“Not a day passed without me making some effort to follow and find Elaby. Others tried to leave the valley and were even less lucky than I. The Sluagh would terrify, damage, and ultimately destroy any being who tried to pass through their lines, dragging the horrifying remains of their victims to the heart of the woods where they’d be left on display as a warning to the rest of us.
“Every now and again the dark man would return and make a new selection, his forces beating the woodland folk out of our refuges and taking certain ones away. But nothing ever equalled that first terrible purge.
“I hatched a plan. One time I managed to follow the raiding party with their captives, and to hang onto the underside of the dark man’s carriage. Gone were the horses, and here instead was machinery; t
