Sebastian

a shepherd boy round up some sheep. He discovered one of the barred openings that let light and air into this chamber. When we realized he had seen our secret, he had to disappear."
    Koltak just clung to the bars and stared at Harland.
    "Your brother was a strong man," Harland said. "He lasted for weeks before the females broke him, body and spirit. I wonder if you'll last even half as long." He lashed out, kicking Koltak's injured foot.
    Koltak screamed as the pain tore through him. He couldn't fight, could barely struggle as two members of the council dragged him down the stairs and through a tunnel carved out of the pit's stone walls. Then they opened a door and shoved him into the pit, swiftly locking the door behind them.
    Gasping from the pain and unable to stand, he cowered by the door, watching the females as they moved toward them.
    "Harland!" he shouted. "Harland! I can still help you!"
    But Harland and the other males were gone.
    As he felt something brush against the edges of his mind, as he realized he was going to die in this pit and the violation these creatures did to his heart would eclipse anything they did to his body, he accepted a painful truth.
    Sebastian had been right. Belladonna was Ephemera's only hope.
    *
    Swallowing down the sick churning in his stomach, Dalton raised his head and opened his eyes.
    Dark.
    Guardians of the Light and Guides of the Heart, where were they?
    He was still in the wagon, still holding his wife's arm. "Aldys?"
    "D-Dalton?"
    "Lally? Dale?" He touched his children. "Anyone hurt?"
    "Hey-a!" a voice called.
    A lantern, bobbing to the rhythm of a fast walk, came down the road toward them.
    Releasing his family, Dalton's left hand closed around the sheath of his sword. His right hand curled around the hilt.
    "You folks all right?" the man asked.
    "We're fine," Dalton replied warily. He relaxed a little when the man got closer and raised the lantern high enough so they could see his face. A good face. Older. Strong body and arms that came from solid work.
    "Where did you folks come from?"
    "Wizard City." Seeing the man's friendly expression fade, he added, "Heart's Justice sent us here."
     
    Wherever "here" was. "Is this one of Belladonna's landscapes?"
    "Do you want it to be?"
    "Yes."
    The man relaxed. "Well, Glorianna is never wrong about a heart."
    "So this is one of Belladonnas landscapes?"
    "Well, it is and it isn't. Glorianna's mother, Nadia, looks after this landscape. Village of Aurora is just down the road a ways, but the house is closer." The man looked up at the sky. "It'll be dawn in another hour or so. Easier to find your way to the village once the sun comes up. You follow me up to the house.
    I reckon the youngsters could use some warm milk, and you folks could use a bite to eat."
    "We don't want to intrude," Aldys said nervously.
    "Never you mind that," the man said with a smile. "Things are plenty stirred up tonight, so Nadia's already in the kitchen." He started to turn away, then turned back. "I'm Jeb, by the way."
    Relief that they had found a safe place made Dalton light-headed, but as he untied the reins and released the brake, something occurred to him.
    "Jeb? Why are you out on the road this time of night?"
    "Was keeping watch for someone we're expecting. They haven't shown up yet, but they will. They will."
    A good man, Dalton thought as they followed Jeb back to the Landscaper's house. Caring people.
    He hoped whoever they were watching for made it back to them.
    *
    The Eater of the World screamed in rage and fear. The True Enemy had taken the Dark Guides and their city out of the world, so far out of reach It couldn't feel any resonance. Even when It had been caged, It had been able to feel the resonance of the Dark Guides. How could she control a place that held so much of their Dark power? How ?
    And how could she defeat the Dark Guides? There were so many of them in that city! If she was powerful enough to cage all of them …
    It had to hide. It had to find a place far from these landscapes, a place where she wouldn't look for It.
    As It fled back to the school, It considered all the landscapes It could reach through the gardens. But she would know about those places.
    The sea. It could hide in the sea. Hunt in the sea. Until It figured out a way to destroy the True Enemy.
    It moved through the gardens, flowing beneath the paths that were now cracked and growing noxious weeds until It came to the garden where it had left the stones it had