Whatever the thing, the witch, behind me did made the monster yelp in pain.
“What do you want, Margast?” the voice drawled.
The beast seemed to smile, a wicked gleam dancing in his red eyes.
“Her.” He looked right at me.
My body quaked, and trembles erupted through me, but I did not turn away from him. Whatever he wanted, I wouldn’t let him take it from a scared girl. Hesper stood beside me, her quick breaths the only sign of her terror.
“Ah, are you on an errand for your little prince?” the witch spat out. Their voice sounded like doom embodied, like the sun itself would fall onto the earth. Maybe Margast was the least of our worries.
Margast let out a low, terrifying laugh. It echoed through the trees and into my mind. The sound of nightmares.
“You could have been his queen. You could have ruled the realms above and below.” His voice slithered around us like a snake now, like it was trying to creep into our minds and wriggle into our souls.
“I chose light. He chose darkness. It will be his defeat, in the end.”
At that, she began chanting in a language I’d never heard before—it echoed through the wood, thousands of voices in one. Margast’s eyes went wide, the burning flame within them flickering and then sputtering out completely. The ground beneath him began to quake and cleave.
A crack spread wide in the earth, fracturing and rippling like ice on a pond. Hesper hoisted me up and made for the nearest tree, throwing me up onto a branch and then scaling the trunk herself. We sat above watching everything unfold, Hesper holding on to me tightly.
The ground didn’t just split open; the world gave way to another place entirely. For it was not just darkness and dirt in the ever-growing chasm, but bright flashes of fire leapt up, too. Each lick of flame sent Margast into bellows of horror and rage.
The beast began to struggle against the invisible bonds, but he failed to free himself. And then a figure appeared from the trees.
The witch.
Eldrene.
“Goodbye, Margast,” Eldrene said calmly and released the monster, her voice an ancient echo through the world.
His howls filled the forest as he fell into the awaiting fire. The earth cinched back together once more, muffling his continuing screams. The grass, the fire, and the place where we were sleeping were all patched up as if they did not just give way to a hellish underworld.
“What in the Goddess-damned hell!” I hopped down from my branch, landing poorly and sprawling face-first on the ground. Hesper followed suit, landing like a mountain cat.
“How long have you been followed?” Eldrene met Hesper’s eyes but avoided mine entirely. I spat out the dirt and moss now coating my teeth.
“Since the Celebration. The tracks remained in the woods, though. They never entered the town,” Hesper replied coolly.
“What are you talking about?” I looked between them both, but neither seemed interested in having a conversation with me. The rage boiling inside of me threatened to turn my eyes the same burning red as the demon shadow-dog monster. I hopped to my feet, readying to attack, but the Goddess cut me off.
“I see,” Eldrene replied, an unsurprised look in her violeteyes. “Travel only in daylight. Sleep in villages—the more populated, the better. You were lucky to have survived this night. Your journey will be slowed. I will alert Angus of this change. Dwindle lies in wait for you both, but they can hold off awhile longer.”
Hesper bowed her head to Eldrene, and the Goddess made to leave. But I would have none of it.
“Oh, I don’t think so, Goddess.” She turned slowly to face me, her eyebrows raised. Whether in anger or amusement, I didn’t care. Death by her hands would be nothing compared to the nightmares that now awaited me on this journey.
“Clara,” Hesper whispered in warning.
“No, this is enough.” The viselike grip I’d had on the pieces of my heart began to give way to something beyond repair. “You have sent me on this quest and apparently we are being followed?” I whirled toward Hesper now, ensuring she knew that she was part of my ire toward Eldrene and the whole quest, then turned back to Eldrene. “I am giving up everything for this, and if I could, I would leave right now and go back home. But you took that choice away from me that night. I am covered in mud, I have not had my tea, a monster from legends just tried to kill me, the earth opened up like a jam jar, and I’m going to—I’m going to—”
I didn’t expect Eldrene to reply. If she’d turned around, faded into the woods, and offered me nothing other than a scornful look, I would have understood. She did save my life, even if it felt like she took it away as well. And she was an immortal, all-powerful Goddess, which typically didn’t lend itself to answering pesky mortal questions.
A sense of calm wrapped around me, suppressing the achingpanic carving out my insides. Eldrene’s power. The non-hellish part of it.
“Clara, I cannot answer all of your questions. Not for lack of wanting to. I don’t have all of the answers. I wish I did. As for the tea—” She snapped her fingers, and a mug made of bark appeared in her outstretched palm. She offered it to me, and I took it immediately. Eldrene sat down on the ground, and I did the same, placing myself across from her. Hesper remained standing, on guard.
“You can sit, too, Hesper. No danger will meet you while I am here.” Eldrene patted the mossy patch beside her.
