rose, we took our box, and walked
on into the forest.

It mattered not where we went. We knew that men would not follow us,
for they never entered the Uncharted Forest. We had nothing to fear
from them. The forest disposes of its own victims. This gave us no fear
either. Only we wished to be away from the City and the air that touches
upon the air of the City. So we walked on, our box in our arms, our
heart empty.

We are doomed. Whatever days are left to us, we shall spend them alone.
And we have heard of the corruption to be found in solitude. We have
torn ourselves from the truth which is our brother men, and there is no
road back for us, and no redemption.

We know these things, but we do not care. We care for nothing on earth.
We are tired.

Only the glass box in our arms is like a living heart that gives us
strength. We have lied to ourselves. We have not built this box for the
good of our brothers. We built it for its own sake. It is above all our
brothers to us, and its truth above their truth. Why wonder about this?
We have not many days to live. We are walking to the fangs awaiting us
somewhere among the great, silent trees. There is not a thing behind us
to regret.

Then a blow of pain struck us, our first and our only. We thought of the
Golden One. We thought of the Golden One whom we shall never see again.
Then the pain passed. It is best. We are one of the Damned. It is best
if the Golden One forget our name and the body which bore that name.

Chapter Eight

It has been a day of wonder, this, our first day in the forest.

We awoke when a ray of sunlight fell across our face. We wanted to leap
to our feet, as we have had to leap to our feet every morning of our
life, but we remembered suddenly that no bell had rung and that there
was no bell to ring anywhere. We lay on our back, we threw our arms
out, and we looked up at the sky. The leaves had edges of silver that
trembled and rippled like a river of green and fire flowing high above
us.

We did not wish to move. We thought suddenly that we could lie thus as
long as we wished, and we laughed aloud at the thought. We could also
rise, or run, or leap, or fall down again. We were thinking that these
were things without sense, but before we knew it, our body had risen in
one leap. Our arms stretched out of their own will, and our body whirled
and whirled, till it raised a wind to rustle through the leaves of the
bushes. Then our hands seized a