I mean I know, I know that dryads are all women and that that’s part of the point. I have read all the works on the dryads of Brokilon forest to know that there are no such things as dryad men so I was not surprised to see it. But it is impactful, even if you knew that it was coming.

To a person, they were fit and healthy-looking. A factor that comes with certain considerations in that if you find developed musculature attractive then of course you were going to find these women attractive. After that, they came in all shapes and sizes. Tall, short, broad, they were all there. As well as a varied amount of muscles according to the body type and the work that they must have been doing.

There was also no uniformity of skin tone or hair colour. As before, the only thing that they had in common when it came to hair was that they all had their hair in dreadlocks and it was all worn long. Some of them had different styles of things that they did with their hair which seemed to be born out of practicality. So some had the locks twisted together into a great mass of a ponytail that she had wrapped around her neck to keep it out of the way. More than one had their locks in the hairstyle that is known to be my weakness. In that, the locks were twisted together and pulled over one shoulder. Don’t ask me why that particular style does it for me but it does and among other people, Ariadne knows this. She has made no secret of the fact that she has grown her hair out precisely so that she can take advantage of this particular foible of mine.

For clothes, they were all wearing practical clothing in shades of greens, browns and ambers. On a couple of occasions, they were a deep scarlet. I don’t think this was due to anything sinister or any kind of need for camouflage. I am more convinced that it was something about what dyes were available in that part of the world.

After I had taken in those particular details, we were guided into a large building where there were seven women waiting for us. I found myself wanting to refer to them as “Elders” but there was nothing about them that seemed to denote any kind of age or seniority. They were dressed the same as any other dryads that we had seen so the only thing that seemed to set them apart was the way that the other dryads seemed to defer to them.

That, and the guards that were lining the walls.

Flax-Seed was one of them.

Now, dear reader, I must warn you of something. They did not introduce themselves to us so I had to pick arbitrary labels to keep them separate in my head. Most commonly, that boiled down to hair colour, dress colour and attitude.

“These are the strangers,” Flax-Seed began by way of introduction. “A Witcher, a girl and two young men. There was an old one with them that would not have been of use to us and so he was killed.”

Trayka hung her head. Stefan muttered his “murdered” correction again but I noticed that he did so much quieter this time.

The other six nodded their heads as Flax-Seed turned to us.

“Just because you survived the first test and examination does not mean that you are out of danger from us yet. Whatever else that you might say, you have trespassed upon our lands and as such you will be punished.”

“What right have you to…?” Stefan began, finding his bravery, before swallowing his breath. “We are citizens of the Empire of Nilfgaard and the Empress will not sit still for our taking. We demand that you release us immediately and…”

“Do not speak for me.” I hissed, putting some volume into it so that these dryads did not think that I agreed with Stefan.

“The Empress will not sit still for this. She will bring armies of…” Stefan raised his voice to drown out my protest.

“The Empress will…” I began before two of the guards appeared next to Stefan and forced him to his knees before binding and gagging him.

“You will keep a civil tongue in your mouth,” Short-and-Dark said to him. “I would like the other, more civil young man to finish what he was about to say.

I had to try and remember. The sudden movement and violence had clear driven the point out of my mind. I thought and it came back to me.

“The Empress will do nothing,” I said.

“Why not?” Short-and-Dark pressed.

“The Empress spent some time in her youth among the dryads of the Brokilon forest. She well understands dryads and how they think. If contact was made with her, the Black Forest would be a Duchy of the Empire in moments with its own borders and right to bear arms, with the Schattenmann or whoever you wish to be put in charge.”

I took a deep breath.

“Of course, I should say, I am not authorised to speak on the Empress’ behalf. But the Empress calls me brother when she is feeling magnanimous or wants to make a point. So I’m pretty sure that that’s how it would go.”

“You say this to bribe us to let you go?” Dirty Blonde wondered.

“No,” I said as Stefan glared at me. “Although I will admit, I cannot bring word to her on your behalf if I am dead.”

The seven women examined each other and exchanged a look that either comes from telepathy or the long experience of each other.

“No person entering the Black Forest can be considered above the law,” decided Chestnut hair. She seemed to be the informal chairperson of this little committee. “If you survive what is to come then we shall discuss what message you are to take to your Empress. We must admit that we are pleased that you are ruled by a woman although we must admit that simply being female is not a gate to wisdom.”

That was for someone else. Chestnut hair was making a point to someone although I have no idea who it was.

Chestnut nodded to Flax-Seed who carried on her report.

“The provisional testing seed did give some strange reactions, however.”

All six of the other dryads shifted interestedly.

“The Witcher,” Flax-Seed continued. “Is obviously a Witcher but of the Feline school.”

“That is never a good sign.” commented the one I later began to think of as Blonde-and-bitter.

“However,” Flax-Seed grimaced at the interruption. “The seed did not rebel. But it seemed to me that I could hear the far off sounds of battle.”

The council exchanged some more glances.

“The rebellious male is exactly what he seems. He is young and fertile and there was nothing strange about his reading.”

Stefan did not enjoy hearing himself spoken of in such a way.

“The other male is also young and fertile, but as he was examined, a spider crawled across the seed and my hand.”

Blonde-and-Bitter spoke up. “What kind of Spider?”

“I do not know,” Flax-Seed admitted. “I have never seen one before. It was not small but it trod lightly and carefully.”

Blonde-and-Bitter frowned.

“It was certainly new to the Black Forest and yet it could not be found afterwards despite it not being small. About the size of the palm of my hand.”

Blonde-and-Bitter’s frown deepened but she shook her head and dismissed the thought.

“The girl is young enough for the change and is still fertile despite the damage that has been done to her body.” Flax-Seed continued. “She is old for it and the changes will not be as profound as we might like…. But beyond that, there was no other comment.”

“We should still do a full test on all of them,” Tall-and-dark spoke up. “I am intrigued by this spider. It might be nothing but it might be something and we should check.”

“I agree,” said Blonde-and-Bitter.

Chestnut hair nodded.

Blonde-and-Bitter and Tall-and-dark rose and fetched four small wooden bowls that looked incredibly ancient to my eyes. They put them on the floor in front of the four of us. Flax-Seed brought out four cushions while Dirty-Blonde went and picked up a glass bottle which she poured a clear liquid into each bowl.

Chestnut hair produced a small pouch and carefully tapped some powder into each of the bowls before taking a wooden stick and stirring the powder into the water.

Flax-Seed spoke to Trayka who knelt on the cushion in front of her. Stefan wasn’t given a choice as two guards forcibly handled him and he was on the cushion anyway. Kerrass and I were already kneeling. I wondered if I could see some approval in Chestnut-Hair’s face before she spoke.

“We need a drop of blood from each of you.” She said. “Now I can have one of the guards extract it forcefully and clumsily, or I can offer you a needle. Which would you prefer?”

“The needle will be fine,” I said.

Kerrass nodded.

“I agree,” Trayka said.

Stefan grunted through the gag.

Chestnut went down the line. I used the ring finger of my left hand to squeeze the blood loose and into the water. Kerrass did the same while Trayka used the little finger of her right hand. Stefan was not given a choice and the guards did it for him meaning that they got more than one drop of blood from Stefan.

Again, Chestnut stirred the bowls with the same stick.

“Very well,” She said, turning to Tall-and-Dark and Blonde-and-Bitter. Start with the normal human male as the simplest option.

The two women went and knelt before Stefan’s bowl, their eyes went a little unfocused before they lent forwards and peered into the bowl. It did not take long before they leant back and started blinking.

“He is as plain a human male as can be expected,” Tall-and-Dark said while Blonde-and-Bitter just nodded. “He is fit and healthier than some that we have seen and will make a good father to a young dryad. Suited towards the warrior, or spiritual mindset although not too bright. His daughter would make a good soldier or a guard but would lack the intelligence and imagination needed for a scout. Crafting talent is non-existent and a daughter of his would not be a thinker. They also might make a good attendant for the Blood-Tree as they would be talented with the reflective spiritual. They will struggle when confronted with things that they do not understand or cannot control.”

As I say, Blonde-And-Bitter just nodded along.

“Let us move on to the girl.” Chestnut went on. “I am interested as to what the seed said about self-injury.”

The same routine was followed. Again, the two women leant back. I was astonished to see that Tall-and-Dark was weeping.

“Oh, child.” She whispered. A tear ran down her cheek as she looked at Trayka.

Blonde-and-Bitter glared at Trayka. “How many children have you murdered?” She demanded.

“That is unfair.” Admonished Tall-and-Dark.

“Explain.” Chestnut-Hair’s voice whipped across the room.

Blonde-and-Bitter spat and it was Tall-and-Dark’s turn to glare.

“This one is drowning in sorrow and pain,” Tall-and-Dark told the room. “She has fought that sorrow with simple pleasures of life. Alcohol, drugs, but mainly sex. She is looking for something and she is always disappointed. But her lifestyle means that she has been pregnant a number of times before, all of which have either miscarried due to lifestyle or have been aborted through herbal treatments.”

The council shifted in their seats.

“I believe…” Tall-And-Dark spoke up. “That this was due to old heartache, self-loathing and historic injustice. This woman needs love and affection. The miscarriages and abortions have damaged her womb, but not beyond repair and she loves being in the forest. After the change, I think she would make an ideal scout while her promiscuity and comfort with multiple partners will mean that she will produce more dryads for us giving us hope for the future. But until her sickness of the heart is healed she would resist this most fervently…. I would recommend that she partake of the blood as soon as possible. She will benefit from the surety that will provide.”

“What does any of that mean?” Trayka asked and I could see her temper rising, the old Trayka coming back briefly “and who the fuck are you to judge my lifestyle, bitch.” She snarled at Blonde-and-Bitter.

“That’s enough.” Chestnut snapped again. “All your answers will be given, including what happened to your brother. Even if you die, you will have those answers before you lose your life.”

Trayka was mollified by the hope that the words suggested. I don’t know if she noticed the past tense regarding her brother or not.

“The Witcher next.” Chestnut declared.

“Surely the Spider is the more pressing issue,” Blonde-and-Bitter spoke up. I didn’t like the way that she was staring at me. For those people wondering, it was about here that I decided that I didn’t like her and started to call her “Bitter” in my head rather than just “Blonde”. There was a hunger in her eyes that made me feel uncomfortable. Hunger and old anger that I just could not fathom.

Chestnut had to visibly restrain her own frustrations. “There may come a time,” she began in the clipped tones of someone who is restraining herself from saying what she really thinks. “... where you become the centre ring of this council. But it is not today and I would much rather know what the distant sound of battle might portend. A spider could suggest any number of things but the sounds of battle could portend to an invasion, an attack or a schism in the very heart of the woods that we are charged to protect.

“Further to that, you were asked, no… you were instructed that there were to be no arguments in front of the prisoners. That we were to present a unified front on ALL things. Now, they know that some of us disagree and might think that they can exploit that gap. You will remember your place.”

There is a certain kind of person that becomes more frightening the quieter they become. Chestnut was one of those people. There were times during that speech when I had to strain to hear her words but there was no doubt in my mind as to the level of emotion in them. How Blonde-and-Bitter stood up to that, I will never know.

But she did. She tossed her hair aside and raised her chin in defiance.

Chestnut turned to Tall-and-Dark and nodded. “Test the Witcher next,” before turning back to the plainly fuming Blonde-and-Bitter. “Can you still be trusted to do your job, or must I find another to…”

“I will look.” Blonde-and-Bitter agreed.

The women knelt, the bowl was stirred. And I heard the laughter of the Goddess as Blonde-and-Bitter fell back from the bowl as if she had been struck.

Tall-and-Dark paled. She had a pale, golden tint to her skin and the paling of her face left her looking sickly, a slight tint of green entered her face. She rose unsteadily.

The Goddess was still laughing.

“The Witcher is protected,” Tall-and-Dark said carefully.

“By whom?” Chestnut asked carefully.

“Battle,” Blonde-and-Bitter said. “Battle and Fire.”

“A Black Cat is her herald,” Tall-and-Dark whispered. “The birds of the carrion are her followers and her cloak is made from their feathers. With a spear that kills with every thrust and a shield that would repel even the mightiest blow. The Goddess of Battle some call her. The lover of struggle and the protector of the land. Three names she gives to others but all of them are untrue. Badb, Macha and Nemain she calls herself but they are but shadows of her real name.”

Chestnut knew who Tall-and-Dark was referring to. As did Flax-Seed and Blonde-and-Bitter. Dirty Blonde didn’t.

“Who is she?” To be fair, she said it with no small amount of reverence.

“We do not speak of her,” Chestnut told her. “We certainly do not speak her name for to do so… well… How does one become protected by a Goddess like that Witcher?”

“You owe her your life. Your existence even.” Kerrass told her.

Chestnut smirked. “That would do it.”

I swear that I heard the Goddess speak to me. Let it be known that I am not a fan of having these Gods, entities or whatever, talking to me when I don’t want them to.

“See,” the Goddess whispered to me. “Are you sure you do not want to be my follower?” She spoke teasingly of it and I did not rise to the bait. She laughed.

“Continue,” Chestnut ordered of Tall-and-Dark.

“The Witcher is also quite mad.”

Kerrass smirked at that.

“But he keeps a tight rein on that madness. He is taking medicine for the condition and has his madness under control. As Cat Witchers go, this would be one of the best. A little too much self-loathing for my comfort but he is aware of the irrationality of that thought. I think, as much as a Witcher like him could be, he is a good man.”

Chestnut had listened to this with a slightly bowed head. Concentrating on the words alone.

“Can we trust him?” she asked, lifting her gaze to Tall-and-Dark.

“I believe so.”

Chestnut nodded. “Very well. Then it is time for the last male.” She gestured Tall-and-Dark forward and Blonde and Bitter followed.

I watched carefully from my kneeling position as the two women dipped their fingers in the water.

Again, Blonde-and-Bitter jerked back.

“That one should be destroyed immediately and without delay.” She declared to the rest of the room. I felt my eyebrows raise.

“Explain,” Chestnut ordered. I noticed that Tall-and-Dark had not yet taken her finger out of the water.

“The Spider-Queen has returned and he is her servant.” Blonde-and-Bitter declared.

Tall-and-Dark removed her fingers from my bowl and shook the water from them carefully. “That is a simplification and you know it.” She told her colleague. “I would hasten to tell the assembly that my colleague’s interpretation of the matter is not the only one and is only true on the surface.”

“I am disappointed,” Chestnut said, “but not surprised. Explain please?”

“The figure that we know of as the Queen of Spiders has indeed returned. But beyond that, she is different from the figure we remember in almost every way.”

“That is a large statement.” One of the dryads spoke who had not said anything yet. She was the only one wearing a grey dress so that was the name I gave her. “The Spider-Queen is a figure that damaged the dryads before we fled here. She was an ancient terror and is responsible for many deaths. How can she be different?”

“She loves him.” Tall-and-Dark seemed amused and surprised. “There is more to it I think and I could go into more detail, but she loves him and that is the end of it. Furthermore, he loves her. That is not the only thing that is unusual about this young man.”

“Continue,” Chestnut ordered.

Blonde-and-Bitter opened her mouth to argue but Chestnut shot her a warning glare.

“He has seen and done more things in his relatively few human years than most of us could dream. He has lost much and gained more than he could have imagined. Not least of which is the love of the Spider-Queen who he calls Ariadne. He has met the Unseen Elder, the Crooked Man of the Mound…”

“He is dead.” Blonde-and-Bitter declared. “Crom Cruarch is dead.”

“And yet, if you had stayed a little longer, looked a little deeper, you would see the truth of the matter. Just as we both know that merely being dead is not an obstacle for one such as the Crooked Man. Further to this, although we are in no danger from him… He who waits off the path declared himself this man’s friend.”

“Impossible.” Gray Dress exclaimed. “One such as this would be…”

“Yet it is true,” Tall-and-Dark stated.

“Fascinating.” Gray Dress seemed excited. “Contrary to my colleague, I think it is vital that this one be kept alive so we can know what he knows, he has much to teach us I think.”

“You cannot be…” Blonde-and-Bitter started.

“Please continue.” Chestnut seemed to be getting frustrated.

“He has a deep sadness within him due to the premature loss of loved ones, but his love for the Spider-Queen cannot be argued.” Tall-and-Dark continued. “There are other beings that have left their marks upon him and we would do well to stay on their good side.”

Chestnut nodded at this. “What else?”

“He does indeed have the ear of the Empress. And he knows her or believes her to be a carrier of the Elder Blood. He thinks of her as The Lady of Time and Space.”

Gray Dress sat down at that. Flax-Seed looked as though she was terrified of something.

“Our laws are ancient though,” Chestnut said. “And powerful though these figures are, the Schattenmann is our master. Will he serve?”

“I think he will,” Tall-and-Dark said. “He is young, fit and healthy. If there were no other considerations, I would say that he is strong but his physical skills are bought with much pain. He is stronger than he looks and fights with a spear although he might do better with an axe if I am any judge. He is very clever although his friends might describe him as being too clever. I think he would be well paired with a scout or a soldier in order to introduce some thinking into those lines. But also, his brains would help our scholarly families. He is surprisingly spiritual for a man of his experience and predilections so he would also do well with an attendant, although he would ask so many questions of an attendant that it would make everyone involved uncomfortable.”

Chestnut was nodding as the story came to an end. I was listening with interest and will admit to finding the assessment of my character quite funny and alarmingly on the nose.

Chestnut opened her mouth to speak.

“I have more,” Tall-and-Dark said.

Chestnut gestured for her to go on.

“I meant what I said though. He loves the Spider-Queen with all of his heart. To a degree that I found a little frightening. He will die for her if we push things. Or he will die for his Witcher friend here. Now that I have seen both men, I can say that they possibly do not understand how much they mean to each other. But that is a digression. This one will serve, I think, but his body may rebel in some way. There must be deeper compatibility between partners for things to work. That is essential for this one otherwise… He will simply fail and then we must kill him. If we ignore this factor then we might as well slit his throat here and now. It will be kinder.”

Chestnut took that in. “Kindness is not a consideration.” She said, but I think the point was more for me rather than anyone else.

“Nevertheless.” Tall and Dark said. “If it is done correctly, this one himself might make a passable host.”

I saw this point go right through the seven women, including Chestnut.

“Very well.” She said after a long moment. “Thank you. Your insights, as ever, are most helpful.”

Chestnut was a master of the technique of making multiple points, to multiple people, with the same sentence. That last point about Tall-and-Dark’s usefulness was meant for Blonde-and-Bitter I think. As well as a compliment for Tall-and-Dark.

Tall-and-Dark rose, smiled and winked at me before she returned to her place.

Chestnut gathered the seven women into a knot where they discussed things. They held their hands into the circle several times after some whispered conversations and sometimes their thumbs were up and sometimes their thumbs were down. Then they broke apart to their standing in a line formation.

Blonde-and-Bitter looked angry. Call me petty if you like, but I found some satisfaction in that.

Chestnut stepped forwards and addressed the four of us.

“It should be clear to you that you have made a catastrophic error when you came to the Black Forest and now you must pay for that error. However, we are creatures and beings of nature and in nature, nothing is wasted. Therefore, those that commit crimes against us and against the Schattenmann are found uses for. Even those that die, their bodies will rot and feed the earth that gave them life in the first place. Witcher, we will start with you. Step forward if you please?”

Kerrass did as he was told.

“There is an ancient compact between Witchers and Dryads although we suspect that the Witchers if they ever knew, have forgotten. When Witchers were first devised by humanity their objective was to rid the land of monsters. That was their remit and that was what they were built for. Dryads were one of the monsters that the Witchers were supposed to wipe out. The Dragons were the first that Witchers refused to kill for reasons of their own and I do not know why that was. The next was the Dryads. We met you, we spoke with you and you decided that we were not monsters. That is one of the reasons that we are still alive today.

“However, your ignorance is not our concern and ignorance explains but does not excuse, your crime of trespassing, even if you have good intentions. There is a nest of Arachase to the North. We will guide you there. Once those Arachase are destroyed, you will be permitted to carry on your journey, either to leave the Black Forest or to continue into the heart of the Forest. Or we can kill you. The choice is up to you.”

“Not much of a choice,” Kerrass said. “Would you be insulted to learn that humans often give a similar ultimatum to Witchers when they want something done that only Witchers can provide? Then they often go back on their word. ‘Kill this thing for us and we will let you live,’ they say, ‘and we will forget the crime that we made up when we knew that you were here and that you, the Witcher, could not possibly have known about.’

“I will kill these monsters for you. But you should know that if Freddie dies, I will leave this place and return with an army of Witchers, Mages and soldiers so that they rain fire down upon you. Just you, you understand. The Schattenmann has yet to show himself and his servant's actions are not his.”

“It is not wise to threaten someone who holds your life in their hands.” Blonde-and-Bitter intoned, trying to make her voice dire.

“He was not threatening,” Chestnut told her. “He was giving us a warning. Nevertheless, Witcher. Do you accept our terms?”

“I do.” He said. “Is there a deadline for the hunt?”

“The Spring Equinox is in two weeks.”

Kerrass grimaced. “I have lost track of time. This journey is taking longer than I expected. Ah well, best I was about it then. Can I have a guide?”

“One will be provided for you.” Chestnut nodded to a guard who went to stand next to Kerrass.

“All being well,” he told me, “it will only take a couple of days. Stay alive until then would you?”

I smiled at the thought. “I’ll do my best,” I told him.

He nodded at that before a thought occurred to him visibly.

“Ariadne will understand Freddie.” He told me, rather cryptically. “Do not fight it, try to enjoy it even.”

I had already come to the same conclusion as he had as to what my fate would be.

“I’ll be alright,” I told him, putting my hand on his arm in an effort to offer some reassurance.

“Good. I don’t want to have to carry a broken Freddie back to Ariadne again. I don’t think I would survive the experience.”

We both laughed a little before his new guard led Kerrass out of the room.

“Daughter, step forward,” Chestnut said, meaning Trayka and we all knew it. Including Trayka and she did as she was ordered.

“I will now answer the questions that you so desperately desire,” Chestnut told her. “There is obviously more nuance and detail to what I am about to tell you and should you wish to know more in the days, weeks and years hopefully ahead of you, then that will be made available to you.

“The tradition of the ash line in your village was established as a test and a boundary when the dryads moved into the Black Forest. It was a warning to not travel beyond this line as anything past that was our territory. That was the rule of the Schattenmann and you were already living in his domain. When people broke that pact, we had the rights to them and their bodies should we need them. That was the Schattenmann’s rule. What do we do with them? We have, for many years, been able to procreate and further our numbers by using people such as yourself and your companions to propagate our species.”

Again, this wasn’t just for Trayka, this was also warning Stefan and myself as to what was about to come. I looked at the warrior-monk to see if he could see and understand what our fate was going to be but I couldn’t tell. He looked sullen and unhappy so I guessed that he either didn’t know the answer, or he had figured it out a long time ago and was just being resentful.

I tried to reach for Ariadne and see if I could get her blessing in actuality rather than just through expectation. After the last time, something similar to this had happened, I was sure that she would be alright with it, but the ghosts of the past are hard to overcome and I was kind of desperate for the verification.

But either I couldn’t reach her, or she wasn’t available. Again, I stress that this is not unusual so people shouldn’t read too much into it.

“However,” Chestnut went on, bringing me back to the room that I was in. “This is not always possible and in times where our population is in danger of becoming stagnant, or even worse when our population is in active danger of falling. Then the Schattenmann will collect those people that have broken the rules. Their punishment for their trespassing is the same as yours is. The girls join our ranks and the boys procreate with us until they produce children. Then they stand before the Schatenmann for his judgement. I recognise you through your brother. He was here a number of years ago and before you partake of the Blood of the Schattenmann, you will have the opportunity to meet your nieces.”

Trayka burst into tears. I do not blame her.

“Where is my brother now?” She asked after a brief moment of sobbing.

“He went on to the heart of the forest. The same fate as all of the males that survive the process. The Schattenmann’s realm is far greater than that which is bound by mere trees but the heart is the most dangerous. There he will have served the Schattenmann, been released or died according to the Schattenmann’s will. It is not impossible that he was released and his memories of this place erased which is why you never found him. But I would advise you not to get your hopes up for that. When the Equinox comes, we will make our pilgrimage into the heart of the forest and it is my sincere hope that should you survive what is to come for you, that you will meet your brother there.”

Trayka nodded, sobbing.

“How do I tell him.” It was not a question. “How do I tell him that I got our Father killed.”

“You tell the truth,” Chestnut advised firmly, if gently. “You tell him that your Father followed you into the forest despite knowing the dangers. And that when he met his end, it was swift and sure. That his last thoughts were of finding his son.”

Trayka nodded, obviously unsatisfied but how do you deal with something like that.

“As for your punishment. My colleague here suggests that you will make a good sister of ours and from everything I have seen and the character of your brother that I remember, I am forced to agree. From this place, you will be taken to the houses of healing where you will submit to their examinations and you will drink what they give you to drink and you will do what they tell you to do. When they are satisfied and do not have need of you, your nieces will be brought to you by their mothers and you can tell them about their Father.

“No less than two days after that, you will drink the blood of the Schattenmann. If you survive, you will be changed by it and you will join us here in the forest. If you do not… well… then you will have paid the price for your crimes.”

Trayka nodded miserably. “What’s it like? Being a Dryad?”

The women laughed.

A woman, the youngest I think with auburn hair and a green dress stepped forward. “The Blood of the Schattenmann will taste cloying and unpleasant. Your stomach will rebel and you will want to vomit, but nothing will come out. Then you will lose consciousness and you will dream, or receive visions if you prefer. When and if you wake… It’s like knowing that you have a purpose. We are all sisters here, despite those of an older generation having a tendency to call those of us that are younger, ‘daughter’. You will be more at home in the woodland, you will be a better shot, faster and fleeter of foot. You will come to it late, so you will keep all your memories of your mortal life. Barring illness or injury, you are likely to live for hundreds of years and…” She grinned at Trayka. “The sex is amazing.”

The women laughed.

“There is danger,” Chestnut warned. “The blood of the Schattenmann may reject you, I will not hide that and that death is… unpleasant. You will have a duty to provide daughters for the furthering of our species and yes, pregnancy can be awful just as much as it can be a joy. But you will have the support of every other dryad in the Black Forest. Other than that, there are other duties but those will be chosen after your survival is assured.”

Trayka grimaced before nodding.

“Are you not going to object?” Stefan demanded of me, finally spitting out his gag. “This is the sickest and most evil.”

“Be silent.” Chestnut snapped at him. The whole mood of the room changed from a lighter friendlier atmosphere to one of hostility and anger.

“If I may,” I said carefully into the resulting silence from Stefan’s outburst. Chestnut nodded. I turned to Stefan.

“What would you have me do Stefan? We are deep in the territory of the dryads. We came in knowing there was a risk and now that risk is being borne out. And then you have to ask whether or not Trayka wants to be rescued. Do you want to be rescued Trayka?”

She gave me a withering look, another mark that the old Trayka was still in there somewhere, even a little bit.

“See?” I told Stefan. “She has what she came for now.”

“But they’re going to turn her into a monster.” Stefan protested.

The room didn’t like that either.

“Hardly,” I told him. “It doesn’t sound like too bad a life to me. Things to do, guaranteed friends. Monsters are uncaring, unfeeling beings that deliberately set out to hurt others due to... I don’t know. Kerrass can argue the definition better than I can. I do know that monsters often come in human skin as well. There are many that have worn the symbol of the Eternal Flame and I am also more than sure that there are a few that have worn the symbol of the Great Sun as well.

“And finally, speaking as a man whose punishment for trespassing has yet to be decided while surrounded by angry women who all have their spears pointing at us and who may yet decide to lump the two of us together according to our shared characteristics, I must insist that you mind your damn tone so they don’t decide to just kill us both and have done with it.”

I turned back to the ruling council or whatever it was that they were.

“Well said,” Chestnut commented. “I take it that you have realised what is to become of you?”

“You will make use of us,” I replied. “You will breed us like studs and should you be satisfied with the results you will move us on to the Schattenmann’s judgement.”

“No,” moaned Stefan, proving that he wasn’t aware of what was going on. “No, please.”

“Stefan,” I warned.

“No.” He finally seemed to have broken somewhere. “No, I have taken a vow of chastity. I cannot. I must not. My soul is in danger if you…”

“Silence.” Chestnut thundered. “You seem to be labouring under the impression that you have a choice. We have chemicals that can force your participation and you will serve us as we see fit.”

“I would rather die.” Stefan lurched to his feet. “I will die before I let any of you touch me with your filthy chemicals and your even filthier bodies. Kill me instead, I would rather die.”

“You are not being given a choice. You have transgressed, now in word as well as deed and we are not inclined to be merciful.”

“Wait.” I tried.

“You are destroying me.” Stefan wailed. “You are destroying my soul and…”

“STEFAN WILL YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LET ME THINK.” I bellowed.

Sometimes it’s useful to have a trained voice.

I took a breath.

“This is a price isn’t it,” I said to Chestnut. This is the price of passage, this is not a punishment, you need us.”

“Be careful.” Blonde-and-Bitter hissed.

I ignored her.

“Just as you have laws that you cannot break, so too does he. I accept that the price must be paid though, as should he but that’s not the point I’m making.”

Chestnut was watching me carefully.

“Would you…” I began carefully. “I have my own price to pay, my own toll to provide. Would you allow me to pay his as well?”

“There is a time limit,” Chestnut warned. “You must already make one of my sister’s pregnant by the Equinox as it is. Would you try for two?”

I smiled. “To me, it does not sound like too unpleasant a task,” a couple of the other women laughed. “But to him, you will drive him mad if you force this. Cultural differences aside, you are talking about raping him. Which to us is a heinous crime. Take a willing man instead.”

“Thank you.” Stefan moaned. “Thank you, Freddie. I promise. I will pray for your soul. Your soul is damned by laying with these spawns of darkness but you do so to save mine and you will deserve prayer and blessing. No greater act can be…”

I finally lost my own temper. “Are you honestly telling me that your Great Sun would damn me for saving your life and sanity?”

Stefan heard my anger and shrank from my gaze.

I laughed at him. “If the Sun would damn me for saving your life and soul then the Sun can get fucked as far as I’m concerned.”

Someone sniggered.

“The Sun will turn its light from you…” he muttered.

“Flame…” I muttered. “I think I will stick with my own religion. At least we believe that people can always be guided back towards the light.”

“Take him away,” Chestnut said. “Bind him in the dark that he fears so much while better men than he serves with honour.”

Stefan protested and moaned as he was dragged off. Something about how I was serving dark powers that I knew nothing about.

“That was a bit much wasn’t it?” I commented.

“Who for, him or you?” Chestnut wanted to know. She was standing beside me.

“Could go either way.”

“Make no mistake.” She warned me. “You are being bred. Ideally, for the cross-species to work, it would be done with love or at least, affection. As that is often the ingredient that is missing in these kinds of things. But you are still going to be bred like a farming stud. After a while, even lovemaking can turn mechanical and routine.”

I took that in for a moment.

“Then it is best I get started,” I commented.

“Get some rest first.” She said with a twinkle in her eye that suggested amusement. “Food and drink will be brought to you.”

(A/N: A shorter chapter, but sometimes a chapter ending just happens too naturally to be ignored. Thanks for reading everyone.)