Part of Series
Head down, mouth shut—this is Askari’s new mantra. A pall still hangs over the Baratok community from the rarohan attack only a few months before, and all Askari wants is to stay out of trouble and help her grieving community heal. Until a stranger rides into camp. He offers her a chance to obtain something rare and valuable—monster blood with healing properties that could help prevent more of her people from dying. But when the mission goes wrong, she becomes the target of a relentless monster who won’t stop pursuing her until she and everyone around her are dead. Her only thought is to lead it away from the Baratok community, even if that means sacrificing herself. Injured, scared, and with only Harcos and Shujaa to help her fight, Askari flees from the Baratok with the monster on her tail. As she runs, fights, overcomes injuries, and encounters unimaginable terrors, she begins to wonder if she’ll ever make it back home—or if she even wants to.
Author
Ariele Sieling is a Pennsylvania-based writer who enjoys books, cats, and trees. Her first love, however, is science fiction and she has three series in the genre: post-apocalyptic monsters in Land of Szornyek; soft science fiction series, The Sagittan Chronicles; and scifi fairytale retellings in Rove City. She has also had numerous short stories published in a variety of anthologies and magazines and is the author of children's books series Rutherford the Unicorn Sheep, and a series of books for authors called Writers Reach. She lives with her spouse, enormous Great Pyrenees dog, and two cats.
