Chapter 20
She lost her hope, her reason, but also her clothes.
I vomited the entire night and into the morning. When she was not tending the sails, Hesper held my hair out of my face and rubbed my back. Perhaps that’s why I didn’t remember much on my journey from Cenawind to Moss. I threw up the memories.
The sun set when our boat hit land. Hesper picked me up and placed me gently down on the pebbly shore.
As soon as my body stilled, my world snapped back into focus.
The roiling nausea was wiped clean, and I swore as the smell of vomit coated myself and my senses.
Hesper was covered in vomit, too. My vomit.
I would not get into a Goddess-damned boat ever again. I would never eat one of those pastries ever again.
Well, actually, I probably would.
Hesper knelt in front of me, wiping sweaty strands of my hair off my face.
“Thank you,” I said weakly.
“Always, princess,” she said.
“Don’t. Call. Me. Princess,” I managed to say.
“Good to have you back,” she said with a relieved smile.
A rolling mist that looked thick enough to be sliced with a knife surrounded us. The small, dark, pebbled shore was the only visible bit of land. Beyond us, we could see nothing. That must be Irk Road then.
“Is it always this foggy?” I asked Hesper.
“No.” She bit her cheek.
“What does that mean?”
“I’m not sure. But it does mean we will have to travel the Irk and not into the Shadow Woods.”
“Your plan was to travel into Shadow Woods?” I asked in shock.
“We can hide in the woods. There is nothing to protect us on the road ahead. But if we tried to enter the Shadow Woods in this fog, we’d get lost immediately. And who knows how long it will last?”
“Don’t fae have great sight? Just see through the fog,” I said, rubbing my temples.
“I could have before…” She trailed off. “Dwindle has already waited long enough for us. We have only two days left before we are set to be there. We need to keep moving. Do you think you can walk through the night? If so, we can reach the village by midmorning tomorrow.”
I nodded.
Hesper gave me a few moments to wash my filthy dress and tired face in the seawater—only one of these was salvageable, unfortunately (and it was not my face).
I had snagged a sliver of soap from the inn just in case.
They also provided small packets of fresh mint for teeth cleaning, and I’d never been more thankful to be a hoarder of trinkets.
Continuing this journey with vomit breath would have sent me over an edge I’d never come back from.
Mercifully, my new linen tunic and travel pants were not covered in sick.
I ducked behind a hollowed-out tree trunk and changed while Hesper stood sentinel.
I stuffed the sad remnants of my Lore dress into my pockets and emerged, only slightly renewed but now vomitless.
I checked my travel pack before we entered the road.
Everything was there, seed pack and all.
At that moment, Edge and Warty flew overhead.
Lucky bastards; if only we could sprout wings and fly the rest of the way.
If only we had a beautiful mermaid to lead us through the living night that was Irk Road.
We kept putting one foot in front of the other, Hesper held firmly to me, and I hoped the mist wasn’t leading us astray.
Irk Road was a straight shot to Dwindle, but that didn’t mean the fog couldn’t have expertly turned us around.
Thankfully, no one else walked on the road with us.
I guessed even the worst monsters stayed away from Irk in all this murkiness.
The tales of living shadows kept playing through my mind, and I convinced myself that I could see shadowy things creeping along the edges of the road. But we didn’t dare light a lantern for fear of being seen.
And then, a murky shadow stepped out to greet us, confirming my worst fears. The hulking form burned the mist around it, holding a jagged-looking lantern, its clawed iron edges curving in toward the flame. The light illuminated several other shadows behind it.
Hesper whipped out a blade and shoved me behind her. But when I turned around, other figures were there, too. We were entirely surrounded on all sides.
“Hesper,” I whispered.
“I know,” she said.
Goddess, we were doomed. She could maybe have fought her way out by herself, but she had me to worry about.
I gritted my teeth, readying myself for a fight.
“Anything I can help you with, fellas?” Hesper said with such predatory calmness, I thought she might will their deaths with her very voice.
“Give us the girl, and we’ll be on our way,” something said through the mist. It sounded like a broom against harsh stone.
“And what good is she to you?” she asked. When the shadow didn’t answer, Hesper took the liberty of filling in the details. “Oh, I see. You’re the Prince’s little cronies, sent to do his dirty work while he shites himself in the shadows?”
“We work for no one and no thing,” a different voice growled from the darkness. “The Prince can rot in his broken castle for all we care.”
“Then whyever do you want a traveler covered in vomit?”
Previously covered in vomit, I’ll have you know.
“Can you not smell the magic reeking off of her? It fills up the entire road. Many things are crawling their way toward you.”
“She does reek, indeed.” And then Hesper began slashing.
I followed suit, making a mad grab for the clawed lantern. I startled whoever, or whatever, held it and grasped it in my hands. It was heavy, but I made do, swinging it upward and hitting the shadow in front of me right in the nose, or snout, or maw. Whatever it was fell back in surprise.
“Get her,” it yelled from the ground.
A swarm of shadows came for me. I swung my lantern wildly. An arm met my nose, and a loud crack sounded through my skull. Blood poured into my mouth, but I kept swinging. I could hear Hesper’s knife whipping through the air, the only proof she fought beside me.
Shadows were falling down everywhere, but more kept coming.
Another hand met the side of my cheek, and I got knocked to the ground, the lantern flying out of my hand.
The mist thickened, and I couldn’t see where it landed.
I didn’t have time to go looking for it.
I hopped back on my feet, kicking the assailant in the throat as I did so.
A hit to the back of my knees had me down again.
Shadows towered over me, their hands reaching for my throat, my clothes, every part of me.
I frantically grasped for anything to stave them off.
The cool touch of the iron lantern met my hand.
In a last-ditch effort to gain some ground, I smashed the lantern on the road, hoping beyond hope that the fire would catch.
It did.
Shadows scattered as the flames blew up in a great billowing blaze.
The lantern fire was enchanted, ever burning.
The iron had kept it contained, I realized.
Without any boundaries, Irk Road would burn to pieces—Hesper and I would turn into plumes of smoke right along with our assailants.
A hand grasped mine, and I tried to fight them off until I saw that it was Hesper, desperately trying to drag me out of the encroaching flames.
One bit of flame burned brighter, angrier than the rest. Whatever it had licked up seemed to be feeding its magic. I frantically grasped for my travel pack, but it was gone. And… right where the flames were quickly turning into a blaze rested a familiar shape.
My seeds. My everything. My hope. My Future. Turning to embers and ash right before my very eyes.
“No!” I screeched, reaching for the flames.
“Clara, don’t!” Hesper screamed, grabbing at my cloak as I ran toward the blaze.
The sudden stop sent me to the ground, and Hesper came down hard, too—another shadow on her back. But she wouldn’t let me go, and I wouldn’t give up. I tried to claw myself away from her, kicking at her face, grabbing for the jagged rocks in front of me.
“You’ll kill yourself!” she bellowed, as she wrestled the thing attacking her with one arm and held tight to my cloak with the other.
But I didn’t care. I kept reaching, scrambling.
I could still see the glowing orb in the midst of the fire, and I knew it was my seed pack.
I had enchanted them to remain safe, to make it to Dwindle, to grow.
The magic was holding on, even as the flames devoured them. I could feel in my heart they weren’t gone yet. If I could get there in time, I may be able to save the seeds.
The blaze grew brighter, the heat so intense, the squirrel clasp on my cloak grew hot enough to burn my neck. I undid it, releasing myself from the hold Hesper had on me.
The fire reached toward the sky now, but I could still make out a faint outline of the seeds. I was so close. I would burn myself in the process, I knew that much. But at least I would have them. Foolish yes, but I had to hope. I had to try.
If those seeds were gone, there was no life left for me. I would fail Dwindle, I would fail Hesper, I would fail everyone.
And so, I ran straight for the flames, my hand outstretched. My fingertips singed, the heat truly unbearable, and I shut my eyes, bracing for the searing agony.
But then I was pulled away, familiar arms wrapped around me—my quarry once more thwarted by Hesper Altanfall.
She wrenched me away as fast as she could, even as I bucked wildly in her arms. She wasn’t fast enough, though.
The magic fire, fueled by the enchantments I’d placed on the seeds, finally exploded, and Hesper and I were thrown back by the force of it all.
We landed hard, Hesper much harder than me. She had cushioned my fall with her body, cradling my head with her hands. I rolled off her, raring to fight, but Hesper was deathly still.
A panic I had never felt before raced through me as I saw her unmoving body.
“Hesper,” I cried, grabbing her face. “Hesper, please!”
Nothing.