Page 5 of Where the Shadows Land (Garden of Hope #1)

ASTORIA

W hy do you infect this land, human?” The large, monstrous Rholctai’s voice echoed loud in Astoria’s mind.

Each syllable grated against her awareness like a scream.

A dozen voices clamored into one furious chorus, some feminine and others masculine.

The creature clutching her throat stood at least two heads taller than any man she’d met.

Their skin reflected every sliver of moonlight that broke through the clouds and gleamed in shades of pink, purple, and blue.

Wide and heavy framed, they cast a shadow that reminded her of nightmares.

Plain leather pants covered their thick legs.

Various growths sprouted from their torso.

Small lilac and plum round cap mushrooms grew from the seam of their left shoulder and continued down to their waist. Tall blue and pink fungus spread in a dense cluster over their right side, the fruit largest at their chest, and slowly grew smaller as it reached around their midsection and disappeared under their pants.

Waxy, purple mushrooms covered their arms and hands, all packed in short, dense clusters .

The thin, sky blue ring around their neck pulsed with bioluminescent light and highlighted the sharp edges of their triangular face and fibrous skin.

Three burning pink eyes glared down at her from under their waxy amethyst cap.

A deep cleave, black and charred, sliced through the right side.

The cool, damp feel of their skin against her throat was a balm against her overheated and sore body.

All the colors of a summer sunrise painted their flesh.

They were terrifying, yes, but also beautiful.

Stunning like wild magic and rare vistas where all of Mieotsy’s majesty could be taken in.

Like all things in nature, though, the more beautiful something was, the more dangerous it became.

Though the scent of wet leaves that came off of them was almost pleasant, there was nothing benevolent about the monster before her.

That thing likely killed dozens of humans, if not more.

Perhaps hundreds. The Rholctai often liked to drink human blood and feast upon human flesh.

Whatever they didn’t eat, the stories said they grew their young in.

The thought turned Astoria’s stomach. If she had eaten anything, she would’ve vomited all over her captor.

“Answer us!”

Astoria’s lungs froze as panic sent her heart hammering against her ribs so hard she strained against the monster’s grip.

They squeezed tighter and the edges of her vision darkened.

Each breath became a fight to pull in. If she didn’t answer the creature soon, she’d lose her ability to do anything at all.

One more push. One more slight, and the Rholctai will kill me.

One more and I’ll be free . The thoughts circled in her mind like vultures over carrion.

A promise of freedom from the never-ending gray fog that blanketed her life after her loss.

Death at the hands of a monster gave her hope.

They took the choice away. Astoria could close her eyes and fade into the dark.

She’d never have to miss anything at all.

The memory of Inara’s small body in a tiny casket would never haunt her nightmares again.

The glassy, empty gaze of the love of her life wouldn’t stab her in the chest every time she shut her eyes.

Death is better than the pain, isn’t it?

Astoria studied the monster looming above her, her heart thrumming under the heady mix of fear and exertion.

She toyed with the idea of dying so often.

She came close to the edge too many times to count.

It’s not like she lived in her village. She hardly existed.

Most days, all Astoria did was rot in her grief and pray for an end to her suffering.

The answer to those prayers had her by the throat, yet for the first time since Damien fell ill, something in her grasped for life.

A roar in her veins that demanded she fight.

The monster’s roar shook Astoria from her daze.

The chill, damp hand around her throat and the hard scrape of the cold stone walls behind her brought her back to her body.

She reached into her robe for her dagger, but the Rholctai growled and pinned her hand to the wall with so much force the stone cracked under her fist. Pain bloomed over her knuckles and sharpened her senses one by one, as if she’d just woken up from a long slumber.

“ You will answer us, or your corpse will feed the roots of this land!” The overlaid voices shook with rage in her mind.

Astoria whimpered and strained against their hold.

Without her magic, it was pointless. She’d never be strong enough to escape the Rholctai.

Drained from too many days in her wild form, the only magic Astoria had left were a few flickering green sparks that likely couldn’t convince a budded flower to bloom.

She wasn’t going to escape. She might as well accept the death they threatened her with.

They wouldn’t let her live for long. Why fight against Fate?

Bastian nosed her leg and whined softly. He circled the massive Rholctai, then sat down at their heel. The sound of his fluffy tail hitting the ground signaled his trust in the monster. His big brown eyes gleamed in the low light, a silent beg.

“Your folk burned my village. I ran,” Astoria gasped. “Killed everyone. ”

“As your kind deserves. Humans have burned countless gardens to ash. How do you like the taste of your own destruction?” The layered voice of the Rholctai carried a bitter edge and they tilted their head. Their thin mouth curved in a cruel, terrifying smile.

“I did not stay long enough to find out.” Astoria tore her gaze away from their pink eyes and gnawed on her lower lip. She abandoned her village. Left everyone to die. She abandoned Blythe and the Pillar of Light. She didn’t even have the decency to die near the grave of her husband and daughter.

“You are a coward,” they said.

“Coward or not, I mean no harm to you.” Astoria’s voice trembled slightly.

Though it was pointless, she had to try.

She had to fight for one thing, and she would fight to live if that’s what Bastian asked of her.

She failed so many in her life over the last two years.

At least she could try to not fail her familiar.

“If you let me go, I will leave this place and never return.”

“Lies! All humans do is lie,” they growled. “You will find your warriors and tell them where our garden is. Do you think we are stupid enough to trust the fragile word of a pitiful, cowardly human?”

Astoria strained against their hold. Her free hand went around their forearm and she struggled to ease their grip. “No. I won’t tell anyone. I’ll give you more than my word! Take my blood. I’ll swear my oath to you in blood!”

“Where will you go? Deeper into Ardelok lands to come across one of my kin who will gut you like a fish? Or will you return to your ruined village to tend to the charred corpses? What lie will come out of those lips when your kin asks how you survived?” They squeezed Astoria’s neck and growled.

“You are a risk to our garden. A danger.”

Bastian yipped at the Rholctai and they turned their head entirely around to look at him.

Their cap tilted as they communicated with Bastian.

The silent exchange loosened their grip on her throat enough for Astoria to gulp in much needed air into her burning lungs.

She pushed against their hold and coughed.

“I swear on my life, I will tell no one of your village. I will tell any who ask that I passed out from the smoke and got lost in the woods.”

~

Mairuk turned back to the human struggling in their grasp.

Her little neck was so small their fist wrapped around it with room to spare.

Snapping it would take no effort, and it would rid them of the risk her existence posed.

The human found their garden. If she returned to her people, they couldn’t set the rest of the walls up fast enough to keep the humans out. Not alone.

The fox at their feet argued in the way all animals did for their companions.

Not in words, but emotions, smells, and memories.

The fox shared memories of comfort in a warm bed.

Soothing words when he injured himself as a kit.

A fresh kill made for him before he learned how to hunt for himself.

A scene unlike the others, dark with the sharp sound of tears and wetness in his fur, shook Mairuk out of their conversation.

‘She is broken,’ Ninth said.

‘Killing her would be a mercy. One that she does not deserve,’ Fifth snarled.

‘She offers her blood and life too easily to mean anything,’ Ninth argued. ‘Whatever we do with her, she cannot leave the garden.’

Fifth pushed forward and tightened the system’s fist around the human’s neck. ‘We will not keep her here!’

‘Why not?’ Fourth reached out across the body and clung to Fifth. ‘We can keep her here and have a companion. She has the Orsea. She may have the ability to help us revive these lands.’

‘Why would we want help from a human?’ Sixth asked.

‘How many other options do we have? Has anyone else come in the last decade to assist us for more than a day?’ Fourth loosened the system’s grip and dropped the human’s neck, opting instead to hold her by her wrists above her head.

‘We have no other help, and she is young enough for a human to work. ’

‘Forcing her to work for us will lengthen her suffering,’ Fifth mused. ‘She will not want to be with us as much as we do not want her here. Perhaps she will be stupid enough to run from us.’

‘If she runs, we will kill her.’ Ninth reached out toward the others. ‘We keep her here to force her to work with us. When she is no longer useful, or if she runs, we will kill her. Are we in agreement?’