An incantation tumbled past my lips, reaching out for the wind, the snow, the trees, anything to guide us faster.
The ground glowed blue, no purple light rising up to fight it.
The wolves pawed at the snow.
The warriors murmured, frightened.
I heaved a sigh of relief, the only show of weakness I would allow myself. All these souls rested on my shoulders now.
I truly hoped I was wrong. That I wasn’t leading them toward death.
But I didn’t have the luxury of second guessing myself.
“March!”
Chapter 41
Ryker
“What beast could have caused this?” Elysia whispered, eyes wide and lips parted in shock.
The Viper preferred to cause her havoc from a distance. She never stuck around long enough to see the aftermath of death.
“A damn big one,” Calyx grumbled from the carriage. But there was an unnerved tremor in his voice, despite the bravado.
One I understood too well.
I’d never seen anything like this. It went against all of my better instincts, bile rising in my throat.
The entire village had been drenched in blood.
Splattered on the walls, seeping from the wells, drenching the earth.
It wasn’t fresh, though still metallic and shiny.
Whatever had been sacrificed had lost its life today, mere hours before. The trees and rose bushes, all coated in the thick liquid, had drooped, but hadn’t yet withered–but they would.
Nothing pure could withstand this.
No guts, no skin, no fur, no scales, no feathers.
Only blood.
From the way it had splashed onto the buildings, emanating from the center of the village, it had only been one gigantic animal.
“One of their snakes, perhaps,” I muttered, trying to solve this horrible riddle.
I thanked the gods again that Allie hadn’t seen this.
She was made of strong stuff–stronger than she realized, I knew–but I never wanted those beautiful green eyes of hers to witness such gore.
“Those are too precious for them. A monster from the forest,” Zandyr said, his steel eyes inspecting the area just like I did. “I saw one on the night I found Evie. No being should grow like that. I don’t understand how it even got here.”
“Or was lured here,” I said. “The how of it is unimportant. The why is what matters.”
Apart from the gore, everything else looked undisturbed.
No smashed windows.
