The night did not seem to last an hour. I tore slowly with my sled of carcasses through a forest of overhanging bushes in a whirl of broken twigs and flying leaves. The twigs shook, swayed, and rustled. The devil only knows what foul beasts lurked in the darkness awaiting their chance to slay me. And then the shutter came.

I had him in my sights. I can still feel the tension of the bowstring between my fingers as I carefully stretched it back behind my ear. I could feel the muscle of my bicep twinging under the force. I could see the tip of the arrow aimed directly at the jugular of my target. Arthur stood there, his legs slightly apart as if straddling an invisible horse. He did not move, but it was uneccesary for him to stay still. My marksmanship was extraordinary. I adjusted my sights low and to the left to account for the blowing of the wind.

About the same time I was ready to loose my shot I saw in my peripheral a movement. Suddenly there was a growing murmer of voices and the stamping of feet. It was a scuffle. I carefully released the tension of the bow and returned the arrow to my quiver. Confound him! I returned to my sled and my animals and decided my fate right then and there. I would not be able to murder the despicable personage of Arthur this day, but perhaps another may do my work for me. I decided to head off to Tanglewood to tell Valerin of the plans of my enemy. There are times when a man must decide to chose the lesser of two evils in making an alliance, and Arthur was destined to loose on this one.

It was not long before I had reached the borders of Tanglewood. Paths, paths, everywhere; a stamped in network of paths spreading over the empty land, through long grass, through burnt grass, through thickets, down and up through chilly ravines, up and down stony hills draped in darkness; and a solitude, a solitude, nobody, not a hut. The population had cleared out a long time ago. Only here the dwellings were gone too. Still I passed through abandoned villiages.

The darkness deepened.