[quote]She stopped to rest right before him Sword of Light in her hand. "I'm sorry, Peck, I thought she was still alive somehow and imprisoned. I was wrong." She presented the sword for him to see. "With this, we can carry on her legacy. We can still save this land. We can cleanse whatever has been done to the Dragon."[/quote]

Peck hurriedly dug a blanket out of the griffin's saddlebag and rushed to the lakeside as soon as he saw Anise emerging. He draped it around her shoulders, and only then stepped back to take a wide-eyed look at the sword she held between her hands. It was ... warm. There were legends about this sword. He dared not touch it, but he looked to her face again, determined to assist however he could, breathless with the gravity of everything that had happened. "I'm with you."

[quote]"Lady of Stone," Anise called out. "Why is it that you are working with the Lord of Shadow? You can see how unbalanced everything has become under his rule. Trees thirst for blood thanks to the lack of sun. The wildlife is far more hazardous than it should be in any reasonable state. The corruption of the Dragon can only spell disaster. Is this really better? The Lord of Shadow acts as a selfish tyrant looking to expand his own power to no one's gain except his own. A true ruler is responsible for the protection of those more vulnerable. A king is nothing without the support of the people. What do you think?"[/quote]

For a moment there was no sound but the cracking of the melting ice and the gentle lap of water. Peck stepped forward to stand beside her, staring carefully out onto the lake.

And then, Anise was suddenly falling. The ground opened up beneath her, swallowed her, and closed up again before Peck had time to blink. He cried out -- but it was as if she had never been there at all. He rushed for a weapon, and used his own sword to strike at the ground, to dig her out.

Anise landed on soft ground at the bottom of a small cave -- in complete, blind darkness save for the glow of the sword.

[i]"I have no interest in trees and blood and kings."[/i]

The Lady of Stone moved like a shadow on the walls, a ripple of a figure that paced around Anise. [i]"Look around you. Shadow and I understand one another. The cold and the dark and the barren suit me. I'll drink up the blood that's spilled. I'll swallow the buried dead. I'll swallow you."[/i] There was a grin in her voice.

[quote]Artemis looked back to the Lord of Shadow. Then she stepped forward and took his hand.[/quote]

The moment her hand touched his was the last she would remember.

When she awoke, she was warm in a thick bedroll, on the canvas floor of a tent. The red Lantern glowed in a corner. Along the side was a backpack stuffed with supplies, and littering the floor were a small notebook, a burned-out lamp and a half-eaten fruit, as if the tent's last occupant had left in a hurry. Near the flap was a wooden plate with a roasted rabbit and a fragrant stew of vegetables, and a pitcher of clear water.

She might find that although she didn't feel cold, her skin was chill to the touch. Although the Lantern offered her its light, she no longer needed it to see clearly.

Outside the tent was a burned-out campfire, a broken clay cup, and signs of a struggle. Blood stained the grass, a knife glinted in the dirt. Ropes lay loose around a tree, as if something or someone had been tied against it before they were cut. Perhaps it was this that had sealed the fate of the campers.

Reus was gone.

The dead stood among the trees.

A dozen of them, gray and black with eyes a haunting white, swayed and shifted among the gnawing trees. One of them -- little more than a shadow -- stepped forward, holding out a cloth-wrapped package that glowed bright green from within. The last Lantern unaccounted-for.

They watched her ... and they waited.