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Silas reached into one of the saddlebags and handed Mara a bread roll “Here”

A fly landed on the roll and Mara squashed it, a thick yellow gunk spreading over the roll and his hand Mara threw the roll into the grass and wiped his hand on his leg “Leave me alone,” he shouted

Silas laughed

Several hours on, the red grass was replaced by a rass that looked dead Best of all, the flies were gone There were still some small clouds of tiny ones, but they spentVala

Silas turned Vala sideways “There, where the sky becomes dark, that’s the Shadow Forest,” Silas said

Mara looked around to see bright blue sky in all other directions “Is it raining just there?”

“No, those clouds are always there, keeping the forest dark It’s said the first assassins od of darkness Their worship saw the forest protected by the god No army has ever taken the castle inside These days, none even try”

Mara couldn’t think of anything worse than a forest that was always dark “Are there things like Mother in that forest?”

“No, only the Shadows The forest is dead otherwise”

“Dead?”

“Yes No light means the trees have died”

“Are the Shadows people?”

Silas got Vala s said about what they are Soured men who keep their faces covered Others believe they are not human, rather beasts conjured by the priests to replace them You will hear yourself that they certainly sound human, but I do not know of anybody that has seen a Shadow’s face”

Over the next few hours, Mara’s i red-eyed beasts ings beneath their clothes, capable of crushing the heads of the people that attacked the castle He often peered around Silas to see the dark clouds getting closer, each tiet further away They didn’t

A loud crack of thunder sounded, and it h and pull hard to the left Silas shouted and brought her back under control They passed into the shade under the clouds which swirled above them Occasional flashes appeared inside them between the thunder