Page 19 of The Werewolf Cowboy
Swallowing her gorge, Katy sidestepped the mess and peered out. “Let’s roll.”
The Fae took her words seriously, for Ninnea in her Thannach form tucked up her stubby legs and began rolling down the hallway like a tumbleweed.
Running after the Thannach, she finally found herself facing a strong oak door. Katy opened it and Ninnea rolled after her. They were outside in a courtyard with spongy green moss and tall trees against a thorny hedge.
As a barrier, it was quite effective.
Shifting back to her Fae form, Ninnea gestured to the hedge. “Follow me.”
Katy ran after her. Ninnea waved a hand, sending purple glitter into the air. She murmured a chant and the hedge parted. They slipped through, and then Ninnea chanted again, closing the break in the greenery.
They were outside the brothel’s boundaries, in a wasteland that looked like hell. Clouds of ash rose in the air as Katy took a tentative step forward.
“What happened here?” she asked, staring at the distant purple shadowed mountains, the flattened pine and oak trees that lay like jumbled matchsticks upon the grayness. A few boulders stood, brown and lonely-looking, against the moonscape.
“The Blasted Zone,” Ninnea informed her. She belched, and looked apologetic. “Sorry. Eating other Fae always gives me heartburn.”
The Fae kicked at the ash covering the ground, sending tufts into the air much like the glitter she’d emitted with her hands. Only this ash held no brilliant color, nor any warmth or life. It was dead and cold as the land.
“We must get as far as possible from here, for they will soon discover your absence.” Ninnea pointed to an outcropping of dark trees in the near distance. “The trees will provide us with refuge.”
A hot yellow sun burned down upon Katy as they began slogging through the thick ash. Each step felt like walking through wet concrete. The ash tickled her nose and made her sneeze. Every few feet Ninnea waved a hand to erase their footprints.
“How did the land get like this?” she asked Ninnea.
“Long ago, a group of Dark Fae combined their powers and in their greed to become even more powerful, they siphoned the energy of a volcano and it erupted, causing this wasteland. Nothing grows here, or survives for long.”
Ninnea glanced backward. “Hurry. If they find us out here, they will torture you before giving you the mercy of death.”
Katy increased her pace. Fatigue pulled at her, making her muscles burn. She tried to keep her spirits up, but in this vast desert wasteland, in a world totally unfamiliar to her, how could any of her people even begin to find her?
