Chapter 78
CHAPTER SEVENTY-EIGHT
Ellery
I’d hoped to find Ryker next, but instead I found more soldiers. Many of them were nothing but body parts torn apart by my blast, but two still lived.
Then I found Samael. He was conscious and in pretty good shape when we pulled him from the hole.
“Ryker’s nearby,” he said as he wiped away the debris clinging to his mouth. “I was talking to him, but then he stopped speaking, and I haven’t heard from him since.”
His words lurched my heart into my throat.
“What do we do with him?” one of the amsirah asked. “Forest or jail?”
I knew what they wanted to do with him, but I looked at Tucker, who stared back at me with the same uncertainty I felt. Samael had helped us; without him, all of this might not have happened, but we didn’t trust him.
When I shifted my attention back to the sheriff, his eyes burned into mine as he awaited his fate. Indon tilted his head as he looked on in curiosity. I explained to him who Samael was, what he’d done before Ryker’s imprisonment, and what he did to free Ryker and Tucker from the dungeon.
The gargoyle studied me for a minute before shifting his attention back to Samael. “It is an interesting conundrum.”
I was glad he thought so, because I certainly didn’t. I wanted Samael imprisoned for all he’d done, but he’d proven to be an ally in the end. However, there were many in Tempest whom he’d hurt.
“For now, he stays here,” I said. “He can’t escape Tempest, and he did help us. The amsirah will decide his fate.”
Samael studied me before bowing his head; I had no idea what he’d expected me to say or do, and I didn’t care. “Keep him nearby,” I instructed before turning away.
I didn’t have time for the sheriff right now. I had to find Ryker. Samael had been speaking to him, which meant he was close by, but then he’d gone silent.
He went silent. Those words kept running on a panic-inducing loop through my head. He went silent.
My hands shook as I worked to pull more of the wreckage out of the pit. He went silent.
When I lifted a large stone from the pile, I discovered the dark brown hair covering the back of a dented head. Falling to my knees, I pulled the rubble away from him as Tucker and Ianto rushed to help, along with some of the other amsirah.
Ryker had fallen face down, and his back was bent at an unnatural angle. A strangled cry escaped me as Tucker removed a broken piece of a bed from his legs, uncovering Ryker completely.
“We have to turn him over,” Tucker said.
I couldn’t breathe, and I couldn’t get my trembling hands under Ryker. A hand on my shoulder gently pulled me back a little before Ianto bent to help Tucker.
Carefully, the two of them rolled Ryker over. When he was on his back, I cried out as I took in his battered, bloody face and broken bones. Some of his injuries had healed, but many remained, and while his eyelids fluttered, they didn’t open.
But he was alive. He was alive!
“Ryker,” I whispered as I clasped his face. “Ryker, I’m here.”
I bent and kissed him, but he didn’t return it. I tried not to let panic take over as I stroked his scruff-covered face.
“We have to get him out of here,” Tucker said.
“Yes, of course. Of course,” I whispered, but I couldn’t pull my hands away from him.
When I went to rise, my trembling legs made it impossible to do so. Ianto helped me stand as another stretcher came down the hill and the amsirah maneuvered Ryker onto it.
I held onto his hand as I climbed the improvised stairs forged from rocks as the pit grew deeper. When we arrived at the edge, everything in me screamed to keep going, to stay with him and assure myself he was safe, but my feet didn’t move.
I had to trust that they’d take good care of him. There could still be other amsirah alive beneath the rubble.
Lifting his hand to my mouth, I kissed his knuckles. “I’ll join you soon.”
Guilt and sorrow tore at me as I placed his hand on his belly and watched while they carried him away… from me. Unable to stop myself, I placed my hand over my heart; I was certain it was trying to tear out of my chest to go with him.
With a sigh, I wrenched my feet off the ground and returned to the deepening pit. They’re alive. They’re all still alive. And we’re free.
I would ensure we stayed that way.