Contents
Creatures In the Woods
Overview
Isla investigates a Starling child’s disappearance and confronts a colossal serpent that shifts into a woman who claims to be formerly Wildling. The shifter confirms the child’s death and rejects Isla’s demand to join the coming war. Isla forbids further Starling killings, revealing new threats on Star Isle and heightening her dread of Grim.
Summary
Haunted by a vision that Grim will one day kill her, Isla rushes to the Starling ruins after sensing tension in the air and smelling blood. Maren and Leo report a missing girl and present a blood-soaked cloak. Determined to protect the Starlings, Isla crosses the isle’s boundary despite warnings.
Through rain and a strangely clear forest path, Isla reaches a lake and is ambushed by a colossal serpent. Thrown underwater and nearly drowned, she is briefly saved by Ciel’s strike while Avel is knocked from the sky. Isla channels her Wildling power to bind the serpent in a prison of roots, trunks, and vines.
The captive serpent shrinks and transforms into a woman clad in scale-like dress, revealing herself as formerly Wildling. She confirms the child is gone, defends the creatures’ killings as survival, and claims they only take wanderers. Isla attempts to command her aid against the coming Nightshade invasion, invoking her rule over Starling.
The shifter laughs, rejects any allegiance, and warns Isla to keep Starlings away. Before departing, Isla declares there will be no more Starling deaths. Ciel and a bloodied but conscious Avel carry Isla away. That night, Isla recalls another snake encounter, her fear of Grim’s prophesied betrayal lingering.
Who Appears
- IslaStarling ruler and Wildling-blooded; investigates a child’s killing, battles a giant serpent, confronts an ex-Wildling shifter, and sets boundaries.
- Serpent-woman (ex-Wildling shifter)Colossal serpent who becomes a woman; admits the child is gone, refuses alliance, asserts survival motives, and departs unharmed.
- CielSkyling twin; answers Isla’s call, wounds the serpent mid-battle, and helps evacuate Avel and Isla.
- AvelSkyling twin; struck down by the serpent’s tail, revived and able to fly by chapter’s end.
- MarenStarling who informs Isla of the missing girl and the creatures in the woods.
- LeoNervous Starling who warns Isla about the forest boundary and the creatures’ territory.
- Unnamed Starling girlVictim whose bloodied cloak is found; confirmed dead by the serpent-woman.