Epilogue

EPILOGUE

The Dark Wood was a wild place, unnavigable and impassable to even those who dared to enter and explore. The only ones who easily navigated it were a man made of shadows and a woman in a red cloak. They appeared once a week, the forest parting around them like a wide green sea, so that they could lead the souls of the departed from Ballybrine to the realm of the dead.

There would be no more Red Maidens, but all the Maidens who had come before lived on in stories told in the village by the sea. They spoke of girls in red cloaks who braved late-night walks through a magical wood to please the god of death.

Some nights, when it was particularly quiet, a melody could be heard, carried forth on an enchanted breeze from the Dark Wood all the way to the sea. It was a mournful and triumphant song, tinkling piano mixed with an angelic voice that sang about the courage of the Red Maidens of old and the price they paid.

And not a single name was forgotten.