Page 7 of Memory of Ashes

Light seeped through cracks in the rock.

No, she wasn’t going to just lie down with the bones and accept it.

Desperate, she followed the light, hoping it would lead her out. She squeezed through the narrow gap, wincing as her clothes ripped and the jagged rocks tore at her skin.

The impact knocked the air from her lungs as she fell into a large chamber, her clothes damp from the wet ground. The stench of stale water surrounded her.

It wasn’t daylight, only a phosphorescent blue glow illuminating the chamber. How foolish of her to think it was daylight this far down. She deserved to be stuck there.

She threw back her head and screamed. It echoed tauntingly, and tears blurred her vision. If she had any chance of surviving, she needed to keep moving.

The echo of her scream faded, leaving only the rhythmic drip of water as it bounced off the rocks. The faint blue light illuminated the tunnels. She scrambled up to inspect them, hoping one would lead outside. Unsure which to follow, she paused, staring into the darkness. A gentle breeze caressed her face from one of the tunnels. She clambered over the rocks into its darkness. The walls narrowed as the passageway climbed higher, and the blue glow disappeared behind her. Had she chosen the wrong one? But with each step, the gloom dissipated. A sob escaped her as she climbed up the piled rocks towards the sunlight that filtered through a small opening overhead.

Carefully, she tore at the earth overhead as dirt crumbled onto her face and into her hair and eyes. The hole was now big enough for her to fit through, and she emerged from the ground, gasping for fresh air.

Collapsing onto her back, she squeezed her eyes shut and exhaled. Every ache her body had ignored reawakened. Blood and dirt soiled her clothes, and her shoulders and back stung from the sharp cuts from the jagged rocks. She was free.

Tall, twisted trees towered over her, hiding the sky. Their huge, gnarled roots sank deeply into the surrounding ground, partially concealing the hole from which she’d emerged.

Behind the trees, the mountain loomed. Boulders that had long since fallen from the mountain face were now covered in spongy green moss. There was no snow. Ice and snow had coated the mountain when she had climbed it, yet neither was visible now.

This wasn’t Ryjul.

But that was impossible.

Low fog trailed around the towering trees, thickening the air. She ran her fingers over the trees’ warped bark as she passed, checking that everything was real. The air smelled clean and rich. A sweet aroma lingered over the fallen leaves that covered the moist soil. This was an old forest—ancient, perhaps.

Birdsong echoed against the mountain. The forest seemed aware of her presence as shadows shifted between the trees, sending a shiver across her skin.

The woodland seemed endless. She limped past hundreds of small blue flowers that lined the forest floor like a blanket as she searched for a way out.

Was this a hidden valley? No, it couldn’t be. Someone would have mapped it. Someone would have written about it.

Her eyes widened at an enormous red flower in bloom. Its expansive petals covered the tree’s roots, while hundreds of small teeth-like structures ringed a gaping hole at its centre. The damp earth soiled her trousers as she knelt before it, picked up a nearby twig and prodded at the petals.

The forest fell into an eerie, suffocating silence. There was a presence that she couldn’t explain.

A violent rush of leaves broke the silence. She had no time to react as a monstrous figure crashed towards her through the trees.

Ignoring the stabbing pain in her leg, she bolted, dodging trees and leaping over the gnarled roots. The creature followed, shrieking in frustration.

Her breaths came hard and fast, burning her throat. She’d escaped the pit of the mountain only to be killed by this creature.

The trees ahead thinned. Beyond them, there would be nowhere to hide from the creature. She could not outrun it.

Sunlight dazzled her as she cleared the trees, and an arrow came whistling past her ear. She dropped and rolled through the meadow, the soft grass cushioning her fall. When she looked back, the arrow had pierced the creature’s flesh. She gaped at its emaciated limbs as it turned and ran back into the forest with a bloodcurdling shriek. What was that? It couldn’t be real. Surely it was her imagination.

It was tall like an enormous bear but much thinner, with elongated arms that ended in sharp, curling claws. Its face was skeletal, goat-like, with horns that curled and twisted away from its head.

“What in the name of the gods was that?” she gasped.

Amelia glanced up towards her saviour, squinting in the sunlight. A group of men towered above her—or what she first thought were men. Their unnatural eyes were shades of lilac and ice blue that shifted in the light. Their ears were longer than hers and tapered to a point.

They stared back at her, mirroring her own confusion. She couldn’t tear her eyes away. She hadn’t seen men like that before.

This was all wrong.

This wasn’t her world, but it had to be.