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Lily nodded but glanced one last time at the hens and headed inside, cradling Nimh in her arms. “You’re right, momma.”

Delilah’s shoulders slumped with a mixture of relief and resignation. Relief because Lily accepted what needed to be done. Resignation because no matter how much she wanted to, she couldn’t change things.

If only things had been different. If only Zack hadn’t disappeared into the woods and died years ago, abandoning them in the village without family to lean on when they desperately needed the safety that numbers would bring. If only some of the other village folk had set aside their resentment to extend a helping hand and welcome them among their families so that they could safely escape. But as frightened as everyone was, no one had wanted to take them in. They blamed him—and, by association, her—for the ruination of their village. When she had arrived with her husband many years ago, it was because he had been the huntsman assigned to patrol and protect this part of the woods. He had safeguarded the people of the village for many years until he ultimately failed. And then, he had walked into the woods one day and died there, never to return… not even as a body so that they could properly bury him. Hedied five long years ago, abandoning her, abandoning Lily, and abandoning the village to the dangers of the encroaching forest.

The villagers had blamed her husband, their anger growing as the threat from the forest grew. But, as there wasn’t much that they could do to him, they shifted that blame to her. Like many, they believed that an active huntsman shouldn’t be married with home obligations. Such things were best left until after he was ready to retire from being on active assignment. By marrying him and having a child with him, they believed that she and Lily had been a distraction and ultimately harmful to the community. The fact that they had been one community together and had celebrated Lily’s long-awaited birth with her meant nothing. Zack had abandoned them, and Delilah and Lily were to pay for his failure.

It hadn’t taken the village long to start shunning her either, so Delilah wasn’t entirely surprised when the villagers began to leave, leaving their homes in small groups without them. Vernon had lingered longer than most, unwilling to abandon them. He had hunted game for them to see that they were reasonably fed. He went out every day, braving the woods until he began to run out of ammo. Then he too had ventured into the woods with a promise to send help to escort them out, convinced that they would be much safer that way.

Or perhaps he had tired of the responsibility when she repeatedly declined his advances. Maybe he never had any intention of sending anyone but hadn’t wanted them to get it into their minds to try to follow him. It was a terrible thought, but one that she couldn’t quite shake free of as she filled the bowls with porridge. After all, a woman unfamiliar with the woods beyond the immediate area right outside their gates and a young child would attract every opportunistic predator in the area.

If he had lied… well, that left her with a very uncomfortable probability that she hadn’t wanted to consider. That eventually she would be forced to venture into the forest herself and pray that she would be able to find her way.

Delilah lifted a spoonful of porridge to her lips but nearly choked when she attempted to swallow the small mouthful of food, her appetite vanishing at the thought. Seeing that Lily was ravenously cleaning her bowl and down to the last few bites, she pushed the bowl toward Lily. Rising to her feet, she bent, dropping a kiss to the top of her daughter’s head.

“Go ahead and have mine, too. I’m going to walk toward the village center and see if those berry bushes that Mrs. Murgun grew have any fruit on them. It would be nice to have something a little sweet. Just stay inside with Nimh.”

Lily nodded without looking up as she rotated the bowls and shoveled a large spoonful of porridge into her mouth. Her feet swung happily despite the meager meal while Nimh purred as she devoured her own food beside Lily’s chair.

Gathering her basket from the shelf beside the door, Delilah gave her daughter one last fond look before heading out the door and quickly striking down the path that ran through the center of the village from the northern gate to the southern wall. Although Mrs. Murgun’s abandoned berry bushes were her ultimate destination, Delilah stopped at several gardens on the way, checking on fruiting plants and vegetables as she went. She came away with little, but every bit would help feed them for another day. She was almost feeling optimistic, in fact, upon catching sight of the familiar berry bushes when something stepped out of the abandoned house, directly in her path.

Delilah froze in place in the middle of the street in shock. She’d heard on the comm-radio about the arrival of an alien species. She had laughed about it with her husband at the time—some five years ago? But those aliens had beendescribed differently. Large lupine creatures with thick furry pelts, multiple arms and savage fangs… the Ragoru had been described to be stuff of nightmares.

But this… this was not a Ragoru.

Tall and lean but powerfully built, the alien’s body seemed to shimmer a golden red hue and possessed down that thickened in certain spots along the legs, shoulders and collar where it gave way to larger gold-tipped red feathers. On either side of the alien’s neck there were two long teardrop shaped marks of a vivid blue on either side of its neck and a thick collar of similarly colored feathers just above its chest, and threaded within the thick feathery crests that covered its head, the feathers of which were long enough to trail over halfway down its back with streaks of red and bright blue amid the scarlet feathers. It was the alien’s face, however, that gave her a pause. It was almost humanoid in appearance except that its eyes were larger and rounder than human eyes, giving it an uncanny appearance that was only matched by the bony plating that ran down over the bridge of its nose, forming something of a hooked shape to it that was only matched by a similar plating on its chin.

Its head suddenly turned toward her, and her heart nearly failed when its vivid blue eyes locked onto her. It trilled softly, and suddenly another came from the same cottage almost identical in size and plumage except it was vivid green in places where the other was blue. Their heads turned toward her in unison as green and blue eyes fastened upon her.

Anxiety pumped through her, making her heart race and, in that moment, Delilah discovered her limit for the unusual as a scream ripped from her throat and she whirled away, determined to find her daughter and take their chances in the woods far from the cursed village and its mystery aliens. Even she had her limits.

Chapter

Three

Gehj startled at the sound of the female’s scream, his wings and tail feather fanning as his crests lifted, puffing out with instinctive alarm. But despite the terrible sound, his eyes followed her with fascination. Wingless, like an Atlavan female, she could almost have been mistaken for one if not for the absence of feathers, the softer structure of her face, and the long strands of fur wound and pinned to the top of her head. Her face deathly pale and her eyes wide with fear, she whirled around to flee, only to collide directly into Agrel seconds after he dropped to the ground behind her. Another shrill scream tore from her as she flung her basket into his ahaku’s startled face and raced past him, disappearing between two buildings.

“That must be a human,” Agrel observed with an amused note in his voice as he plucked a leaf of vegetation from his chest and tossed it to the ground.

“I believe so,” Gehj confirmed as he joined his ahaku’s side to stare in the direction she had fled.

“Do you think we should follow her?”

Gehj peered at the other male with amusement. “Do you wish for her to throw other things at you?”

A contrite expression passed over the male’s face, but he shook his head. Agrel’s gaze drifted down to the fallen basket and his crests raised slightly in curiosity. “Do you imagine this was her food?”

Gehj followed his gaze to the scattered bits of vegetation and berries. He grimaced. “Most probably. She must have been truly frightened to abandon it,” he observed as he crouched down and began gathering the pitifully small vegetables and put them back into the basket.

“This is not much food,” Agrel observed. “If this is what she is subsisting on, I doubt it can sustain her for long.”

Gehj nodded in agreement. Clearly, the surrounding forest was beginning to choke out the sunlight except for when the sun was directly overhead. The forest was not only rapidly encroaching on the abandoned village, but the gardens and fields were being rapidly choked up by a wild tangle of plants and young bushes that had seeded everywhere.

“We should take it to her,” his ahaku announced as Gehj picked up the refilled basket and he nearly dropped it in surprise.

He stared at the other male for a long minute, uncertain whether or not Agrel was joking. Surely, he did not intend to just arrive on the doorstep of a female who was obviously terrified of them. He waited expectantly for Agrel’s laughter, only for the male to tug the basket from his hands and start off down the road with it. Gehj’s eyes followed him in horror. Giving his head a firm shake to affirm that he was, in fact, not hallucinating, Gehj hurried after him with a shouted protest.

Grabbing the edge of the basket, he pulled his ahaku short. “Are you insane?” he hissed. “Do you imagine that you will just walk up to her door and give it to her?”