“Everywhere,” another wheezed. He kept glancing over his shoulder. “It—it’s moving. Got one of our hunters.”
“It’smoving?” I snapped my gaze up to the jungles they pointed to.
Where Clarissa was currently alone.
I leaned over and gripped Galen’s elbow. “She’s in there,” I said through gritted teeth. “And this iskillingpeople.”
His hands shook as he twisted them in his reins. “I don’t—I can’tcontrolit, Thorne. I’ve never been able to. You know that.”
“It’s heading this way!” one of the men shouted. “We have to move!”
I held Galen’s stare for a second longer.
“Show us,” I commanded the man.
Galen and I followed them up the hill, urging our horses as fast as they could go. I wasn’t sure how far out Clarissa had gone, but every passing moment caused terror to swell in my gut. We reached the top of the grassy incline and crested the hill, the buildings I’d seen before now clearly in sight.
The hunters led us past the small community and to a ledge overlooking the jungle and mountains beyond.
That’s when we saw it.
Below us and miles to the east crept darkness, almost as if a blanket were covering the land. It spilled over the jungle floor like ink.
And everything behind it…rotted.
Dead and shriveled, with the signs of the curse I’d come to recognize in the past nine months evident in the blackened trees and decaying branches.
Galen cursed under his breath. “They were right. It’s moving.”
I’d only seen that happen once before. Then, it stopped when Clarissa touched it. Where was she now?
Our horses must have sensed our apprehension, for they anxiously pawed at the ground and tossed back their heads.
A small crowd had gathered at our backs at the commotion. Several gasps echoed around us as people began to see the curse.
“What’s going on?”
“How did this happen?”
“It’s the blight! Is that evenpossible?”
Whispers quickly turned to panic. Some of the people found Galen at the edge, and hope flared to life in their features.
“King Grimaldi!”
“Are you here to help us?”
“We need to get out of here! What should we do?”
His ashen face swiveled between them, then his eyes found mine in desperation. He blinked at me as his lips fell open and shut again. “I—I don’t?—”
“It’s getting closer,” one of the hunters rushed out. “What will you have us do, Your Majesty?”
Galen’s hands clenched around his reins, his eyes locked on the curse heading toward us.
“Your Majesty?” the man prodded. Those nearest glanced around in wariness.
These people were looking to him to lead. To save them.
