Chapter 32, Shadow in the Throes of Death Summary

The Dreamreader goes to visit his shadow presumably for the last time. The Gatekeeper escorts him into a sort of donjon in the shadow grounds and then leaves them alone. The shadow explains he has been faking portions of his illness to buy some time, and he challenges the Dreamreader to escape with him. The Dreamreader refuses, noting that he loves the Librarian girl. The shadow reminds him that she is incapable of love because she is not possessed of mind. The Dreamreader then suggests that the shadow escape alone, without him. The shadow then explains that the folk who live in the woods are those whose shadows did not properly die—thus, they all retain a fragment of mind which harrows them up until the townspeople force them from...