“The punishment is clear,” one of the council members said. He was a large man, one of the ones who had hauled him out of the boat. “The Forest, or the lake.”

“That may be true under normal circumstances,” Ketty said. “But this boy has done far worse than the average criminal. Not only did he use our own vessel to deliberately cross to the island, nearly destroying our one boat in the process, but he seduced one of Endla’s daughters and tried to lure her away.”

Jaren wanted to point out that was not entirely true, but with a gag in his mouth, the most he could do was gurgle in protest.

“Shut up,” Ketty said, poking him with a stick in between his ribs, which were already bruised from being dragged through the Forest by several burly men.

“And what would you have us do with him?” another council member asked. “Kill him ourselves?”

Ketty began to nod, but someone else spoke. She was an elderly woman with a kindly look about her, and Jaren began to feel a small spark of hope that someone might defend him. “What about a Hunt?” she said in a honey-sweet voice.

There was a murmur of excitement among the council members, and Jaren realized with growing dread that the little old lady was not defending him at all.

“What’s a Hunt?” Sage asked, a little too gleefully.

“We let the boy go on the far side of the island, and then we sing the hunting song,” Ketty explained. “Whoever catches him gets the honor of sacrificing him to the Forest.”

Jaren’s eyes met Leelo’s, and he knew the terror he saw there was reflected in his own.

“Let’s put it to a vote,” Ketty said, but Jaren stopped listening then. He already knew what the answer would be.

It could have been several minutes or several hours later when Jaren was hauled to his feet (he’d collapsed to his knees at some point, it seemed) and dragged through the Forest.

He lost sight of Leelo and her mother, and maybe that was for the best. He couldn’t stand to see the anguish on Leelo’s face anymore. He hoped for her sake that she wouldn’t have to participate in the Hunt, that she would be well clear of the pine grove when they slit his throat. He hoped Ketty wouldn’t be the one to catch him.

Around him, the Forest was silent. It had to be the middle of the night by now. Would they do it tonight, he wondered, or would they wait till morning? Either way, he was so exhausted he knew he wouldn’t last long. He decided he hoped they’d do it tonight. He wanted to get this over with.