They came to me fore help, these three maidens of the Blackmarsh. They were young, beautiful, vital, everything she desires. They gave me gold, jewels, and family heirlooms. I imagined their mothers and fathers, uncles and brothers pressing those treasures into their hands, enough to ransom a life promised to their baroness. I agreed to spirit them away from Blackmarsh. She learned of it. She appeared the night before. Her eyes were like flat, dull stones; her hair was stringy and streaked with grey. And I saw why she needed the women. --Karsten Wilde