“Tejus, there’s something wrong,” I murmured. “I don’t like this.”
“Neither do I,” he muttered. “Hang on—I’m going to ask that we turn back.”
He reared his bull-horse, ready to gallop to the front, when a voice cried out from behind a part-crumbled stone wall.
“Ash?” It was a woman’s voice. We all came to a standstill.
“Abelle?” Ash replied, jumping off the bull-horse.
I recognized the woman who emerged from behind the wall—she was large, even for a sentry, wearing brightly colored robes that were swathed about her as if she were a Grecian statue. I’d seen her last at Ash’s coronation, talking to Ruby.
“I’m so glad you’re safe!” she cried, embracing him.
Leaving the horses, Tejus and I followed Ash and Ruby over to the woman. I kept looking around to see if I could find any of the other villagers, but I couldn’t see anyone.
“Are you alone?” I asked her as she extricated herself from Ash.
She shook her head, smiling. “Thankfully not. Some of us made it out alive—they’re in the barn.” She pointed to one of the more stable-looking buildings further off in the field behind her. “We wanted to be careful. I was worried that with Hellswan destroyed, Queen Trina would be on the warpath, but I haven’t seen her or any of her followers yet.”
Ash smiled at this, and as he started to explain to Abelle who we had in the carriage, I caught Tejus’s attention and cocked my head in the direction of the barn. He nodded and together we began to navigate our way over the debris.
“Hello?” I called. “It’s safe to come out!”
I couldn’t hear a sound other than the fragments of conversation Ash and Abelle were having. I looked at Tejus, who shook his head, perplexed. Maybe they were still frightened?
The barn was more or less in one piece, with the only obvious damage being to its doors, which were hanging lopsided off their hinges. I peered inside the gloom, careful not to move too far away from Tejus—seeing Abelle hadn’t lessened the weirdness of the place, and I was still feeling a little jumpy.
As my eyes grew accustomed to the gloom, I saw twenty or so villagers, huddled together at the back of the room, all totally silent, staring at us.
“Hello?” I called again, my voice breaking slightly.
“You’re safe,” Tejus barked at them, striding across the floorboards, clearly unaffected by their strange behavior.
One of the children started crying, and my shoulders slumped in relief. Suddenly it didn’t seem as scary—it was they who were afraid, and no reason why I should have been.
“Why should we trust you?” an old man retorted.
“Abelle said we should remain here,” another of the villagers replied, eyeing us suspiciously. “She told us we had to wait, and not leave.”
“King Ashbik is outside,” Tejus replied, already sounding bored. “Please follow us out—we’re moving you all to a safe palace a few miles from here.” He turned away from the wide-eyed villagers. “Come on, I’ll get some of the guards to assist them.”
I nodded, following him out. I took one last look at the villagers before stepping out into the sunlight—they hadn’t moved from the back of the barn, and were still staring at us. I shivered, wrapping my arms around my frame, and hurried after Tejus.
Hazel
We had been riding for hours and the sun was starting to set, casting the ravaged land in a haze of fiery pinks and red. I felt like we were the only people left alive in Nevertide—I couldn’t hear the sounds of wildlife in the forests, or birds overhead. Once we had left the village, there were no more sightings of stray farmyard animals – the villagers had caught what they could, tying up a couple of strange-looking pigs and sheep who now trailed along behind us, but even they were completely silent. The rip in the sky was now behind us, and every time I glanced back it seemed to taunt me, as if it was smiling down at us, watching, waiting.
What is wrong with you? I scolded myself. First the village and now this—I was like a kid, afraid of the dark, waiting for monsters to come and jump out at me when there were more than enough real-life threats to be wary of. The villagers were walking up ahead with Ash, keeping their distance from Tejus and me. After the initial weirdo behavior, they seemed to be fine—muttering to one another and looking dazed, but nothing out of the ordinary given the circumstances.
“Only another mile to go,” Tejus muttered at me. “The forest clears in a moment.”
He had been quiet on the journey, and I wondered if the desolation of Nevertide was starting to get to him.