Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Ellery
We moved swiftly through the other towns surrounding the Revenant Woods until we finally arrived in Nottingshire. By that time, the sun was rising, but it was impossible to see through the raging inferno.
The flames outside of Nottingshire were higher, angrier, and further into the woods than they’d been in the other towns. We were also all exhausted.
Well, all of us except for the poltergeists, who were still waving their bloody daggers with earsplitting grins. They continued to charge into battle with the mindless resolve of steers on a stampede. Being dead had the benefit of not requiring sleep.
Though we were still safely away from the fire, because it had spread so much, we’d misjudged where to open the portal and were far closer to the soldiers than we’d anticipated. Their eyes widened when they spotted us only fifty feet away.
Farley and the poltergeists released a savage shout as they flew at the guards with their knives pointed directly at them. Unprepared for the malicious attack from the immortal specters, the soldiers didn’t know how to fend them off.
Many pulled their swords from their sheaths and swung them at the poltergeists. All their blades succeeded in doing was creating tendrils in the air as they sliced through the specters.
The poltergeists reformed as they jabbed into the guards, sliced throats, and ruthlessly stabbed over and over again until blood filled the air. Their wrath filled the air as they unleashed it on all those who’d invaded their home.
Watching them throughout the night, I’d realized they hadn’t been anywhere near as ruthless as they could have been to the unsuspecting souls they’d tormented in the Revenant Woods. They’d mostly scared and harassed those amsirah.
This wrath was either suppressed for years or solely reserved for the nobility and anyone who helped them. I suspected it was mostly the latter and that some of their rage had bled over to all those they’d traumatized in the woods.
They’d been angry enough to harass innocent amsirah but still had enough control not to slaughter in this ruthless way. They laughed as the guards screamed and mocked when they pleaded for mercy.
“Shit,” Tucker muttered. “I think they’re getting more vicious.”
“Their weapon arm never tires,” Ryker said.
“It’s too bad they can’t leave these woods,” Ianto remarked. “With them on our side, we wouldn’t need an army to defeat the aristocrats.”
He was right about that, but, unfortunately, the spirits here were bound to the forest by whatever magic resurrected them. I was sure that contributed to some of their anger.
From the trees, a group of creatures I’d never seen before rushed past. They were small and resembled millipedes, with an astonishing number of legs, but they were far larger than those bugs, and their pincers looked like they could cut through bone.
There were probably thousands, if not millions, of things I’d never encountered in the Revenant Woods before, but I’d never imagined anything like them. I hoped that, when this was over, these things slunk back to whatever distant corner they’d emerged from and didn’t decide to stick around.
When they were closer to the guards, one of them reared back on its legs and launched itself at the man. Busy with a poltergeist, the guard never saw the creature until it latched onto his face.
I was sure the man screamed, but it didn’t carry over the roar of the fire and the monster clinging to him. Blood seeped from around the pus-green creature as it… well, I didn’t know what it did, but every instinct I had screamed at me to run!
“What are those things?” Callan breathed.
“I… I don’t know. I’ve never seen them before,” I whispered.
I was afraid that talking louder would draw their attention to us, and if those creatures so much as turned in our direction, I’d set the woods on fire. The monster fell off the guard’s head to reveal the gaping, bloody hole where his face used to be.
The guard remained standing for longer than he should have, his fingers still twitching. And then finally, mercifully, he fell over.
“Let’s get this over with,” I breathed as revulsion curdled in my belly and the incessant clicking of those things’ legs sent my pulse into hyperdrive. I’d have nightmares about them for the rest of my life.
Beside me, power swelled in the air as Ryker unleashed lightning from his fingertips. The poltergeists didn’t mind when the bolts pierced through them and crashed into the guards.
Lifted off their feet by the impact, the guards flew into the fire, where they vanished into the flames. The poltergeists turned away from those dead to hunt more of the living.
I didn’t know why they hadn’t unleashed this kind of wrath on passing travelers before, especially those who bore the insignia of the nobles. I’d have to ask Farley about that later.
When Ryker released more lightning, the thrum of his power vibrated deep within me. Our powers remained entwined, and when he pulled forth another wave of lightning, some of the energy for it came from me.
And deep within me, I felt his rising fury as he sought to destroy all those who hunted, oppressed, and slaughtered everyone in their way. I’d never felt his rage like this before, and I didn’t like it.
His father, and everything done to him over the centuries, had pushed him toward a breaking point. He wouldn’t take being pushed around or subjugated by that man, or any of the other so-called rulers of this realm.
Even with all the abuse and horrors he’d endured, he’d always been a good man. I worried his growing anger would somehow cause him to lose sight of that.
My fingers itched to touch him, calm him, and possibly stop what he was doing, but I dug them into my palms and willed myself not to touch him.
He’d embraced who I was, and while he was determined to keep me safe and was a little overprotective…
okay, a lot overprotective, he didn’t try to hold me back. I would do the same for him.
Taking a deep breath, I focused on the task at hand. I could worry about Ryker later, but if we didn’t do something now, we’d lose the woods.