Chapter 1 #3
I swallowed thickly, thinking of the familiarity of my bedroom, the whorl on the edge of the table that I’d skimmed my fingers over at every meal, the stains of my childhood in each corner and crevice.
Within days, it would be gone, seized by the forest and lost like so much of our land. This Hunt really might be the last.
“Ah, Ferris, you look dazzling this morning,” a voice crooned, and I turned to find Axel Bradey approaching with his parents. I gave him a smile, assessing the mud splatters on his pants and boots, the sheen of perspiration on his brow and the windswept look of his golden hair.
“As do you,” I said, the corner of my lips lifting a touch while he did very little to disguise his recent arrival.
His father frowned at him then turned to exchange pleasantries with my parents, the three of them moving aside to give us a chance to speak alone.
“The miscreants have been abandoned to one another again then?” Axel said conspiratorially, and I offered him a slight smile.
We’d both quickly realised that the pairing our parents were so keen on was something of a practical one too.
Neither of us were perfect, our reputations those of recklessness and defiance – which I supposed might have meant we were a good fit in theory.
Axel was nice enough, handsome enough, kind enough…
But I had no intention to tie my life to his and turn my back on everything I’d waited so long for.
“Was anyone lost in the Creeping?” I asked, glancing at our parents to check that they weren’t listening. Clearly no one here planned on discussing the shocking advance of the forest, but I couldn’t get it out of my head.
Axel glanced at the trees, hatred darkening his brown eyes before he nodded once.
“The Penleys were in their house. The Truewards too, and possibly several more families besides. There’s disagreement over whether some of them left already or not.
And there were nine horses in the stables,” he added.
My skin prickled at his words, my eyes roaming the impenetrable wall of vegetation, my ears straining to hear over the musicians. The shadows between the trees loomed with a darkness so thick that I had to wonder if even sunlight could penetrate the dense canopy of the trees.
“What about the carriages?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.
Axel’s silence was answer enough. Every carriage in the stables had been lost too.
Without them, the people would have an even harder time escaping to the next town.
The carriages were essential to transporting goods, but more than that, they were the only form of shelter that would be offered on the long road – the only place which might offer a chance of survival if the Hollows came.
How could this have happened? The forest never moved so far in such a short space of time.
At this rate, the entire town could be consumed within days.
The trees might even reach the coast within months, and then there would be nowhere left to run to.
Beyond the cliffs which lined the southern border of Rathian, the ocean extended on to the edge of the world.
We were staring at the end of our people, this Hunt the last hope any of us had for survival.
“Listen, Ferris…” Axel took hold of my arm, drawing me closer, leaning down to say something with urgency in his expression, but before the words could leave his lips, the music fell quiet and Chancellor Haydon called out for our attention.
“Don’t do it,” Axel breathed, his fingers locking tightly around my wrist, and I startled.
He couldn’t know. Surely he couldn’t have figured it out.
I shook my head at him, not trusting any words I might speak.
“I see you, Ferris,” he hissed, closing in on me as I tried to pull away, his voice low and his words intended for me alone.
“I’ve always seen you. All those ancient tomes, the scrolls, the relics.
Not to mention the way you run laps around Old Mitchel’s field when you think no one will see you.
You move as if you’re running for your life. ”
“I don’t know what you mean,” I muttered, the weight of the pack which was concealed beneath my cloak seeming to weigh me down more heavily as my cheeks stained in clear admission of my guilt.
I tried to tug my arm free of his hold and a few people glanced at us as he pressed closer.
“The trees only take,” he said in a low, warning tone. “They don’t barter or bargain, they don’t offer or gift. The boon could be a lie, a trap, a trick. You know they’ll never-”
“I don’t know,” I snapped, jerking my arm from his grip. “And neither do you.”
Mother was looking to us, reaching out an arm, and I hurried closer to my parents, moving with the crowd towards the small stage which had been erected as close to the forest as anyone in their right mind would dare to go.
Axel’s gaze bored a hole into the back of my skull, but I ignored it resolutely, refusing to acknowledge it, my decision made long ago and his words nothing to all the warnings and discouragement I’d offered myself.
My fingers twisted into the straps of the small pack I’d brought with me, its contents seeming to heat against my skin as if daring those around us to look at it more closely.
But none did. No one was interested in me today.
All hope was pinned on the collection of people who were moving up onto that stage.
“Today is a day unlike most others!” Chancellor Haydon called out, his voice silencing the murmurs of the crowd, his jowls wobbling with each word.
He had led the people of our town for years unopposed.
In part, I suspected, because no one else wanted the burden of his job – who would wish to lead a people doomed in every direction anyway?
But it was also because he was in fact a good man by all accounts.
He truly cared. He did whatever he could to help us survive here.
He even offered out aid to all who fled the horrors beyond our small sanctuary.
He made sure we grew enough crops and guarded them sufficiently to survive each winter on the harvest they brought.
Honestly, I believed he was the reason we were still here to bear witness to this moment at all.
“The Great Hunt is the one opportunity the forest gives us to break this curse upon our lands and the lands of our neighbours,” Chancellor Haydon went on.
Mutters broke out at the mention of the neighbours who had so wilfully abandoned us to our plight.
Yes, they were all struggling to survive the forest and the Hollows, but our histories told of the way they’d shunned us when the outlook darkened.
Humans had been willing to work with the Fae to face what was coming, but they’d chosen to abandon us to our fate.
Hell, we would have worked with the Hags if there had been any way to secure such an alliance.
But the wandering nomads who were blessed with the gift of foresight and use of old magic didn’t even hold loyalty to one another, let alone make deals with outsiders who didn’t bolster their own fortune.
“This day is one of hope,” Chancellor Haydon continued earnestly, and the brightness in his eyes said he really did believe that.
“It is our chance to finally reclaim the land we have lost – to break the curses, unite the spirits and defy the fate which has been creeping closer like a tightening noose for so many years.”
Silence followed his words as the people acknowledged the truth of them.
Arringfall was dying. We all knew it, we all felt it on the breath of the wind, we could see it in the decay of the land and decline of the homes we’d once treasured.
Our world was running out of time even without the forest devouring it bite by bite.
And the Hollows only made the clock tick faster.
I glanced over my shoulder, the feeling of eyes on my skin intensifying, making me wonder if some beast might be considering me for a meal. But nothing lurked between the rough stone of the buildings and it was impossible to see into the shadows of the forest.
“And so, without further preamble, I present to you our brave and ferocious band of Champions. As you know, each of them has been tirelessly preparing for this very day, gathering their strength and voracity in the pursuit of redemption for us all! They will risk everything for the slim hope of our survival, entering the Great Hunt and seeking out the lost spirits in hopes of finally freeing our land from the grasp of these forsaken trees!”
A cheer went up from the crowd, the noise an explosion which made me startle, my heart thundering in anticipation.
The sun was almost at its apex overhead, the hour drawing closer at last. I hadn’t been born before the last Hunt took place but I knew how it went. At midday, the trees would part to allow entry for the Champions, their twisted branches at last allowing admission to the daunting labyrinth within.
There weren’t any tales of what awaited those who entered because none had ever emerged victorious.
There was no way of knowing what happened among those trees but the screams had been heard.
Battle-hardened warriors crying out in terror, human and Fae alike finding nothing but death between those boughs.
I’d read every chronical of every Hunt I could find, screams and cries noted, sightings of spirits between and above the trees which had been glimpsed on rare occasions.
There had been little I could call real fact, not much of substance, but I’d devoured every scrap of insight regardless, compared notes and complied lists of whatever information I could glean.
But I knew in my soul that there was more to the forest than simply death. When it took people in the night, we heard them singing long after they were gone, their voices travelling beneath the light of the moon, calling out to the loved ones they’d left behind.
The Offerings the trees demanded were more proof of some greater purpose.
The children it stole in sacrifice couldn’t just be more fodder to the savagery of the spirits which roamed the forest. So I believed with all my heart that there was more than bloodshed within those woods, but that didn’t lessen the terror I felt as the minutes ticked on.
Chancellor Haydon was making a show of announcing the Champions who were ready to enter the forest, speaking loudly of their prowess and the preparations they’d made in anticipation of this day.
There were twenty-five of them, and I knew them all by sight, if not to speak with.
They’d spent the last few years like gods among mortals, the hopes of every person in our realm depending on them.
They had every meal paid for at every tavern they visited, bedded half the people in the village too – even married couples allowing for a night of carnal worship at the altar of the people they believed destined to save us.
I didn’t see heroes when I looked at the warriors who preened beneath the attention of the crowd.
I didn’t see hope. There had been Hunts before this one, and the Fae sent their warriors to compete in them too.
It didn’t matter how impressive they seemed here and now.
It mattered what they found within those trees and whether they were able to fulfil the task the forest had set.
And I wasn’t convinced they could. Why now, when none had ever succeeded before?
Endless generations had attempted the Hunt and none had ever completed it.
I feared we were all doomed either way. But that didn’t stop my heart from rioting as the sun shifted to its zenith and the trees began to groan before us. The point of no return was fast approaching.
The Great Hunt was about to begin.