The beast cried out again and Bria wondered if he taunted or challenged.
Kaelan’s focus sharpened.
Bria felt it in him, the decision already made before he spoke.
“We do not lose it now.”
“Kaelan—”
He did not wait.
With a suddenness that stole her breath, he tightened his grip on her hand and pulled her forward.
Bria stumbled, her protest lost as the forest seemed to change around them, the air growing colder, heavier, the light dimming further as they crossed into shadows.
Into Driochmor.
Chapter Six
A Forest Like No Other
Where Steps Must be Watched
Bria stumbled as Kaelan pulled her forward, the ground beneath her feet changing almost at once.
The forest swallowed the light.
What little sunlight had managed to follow them through the trees seemed to vanish beyond the boundary of Driochmor, leaving only a dim gray haze that clung between the trunks like lingering smoke. The air grew colder with each hurried step, damp against her skin, carrying the scent of rot and wet earth so thick it settled heavily in her chest.
“Kaelan—slow down,” she pleaded, struggling to keep pace as he led her deeper through the twisted woodland.
He did not answer.
Branches snagged at her cloak as though trying to pull her back. Gnarled roots curled across the forest floor like skeletal fingers waiting to trip the unwary, and more than once Kaelan tightened his grip and steadied her before she could stumble.
Bria scarcely noticed, her attention darting everywhere at once.
The trees looked strange, not dead, nor living, somewhere between the two.
Their bark twisted in unnatural swirls, thick knots bulging from the trunks like misshapen faces caught in silent agony. Bare branches stretched overhead, long and crooked, scrapingagainst one another with sharp, dry sounds that reminded her disturbingly of whispered voices.
A sudden rustling near her feet made her gasp softly.
Something pale and thin skittered across a fallen branch before disappearing beneath a mound of blackened leaves. She caught only the briefest glimpse of too many legs and a body that writhed more than crawled.
Her grip tightened painfully around Kaelan’s hand.
Ravens sat, scattered through the trees above them. Their dark eyes followed her every movement, heads turning in eerie unison as she passed beneath them. One gave a slow ruffle of its wings, the sound startlingly loud in the heavy stillness.
Bria tried not to look up again after that.
The deeper they went, the more the forest seemed to close around them.
Thick brush reached out near enough to brush her skirt. Low branches curved inward overhead as though trying to seal the path behind them. More than once, she thought she saw movement just beyond the trees, a shifting shadow, something slipping silently between the trunks only to vanish when she looked directly at it.
Fear settled steadily deeper inside her. Not the sharp fear brought by the beast. Something worse. Something ancient that lay in wait. Something that made her feel unwelcome and something that warned they did not belong here.
Then Kaelan stopped so abruptly she nearly stumbled but caught herself.
