Soon after my gift to the beggar I became fatigued. I wanted to slip away silently, back to The Flea Monkey, but my desire to make good my public image asserted itself and I decided to offer my thanks to Baron Steib before retiring for the night. He was still atop the podium, overseeing the festitivites, and I climbed what few stairs there were to speak to him.

'I trust the fair is to your liking, Countess,' he said upon my arrival.

'Of course, Baron,' I replied. 'I have had a wonderful evening, and I thank you and your fascinating city for its hospitality.'

'That was ever at the forefront of my mind,' Steib said, and I suddenly sensed a change in his attitude. Perhaps the revealing dress was not such a great idea. He grasped my hand and raised it, kissing my finger. 'Would you care for a glass of wine?'

I forced myself not to recoil from his touch. His hands were sweaty from the warmth of the torchlights that illuminated the podium, and I withdrew my own hand only when it was polite to do so.

'I am sixteen, Baron.' I said his title with some force, as a subtle rebuke. Perhaps too subtle for him. I wondered if he had been drinking.

'In Trackford, most begin drinking at a much younger age,' he countered, but it was all to easy to decline his offer once more.

'My father has forbidden it until my coming of age,' I said, and he looked disappointed. I had probably judged the man harshly, but I was glad of my courtly response. It would have been only too easy to overreact and flinch at his touch. 'Alas, I am weary from travel and must retire for the night. I thank you again for your hospitality.'

'Anything for a Tfaelling,' Steib said.

With that, I returned to my room at The Flea Monkey. My companions were still immersed within the throng of townsfolk, and I was happy enough to let them enjoy Trackford for as long as they liked. As sleep took me that night I smiled, for I had disproven Khad's harsh words about me.

We left Trackford at first light. Our route took us past a wharf for the ferry which forded the river – for which the town was named – and I paused briefly there to consider the crossroads.

If one were to venture to the south bank they would find themselves in the larger half of Halivaara, with access to the Borderlands further southeast, and the mythical eastern lands beyond. Khad and his men had taken that road, but it was not ours.

Timoth led us onto the road east from Trackford. The open plains and tilled farmlands of Ebonreach never returned. Instead, the trees quickly grew tall and densely packed. We found ourselves in a crowded woodland, perhaps thick enough to be called a forest, and as Lilac crushed fallen acorns and branches below her hoof I realised that the overgrown trail would delay us.

'How long will it be before we arrive at Hollowhold?' I asked Wargwa. He was eyeing the carriage, and it was obvious why: its tall wheels were ill-suited to the rough woodland trail we followed. If one of them splintered, it would take some time to repair.

'The journey is usually manageable in a single week. This trail has not been well-kept, however, and it is difficult for the carriage. It may take us longer than that,' he explained.

I sighed. We'd only been travelling three days from Haelling Cove, and I certainly didn’t look forward to seven or more to come.

It was scary, travelling so far from the town I had grown up in, and I knew not what alien ways of life I would encounter in the capital. I had left Haelling Cove before, but only as Kaeya did presently: to visit family in the countryside. I’d never been as far as Trackford prior to this journey, and I’d certainly never left the Reach.

I didn’t even know through whose country we travelled! Ebonreach was a Free County, not lying within the authority of any Duchy and answering directly to King Goldmane instead. We had most likely left the Reach and had passed into a new duchy, one in which I doubted Father had any authority. I knew that we’d need to pass through the Duchy of Trent to enter the Mountain Duchy in which Hollowhold was located, but I had yet to see any such peaks. That didn’t surprise me, considering that Wargwa had said it'd take more than a week to reach Hollowhold.

'Do many towns lie on this trail?' I asked him.

Trackford had lain upon the crossroads quadrisected by the road to Hollowhold and the road that ran north-south through the ford of the Haelling. It seemed like that towns would have sprung up on the road to the capital, particularly east of Trackford, as Wargwa had said that we would see more travellers after passing through the town. We’d also already passed several merchant caravans on the road, though it was hardly a busy thoroughfare.

'Your brother has taken us through the Dreadwood Forest,' Wargwa said, his voice tremoring slightly at the name.

I’d heard of it before, in stories about nymphs and elves and faeries. Surely Wargwa paid no heed to them. Still, I didn’t know why Timoth would choose such a notorious route when an alternative was available. I said as much out loud, and due to the small size of our party, he stood within hearing range of our conversation.

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'Do you not want to see if the stories are true?' he asked me.

'If they are true, I do not want to pass this way, and if they are not, then we have wasted our time,' I replied.

Only now that I realised our true location did I notice how the trees were wrapped with choking vines, their rope-like lengths falling from the forest canopy as entrails from a gutted corpse. Nature taking its course, I reassured myself.

'Travelling the main road would see us delayed by diplomacy at every rustic town we encountered,' Timoth elaborated. 'I had enough revelry last night without suffering the same every day of the coming week.'

'As did I,' I concurred, 'yet, do you not fear for the carriage on this scarcely travelled road?'

'The carriage has a spare wheel,' Wargwa said helpfully.

'I intend to keep our pace such that the danger to our luggage is minor,' Timoth added. 'Fear not, sister, you and your lady are protected by soldiers of the Reach.'

I nodded, knowing that I’d trusted these same men to keep me safe in Haelling Cove my whole life. But it was different out here. Khad had known that there was a difference between facing danger in the open and leering at it from behind a defensive stone wall.

Still, it seemed unlikely that anything untoward would happen. The road was less popular, not entirely unused. Surely that boded well. Though I had noticed that a number of the travellers we passed looked unmistakeably grey regardless of their years. I wanted to stop one of them to ask what gave them that appearance, if only to be embarrassed by some mundane answer. It would have quelled the uneasy feeling that was now rising in my chest. No further opportunity presented itself as, after midday, we encountered no more travellers.

We held out for lunch until we could find a clearing to stop in. Some time passed before the road's progress was ushered by boundaries comprised of anything other than a thick wall of foliage, of mostly deciduous and fir trees. Despite that I assumed it to be early in the afternoon, the track might as well have been lit by faint moonlight for all the good the sun did us once filtered through the thick woodland canopy.

Eventually, though, we came upon a clearing formed around a small lake, more akin to a pond really. It was bordered by lush ferns, and the breadth of their leaves obscured the nakedness of the lakeland's occupants.

Three ladies, both topless and bottomless, were sprawled over mossy rocks at the far edge of the lake. One each had hair of red, yellow, and blue, and upon sighting us they sat up interestedly and elegantly. Their cherry-coloured nipples stood out from the predominantly green underbrush which partially concealed them, and at once concern replaced the initial shock I’d felt upon their sighting.

There was something unnatural about these women.

'We should go,' I immediately said to Timoth, but he did not hear me. His eyes were for the young women that lay in our path.

'I don’t like this, my lady,' Daegwin whispered, and I was immediately glad for her company. The men did not seem to be listening to us, and I almost could not blame them. The effervescent allure of the lakeside belles distracted their eyes, and pleasant harp music emanated from some as yet unseen instrument to distract their ears.

I realised that we faced nymphs and my emotions shifted again, this time from concern to dread. The tales of the Dreadwood Forest were true.

The stories I knew of nymphs were as varied as they were troublesome. Some said that, upon luring a man to their side, their teeth would turn to knives and shred their victim’s skin to ribbons. Others said that they fed off their life force, corrupting their victims to empower their own foul magicks.

I cared not which tale was true - perhaps they all were. In any case, I needed to convince Timoth to lead the party elsewhere. And fast.

'Nor do I,' I responded to Daegwin, before kicking Lilac forward to Timoth. She moved uneasily, and I wondered what effect the nymphs were having on her.

I spoke to my brother, 'Timoth, we must go. I do not like these women. I fear-'

'Hold your tongue, sister,' he said to me. His eyes were still glued to the nymphs as though entranced. I noticed that they followed the blue-haired one, who twirled her hair innocently as our party neared. 'I wonder if jealousy of their beauty is what motivates your wish to depart.'

My jaw dropped. Timoth had never spoken to me in such a manner. The words were like something that would come out of Kaeya's mouth.

Daegwin heard what Timoth said and stood with mouth agape. Yet, I knew she would not act, it was not her place. It was up to me to change the course of the party.

I rallied my wits and tried a different tack. 'Timoth, look at me. Look at me!'

'I think he prefers to look upon us,' the blue-haired nymph said, now close enough to overhear our conversation. She finished her sentence with a girlish giggle, and I was suddenly aware that as we’d been making progress towards the lake, the nymphs had rounded it and now stood between us and its pristine waters. I suddenly felt parched, and wondered if that was an effect of their spell.

My suspicions were strengthened when the red-haired nymph said, 'come, drink from our water. Take as much as you desire.'

Daegwin held her horse back and stood at the edge of the road behind the rest of the party, her face the picture of utter terror.

Suddenly, her expression disappeared, replaced by one of neutrality. She fumbled in her saddlebag for a canteen and drank heartily from her water.

I turned back to the nymphs. 'These men are soldiers. You would do well not to curse them.'

They smiled toothily, as though my words amused them. The blue-haired one turned away from me to Timoth, and it was as if she spoke through his mouth.

'Why don't you wait with Daegwin while the men refill the canteens.' It was a command, not a question.

I chose to ignore it. Making decisions was difficult; my lips were dry, and that abominably pleasant harp music threatened to subdue me. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to regather my thoughts, but when I opened my eyes I found myself standing alone.

The men were almost at the lake, the carriage stopped a few metres from its placid shores. The yellow-haired nymph ran her fingers over Wargwa’s shoulders, while the red-haired nymph’s fingers kneaded the carriage master’s scalp.

The blue-haired nymph beckoned Timoth closer with a seductive curl of her forefinger. My eyes widened to the size of saucers and I dismounted and ran between the two of them.