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Chapter 17: Vicious Delicious

Chapter 17: Vicious Delicious

Mara waited.

Nothing touched the coffin.

No footsteps approached. No irritating voice asked whether she had enjoyed herself. The forest settled around her as though the violence had never happened.

She counted in her head.

Ten.

Twenty.

Thirty.

"Rook?" she whispered.

The coffin remained closed.

Panic tightened around her non-beating heart. She placed both hands against the lid but hesitated before pushing. If the Abomination waited above her, opening the coffin would expose her immediately. If the trees had killed everything outside, moving the lid might provoke them next.

Something touched the wood.

Mara froze.

A slow scrape travelled across the top of the coffin.

Then came a knock.

Three times.

Mara’s fingers curled around the nearest weapon handle.

The latch shifted.

Pale blue light entered through the widening seam.

Mara raised the weapon, ready to swing.

Rook opened the lid and looked down at her.

"Cozy?"

She released the handle and drew a deep, useless breath.

Relief weakened her so suddenly that she remained lying among the weapons for several seconds. Then anger returned and pushed her upright.

"Do you have to be irritating every time I’m glad you’re alive?"

"I find it helps preserve expectations."

Mara climbed partly out of the coffin and looked around.

Rook appeared unharmed, aside from fresh scratches across his coat and several strips of bark caught in his hair. The lantern hung from his hand, its blue light spreading through the enclosed grove.

The Abomination was gone.

Mara frowned. "Where is it?"

"Where is what?"

"The Abomination."

"Which one?"

"The one that was chasing us!"

Rook raised the lantern.

Blue light climbed the nearest trunk.

Mara followed it.

A reptilian foot hung from one of the branches. Three of its toes had been torn away, and the remaining claws twitched weakly around empty air.

More light reached the canopy.

The rest of the creature had been scattered among the trees.

Lengths of its twin tails hung from separate branches, both twisted around clusters of leaves. Several of its legs had been pulled from the body and threaded through the canopy like decorations. The woman’s head rested within the split of a trunk, long hair hanging beneath it while the thorn-like teeth opened and closed around nothing.

Its torso had been torn apart.

Strips of scaled flesh and exposed muscle dangled from dozens of branches. Blood ran along the wood without falling, drawn upward in thin streams as the trees drank it through their bark.

Mara stared.

The branches began to move.

They twisted around the severed pieces, tightening slowly. Bark folded over flesh. Leaves pressed against open wounds and sank into them. The creature’s limbs shriveled as something beneath the branches pulled the blood and substance from within.

A swollen shape formed beside one of the feet.

Its surface smoothed.

Its color changed from blood-dark red to gold.

Within moments, a round fruit hung where the severed limb had been.

The same kind Mara had nearly touched when they entered the forest.

Another fruit formed around a piece of tail. Then another around part of the creature’s torso. All through the canopy, torn flesh disappeared beneath tightening wood and emerged as heavy, sweet-smelling growths.

Mara’s stomach convulsed.

She leaned over the side of the coffin and nearly vomited, though there was little inside her body to bring up. The memory of the golden fruit hanging within reach returned with cruel clarity. She had considered eating it. Her fingers had almost touched its skin.

Rook watched the trees finish feeding.

"Like I said," he murmured, "the trees are also Abominations."

Mara wiped her mouth and forced herself to look at him. "Why didn’t they attack you?"

"I didn’t provoke them."

"You were standing inside the same enclosure."

"Yes."

"And they ignored you?"

Rook pointed toward the broken branches scattered across the soil. Several still moved, their splintered ends leaking thick black sap.

"The lizard was too blind to see the trap. It charged in, broke a few branches and stepped on roots. The trees took offence. Not very fond of being stepped on."

Mara looked at the nearest trunk.

Its bark shifted.

For a moment, she saw the outline of several bodies pressed beneath the wood. Arms, faces and open mouths moved slowly under the surface before sinking too deep to distinguish.

She climbed out of the coffin with considerably more care.

Rook lowered the lantern. "Now let’s be nice and leave before the trees decide they need more food."

Above them, one of the new fruits tore free from its branch.

It struck the coffin lid with a wet thud.

Neither of them moved.

The golden skin split.

A section of the lizard’s empty eye socket stared out from the flesh within.

Rook quietly closed the coffin.

Then he lifted it onto his back.

Mara was already walking toward the exit.

For once, he did not need to tell her to stay close.