Page 41 of The Curse of Ophelia

“Get away!” I growled, pushing myself to my feet, Starfire already in my grasp.

My shouts roused the others, and together we chased off the remaining creatures. When the last had fled into the brush, the five of us stood looking over our ruined sustenance.

“They ate it all.” Jezebel dropped to her knees to sort through the crumbs left behind. “Every bit of dried fruit and meat. The bread and cheese, too.”

“We’ll find more,” Cypherion comforted.

“We better—quickly,” Jezebel snapped. Stepping between my sister and a meal was a quick way to find yourself with a blade at your neck. I touched Cyph’s shoulder, shaking my head to tell him to step away.

“First opportunity we get,” I swore. My head felt foggy, thoughts muddled as an ache spread throughout my skull. Two days. We’d only been out here for two days, and already our food was gone.

Jezebel extended a hand to gather up the remains, but I grabbed her wrist. “Careful, sister. The woodland creatures are typically friendly. If these were not, we don’t know what contamination they may carry.” I hated being distrustful of the animals whose land we roamed, but between the attack last night and now this, it was clear that something was off. “In fact, I think it would be wise to avoid them and their food sources as much as possible.”

“You fear they may be contaminated?” Cypherion tilted his head as he observed the wreckage.

I nodded, kicking dirt over our ruined food pile. “The magic of the mountains provides for the animals of our land. They never take from travelers.”

“But what will we eat?” Jezebel whimpered behind me.

“Perhaps they were hungry, Ophelia,” Tolek challenged, rubbing a hand across his jaw and stifling a yawn. His eyes were still half-hazy with sleep, and his hair was pushed up on one side.

I swept my gaze across the trees, into the darkened spaces between the trunks. Remnants of my dream still floated through my mind, and I struggled to determine what was reality. Hallucinations were a symptom of the Curse—perhaps mine were only beginning. A shiver trickled down my spine.

Almost certain I could see slitted yellow eyes staring back at me, I gripped my sword tighter, but I blinked and they were gone. The forest felt like a menagerie of secrets and threats, not the promise of freedom I’d expected.

“The balance of power,” I whispered.

“What of it?” Tolek asked.

Jezebel’s stomach grumbled. “Oh, wonderful,” she muttered to Santorina.

“For the sake of the Angels, Jezebel, will you be quiet for a moment.” I clenched my eyes against the pain in my head, ignoring her muttered apology, and turned back to Cyph and Tol. “All natural-born creatures of the forests and plains should be peaceful. So why are they not?”

On Ambrisk, animals born of magic were loyal to the God of Mythical Beings, but it was a reciprocal relationship in which the god ensured their protection and health. In turn, the creatures were docile unless provoked. It had been such for the many millennia since some ancient being had shaped our world out of the effervescent dust of blooming stars and darkness.

“For rodents to scour our rations, something must be very wrong.” Cypherion’s voice dropped as if the words were hard to admit.

I twisted my lips to the side, brows scrunching together as I tried to decipher what could be the cause of this unnatural behavior. My dream—hallucination, whatever it may be—echoed in my mind, and I wondered how it all fit together.

*

“We should be approaching a stream soon,” Cypherion panted from atop Erini.

“Can we discuss anything besides the lack of food and water?” Jezebel snapped from ahead. I glowered at her, but her eyes were on the horizon, in the direction of the mountains.

Crisp air filtered through my dry, cracking throat as Sapphire trudged along beneath me. My body ached from riding for so many hours in the day, legs and spine demanding reprieve, but we could not break until dusk. The reins slipped about in my sweaty, trembling hands, and I fought to steady myself.

In the two days that had passed since the incident with the rodents, food and water sources had become scarce. I was fearful of sharing the animals’ food sources, not knowing where their taint was rooted, and we were reluctant to hunt. It was considered a bad omen to slay fellow mystical creatures. We had yet to come across any wild game that we were certain would be safe, but we were nearing the Solistine River each hour. We had kept to small portions of fruits, inspecting everything closely and praying to the Spirits that we would survive. Soon, though, both us and our horses would need stronger sources of nourishment.

My head pounded, as it had been consistently for days. The aches and trembling were likely also effects from dumping out my rum, but I tried not to consider that. I did not want to feel controlled by the desire to blur my reality, nor did I want to revisit Tolek’s gloating expression from our sparring session.

“Have you decided on a name for your spear, Jezebel?” Cypherion asked calmly. Of all of us, he was the best at keeping his temper in check with the decreasing rations, though he was the largest and spent the most time working out when we stopped traveling. I smiled to him gratefully, and he cast me an understanding nod.

Jezebel pursed her lips, thoughtful. “I supposed it was insignificant, since I’ve been forbidden from completing the Undertaking.”

“As have I,” I reminded her.

My sister looked over her shoulder to me, her face unreadable. “Indeed, you have.” Her eyes swept over the grassland surrounding us, blonde hair swaying as she turned back around. “But we all knew that would never stop you.”

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