The Rage Eater

Chapter 37: The Bloodwood

With a weathered rucksack on his back and a tall walking stick in his hand, Master Padwe led Sadie, Dylan, Aubrey and Sim around dense trees and mossy boulders, across a rickety bridge straddling an icy river, and past a village with a small tavern that made Sadie ache for home. As this was an off-campus trip in potentially dangerous territory, Aubrey and Sadie both carried swords, which rested on their hips and bounced as they walked, leaving their skin tender and bruised. The weight of the swords, along with the content of their rucksacks—work gloves, medicine sacks, torches, hard-boiled eggs, salted fish, and canteens full of water—were tiring to carry, but neither Sadie nor Aubrey complained. They were seeing things—people, places, ferals—that were endlessly fascinating.

Throughout the trip, Sadie had thought about how to tell Aubrey about her secret power and meetings with Wizard Dvesha. Holding the secret was like having a feral beastly locked inside her, savagely clawing to get out. But she had assured Wizard Dvesha that she wouldn't tell anyone, and somehow, she knew that if she broke this promise, he would find out—and that she couldn't risk.

"This here seems as good as any to take a break," Master Padwe said. With a mittened hand, he brushed snow from a nearby rock, then sat down and sighed, his breath a plume of white smoke in the chilly air.

Sadie sat down on the snowy earth, then massaged her aching legs.

"How's Dylan?" Aubrey said, rubbing her shoulders. "Because Sim and I are freezing."

Before they set out, Sadie had tucked a birch bark Dylan into her tunic, over which she wore a heavy wool jacket. "Let's see." She placed Dylan on the ground.

He transformed from the bark into a blob, then eyed the ground below—dark red earth, crystalled with ice.

"Is that safe for him to eat?" Sim said.

"Oh, yes," Master Padwe said, before taking a swig from his canteen. "He loves red earth. Very nutrient-dense."

"He's been out here before?" Sadie asked, removing her mittens. She scraped at the frozen earth with her fingernails, then fed the cold hard chunks to Dylan.

"Here? This far from the Academy? No," Master Padwe said.

"Interesting," Aubrey said. She uncorked her canteen and passed it to Sim. "Seems to really like it."

Sadie fed Dylan some more of the red earth, which he gobbled up greedily. Something about his familiarity with it and Master Padwe's tone made her suspicious.

Aubrey picked up a chunk of red earth, rolling it between her fingers. "Is this why they call it the Bloodwood?"

"A good guess, but no," Master Padwe said. "The Bloodwood was the sight of a brutal battle between the Jefens and Galerans during the Age of the King. Thousands of soldiers, Warriors, and beastlies died fighting in the forest. Those who survived fled without collecting their dead. And so, the corpses remained, their bones and blood feeding the earth. Years later, when scavengers and Healers returned, the forest was alive with new and rare species—lotus clouds and lava roots and more."

"But that can't be real," Sadie said.

"Why not?" Aubrey said. "In life, we eat plants. In death, they eat us. And the more they eat, the more they grow."

Master Padwe unfurled a map. "We're very close," he said, standing up with a loud groan as his knees cracked and popped. He put away the map and took a final swig from his canteen. "So," he said with a mischievous grin, "are you ready for the Bloodwood?"

A few minutes later, as they crested a snow-capped hill, grunting and huffing, the Bloodwood rose up to meet them—a massive wall of trees, tall as any tower, that stretched beyond the edges of the horizon.