Moonpetal's Arc

Chapter 1 of 6

Moonpetal knelt in the ash and pushed a seed into the dirt. She wanted a grove here, a place where hurt creatures could heal in safety. But the ground of Vinerot was poisoned. She had planted twelve seeds this week. Every one had rotted before dawn. The tarantula rode on her shoulder, still and warm, watching her fail again. She patted the soil down. Then she pressed her palm flat and fed the seed her own magic, the way her mother taught her. Green light spread from her fingers. A pale shoot broke the surface. Moonpetal held her breath. The shoot curled black. It sank back into the dirt and died. The soil drank the poison and gave nothing back. Moonpetal sat down hard. Her locs fell around her face. She had left Mosscap Cottage to find fertile ground for miles and found none. The whole valley was sick. She could not grow a single flower here, let alone a grove. Wings scraped overhead. A dragon-woman dropped from the sky and landed on her clawed feet. Ginger hair, dark brown skin, a tail that lashed once as she folded her wings. Moonpetal knew her. This was the one who guarded the ridge, who chased off anything that came near the weak. "You're planting in a graveyard," Sage said. "Nothing roots in Vinerot dirt. It's been dead since the burn." "I have to try," Moonpetal said. "Wounded things need somewhere safe. I promised myself I'd build it." Sage crouched beside the dead seed. She sniffed the soil and made a face. "Poison. Deep in the roots of everything." She looked at Moonpetal for a long moment. "There's one patch it can't reach." Moonpetal stood. "Show me." Sage led her up the ridge to a hollow ringed by stone. In the center grew a towering flower, taller than Moonpetal. Its petals were red and purple. At its heart gaped a mouth lined with white teeth. It turned toward them and hissed. "The soil under it is clean," Sage said. "That thing eats the poison. It's the only living ground for miles." She kept her body between Moonpetal and the maw. "It also eats birds. And rabbits. And anything else soft enough to swallow." Moonpetal stared at the fanged flower. The only fertile ground in Vinerot sat under a monster's teeth. She stepped closer. The flower snapped at the air, missing her hand by inches. The tarantula pressed tight against her neck. "Then I need this ground," Moonpetal said quietly. "And I need it without dying for it." Sage groaned. "I was afraid you'd say that." Moonpetal knelt at the edge of the clean soil. She could grow her grove here. She only had to take the one patch of living earth in Vinerot away from the thing that made it live.