Aveline did not dare take even one step behind Theron.
She stayed plastered to him like a little monkey clinging to its mother, eyes wide, fingers tight around his clothes, every muscle in her body tense with dread.
The sounds ahead were terrible.
Not merely loud, but wrong—shrill, jagged cries that made the hair on her arms stand on end.
"After the discovery of the Aetherstones, there has been a rise in monsters in the forests surrounding Aurelmont," Theron said, as calmly as though he were discussing the weather.
Aveline, still clinging to him for dear life, slowly peeked from the safety of his arms.
There were carts lined up ahead, each one fitted with iron cages large enough to be rooms. Four horses were hitched to each, stamping uneasily as if even they wanted no part in what they were carrying.
Inside the cages were creatures so hideous and warped that Aveline could not decide which part of them frightened her most.
