The torches cut through the darkness like jagged teeth.
Aria froze, her heart hammering in her chest. For a moment, she could still feel the warmth of the pale figures in her veins but now the forest was cold, the hollow empty. She was alone.
"There!" Tomas's father bellowed again. His axe caught the torchlight as he charged forward. Others followed, shovels, spears, even pitchforks gripped in trembling hands. Fear gave them courage or something crueler.
Aria's boots sank in the mud as she stumbled backward, her eyes darting between the trees. She could outrun them. Maybe. But the villagers knew these paths better than she did. They'd cut her off. Corner her.
"Wait!" she tried to shout, her voice cracking. "You don't understand"
"Enough lies!" a woman cried, spitting in the mud. "You're cursed! You'll bring ruin like your brother!"
The words struck harder than any blade.
The first man lunged. Instinct roared in Aria's blood, but she shoved it down, refusing to call on the oak's power not here, not in front of them. Instead, she ducked low, the axe grazing her shoulder, and bolted into the trees.
The chase began.
Branches whipped at her face, mud splattering her cloak. Shouts echoed behind her, torches bobbing like fiery eyes in the dark. Aria's lungs burned, each breath slicing her chest, but she didn't slow.
Faster, Faster.
She vaulted over a fallen log, slipped, caught herself, kept running. The forest pressed close, the air heavy with damp earth. Every sound magnified the thud of boots, the crack of branches, her own ragged breath.
"Don't let her escape!"
The voices multiplied, ringing all around her. They were spreading, circling. Panic clawed at her throat. She wasn't just running from a mob she was being hunted.
Aria veered left, plunging deeper into the trees where the ground sloped downward. Her boots slid on wet leaves, and she nearly lost her footing. She grabbed a branch for balance only to hear it snap like a bone.
She fell hard, tumbling down the slope, mud and stones tearing at her arms. She hit the bottom with a grunt, pain flaring through her ribs.
Above, torchlight appeared at the ridge. Figures loomed, pointing, shouting.
"There! Down there!"
Aria staggered to her feet, clutching her side. Her vision blurred, but the forest whispered faintly low, insistent, like the echo of the oak. Stand, or all will fall.
She wanted to scream back, I'm trying!
A shadow moved at the corner of her eye. Not her brother something else. A deer? No. The shape was wrong. Taller, sharper, Watching, Waiting.
The villagers clambered down the slope behind her.
Aria clenched her teeth and ran again, every muscle screaming. She couldn't stop, not here not now.
The trees thickened, swallowing the torchlight. For a moment, the night hid her, For a moment, she thought she had escaped.
Then a hand caught her cloak.
She spun, yanking free. A man's face loomed close, torchlight carving his fear into something monstrous. He swung a crude spear, missing by inches.
Aria stumbled back, heart slamming against her ribs. She didn't want to hurt them. She didn't want this fight. But the mob closed in too many, too fast.
And deep inside, the oak's power throbbed, begging to be unleashed.