The Somberwood

¶XI. By dawn Serenity and Faith had grown cold, and held each other’s shivering, naked bodies as they pushed forward and endured the chill of fog not yet chased from the Somberwood by the still-shrouded Sun. They panted forcedly in the wintry brume as their lips trembled, their noses grew wet, and their skin became dampened and ruddily blotched by the icy dew that collected upon every inch of them. Yet whimpering shakily they kept on.

¶XII. There were shrubs, and vines, and green trees scattered sparsely atwixt the deadwood of the forest, many of which bore black and shriveled fruits. All throughout the timberland were thickets of brambles, and swart-stemmed briars donning black roses.

¶XIII. As they penetrated into the Somberwood ever deeper, they could see the umbrages of deer moving about through the sunlit mists, as the mosque swallows hunted among the wood.