“Dear Gods.”
I sucked a breath in but didn’t slow. I hit the Wood’s barrier at full speed, and a glimmer of magic surrounded me. The realm turned into a cloudy shimmer. Sparkling dots appeared in the air, touching and caressing my skin.
Stars, galaxy, and all the moons, but the Silventine Wood wasassessing me.
It released me to the other side, and my heart immediately jumped into my throat.
Darkness greeted me.
Thick, unrelentingnight.
Even though the sun still hovered in the sky on the outside of the Wood’s barrier, no sunlight penetrated the Wood’s canopy. The only saving grace was that it was warmer in here. No snow either.
I immediately halted my carpet. A low chatter filled my ears, like thousands of buzzing insects filling the quiet, but nothing fluttered near me.
My eyesight shifted of its own accord, my sensory magic activating. Objects came into view. Thick plants, trees, and vines hung everywhere. Above, several pairs of eyes watched me. They glowed in the darkness, but my magic told methey were the less intelligent creatures that I’d initially detected.
I sent a pulse of magic toward them, more curious than anything to learn what they were, but before my magic could reach them, they blinked and then disappeared into the tree.
My heart pounded like a drum, and I hastily consulted the seekerill again. The needle still vibrated eagerly, aggressively, and pointed straight ahead.
I palmed the device tightly, knowing that if I dropped it or lost it, I was entirely fucked. I called upon a stream of the carpet’s magic and tethered the seekerill tightly to the fibers, directly in front of me so I could watch if the needle turned.
Once certain that it wouldn’t budge, I whispered a command to the carpet and cautiously began to move forward.
I kept my breathing silent, my movements still. The last thing I wanted to do was alert any creatures or nefarious plant life to my arrival, although if the Wood’s perimeter had already done that, then it was too late.
Still holding the lock of Goddess Nuleef’s hair tightly, I commanded my carpet to pick up speed, using my sensory magic to see clearly.
Something rustled in the bushes, only thirty paces away. A head lifted. Horns appeared on a creature I’d never seen before. It was large, easily the size of a small domal, and two large fangs extended from its gums.
It hissed at me, and its tail flickered and made a rattling sound like an ominous snake about to strike.
I watched it out of my peripheral vision, hoping it would let me pass peacefully, but just as it began to disappear from my view, it lunged.
It moved so fast, flying toward me in a gigantic leap. Its gaping maw opened, and several rows of razor-sharp teeth appeared.
“Stars!” I shrieked and instinctively shoved myself to the far side of the carpet. It was nearly upon me by the time I blasted it with mental magic. My magic coiled around its consciousness, commanding it to sleep and be still.
It fell with a thud, right into a patch of vines—another plant I wasn’t familiar with. If my heart didn’t feel like it was about to explode, my academic side would have found the discovery of a new plant species fascinating.
But as it was, fear raced through me anew, making my heart pound in a painful beat, and not even an unknown plant created any interest in me because that horned creature had movedsofast and with such certainty that I knew it thought I was its next meal.
The beast lay still on the ground, horns ensnared within the foliage. Vines roped around its body, and a horrible sucking sound filled the air. Blood welled up from the creature’s hide as the plant began to devour it.
I shuddered and zoomed away as fast as I could.
More eyes appeared in the darkness in front of me, glowing orbs of various sizes. A shriek rose in the distance too, part howl, part scream. And then another howl came. And another.
Pulse thrumming wildly, I turned every which way, trying to determine what those howls meant and where they’d come from. And more importantly, if it was from a couple of creatures or a herd. Or even worse...from thethingKole had battled outside of Inisville.
My magic hummed and stretched out. Dozens of creatures surrounded me. Above. Below. To my sides. All around.
Animals wereeverywhere.
“Shite.” In a near panic, I commanded the carpet to propel forward at its max speed. Simultaneously, I sent a blast of mental magic out, unleashing my power upon the Wood. And at the last second, I released my hidden magic too. My forbidden one.
It’d become entirely apparent to me that if I was going to survive this Wood, all bets were off. I would need to use everything I had, and I wasn’t going to second-guess the wisdom of that, especially since I had yet to encounter any siltenite consciousnesses here.
