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William started for the forest, uncowed. His sister was somewhere in the dark wood and whatever malice these ghosts intended, he would not allow them to keep him from Tamara's side. But William had not yet reached the edge of the wood when the horsemen surrounded him, beasts neighing softly and grunting, and ghost-eyes burning down at him ominously.
"Leave me be!" he demanded, and he felt an anger rising in him unlike anything he had ever known. Tamara might vex him nearly every waking moment, but she was his entire world. He would give his life for her. "I have business in the forest, spirits, and I will not allow you to bar my path."
The nearest of the horsemen dismounted. He slid from his beast with a creak of leather. His hair was long and filthy, tangled wild and within it were tied leaves and sprigs and feathers. In life he had been darkly handsome. In death he had become menacing. He was transparent, of course, for though Wild Edric and his men were cursed, and as such different from ordinary ghosts, they were ghosts nevertheless. Even looking directly into his eyes, William could see the forest through him.
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