The other soldier makes a sound like a sob and a scream. Half crawling to get away, he draws his sword. Phaut helps me to my feet. I try to recover my magic, desperate to do something other than gape in horror as the rest of Audri’s body is devoured by the shriveled black stump.

“Run,” Ronin orders curtly. None of us need any more urging than that.

We run, terror lending speed to our flight. The trees fly by in a gray-green blur. We slash and jump and kick. Phaut is nearly dragged down twice before, at last, the branches thin and the afternoon sky appears. We burst from the trees and collapse to the ground.

The grass cools my flushed skin. Incongruously, the sun shines brightly overhead. Phaut is on her hands and knees beside me. Her short hair falls messily over her cheekbones. Her breaths come hard, as labored as mine. We must have sprinted a mile in record time.

“There were so many,” she whispers.

I nod mutely, still numb with shock. We remain there a moment, silent, reliving the last few minutes; our minds remain trapped in the trees with Audri. I should have tried harder to help her, to help them all. But all I did was run. My fingers curl into the earth, grounding myself in the present. Clumps of grass tear free as I rise. I assist Phaut to her feet before noticing the other soldier has staggered ahead.

We’ve emerged near the path where I first entered the Dead Wood almost a week ago. Sab Hlee lies a short ride away.

“Where’s Ronin?” I turn in a circle to scan the area. Phaut copies me, her hands combing roughly through her tousled hair. He told us to run but did not run with us. Was he still in there?

Phaut’s legs jolt haltingly toward the trees, as if intending to go after him. But then Ronin’s tall figure materializes from the shadowy boughs.

“What happened?” I ask, returning my swords to their sheaths.

“The souls have been silenced,” Ronin says without further explanation.

And what about Audri? I want to shout, despite that the question would be pointless.

We follow him toward the encampment, the silence wrought with fear unabated by Ronin’s reassurance. Those had been newly taken souls. Why would they go into the trees, knowing what awaited them?

After the horror of the Dead Wood, I’m caught off guard by the distant sprawl of the mountains far to the west. My breath catches unexpectedly at the awareness of how close Evewyn is. This strip of land outside the Dead Wood is still Ronin’s territory but beyond … just beyond that is home. Yearning throbs inside me.

Soon. Once Saengo is healed and our safety assured.