The ground shuddered beneath their feet.
Maria stumbled as the tremors rippled outward from the Green Tree, shaking the very roots of the earth.
Her breath caught in her throat as she watched her father, Chief Ilyan, standing over the corpse of the prisoner, blood dripping from his dagger and soaking into the roots of the sacred tree.
"What have you done..." Maria whispered in horror, her eyes wide.
But Ilyan didn't hear her. He was laughing.
"Now they'll see!" He cried, his voice echoing through the grove as if sound couldn't get out. As if those outside it couldn't hear a thing of what was going on inside.