A small, spider-webbed, vine-hung clearing in the Forest's centre is known to local people as 'The Dark'. There was, prior to the quest for the Belt of Deltora, a malignant, gold-armoured presence in the centre of Mid Wood - those who have seen it for themselves and told the tales narrowly escaped with their lives. It is said that Gorl guards the fabled Lilies of Life, having killed both his brothers in a quarrel over the Lilies' life-giving nectar in the time before the uniting of the 7 tribes. Should anyone come across Gorl, he challenges them at the entrance to his enclosure; he gives them a choice: leave immediately or die by his hand. Gorl has supernatural strength and the power to bend others to his will. No one who has fought him (before Jasmine, Barda and Lief) has survived. He fee