"That’s when I saw it. One of them. It looked almost human, but very tall and very thin. Its skin was grey and its eyes were yellow. You know like a lizard’s? It stood between the trunks, no more than ten feet away. It didn’t approach me, and I didn’t run away. It looked at me. And I looked back."

"I was inside a crude cage. There were no metal bars, but a web of knobby tree branches twisted together. The cage was in a cave—no a cavern. It was massive! I didn’t know if it was day or night, but they had lit a fire for light."

"They have watched you for a long time—observed you from the shadows of the wood. They do not fear you, and would not hesitate to meet in battle. They assured me their numbers are countless. More than the trees."