Page 36 of A Sun Scorched Bloom

The others went quiet, now that she focused on the disemboweled man.Is he their leader?

"Turn back," he told her hollowly, almost as if the effort to speak pained him, even after his death.

Emma looked at Lea, who stared at her with wide eyes and a face as white as the moon. "We need to get to Calir," Emma told him, trying to keep her voice from shaking, infusing as much confidence into her tone as she could, something she’d practiced her entire life. "The gods have told us that this is our path forward."

The man didn’t hesitate. "The gods will abandon you the moment you step onto this cursed soil," he spat. "Even they do not dare venture beyond this boundary."

Emma looked to the man’s left, where an older gentleman stood partially hidden by a gnarled black trunk. She’d initially thought that every soul within the woods had been staring at her, as if they had somehow known that she was the one they could communicate with, but no. This man couldn't stare at her. Something had clawed the eyes from his skull.

Horrible scratch marks tore through nearly every inch of his face, with what appeared to be black, burnt skin around the edges of the scratches. A tendon hung from his eye socket, but besides his face, the rest of his body remained unmarred.

"What did this to you?" Emma asked him, her heart racing in her chest. But as he opened his shredded lips, she immediately regretted asking. Somehow, even without his sight, the man knew that it was him to whom she spoke.

"It was nothing more than mist. A dense, black fog that crept around my legs, rendering me nearly paralyzed. The only thing I could move was my mouth. It allowed me to scream as whatever hid inside the fog stole my eyes, my sight. I can still see when the demon uses it. I have seen the death of countless others through my own eyes. The monster… It does not speak. It does not eat. And yet it thrives off of the fear of its victims—off my fear every time it fills my mind with images that no man should have to see."

Emma nodded to him, steadying her hands on the saddle, unsure how to reply to his gruesome confession.

"And you?" She looked directly at a young man to her right, close to her in age with no visible injuries.

"I was sleeping in the army camp," he replied. "I heard the snap of a twig, and then I was gone. In less than a second, my soul was ripped from my body. To this day, I don’t know what it was that stole my life—only that I am not the only one among us who met their end this way."

Emma’s composure slipped, the sorrow and horror churning in her stomach bubbling up until she couldn’t hold it in any longer. She leaned over the horse to vomit onto the ground, her head swimming and throat burning.

The man closest to her, who appeared to be their leader, spoke again. "You’re right to be afraid. Nothing good will come of you entering this place." His ominous warning bristled across her skin, sinking into her bones and stealing the color from her cheeks.

"Emma? Are you okay?" Emma barely registered Lea speaking to her.

"Emma?" An unfamiliar hand landed on her arm. "Do you want me to take you to Bearswillow? I can track the way we took and follow the rebellion," Noah said, looking to Gray for what Emma could only assume was his approval.

"I just think…" Emma exhaled a shaky breath as she made a conscious effort to relax her shoulders and calm her mind. "Their deaths were so horrific. Unexpected. The creatures who killed them don’t seem to be the kind we’re prepared to fight."

"May I address them?" Gray asked.

Emma turned back to the souls and waited for their reply.

After several seconds, the man with the wound on his head nodded. Emma turned to Gray and did the same.

"I am Evander Nestruir. Prince of the Night and son of the Black King."

Emma stiffened as every pair of eyes staring at them from the woods filled with fury.

"We have broken away from my father’s reign and plan to overthrow him, but to do that, we need to find answers."

"There is nothing to find here but death," the dead man replied. His anger seemed to have faded away at the thought of the Black King being overthrown, but his wariness remained. Emma relayed the message to Gray, but he continued.

"My wife," Gray smiled down at Lea before looking back toward the woods. "She… We believe that she is the one from the prophecy. The descendent of Queen Emmaline, who will overthrow the king. The gods have told her that this is the way we must travel. It’s not a decision I make lightly, but if the goddess herself told her that this is a trial she must face for answers, then I will choose to face the demons of hell to help her. To help all of us get the answers that may save our kingdom."

The dead looked amongst each other, all of them as silent and foreboding as the decaying trees they stood between as they absorbed his words.

"The king’s dark magic keeps us here," their leader said finally. "It’s because of him that we cannot pass beyond the veil and find peace. We are here to warn those away who seek to find answers, for thereareanswers within this forest, if you can escape the death waiting for you."

Emma told Gray what the man said word for word and Gray considered this for several moments.

"We will overthrow him. Allow us to pass, help us make it to the southern border, and we will end the curse for you. We will find a way to bring you peace. I swear it."

Emma sucked in a breath. What Gray was offering was… difficult, to say the least. She was certain he had no idea how to end the spell his father had put upon these men, not without the witch agreeing to reverse it, and yet she was just as positive that he would find a way to do what he promised them.

"There’s a place in these woods that may give you the answers you seek. We are bound by magic, prevented from showing you. But," he took a single step forward toeing the line that separated them from the cursed forest, "If you’ll vow that you will kill your father and cleanse the kingdom of every bit of his wicked, evil rule, undo every spell and curse he has placed on this land, then we will do what we can to help you."

---