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never seen.
    “I will find him,” he replied. “I promise you.” Shallah nodded and turned her head away. “And by the way,” he said, before slipping off through the trees, “my name is Petyr.”
    She made no motion to show that she’d heard.

Chapter Ten
    Liam couldn’t move. His shoulders were pinned and his arms and legs were bound. He could turn his head and wiggle his fingers, but nothing more. He thought he might be in a small cage or a box because there was wood all around him. It pressed against his skin. It was an awful feeling. It was like being trapped inside a burning house, and the roof is caving in.
    He wished he could sleep, but whenever he closed his eyes they were waiting for him. The two red eyes watching him out of the dark. They were monstrous eyes of the sort found only in dreams. But this was no dream. The eyes come forward to meet him, growing enormous wings and talons. They grew so large they were all he could see. And he heard Shallah screaming …
    He didn’t know how he’d come here, but he knew he’d been taken from Shallah. Shallah was far away. At certain moments he thought he heard her calling his name, but the sound was so faint he couldn’t be sure it was real. Nothing seemed quite real to him now.
    Liam wanted to be with Shallah and for none of this to have happened. He wanted to be with her so he could protect her. After he’d saved her from the buck he’d thought he was good at protecting her, but that was wrong. If you were good at protecting someone you were never afraid.
    A strange noise made Liam shiver. He felt empty and cold. It was worse than when he’d been lost in the fog. Now he felt so lost he thought he might never be found again. For the first time in his life, he didn’t know what was going to happen after .
    He’d begun to think after might never come.
    Petyr ran through the trees with hardly an upward glance.
    His thoughts were simple and exact: save the boy. He thought of nothing else. He’d discovered it was easier to move through the trees if he emptied himself of thought, and of emotion. Emotion only slowed you down. He’d certainly had plenty of time to figure that out.
    Petyr had been trapped in the black wood for three days.
    On the first day he’d thought himself clever. To him, the thicker canopy of the black wood had seemed an elaborate ruse, a natural effort to bar entry into this part of the forest. As he’d passed into its depths, he’d actually let out a laugh. He’d been so sure he would find what he sought here, so sure of his own safety.
    Darkness! he’d thought to himself. What have I to fear of darkness?
    But there was a great deal to fear.
    As he leaned against the trunk of a fir, wiping the sweat from eyes, he thought over his task. He knew who’d taken the child. There was only one predator in this wood, and he knew their devilry well. They were vicious, mindless, and they knew no mercy. They were the dark oaks of the north – the first beings of true evil Petyr had ever known.
    On the morning of that first day, he’d come upon an oak squeezing the life out of a bear. It had been a long day. His early confidence had worked against him, for in his eagerness to explore the black wood he’d quickly lost his bearings. He’d spent many hours trying to find his way back out, but every time he’d tried to move southward some misfortune had befallen him. He would trip on a tree root and land on his face. His surcoat would get tangled in the branches of a tree. His way would be blocked by an enormous log or a dozen exhausting obstacles. He’d begun to notice a menacing black oak lurking in the corner of his vision.
    The message was clear: there would be no going back.
    He was trapped.
    He’d only begun to realize this when he’d heard the cries of the bear. Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw next.
    It was a cub. Its body had been wrapped by the roots of the oak – roots that sprung free of the ground to catch it.