Page 53 of The Lands Defying
“It’s dying,” he says, eyes hard as his power moves deeper. “The land around it is dying.”
“Dying?” I ask, as the Elites come near to investigate. “Like the trees in The Deadlands?” I crouch and place a hand on the cracked ground. I push my magic into it, and suck in a sharp breath. “There is no life inside of it.” It’s unnerving.
“It feels like it’s spreading.”
“Spreading?” He nods. “What could cause it to just…die though?”
“I don’t know. The rogures are a plague to the people, but now, they are a plague to the lands itself.” He calls his magic back and stands, holding out a hand for me. I grab it and he pulls me up, looking further ahead where we see more patches of black. “We need to be careful.”
“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Leo mutters, looking curiously at the black earth near us.
“In the memory crystal, a rogure came out of something similar like this,” Darius tells them and growls come next.
“Has a rogure already come out of it then?” Leo says.
“Maybe that’s why it’s dying,” Zaide mutters, blades out.
Darius grunts. “Maybe,”
“There are so many of them,” I say, looking further ahead. “It looks like it’s coming from the mountains and spreading towards the other territories.” I look behind me toward where life flourishes. “Does that mean the rogure dens could be in The Drylands?”
“Only one way to find out. Be careful not to step on any, you wouldn’t want a rogure chomping on your leg,” Darius tells everyone, and they nod.
I share a worried look with Josh as we continue on.
We eventually reach a stone path at the base of a small mountain, pausing to take in the knowledge that we are about to go there, but not knowing what is there.
“We go slow, I know some trails and caves we can rest in when needed. You find or see anything, let me know,” Darius orders, and we all nod. “We don’t know who or what could be lurking in these mountains. Trolls like the open ground, so if we see any, do not aggravate them, and they should leave us alone.”
“Trolls?” I whisper, horrified. I’ve never seen a troll.
“Yeah,’’ Damian says, coming to stand next to me. “Tall fuckers, and they have an aversion to clothing.” He tilts his head in thought. “Though I’m not sure where they would get clothes from. Anyway, there are always more than one of them. They can be nasty fuckers when aggravated, and even though we are all skilled, many of them can cause us problems.”
“That’s not terrifying at all,” I mutter to myself.
“Just don’t stare at their dicks either,” Leo chimes in, and I give him a blank stare. “They don’t like it when you look at it without permission.”
What?
“And you would know that how?” Who stares at a troll’s dick?
“Ask Zaide over there,” Leo chuckles, and my head whips around to Zaide, my wide eyes giving away my shock.
“You stared at a troll’s dick?” I sputter a laugh.
“I did not expect that,” Colten chuckles.
Zaide shrugs. “I hadn’t seen one before, I needed all the intel I could get at the time.”
I stare. “From a troll’s cock?” He nods, and I pause, thinking for a second. “Was it normal?”
“Are we ready?” Darius growls, giving me a warning look, having had enough of our conversation, and I notice Josh taking a deep breath.
I walk toward him, slipping my hands in his and squeezing. He looks up from the ground, his light gray eyes full of apprehension.
“She’s okay. Anna and Seb are with her. Though she may kill Seb by the time we are back.” His flirting knows no bounds.
“We might not make it back,” he says softly, his eyes going back to the path before us.
