She turned and began walking swiftly away from the House of Rababull, deeper and deeper into the night. Whenever she looked back, she saw and heard nothing. Was someone there?
"Hello?" she called out, looking back again.
But there was no answer.
Still staring behind her as she began to walk away, Si'Wren suddenly blundered straight into a tree, and screamed as two of the tree's branches seized hold of her.
She struggled helplessly as she was held in a vise-like grip by a laughing young man, whose alcohol-laden breath caused her to choke and gag.
Another man, as brawny as the first, towered above her.
"I've caught me a night spirit!" laughed the man, holding onto her tenaciously.
"Make her give you a wish before you let her go," jested the second.
"She'll give us more than that, and no one the wiser," said the first in an evil, crafty tone of voice.
Si'Wren jerked instinctively to free herself from her attacker, and found her diminutive physical power to be as nothing compared to his godlike strength.