Mineral traveled in the tree branches above our heads, keeping a strict lookout. Budding tried to help Wake to walk, but seemed unsteady on her feet as well. All the while, both of them were concerned with how I was doing.

“Tiff, do you need to rest?”

“Should we take a break?”

“You haven’t eaten in a week, you know. Your body needs to catch up.”

“Perhaps we should slow down.”

“I can refill your waterskin for you.”

After a while, I began to laugh. I couldn’t help it. I’d forgotten how much nagging a mother could give, let alone two of them.

“I’m fine,” I insisted, even though we all knew it wasn’t true. None of us were fine (except maybe Min), but we all knew we had to keep going.

The forest felt different than I remembered it. There was a tension in the air that hadn’t been there before. Even the natural sounds of birds and animals were subdued, making me feel anxious. I didn’t like the quiet.

“Where is everyone?” I asked no one in particular.

“Humans must’ve passed by recently,” Min reasoned.

I brushed my fingers along the rough bark of the tree trunks. “What have they been doing here?”

He pressed his lips together. “If something looks important, they destroy it. They’ll kill anything they come across. If it turns out to be an animal, they’ll either eat it or send it back to the castle.”

I stumbled over a stone in my path. A jolt of pain shot up my leg from all of the poison removal I had recently undergone. I did my best to shake it off. 

“What if it isn’t an animal?” I asked, horrified.

“Then they’ll send it to the castle to be properly destroyed by the Followers of Purity,” Min said through clenched teeth.

“Properly destroyed?” I repeated dumbly. “What does that mean?”

The hoak’s eyes narrowed cynically. “If the rumors are true, I would guess that it means they harvest anything they can use and secretly send it back to the capital.”

My jaw dropped. “What?”

“Mineral,” Budding warned in a low voice.

His mouth clamped shut, but his crystal eyes flashed with anger. I could see that he had a lot to say on the matter if given the chance.

Wake smoothed my hair lovingly. “Don’t think about that right now,” she urged me. “Let’s just get you home, where you can rest.”

My thoughts turned to the tiernan seed nestled against my sternum. I could see the concern in Wake’s eyes, so I agreed immediately. I didn’t want to do anything that would make her worry more than necessary.

The sun was beginning to descend, but we hadn’t made as much progress as I’d hoped. I frowned at our surroundings, trying to guess how much farther we had to go.

“We need to find cover immediately,” Min interrupted my thoughts.

My eyebrows went up. “Why? We have plenty of daylight.”

“The dusk and dawn hours are the most dangerous,” the hoak explained. “During the day, the humans are out and the magical beings are cautious. During the night, the magical beings are out and the humans are cautious. In the hours when they meet, the battles are most likely to take place.”

Budding leaned against a nearby tree. I could sense that she was drawing strength from it as we rested. “I didn’t realize it had gotten so bad,” she admitted.

“Where are we going to hide?” Wake asked.

They began discussing the local topography, but I found my attention diverted. There was a faint sound at the edge of my hearing that I couldn’t quite identify. I took a few steps away from the others, straining to listen.

At first, I thought it was just the sound of the wind. However, it was a high tone, so the slow speed of the breeze didn’t match. The pitch wasn’t patterned like that of a bird, nor did it sound like anything that would belong to an animal.

I scowled at the air, rubbing my aching arms as I thought. 

Perhaps it was the wind passing over a crevice or something similar. That could be a good place for us to hide while we waited for the cover of night.

It didn’t sound quite right, though.

As I passed through the bushes to try and identify the source, I suddenly came face-to-face with a young human soldier. He and I both froze, staring at each other in open-mouthed shock.

He looked vaguely familiar—I’d probably seen him in the village—but he was older than me, so I didn’t know his name. I was positive he knew who I was, though. The recognition and disgust flared in his eyes.

“You!”

I took a step backward.

He pointed at me with a gloved hand. “Didn’t they say you couldn’t testify because you were sick or something?” His voice was accusatory. “I knew something wasn’t right about that! You’re a spy, aren’t you!”

I didn’t try to make sense of any of his words. My instincts told me to get away as quickly as possible, and I wasn’t about to argue with them.

I broke into a run. “Budding,” I screamed.

I filled the word with every image of warning I could, doing my best to send the warning ahead of me with my thoughts.

It seemed to have worked because my three companions were already moving by the time I reached them.

The shouts of soldiers rose behind us, issuing from at least a dozen throats. Even worse, I heard the sound of horse hooves pounding on the ground before long. There was no way we could outrun them.

I tripped over a tree root, falling hard on the ground. The agony from my already injured body left me dizzy. I could barely draw breath.

My friends were instantly by my side.

“Tiff!”

“Get up!”

I heaved myself upright, even though the effort made me want to vomit. I relied on the adrenaline to keep me going until the danger passed. We ducked behind the nearest trees for cover.

An arrow whistled past my ear, causing me to flinch and cry out.

Min appeared next to me with a fierce expression on his stony face. He flicked his thin fingers, sending small rocks hurling in their direction.

My eyes turned to where Wake and Budding were crouched behind an outcropping. They didn’t have any way to defend themselves. All of us were helpless, save Mineral’s small bursts of magic.

More arrows thudded into the trees around us.

I crouched down lower, shielding my face from the wood chips that sprayed in my direction. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have noticed the small movement in the corner of my eye. It was just the slightest glint of silver through the trees, but I felt a spike of panic right away.

“Min,” I nudged him urgently.

“They’re trying to surround us,” he hissed.

The earth hoak teleported away to deal with the soldiers moving around our sides. I got down on my belly and crawled over to where Budding and Wake were huddled. My skirt caught on the sticks and rocks on the ground, while the half-frozen dirt scraped the palms of my hands.

The two tiernan helped pull me to safety, cringing with every arrow that flew over our heads. They shielded me with their arms, pushing me as far from danger as possible.

“Stay down,” Budding warned.

“What are we going to do?” Wake asked.

Neither tiernan seemed certain of an answer. I buried my face in Budding’s lap, praying that something—anything—would intervene on our behalf.

The faint whistling noise I’d heard before attracted my notice again.

It was strange that I could hear it over the sounds of the arrows and the shouting. Perhaps that’s why it caught my attention.

Min reappeared next to us with a look of grim satisfaction on his face. “That’ll keep them busy for a while,” he chortled.

I sat up straighter. “What did you do?”

“I made a sinkhole,” he responded proudly.

I grinned at him. “Perfect.”

“We still need to find a way to get away from here,” Budding pointed out.

I tried to focus on their whispered conversation, but the whistling noise rose up again. It sounded like it was swirling around us instead of coming from a single direction. Was it getting louder?

I could tell that I wasn’t the only one who noticed it. The soldiers suddenly grew quieter. Everyone seemed distinctly uneasy.

My three companions fell silent as well.

“What is it?” Min asked.

“Listen,” I urged.

The whistle sounded more like keening now, albeit from a distance. It sent a shiver up my spine.

Min’s eyes widened. “Oh no,” he whispered. “No, no, no!”

The two tiernan appeared to come to the same realization. “They wouldn’t…” Wake began.

Budding grabbed my wrist. “Tiff,” she snapped, “run!”

I didn’t have time to protest about the soldiers or arrows or any other potential dangers. I could barely keep up as my teacher dragged me through the trees at a sprint.

Branches from the underbrush whipped my face and hands, while the uneven ground threatened to overturn each step. Mineral was able to teleport with a single step, and my tiernan companions were as fleet as deer. I was the only one who struggled through the mountain forest like…well, a human.

My only consolation was that I could hear the soldiers behind us, having an even bigger fight to get through the terrain. Their panicked yells made it sound like they had already met an enemy when they were actually just pushing through bramble.

It might’ve been funny if I didn’t share their fear.

The cry was growing louder. It was starting to sound familiar, even though I’d never heard it before. 

Terror gripped my heart like a claw. “Is it a banshee?” I gasped.

“Worse,” Min answered over his shoulder. “It’s a blayet.”

The shared thought brought a dark shadow to my mind—an enveloping blackness with red eyes and sharp teeth. It was a nightmare made real. Mineral’s memory of the creature was filled with horror that didn’t fade even with the passage of time. 

I’d never heard of the monster, myself. It must’ve come from a distant land.

“What’s it doing here?” I demanded through clenched teeth. The pain in my body from running was growing unbearable.

Min began swearing in his native language. “They were driven to the high peaks generations ago. The only way it could come here is if someone brought it.”

“Who would bring a blayet here?” I asked incredulously.

“Only a fool,” Budding spat.

Wake pointed in a new direction. “Haven,” she panted breathlessly, “haven!”

The other two nodded, following her advice. Our new destination took us uphill, which made me groan quietly. Still, I did my best to keep up.

The cry of the blayet continued to grow louder. I thought that it was taking on new tones, but my heart froze as I suddenly recognized the screams of the soldiers.

They had taken on a new level of terror, a sound that choked me.

I whipped around, unable to move.

“They’re dying!” I gasped.

Min tugged on my sleeve from a nearby tree branch. “So will we if we don’t move!”

His words barely made it through to my mind. “But…we’re not human…”

“The blayet doesn’t care,” Min shouted. “It only knows to feed!”

“We have to run,” Wake pulled on my hand.

I forced my legs to move. We jumped over rocks, wove between trees, and ducked under branches as we rushed to escape. The dark spirit didn’t seem slowed down by its time killing the soldiers behind us. It pursued us at the same pace as before.

The keening now bordered on sounding like a shriek. It rang painfully in our ears from every direction. No matter how hard I pressed my hands over the sides of my head, it did nothing to dampen the noise.

My eyes were squinted as I coped with the sound, so it was a shock when I abruptly dropped into a hole in the ground.

My three companions stood around me in a halo of artificial light. We appeared to be on some sort of platform, but the darkness around us made it impossible to discern where we were.

“That was a close call,” said a high-pitched voice from the gloom.

Min’s hands clenched into fists. “Turn on the lights, Flicker.”

When he said her name, it brought to my mind the image of a flame that flickered in the wind but didn’t go out. I frowned, wondering where we had fallen.

The room gradually grew brighter. It looked a bit like a cave, but it was filled with the roots of trees and other plants instead of stones. Several magical beings sat in a circle around us, looking amused at our disheveled state.

Budding picked up a clod of dirt at her feet and threw it with all her strength at the tiernan in the middle. “Waste upon you, Tip! May you wither and fade!”

A heavy silence fell upon the room.

I stared at the recipient of Budding’s wrath. He wasn’t in a human shape—which made sense, given his aversion—but rather looked like a golem. His skin was like granite, while his eyes were onyx. He looked powerful and rigid, with a face that was void of emotion.

“Such harsh words, Budding.”

His voice was surprisingly soft. He got to his feet, walking to stand before us. I expected it to rumble when he moved, but he made no sound. He only looked like stone, he wasn’t made of it.

“Why are you so angry?” Tip asked as if he was genuinely confused.

Budding looked like she was ready to punch him in the face. “A blayet?” she hissed. “You brought a blayet to our mountain?”

He extended his hands. “Why do you assume it was me?”

Budding’s face darkened, but she kept her arms at her side. I was impressed that she was able to exert so much self-control. I’d only been around Tip for a few minutes and I already wanted to use great amounts of violence on him.

“No one else on this mountain is as stupid as you,” she retorted. “That’s how I know you’re the one behind it.”

He smiled. “You flatter me, but I’m afraid I can’t take credit. Ever since my poor brother died, I just don’t have the willpower for such things. All I can do is stay here and wait for the storm to pass.”

“Do you really think it will be that easy?” Wake asked quietly.

Tip looked at her for the first time. His eyebrows rose. “Weren’t you confined to your river?”

He chuckled as he strolled back to his seat.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s easy or not,” he went on. “The end is inevitable.”

“I hate you,” Budding grated. “You say you’re doing this for us, but it’s only for yourself. You’re destroying our home and everyone who lives here.”

Tip sat down with a sigh. He made a careless gesture to the hole we’d fallen through. “You’re welcome to go back out there with the blayet, if you’d prefer.”

“You think you’re better than the blayet?” Min shouted.

The rock tiernan shrugged. “That is a matter of opinion. I’m sure there are others here who view me in an unfavorable light, but the need for survival will make such opinions less important.”

“You’re forcing them to stay here with you?” I blurted.

Tip glanced at me with an expression of disgust. He didn’t bother answering me. It was as if he thought it beneath him to even converse with me.

“Well, make your choice,” he said to Budding. “Shall we find you a place to rest?”

Budding looked at each of us, reading our expressions before coming to a decision. “No, thank you. I think we would prefer to leave.”