Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 87781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
And wrong.
For a moment, I’m reminded of my mother.
I quickly twist around, expecting to see her somewhere, the glint of her horns, the cloak of her wings.
But I don’t see her.
I see something else instead.
On the riverbank in front of me, the earth starts to move and crumble down into the water. It looks like something is trying to push itself up through the dirt. A giant earthworm, perhaps?
Yet as I stare at it in trepidation, my heart beating faster, I get the feeling that it’s not something so harmless, and I start to steer the boat over to the opposite side of the river.
Just as something pushes out of the ground.
Horns.
A head.
Not just any head, though.
It’s a deer skull, very similar to the one I have pushed up on my forehead.
Except the head coming out of the ground has to be the size of my entire body, the horns adding extra height, and as the dirt falls away, the horns suddenly catch fire. A flaming skull.
“What in the realm?” I breathe, watching in horror and confusion as the rest of the creature emerges.
It’s not a deer at all. It’s like a giant elk-human hybrid, a twenty-foot-tall creature of bones and sinew, finding its footing on top of the river bank. It looks impossibly strong and menacing, radiating energy not from this world or from any world I’ve known.
Eldritch horror. I’ve heard that phrase a few times, particularly when it comes to books, but I’ve never really understood what it meant.
Until now.
Until it turns its head towards me, and though it has only empty sockets for eyes, I know it sees me.
And it wants me.
Oh hell no.
I immediately grab my sword, holding it at my side while silently willing the boat to move faster. Thankfully, the boat seems to pick up speed, and the giant deer creature on the riverbank doesn’t come after me. It just stares in my direction, and I get this feeling of crawling, buzzing insects in the back of my head.
What the fuck is that? I think, afraid to take my eyes off it. I watch it carefully until the boat goes around a bend in the river, and it disappears from view.
My whole life in this land, I’ve never seen something like that before. I haven’t even heard about anything like that, not unless someone was talking about the Old Gods…
I give my head a shake.
No.
There is a rational explanation for that thing. The Old Gods are dead, and they aren’t coming back, not unless someone raised them.
Someone like my mother…
Thud.
Suddenly, the boat comes to a stop, and I go flying down against the bow, nearly dropping my sword in the water. I straighten up and look around wildly. Did I hit a log? A sandbar? The boat isn’t moving at all.
I look over the edge of the water, but I don’t see anything in the murky darkness.
Wait.
A flash of something white and red.
Bones?
Blood?
Please don’t tell me today is the day one of Vellamo’s sea serpent monsters finally decides to have fun with me. I have immunity with the creatures of the sea, and normally they’re not found this far up the river, but—
Thud.
The boat shakes violently, and I almost lose my balance.
I whirl around, my sword drawn.
I see six white claws wrap around the end of the boat, each claw the size of my forearm, then another six claws beside it, digging into the wood and making it splinter.
I gulp, the sword starting to shake in my hand.
Vellamo! I call out in my mind, hoping she can hear me. I need a little help. One of your sea creatures is misbehaving!
But then it pulls itself up.
And it’s not a sea creature at all.
It’s a giant beast with the face of a snouted creature, a row of serrated teeth at the end, like a crocodile if it were covered in matted red fur.
“Let my ship go!” I yell at the creature, surprised at the bravery in my voice.
Tiny yellow eyes blink at me from deep in the fur, like egg yolks in pools of blood.
It opens its mouth and hisses and snaps.
Then it starts climbing aboard the ship, making it list under the weight.
The rest of the creature is upright like a man, except it has a long, spiny, crocodile-like tail that thumps onto the deck, creating holes in it.
“Stay back!” I yell, holding out my sword. “I am the Goddess of Death!”
But the creature doesn’t listen.
It doesn’t care.
It lunges forward, the boat shaking, and I move out of the way just in time. I roll along the deck and get to my feet, close enough to drive my sword into the creature’s side. The blade sinks in easily, like butter, but even though the creature cries out in pain, no blood comes from the wound.