‘How exactly are we supposed to find this village?’ Arthur asked from somewhere behind him.

‘I don’t really know,’ Lewis replied as he adjusted his grip on the two poles that made up the handles for the stretcher that Olivia had created. ‘The hunters found us last time.’

‘So, we’re just going to wander through the forest and hope that a bunch of people with spears jump out from behind the trees and don’t kill us?’ he muttered to himself.

‘We could have buried her outside Porthton,’ Emily reminded him.

It wasn’t the first time that Emily had made the suggestion. In fact, all three of them had since they had left the cave. He had ignored them all, though; it wasn’t right, not to him. Cassandra had given her life to save his, and the least he could do in death was make sure that she was taken home again. That was before he had even considered everything she had been through since the day they first met.

Until now, it hadn’t crossed his mind that he had no idea what they were going back to. Would the village even be there anymore? When they had left, the creatures created by The Dusk had been attacking the village and the people. It felt like a lifetime ago.

‘I think you’re doing the right thing,’ Olivia said quietly as she appeared at his side.

Lewis nodded. He hadn’t spoken much since the cave to any of them. Every moment since he had fled the Cimant Village played over in his mind on a continuous loop. During the day, he picked his way through the forest; at night, it was his memories. On both occasions, he was looking for a different path. One that would lead him to the village or one that could have saved Cassandra.

‘You’re going to have to talk when we get there. You know that, right?’ Olivia said, giving him a nudge. Once again, he nodded, refusing to make a verbal comment on her question. With a sigh, Olivia disappeared from his side again.

He adjusted his grip on the stretcher that bore Cassandra’s body, glancing down at the bloody blisters on his hands. Thankfully, Olivia had been able to use her powers to preserve the body while they carried it from the cave. Without her, he expected they would have been forced to bury Cassandra in Porthton.

‘Lewis?’ Emily whispered, appearing on his other side. ‘We can take a break, you know?’ she said, reaching out a hand to him gently.

Lewis shook his head, continuing to walk.

‘Stop this! Right now!’ Emily demanded, grabbing him by the arm and forcing him to stop. ‘Time doesn’t mean anything to the dead; I’m not going to let you walk yourself into a grave just to get there a little earlier.’

For the first time in almost a week, Lewis opened his mouth to respond. She didn’t understand. Before he could say anything, there was a crack between the trees. A dozen men charged from between the trees. Each of them wore animal hides with an array of white markings painted on their dark skin. Each of them had a spear or arrow directed at them.

‘Who are you? This forest belongs to the Cimant Tribe,’ one of the men demanded, his spear just inches from Lewis’ throat.

‘Lower your weapons,’ a man commanded as he emerged from the trees, a bow held loosely in his hand. He was a good six inches taller than all of the others. ‘Lewis?’

‘Nirra?’ he asked, his voice croaky from lack of use.

‘Why have you returned to our forest? The last time you were here, our village was almost destroyed by impossible creatures.’

‘The creatures are gone now, I promise,’ Lewis said.

‘And why should we trust you?’

‘I had to come back,’ he said. ‘There was a battle far from here. Cassandra gave her life to save me; I wanted to return her to her home.’

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Until now, it seemed as though Nirra had not noticed Cassandra’s body on the stretcher behind him. Slowly, he lifted his bow, drawing an arrow. Around them, the other men lifted their weapons once more. ‘And why should we trust you?’ Nirra asked again.

‘Just take us to the village, and I’ll explain everything,’ Lewis said. ‘We mean you no harm.’

‘Yet on the two occasions that you have set foot on our lands, you have bought demons to attack our village and the body of our former leader’s only daughter,’ Nirra said.

‘Former leader?’ Lewis asked.

‘Yes. Elder Krora Eal’vara may have survived your initial demon attack, but he suffered great wounds. He died several days later.’

‘They weren’t our demons!’ Olivia interrupted.

‘I’m sorry,’ Lewis said, glancing in Olivia’s direction in an attempt to silence her.

‘If it were up to them,’ Nirra said, gesturing to the men surrounding the four of them. ‘You would have been dead long before you uttered a word.’

‘I appreciate you stopping them,’ Lewis said.

‘It is not me who is stopping them,’ Nirra replied. ‘The Elders will want to decide your fate themselves. Come!’

With that, Nirra lowered his bow and turned his back on Lewis, setting off between the trees. Under the gaze and the spears of the Cimant hunters, they had little choice but to follow.

‘Who are these elders"? Emily whispered, appearing beside him.

‘Silence! one of the men hissed, the wooden end of his spear hitting Emily in the side. In an instant, she sprang to face the man who had struck her.

‘Just do what they say,’ Lewis muttered, trying to calm her as three spears turned in her direction. Reluctantly, Emily turned away, sending a withering glare in his direction. One by one, the spears were directed away from her as they set off again. As it turned out, they hadn’t been very far from the village when they encountered the hunters. Slowly, the village came into view between the trees, the sound of running water from the stream breaking the silence.

The village was in far worse shape than it had been when Lewis first set eyes on it. A large number of the huts were no more than burned-out shells now; the rest were guarded by angry-looking villagers who had gathered to see what was going on.

‘It’s the demon,’ one woman screamed from the crowd as she hurled a chunk of burnt wood in Lewis’ direction. How times have changed, he mused to himself. Not long ago, he had been greeted with cheers as he had been married to Cassandra.

The four of them were paraded through the village like the latest haul from a hunt as villagers hurled abuse and all manner of objects in his direction. All the while, Nirra and the other hunters did nothing, even when a piece of wood hit one of them on the shoulder. None of their escorts flinched as Emily tried to avoid the projectiles beside him. ‘I told you,’ she muttered.

Lewis didn’t need to ask what she was referring to. He knew she had been the driving force behind the others suggestion that he bury Cassandra in Porthton. Maybe she had been right, he thought as they stopped in front of the platform in the village square.

In the centre of the stage sat four men, each clothed in dark robes. None of them even twitched as Nirra walked forward, dropping to a knee before them. Lewis couldn’t hear what Nirra said, but they all rose to their feet, moving forward as they looked down at Lewis.

To one side sat the woman Lewis recognised as Elder Krora Eal’vara’s wife and Cassandra’s mother, dressed in black. Slowly she looked up, her eyes first falling on Lewis and then the body of her daughter.

She screamed, her hands covering her mouth. Leaping to her feet, she ran from the platform and barged between the hunters before collapsing to her knees beside the stretcher. With a nod to Arthur, they lowered it to the floor between them, watching as Cassandra’s mother wept over her daughter’s body.

The four men exchanged glances for a moment. Slowly, one stepped forward. ‘Take him! he shouted, pointing at Lewis. ‘You will burn for this, outsider.’

Lewis closed his eyes as the hunters grabbed him by the arms and began to lead him away. He heard Emily shouting as she tried to get to him, scrapping with the remaining hunters. At the centre of all the commotion, Cassandra’s mother sat weeping, seemingly oblivious to what was going on around her.

As he was dragged away, a young child, no older than twelve, he guessed, charged from the crowd, brandishing a bit of wood that was almost as large as he was. Before he could get close enough to strike Lewis, one of the hunters pushed him away.

All the way to the door at the side of the platform, he was bombarded with stones and pieces of wood, the screams of the crowd filling the air. ‘I can’t wait to watch you burn for this,’ one of the hunters hissed in his ear as he shoved him through the door.

In a dark corner of the room sat a wooden cell with a post in the centre. As they approached, a man opened the cell door, holding it back as the hunters threw Lewis to the floor. From somewhere, they produced a rope. Dragging him to the post, they tied him to it so tightly that he could barely breathe.

‘You should never have come here,’ one of the hunters whispered as he crouched in front of Lewis. Getting to his feet again, the hunter spat in Lewis’ face.

The saliva slowly rolled down his cheek as he watched the hunters leave the cell, fastening the door behind him. Closing his eyes, Lewis hung his head. All he could do now was wait.