Chapter 11
As Thorne led the way through the Darkwood, a path seemed to open beneath his feet. Birds chirped in greeting as he passed, and a thick carpet of loam cushioned our steps. Ferns glowed emerald in shafts of light breaking through the evergreens, and three-petaled white flowers shone like little stars beside trunks shaggy with moss.
He and Neeve moved gracefully, and I trailed in their wake, ungainly and sticky with sweat. Branches that seemed to sway aside at their passage returned to slap me on the arms and legs, suddenly sprouting thorns. Once I ran face-first into the clinging strands of a spider web, though Neeve had walked that way just moments before.
A cloud of gnats found me as we traveled, the cloud about my head growing with each minute. One or two managed to land on
