Three hundred years ago, the Earth split and the sky trembled. And then the monsters came.
The island of Lowynn is cursed. The Veil between worlds has torn, and now, monsters come with vengeance. They can only be placated by the blood of sorcerers...
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"You really shouldn't eat that," Lugh said. Beside them, their horse snorted as if to agree. They had taken a short rest in the clearing, and the opportunity for lunch proved too seductive.
Above them, the hunchbacked trees contorted, bodies curling inwards. Ciara felt as though they were in the stomach of an earthen giant. The sky was swallowed up by trunks, and Ciara nearly twisted her ankle on their enormous roots, threading through the ground.
They were near the Great Boorte forest, where the cracks in the veil were said to be as large as valleys. Lugh had assured her that as long as the world around them remained green, there was nothing to fear.
And, green it was. Ciara supposed it was good luck, that the world bloomed so steadily in her family's colors. It even smelled green, heavy with moss and dirt. It was the wet season in Lowynn, and sweet rain-smell always hung heavy in the air. They passed silently through the fog, parting like the ocean beneath a boat. But the call of each raven still make Ciara jump, and her hands had closed around Night half a hundred times.
Summersnow, small white blossoms that fell from the trees and left people sneezing, drifted lazily in the wind, suspended in the stagnant heat.
An adventure was a sticker, muddier thing than the books had promised Ciara.
But every dozen paces, bushes rose up out of the ground, spotted with rather-delicious-looking berries.
Ciara held one triumphantly in her hand, and she blinked at it. "It's a blueberry." Ciara knew better than to snatch random berries in the woods, but they looked perfectly safe, from their vibrant hue to their flowered stems. She lifted it towards Lugh's face, even as he batted her away. "See? Tell me that isn't a blueberry."
"It's not."
"I've been studying plants my entire life," Ciara said. Her stomach was already beginning to ache with hunger, but Lugh was strictly rationing their meals. "That's got to be a blueberry."
Lugh narrowed his eyes. He pointed towards a prickly weed that twisted beneath their feet. "What's that?"
"Orthidosis Mariana," Ciara said, without missing a beat. "And it's trying to strangle that trynne stalk over there."
"That one," Lugh demanded, turning his attention to a fern with lightly furred tips.
"Spiridosius tecata. Kelpie's mint."
Lugh nodded. "Impressive. Now, what's that?" he asked, gesturing to the maybe-not-blueberries that rested in her hand.
Ciara looked downwards, peering at the treat. She searched for markings, speckles, a difference in size or firmness that would indicate a different kind of fruit. Nothing. "I would swear it's a blueberry."
"Wrong again. It's Morningshade. One berry would probably just give you a nightmarish headache. But that entire handful? You're dead, milady."
She dropped the berries, letting them scatter amongst the underbrush, before wiping her fingers off on her cloak. There had not been time for her to change, but she had peeled off her ripped ballgown and thrown a cloak around her underskirt.
