The sullen light of the torches flickered through the trees as they continued through the forest.
Matthias found himself walking alone alongside Anya. Ahead of them, Valdis forged ahead; behind, Anat and Thanos followed slowly.
He did not want to hear what she would have to say now, especially in the deep darkness of the forest. Her words from the cabin, and from the farmhouse before that, still clung to his soul like lichen, slowly sapping the light from his thoughts.
But Valdis had said to watch her; perhaps she would say something now to give herself away. And besides, he would struggle to find an excuse to escape now.
"It is sad to see the forest like this," she said. "My father used to hunt here, when I was a child. He would bring me with him, if I was quiet." She smiled gently. "He always used to say that my mother gave me too many chores for a child, and that I needed to learn more than how to cook and wash and darn. I was almost as much a son to him as a daughter."
This did not seem too bad, thought Matthias. "Do you have no brothers or sisters?" Small families were rare out here in the farmlands.
She shook her head. "No... Not anymore." Matthias gave her a prolonged look of sympathy, and she continued. "My brother was the oldest. He died while I was an infant. I had two sisters. Both dead, and now I am alone."
"What happened to them?"
She sighed, shaking her head. "A story for another time."
"You were talking about the forest, before... this happened."
The flicker of a smile crossed her face for a moment, but then it was replaced by a... hollow look. "There are many places like this now," she said. "Too many. These lands do not belong to Men anymore."
"Men still live everywhere, even through the deepest darkness."
She shook her head. "We live, but we do not belong. Only the gods held back the darkness, gave us power over the land. And now they are gone, and we are barnacles on a beached ship, clinging on but slowly drying up, until the scraper comes, and... shhk."
Matthias stared at her for a moment before answering. "The creatures of the darkness are the works of a god as well, my lady. The darkness is the darkness of Ygn, and of the Midnight Crown."
"Ygn shaped the darkness, and mothered the things she created from it, but she did not create the darkness. This..." - she gestured around them - "...this darkness is ancient, more ancient even than the gods, Even than Ygn. And it has endured past her fall."
Matthias frowned. She knew more of Ygn than she ought; indeed, he only knew of the Dark Mother at all through the sacred texts he had read as an initiate. And she seemed unduly knowledgeable about Ygn's darkness as well.
"How do you know this?" he asked.
If she realised that she may have erred in saying too much, her face did not show it. "Knowledge is the only way to survive these dark times. Knowing what is trying to destroy you is... helpful."
"Some knowledge can be dangerous to those who know it."
She shrugged. "I will share no more of it, then, and keep the danger to myself."
Matthias faltered. "I did not mean-..."
She laughed. "You did not think. You priests think that the Silver Crown and the holy texts are all that is needed to drive away any evil, but the Silver Crown has fallen, and their words mean nothing any more. You judge and persecute those who take any steps to protect those they love except the ones you prescribe, empty prayers to long-dead gods."
Matthias stopped in his tracks, staring at her. She held his gaze for a moment, and then turned and walked onward after Valdis.
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