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“Aye. In Deln’yir vale, our sacred ground.”
My curiosity piqued. I would love to see the Khimerian sacred ground. Did they bury their dead there too? “I’ll go with you.”
“Splendid. Let’s make haste while the day is still high.”
We carried big baskets and walked to the village border. A centaur who guarded the gate gave us a pass. He stood before the enchanted hedge and murmured a spell.
“Tanae Dreknaar Sli’l Vanelie.”
The hedge suddenly shifted, revealing a tunnel for us to pass through. As soon we walked through it, the hedge behind me enclosed.
“The bushes are alive,” I uttered in amazement.
“Aye. They’re enchanted.”
“What happens when people try to sneak in?”
“The bushes eat them.”
I shivered.
We walked further north until we arrived in a small valley. It was surrounded with merai hedges. The path to its entrance was steep. The gate was barricaded with a heavy oaken door.
“We’re here?” I asked.
“Deln’yir vale, where we grow our ramentha.” Ashanie murmured a spell that caused the gate to open by itself.
Ramentha grew in the vines on the tall trellises. The blade-like leaves were lush and in the shade of deep green. Its flower looked like little bells, white and very fragrant. Ramentha fruits grew in abundant clusters. The goose-egg-sized oval fruits turned reddish orange when they were ripe. Sweet, tangy, and tasty.
We chatted as we picked ramentha. I couldn’t resist sampling one as I filled up my basket. Ashanie laughed when she saw me doing that. She commented about my claimers and something else, I wasn’t really paying attention. Ramentha was the most delicious fruit I had ever tasted in life.
I was wondering whether I should have another one when I heard the ear-splitting shrieks. Ashanie and I traded gazes.
“What was that?” Ashanie paused.
“It’s coming from up there.” I looked at the sky and was startled. There was a giant eagle soaring in the sky. The beast lurched toward us.
“Merciful goddess, run!” Ashanie grabbed my hand.
We made a beeline towards the gate. Before we could reach it, something grabbed my arms and I was airborne in a heartbeat.
“Ashanie!”
“Elyra!”
The eagle flapped its enormous wings and spirited me away from Aesterneum.
*
It was almost dark when the giant eagle dropped me in the middle of a clearing, right in front of my brother Erodan’s scowling face. I sprawled on the ground. My arms were hurt and deeply bruised from the eagle’s talons. Beside my brother stood the Jakael hunters with matching scowls.
The eagle soared away, leaving me alone in front of the people who wished me dead. I quickly stood. Panic rushed within me.
Erodan’s face flashed with disgust as he examined my appearance. I was clothed in the Khimerian fashion; the savage people my kin always looked down on.
His nostrils flared. “Look at what you have become. Running away from your honor-bound duty and consorting with the beasts. Whore.”
He backhanded me. My cheek stung from the blow. I willed myself not to cry. “I don’t want to die,” I said in a shaky voice. “I didn’t know the duke and I didn’t love him.”
