Through an Emerald Gale (A Snowfall in Oz Book 1) by Jordan Riley Swan

Author:Jordan Riley Swan [Swan, Jordan Riley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Story Garden Publishing LLC
Published: 2023-10-23T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 14

Cami

By day three, Cami was praying for the sow to “whelp them pups of hers” like Bach kept saying. It was the benchmark for their trip to Emerald City and her eventual journey south to find Glinda the Good Witch. So when Clementine the sow started acting up, making a ruckus worse than the night Cami had hid in the barn, she and Bach had gone time and time again to check on the pig. Clementine had grunted in pain and shuffled about on her swollen belly, grumbling in an all-too human manner as the birthing neared, but she had yet to drop her piglets.

They had just returned from trip eight—or was it nine? She’d lost count of that too—when fate decided that a good start to the day did not guarantee a good finish.

Bach and Lenda were discussing the condition of Clementine while Cami played with Erna.

The clip-clop of several horses’ hooves echoed off the front of the house, sneaking through the gaps in the glassless, shuddered windows. It was followed by snorts of agitated horses being reigned in, each small noise they made causing pinpricks of worry in Cami’s chest. If she didn’t know better, she would say the apple was trying to respond to the animals’ calls. The fact that there were horses at all saddled her with a sense of dread. She stared at the closed front door.

“What’s all this then?” Bach asked, heading to the door to check on the commotion.

“Don’t!” Camellia called out. Dread turned to fear and rolled over into terror when the shadowy form of something large landed on the front porch with a board-creaking thud. The summer sunshine filtering between the slatted shutters broke in feathered strips as massive wings folded inward.

Bach paused. A heavy series of scratches came through the door.

“Hide your hair, Cami!” Lenda pointed at Camellia’s recently cut, short black strands. The woman picked up Erna and moved far back into the one-room house.

It wasn’t going to matter. Flying monkeys were at the front door. That meant Haldora. But Cami was obedient first and foremost; her fingers deftly found the edge of the cotton cloth scarf Lenda had given her to wear on her head. She quickly tucked the straggling black locks under the headpiece and prayed for a miracle. Maybe it was just a scout. Maybe it wasn’t with the huntswoman herself despite the horses outside.

Before Bach could decide whether to open the door, the decision was made for him. The scratching stopped, replaced by the rattling of the handle. When the lopsided wood door opened, the farmer took a frightened step back, instinctively placing his body between his family and the thing in the doorway.

Sunlight backlit the misshapen silhouette of a hunched-over creature easily the size of the farmer. It leaned forward on two legs, whipping its fur-covered tail behind it and unfolding the pair of black-feathered wings Cami had seen through the window gaps.

Camellia found herself instinctively backpedaling. Though she had guessed what it

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