Shadow Queene by Kate Ristau

Author:Kate Ristau [Ristau, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781948120517
Publisher: Not a Pipe Publishing
Published: 2020-04-27T22:00:00+00:00

Seventeen

The pale-green light rose from the horizon like trees blazing with emerald fire. It was strange and wonderful, and so close. But the creatures were even closer.

She turned to fight them again, her hands clenching the long, thin spear.

It was all so wrong. There were so many of them—they came on endlessly—but the light was getting brighter, and they were moving more slowly. She still had a chance. They clung to the shadows, avoiding the glare from the ethereal trees. They were frightened of her spear—it burned them with a single slice. They were losing their cover. The light was growing brighter, and the shadows were pulling back, disappearing over the ridge.

She yanked her phone out of the top of her pocket: 3 percent. Almost gone. She shut off the flashlight to save the battery, hoping the pale light would be enough.

She watched one lone creature trudging toward her. The rest held back.

One more. This would be the last. Then she was heading into the light.

It looked like a bear, clomping forward on two legs, its skin made of scales or some kind of beetle stuff. It left behind a trail of inky black. She couldn’t tell what it was and really didn’t care. She just wanted it to go away.

“What do you want?” she yelled.

It tilted its black head at her, massive legs sloshing through the mud. “Hungry,” it growled. Face scrunched up in pain, it moved forward.

More creatures climbed down the ridge. They crashed into each other, kicking and struggling, the pale light reflecting off their shadowy forms. They ignored her, fighting each other, vicious and unrelenting.

She stepped closer to the light until it shone in a circle around her feet. She leaned on her good leg and held up her spear to her right, ready to strike.

The creature raised its hand and shaded its eyes from the light. “Hungry,” it grumbled. It stood there for a long moment, its black eyes open, but empty. So empty. Then it turned back toward the struggle at the ridge.

Scraping, tearing of claws. Grunts, groans, and screeches. She shivered as she backed into the light. It all felt so impossible.

They fought on, attacking and retreating, cowering from the light. They roared in the shadows.

“Hungry,” she repeated. They howled and lunged at each other.

Was that why they were fighting? Because they were hungry? Hennessy peered up at the ridge. Besides the creatures, it was black and utterly empty. Just lumps and bulges, mud and bones. Nothing to eat, nothing to drink.

Hungry. No wonder they were fighting. No wonder they wanted to tear out her everything. How long had they been like this?

She took a deep breath and turned back toward the bright-green glow. “Okay,” she whispered. She slowed her breathing, tried to slow the wild beat of her heart. “Okay. So—”

A sudden cry, like that of an injured puppy, broke the air. She spun around, and then she saw it, tumbling down the hill. A tiny creature, barely the size of a kitten or puppy.

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