Chapter 5 The Last Fire

The final night had arrived, and the sky was no longer blue or purple, but it was a dark, bruised gray that felt like it was pressing down on the roofs of our houses. The elders opened the heavy iron doors of the Great Hall and led the thirty of us out into the village square, but we were not the same girls who had entered a week ago, for most were walking with their heads down and their eyes looking at nothing.

The village had built a massive bonfire in the center of the square, and the flames were leaping so high that they licked at the dark air, creating a circle of orange light that was meant to be a celebration of our sacrifice. This was the "Thank You" party, a night where the villagers were told to dance and eat and be merry, but as I looked at the faces of the people I had known my whole life, I saw only the reflection of their own guilt and fear.

"Eat, dance, and hold your loved ones close," Elder Bram shouted over the roar of the fire, and he gestured toward the long tables filled with roasted meats and sweet cakes that the village had spent days preparing. "Tonight, we thank these thirty brave daughters of Ariath, for they are the wall that keeps us safe, and we must send them off with joy so the treaty remains strong. Enjoy your last hours with your families, for the beasts are already circling the village walls, and the wind tells me that it will soon be time for the final walk to the Edge."

The words "last hours" hit me like a physical blow to the stomach, and I felt a cold shiver run down my spine because I knew how final this was. As I stood near the flames, I thought about Elara, my best friend who had been taken in the ceremony five years ago. Elara was the one who had taught me how to be rebellious and how to ask the questions that made the elders angry, for she never believed that we should just be sheep for the wolves. We had met in the woods a month before her own ceremony, and we had sat by a hidden stream, promising each other that we would never bow down to the beasts. We had made a secret plan that if she was taken, she would find a way to return to the village and tell us the truth about the forest, but five years had passed, and no one had heard even a whisper from her.

As I was lost in my thoughts, two people pushed through the crowd toward me, and I recognized them as Elara's parents, their faces looking older and more tired than they did when their daughter was still home. Her mother reached out and grabbed my hand, and she pressed a small, heavy silver pendant into my palm, her eyes filled with a desperate kind of hope that made my heart ache. "Kiana, please," she whispered, her voice shaking with a sob she was trying to hide. "If you see our Elara in that dark place, give her this family pendant, for we want her to always remember who she is and that her family still loves her. We haven't heard from her since the night she was snatched, but if anyone can find her and survive, it is you."

"I will find her," I promised, closing my fingers tightly over the cold silver, and I felt a new fire of determination burning inside me. "Elara and I promised we would not be silent, and if she is still out there, I will give her this, and we will find a way to honor the promise we made by the stream."

I saw my own mother and Mara standing near the edge of the crowd, and I pushed away from Elara's parents until I could wrap my arms around my family, feeling the way Mara was shaking against my side. My father was there too, standing a few feet away with his arms crossed, and though he did not speak, I could see the way his jaw was working as he stared at the dark forest that was waiting for us.

"They are already out there, Kiana," my mother whispered, her voice barely audible over the sound of a fiddle player who was trying to play a happy tune that no one wanted to hear. "The elders say the Beast Legion is so close that they can hear our laughter, and they are just waiting for the moon to turn red so they can claim their debt. Please, my daughter, do not fight them tonight, for I want to remember you as you are now, and I do not want the last thing you see to be a claw or a tooth because you were too stubborn to stay silent."

"I cannot promise you that, Mother," I said, and I reached into my thin white dress to touch the family pendant and the small silk pouch she had given me. "I will say my goodbyes, and I will walk to the Edge because I have no choice, but I will not pretend that I am happy to be a sacrifice for a village that is too afraid to stand on its own two feet. Look at them, Mother, they are dancing while they prepare to give us away, and they are eating while they know we will never be seen or heard from again after the sun goes down."

My father finally stepped closer, and for a moment, the anger in his eyes softened into something that looked like real pain, but his voice was still stiff and hard when he spoke. "You have always been a difficult girl, Kiana, but you are my daughter, and I hope the forest is kinder to you than you think it will be. Do not look back when you reach the grass, for the beasts do not like it when their prizes try to cling to the world of men, and it is better for everyone if you just let go and disappear into the dark without a struggle."

"I am not a prize, Father, and I will never let go of who I am," I told him, looking him straight in the eyes until he was the one who had to turn away. "You may be okay with me disappearing, but I am going to make sure that whatever beast takes me knows exactly who I am, and I will not be a nameless ghost that you can forget."

The mood of the party shifted suddenly when the moon began to rise higher in the sky, and we all watched as a thin sliver of red began to bleed across its silver surface. The laughter died down, the music stopped, and a terrible, heavy silence fell over the square as the bonfire began to burn low into glowing red coals. The Village Head stepped forward, his face pale in the red moonlight, and he held up a silver bell that he rang only once.

"The time has come," he announced, and his voice was full of a fear that he could no longer hide. "The Blood Moon is full, and the treaty must be paid, so we must lead these thirty daughters to the Edge where the watchers are waiting. Do not follow us, and do not look toward the trees, for the snatching will be fast, and once they cross the boundary, they belong to the King of the Beast forever."

I felt Mara's fingers slip from mine as my mother pulled her back, and the sound of families sobbing at once was the most terrible thing I had ever heard. I stood with the other girls, our white dresses glowing like bone in the red moonlight, and I felt a strange, cold calm settle over my heart. I didn't cry, but I reached down to feel the small, sharp blade in my dress and the silver pendant in my hand. The elders thought this was the end of our lives, and my father thought I should be silent, but as we began to walk toward the dark wall of trees, I knew that this was the start of a fight that Elara had prepared me for. The beasts were waiting, but I was not going to disappear without a trace.