Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
Ellery
Ten feet away from me, in front of the horseless carriage, a portal shimmered to life. I didn’t know where Luna had come from, but she appeared around the corner of the vehicle with a chest in hand. I suspected she’d managed to get inside the contraption when the guards exited.
Luna, Scarlet, Callan, and Mr. Fletcher, all carrying chests, ran toward the portal. Ryker set his chest down and, lifting his hands, drew more electricity from the sky.
Lightning pelted the dirt in front of the closest rider. Bending, Ryker smashed his hand off the ground, and a wave of thunder rolled across the earth.
Many of the horses screamed as they danced away from the rippling earth before spinning and bolting. Unable to hold on, some of the riders fell while others managed to calm their mounts, and some clung to their fleeing steeds.
The horses were battle-hardened animals, but it was impossible to prepare them for the ground undulating from thunderquakes. The out-of-control beasts would keep them occupied for a little while.
Tucker scrambled onto the top of the carriage and, with his dagger in hand, sliced through the straps securing the chests to the roof. He started kicking the chests off as Luna and Callan went through the portal.
Stopping outside of it, Mr. Fletcher threw his chest through the opening before turning to lift one that Tucker had kicked from the conveyance. Scarlet stopped beside her father and threw her chest through the portal before helping her father with the others as Tucker jumped off the top.
The twang of bowstrings alerted me that the archers had released more arrows. The riders were emerging from the fog, many of them firing arrows from their mounts.
The horses’ movements would most likely throw off their aim… which meant these incompetents would probably be more likely to hit someone.
“Arrows!” I shouted.
Mr. Fletcher grabbed Scarlet and pushed her down before climbing on top of her. Tucker sprinted toward them and, with a mighty leap, crashed onto their backs. Mr. Fletcher’s legs kicked out, and poor Scarlet was probably barely breathing at the bottom, but none of the arrows would find her.
Throwing up my hands, I created a funnel of wind above me that spread out to include my friends…
No, they’re my family.
Scarlet and her father had always been like family, but now so were Tucker, Callan, and even Luna, who could be a little challenging to deal with sometimes. That’s what they’d all become to me; I’d protect them, I’d die for them, and I was most certainly willing to kill for them.
Ryker glanced at the swirling wind flinging away the arrows before unleashing more lightning. While some guards continued to approach us, the number was growing smaller. Despite that, it was past time for us to go.
“We’ve got all the chests!” Tucker yelled as he scrambled off Mr. Fletcher and Scarlet.
“Ellery, go!” Ryker yelled at me.
While I was reluctant to leave him here, I didn’t stop to argue with him. It would be pointless and might get someone injured or killed; he was far too stubborn to leave here without me.
I threw more lightning at the guards on the roadways before sprinting toward the portal as Scarlet and Mr. Fletcher went through. “You better be right behind me!” I yelled at Ryker. “Or I’m coming back!”
He smiled at me, but I wasn’t sure how much I trusted that smile. Did it mean he planned on doing something crazy or that he’d be right behind me?
I wouldn’t hesitate to come back; he had to know that, so his smile had to mean he’d start running too. I was almost to the portal when Gaius shoved his way to the front of the guards on the roadside.
A bubble of fury formed in my chest as I gazed at the man I’d come to loathe. When his golden-brown eyes met mine, I undid the string of my hood and yanked it off.
I had no doubt they’d already known it was me; I was only one of two amsirah who could wield lightning in this realm, and Ryker was a lot bigger than me. But I wanted Gaius to see me smiling at him before I flung my hand at him.
A wave of lightning, energized by the awful memory of his tongue shoving into my mouth, erupted from my fingertips. I planned to kill him.
It was my intention, but as I’d come to learn, it wasn’t easy to kill a monster.
As soon as I pulled my hood free, Gaius threw himself to the side. He dove behind another amsirah to hide like the coward he was.
That amsirah didn’t get out of the way in time; the electricity hammering his body cut off his startled yelp. The burnt remnants fell over top of Gaius, who lifted his head to look at me.
This time, not only did lust shimmer in his eyes, but so did hate. I’d tried to kill him, but more than that, I’d lied to him and chosen Ryker over him… although there never truly was a choice.
If he got his hands on me again, he’d make sure I paid for those transgressions, but I’d never let this asshole take me alive again. I lifted my hand to unleash another wave of lightning.
Before I could release my fury, I plunged into the portal and away from the chaos.