Part I: Claiming Rite
Chapter One
Earsleh Outerlands
I could smell them.The scents of rot and decay always hung in the air long after the Hollows had gone.Finnrey and I stood in the sparse cover of trees and stared at the farmhouse.The door hung askew, no smoke drifted from the chimney, and even the birds were silent.
“It’s too quiet,” Finnrey whispered.
“Quiet is good,” I said, keeping my gaze on the house.“Quiet means they’re gone.”
“Or eating.”
I winced at the grotesque picture those words conjured.“No doubt they were here.”
She put a gloved hand to her nose, probably to try and mitigate the smell.“No doubt,” she agreed.“Let’s go back for Gaz, Nize, and the rest.We can clear it as a team.”
That was the protocol.The Hollows were unnaturally strong, and they rarely traveled alone.The farmhouse might look empty, but if some of the brainless monsters were inside or around the back, out of sight, Finnrey and I could easily be overwhelmed.Not that I was overly concerned.I had been fighting Hollows for over a decade, since the age of twelve.Finnrey had been fighting them even longer; she was three years older.We could handle a few Hollows.
Still the protocol was designed to keep us alive, and it had done its job so far.
Every able-bodied man, woman, and child in Earsleh took at least two turns a year in the outerlands, either on patrol or at the wall.We were lucky to have the sea as one of our borders or we might have all been required to take even more turns a year.No one save the king was exempt from duty, not even royal princesses, like Finnrey and me.We were three weeks into our month-long rotation, and this farmhouse was the third time we’d seen evidence that Hollows had breached the Barrier.I could remember years ago not seeing one of the monsters or any sign of them for a year or even two, but I’d recently heard men and women who’d returned from a Barrier rotation whisper that the numbers of the Hollows were growing.I wouldn’t have doubted them except they often claimed the Hollows’ attacks were bolder and coordinated.Hollows didn’t have the ability to organize.My father was right that too much time on the Barrier turned people paranoid.
Still, this third Hollows’ assault in as many weeks made me wonder.
I shook my head.If Gaz were here, he’d say the Hollows’ attacks weren’t bold at all.He’d remind me the Hollows didn’t think.They acted on instinct and hunger.Seemingly insatiable hunger.If a few of the monsters made it through our defenses and surprised the residents of this farm, they might have easily killed and eaten the entire family.
Finnrey stepped back and I made to follow her just as we heard what sounded like a cry.In front of me, Finnrey’s head snapped up.The top knot she wore to secure her long dark hair seemed to vibrate with tension.“Was that—”
But I had already turned and started for the farmhouse.Hollows grunted and hissed.That cry had sounded like what a child might make.
“Mara!”Finnrey whispered.“Wait.”
But I couldn’t.If a child was inside alone or in danger, I couldn’t afford to wait.I was almost to the door of the farmhouse when Finnrey grasped my shoulder and spun me around.“No time to get the others.”I shook her off.
“I know.But we need a plan.”
