The Eating Woods, #2
Eldritch
by Keri Lake
Contents
Chapter 70
Overview
Amid panic as the vein reignites, Maevyth helps Erithanya attempt to save a bitten guard, but the man dies as spiders erupt from him and birds consume them. Accused of causing the flare, Zev is revealed to be Deimos’s vessel. Maevyth resolves to find him at the Rotting Tree, accepts Erithanya’s guidance, and shares a final, heartfelt farewell with Aleysia before departing.
Summary
Maevyth wakes to find Zevander gone and a frantic chalk drawing of a tree with a gaping hollow on the wall. Erithanya rushes her outside: the vein has reignited. In the priestess’s cottage, a pregnant Lyverian woman weeps over her mate, Eryx, who was bitten. Erithanya mixes an elixir with Maevyth’s and her own blood, then administers it. Spiders pour from Eryx’s mouth as birds swoop down to devour them, but despite the rite, Eryx dies.
A guard claims he saw Zev at the vein just before it cracked and fire rose. Erithanya argues only a god could ignite it; Maevyth suggests a vessel could. She reveals Zev’s infant sacrifice to Deimos and confesses she hid this because she loves him. Erithanya frames it as the goddess’s will and confirms the infection’s severity: pure gashes seed spiders that now thrive in weakened mortal ichor. Maevyth insists they must fight to keep the plague from crossing into Aethyria and vows to find Zev.
Back in the room, Erithanya identifies the drawing as the Rotting Tree and senses fresh cleaving; someone helped Zev cleave. Aleysia arrives, recognizing the tree as the place she escaped and warns of its horrors. Erithanya suggests Raivox can find it and offers to show Maevyth the glove’s purpose.
Maevyth and Aleysia speak privately. Knowing mortals cannot cross the boundary, Maevyth considers a forced bond with Theron, then rejects it. Aleysia affirms Maevyth’s strength, kindness, and long-suffering loyalty, urging her to go and be with the one she loves. They embrace and part, Maevyth resolved to seek Zev at the Rotting Tree and to stop the spiders’ spread.
Who Appears
- MaevythProtagonist; attempts to save a bitten guard, reveals Zev’s tie to Deimos, resolves to find the Rotting Tree and leaves Aleysia.
- ErithanyaPriestess; performs a blood rite with Maevyth, analyzes the plague, identifies the Rotting Tree, urges seeking Raivox.
- AleysiaMaevyth’s sister; recognizes the Rotting Tree from captivity, declines to go, gives Maevyth a heartfelt send-off.
- Zevander (Zev)Absent but implicated; seen at the vein’s reignition, revealed as Deimos’s vessel, target of Maevyth’s search.
- EryxGuard and expectant father; dies after infection as spiders emerge from him despite the priestess’s elixir.
- Pregnant Lyverian womanEryx’s mate; grieves over his body and underscores the human cost of the spreading plague.