The Priory of the Orange Tree (The Roots of Chaos, #1)

by Samantha Shannon

She would have to tell the tale she heard each day at sanctuary. The butchered tale. Half a tale. ‘There is a Womb of Fire that churns beneath this world,’ she began. ‘Over a thousand years ago, the magma within it came suddenly together, forming a beast of unspeakable magnitude – as a sword takes shape within the forge. His milk was the fire within the Womb; his thirst for it was quenchless. He drank until even his heart was a furnace.’ Katryen shivered. ‘Soon this creature, this wyrm, grew too large for the Womb. He longed to use the wings it had given him. Having torn his way upward, he broke through the peak of a mountain in Mentendon, which is called Dreadmount, and brought with him a flood of molten fire. Red lightning flashed at the summit of the mountain. Darkness fell upon the city of Gulthaga, and all who lived there died choking on pernicious smoke. ‘There was a lust in this wyrm to conquer all he saw. He flew south to Lasia, where the House of Onjenyu ruled a great kingdom, and settled close to their seat in Yikala.’ Ead took a sip of ale to wet her throat. ‘This nameless creature carried a terrible plague – a plague no humans had ever encountered. It made the very blood of the afflicted burn, driving them mad. To keep the wyrm at bay, the people of Yikala sent him sheep and oxen, but the Nameless One was never sated. He lusted after sweeter flesh – human flesh. And so, each day, the people cast their lots, and one was chosen as a sacrifice.’

Environmental lore