Page 72 of The Ascended
She stood tall and lean, her presence bending reality around herlike ripples through water. Her skin shifted with each heartbeat—warm brown, then moss green, then a shade between them. Flowers bloomed in her hair only to wither and die and bloom again with every breath she took.
And then there were her eyes. Ancient. Golden. Lit from within. When they found mine, it took everything in me not to cower and recoil. If the energy surrounding the Legends had been stifling, this was maddening. It won out in the end, and I fell to my knees.
"Welcome, blessed children." Her voice rolled through the clearing like honey-dipped thunder, sweet and terrifying in equal measure. "Welcome to the first of your Trials, where you shall prove yourselves worthy of the gifts you've been given."
A wreath materialized between her fingers—delicate silver branches twisted and curled into the shape of a crown. She glided toward me, each step making the earth itself shudder with recognition of its mistress.
I couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. Could only kneel there in the dirt like the mortal I was as she placed the tiara upon my head.
"You will hunt for me," Davina continued, and her smile revealed teeth too white, too sharp, too many. "Three creatures sacred to the wild places. One golden stag crowned with crystal. One silver eagle bearing wings of light. One moon-hare with eyes that see too much."
"Hunt well." Her laugh shattered through the wood. "For in my domain, all things must serve their purpose. All things must prove their place in the natural order."
She dissolved back into that hungry light, leaving only the lingering scent of wildflowers and something underneath that smelled like rot. Like death. Like the dark, wet places where things went to decompose.
I glanced down at the rest of the tools laying scattered on the ground before me. I could forge any of them out of starlight, but instinct pulled me to take them. My luck, I’d end up needing them. This all seemed too simple.
Thatcher.
He was tugging on our bond from somewhere across the forest, his intent blazing through me like fire. He was coming to find me.
I grabbed the quiver of arrows and melted into the tree line. Footsteps to my left made me slow. It wasn’t the careful movement of a hunter. Someone was stumbling, trying to find their footing. Another contestant, close but not pursuing. They moved parallel to my path for a few moments before veering away, their breathing ragged.
And then the forest swallowed me whole.
My feet found their rhythm within a dozen steps. Years of scrambling across wet rocks and treacherous tides had carved balance into my bones, and this was easier. Softer.
But I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being watched. That eyes tracked my movement from every shadow, every hollow, every space between leaves.
A rustle to my left?—
I pressed against a massive oak, bark rough against my palms, heart hammering so hard I was certain every contestant in a mile radius could hear it. My hand burned as tiny stars formed, power tingling in my fingertips, ready to blaze to life at the first sign of threat.
Liquid dripped onto my forehead. Once. Twice. Warm and viscous.
I looked up to find purple sap oozing from a wound in the tree's bark, thick sickeningly sweet.Ernbrisk tree. Xül's voice echoed in my memory.The sap hardens into a resinous seal when exposed to air. Keeps out disease and insects that would feed on the soft wood beneath.
I wiped it away with the back of my hand, grimacing at the tingling sensation it left behind.
The rustling came again, and this time I saw the source—a fat gray squirrel rooting through fallen leaves, cheeks bulging with acorns.
I let out a breath and pushed away from the tree. Time was wasting, and I had creatures to hunt.
The ground beneath my feet changed—soft moss giving way to packed earth worn smooth. My boots found the depression naturally, following the gentle curve between the trees. Deer tracks pressed deep into the dirt, overlapping with smaller prints from rabbits and foxes. Broken twigs had been pushed to either side, creating natural walls barely knee-high.
A game trail.
It curved northeast, winding gradually upward. Through the trees, I caught glimpses of those triple peaks, closer now but still distant. Still a few miles away at least. The sun had shifted lower.
I crouched beside a narrow point where two logs had fallen. Perfect for a snare. My hands moved without conscious thought, muscle memory from Aelix's lessons taking over. The knots nearly formed themselves.
I settled behind a tree twenty paces away, bow across my knees, and waited. The forest had gone quiet again. Minutes crawled by like hours. A bead of sweat traced down my spine despite the cool shade.
Then a crack.
A foot had snapped a branch somewhere behind me, loud enough to send birds fleeing from the canopy. That particular combination of determination and recklessness could only belong to one person.
"You're going to scare everything away," I hissed as Thatcher emerged from behind a curtain of hanging moss, looking entirely too pleased with himself.
