The rhythmic thud of galloping hooves has long since faded into a ghostly echo, swallowed by the oppressive silence of the Essex woods. Alistair’s lungs burn, each breath a jagged shard of ice in his chest. He had tried, God knows he had tried, to keep pace with the Witchfinder Generall’s party. He had endured the mocking titters of the mounted hunters, men who looked down from their high saddles at his rhythmic, desperate trudge, their eyes glinting with the cruel pleasure of seeing a "man of God" reduced to a panting dog. They had spurred their horses into a jog, a deliberate test of his endurance, and Alistair had broken into a frantic run, his heavy woollen robes tangling around his thin legs like leaden weights.

"Keep up, Brother Snow!" one had hollered, a wicked grin flashing under a wide-brimmed hat. "Or perhaps the Devil’s spawn will find you easier to swallow if you're served chilled and muddy!"

Then, they had spurred their mounts into a gallop. Alistair had tried. He had pushed his thin, aching legs until his lungs felt like they were filled with broken glass. But a gnarled root, slick with moss, caught the toe of his boot. He went down hard, his palms, already desensitized by thick, white scars, slapping into the freezing muck. He lay there for a long moment, face pressed into the peat, smelling rot and wet earth.

He fell hard. The impact was a dull thud, the breath driven from his body as his face buried itself in the cold, cloying filth of the forest floor. When he finally pushes himself up, his scarred, insensitive palms slick with black mud, the hunters are gone. The woods are a labyrinth of shifting shadows and ancient, twisted oaks. The "monster" Hopkins sought could be anywhere: behind that thicket, or perhaps standing right behind him. Alistair wipes the grime from his grey eyes, his heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird. He is alone, shivering, and utterly lost in the domain of things that go bump in the night. He sees a shape through the fog, is it a man of the woods, or the very nightmare he was sent to document?