The Hollow Herd, Part 5
5. The Last Ride The sun had risen by the time Mercy Vane left the ruins of the Deadwind Plains behind. The land, once roiling with unnatural horrors, now lay silent, the thick fog dissipating into a pale morning light. The hollow cattle were gone, vanished with the last vestiges of the curse, but Mercy knew better than to think that meant peace had returned. The land had been scarred too deeply, and so had she. Ezra Cole still knelt beside the sealed well, his face twisted in grief, his hands shaking as he whispered prayers into the wind. Mercy didn’t stop to watch. She never had much time for preachers or their redemption stories. She had her own to reckon with. She mounted her horse, her movements stiff, the weight of the last few days dragging at her like a heavy coat. The bag of silver the mayor had offered her still sat on her saddle, but it was nothing more than a token now. There was no payment that could ever wash the blood from her hands, no coin that could ever return the...