The path they walked was old and deep; it wound between ancient trees and under dark canopies filled with chattering and rustling. There was barely room to walk single-file between the thick brush and mossy trunks and fallen trees and boulders knotted with vines. Strange insects buzzed, bright butterflies fluttered among hanging tendrils of flowers overhead.

The felidrakes all went quiet and curled into frightened balls of fluff and scales.

Spook slowly closed his fingers around the hilt of his sword.

[sub][i]humans trespassing.[/i][/sub]

A chorus of flutelike whispers hissed in the air around the travelers. The woods were stifled, quiet and dark.

[sub][i]they burn us.[/i][/sub]

Something lithe and dark shifted among the leaves. It clung to the tree with graceful limbs, watching them with silver eyes.

[sub][i]they break us.[/i][/sub]

Something thin and sinister skittered down the trunk of a tree. Its eyes flashed, and it giggled hollowly.

[sub][i]we will burn them.[/i][/sub]

Leaves rustled all around them. Eyes shimmered in the shadows -- hundreds of silver eyes, swaying and blinking in the darkness.

Ahead, the end of the path was clear: beyond the next bend of the road, the forest ended abruptly and the path continued into a sunny flatland. They just had to break into a run, and within a few moments would be free of the woods and the whispers.

[sub][i]we will break them.[/i][/sub]

It all happened so fast.

Spook turned, his sword half-pulled from the scabbard, as a child-shaped, wood-skinned creature leaped like a spider upon him. Spook thrust the blade clean through its chest, but the thing clung to him like a parasite, pressed a splintered hand against his mask and engulfed his head in living, churning wood that erupted from the creature's arm.

Spook -- blinded, suffocating and off-balance -- tore at the creature in a fruitless attempt to shove it off of him, but the thing was fastened tightly. The creature shoved a splinter into his chest, and Spook reeled backward and slammed into a boulder like a ragdoll.

The path to the open plain was clear.

Whispers hissed all around them, and a swarm of creatures scrabbled closer.

[sub][i]they burn us.

they break us.

we will burn them.

we will break them.[/i][/sub]