Chapter 47 Ezra
Acrash, then a scream. My eyes shot open.
The haze of sleep was not what burned them, it was smoke.
I shot upright and was greeted with the warm glow of fire beyond our bedroom window.
I shook Liv awake, and it did not take her more than a moment to notice what I had.
This was not a dream. I stumbled from the bed toward the window, choking on the thick smoke that hung in the air.
I grabbed hold of Liv’s hand as I passed and pulled her with me.
Ice flooded my veins when I looked outside.
People, our people, were running from the bunkhouse, and enforcers were waiting for them just beyond the doors.
Liv’s eyes widened as the last remnants of sleep vanished from her body.
She gasped and doubled over, choking on the smoke she had taken in with the breath.
It was not only the bunkhouse that was set ablaze, it was the manor.
I summoned my shadows and let them fill the room, pushing the smoke from the air. When we could breathe again Liv and I looked at each other. Terror filled her eyes. We ran from our chambers and headed straight for the door downstairs. We reached it just in time.
“Stop!” Margaret froze at Liv’s command, carrying Christine and Eliza on either of her hips.
Liv threw her hands forward, reaching for the fire with her power.
She began to sweat and groan with the strain of it, but the fire began to dissipate.
It climbed back down the walls and hissed as it was extinguished at its core.
“Do not go out there, that is exactly what they want,” Liv warned.
Just as she said it, the other girls descended the stairs with fear in their eyes.
Helena followed quickly after them. “Is there anyone else up there?”
Liv asked her. She shook her head in response, struggling to catch her breath.
I forced more of my shadows forward, pushing what remained of the smoke out of the room. Raf came barreling in from the kitchen.
“We need to get to the bunkhouse, to the girls.”
I waved a hand, ushering the others to follow me.
We moved silently through the kitchen. Our one advantage was that the enforcers did not know we had extinguished the flames inside.
Liv had allowed the ones outside of the manor to rage still.
The enforcers likely assumed that if the flames did not flush us out, we would burn.
We reached the dry store and piled inside the small, cramped space.
I hushed Eliza who had begun to whimper.
Liv gave me a sharp nod and I pushed power to her through the bond.
She was reaching for life, trying to figure out how many there were.
She held up her hand, five, then her other hand, five more.
Then she shook her head. “We are gravely outnumbered. There are dozens of them. How did they find us?”
My gaze locked on hers. We still had a spy.
That would be a problem for another time, if we made it out of here alive.
“There are none out the back,” Liv whispered.
“Is the path clear to the woods?” She nodded in response.
“Alright, Margaret, you will lead the girls into the woods. Once you step foot outside, you all need to run. Do not stop until you have reached the cover of the woods to the west.”
I made sure I had everyone’s understanding.
“Helena, you will need to carve out a tunnel for them to flee into.”
Helena nodded and raised her hands, the floor trembled slightly as she began to move the earth.
“Do not turn around, no matter what.” I met each of their gazes individually.
“If someone falls, you do not falter.” Margaret winced at the thought of leaving even a single person behind.
“I need you older girls to help the younger ones. Raf, you will go with them, protect them with your life.”
A slight tip of his head told me he would.
“Wait for our signal,” Liv told Raf. “Hell, Ezra and I will go to the roof. We will signal when we are ready and hold them off, giving you cover from above while you escape into the woods.
We will send any girls we are able to get out of the bunkhouse to the tunnel and meet you there when this is done.”
Her lips trembled slightly as she gave the orders.
She was just as uncertain as the rest of us if we would all survive the night.
“Please take care of each other, but above all else, survive.”
A single tear rolled down her cheek as she met Margaret’s gaze.
They were both terrified, but would not allow the girls to see it.
I pushed another small wave of power through our bond, to let her know I understood.
Then we left the store room and made for the attic.
Outside of the manor it was chaos. Magic and arrows flew from every direction and several bodies lay bloody on the ground.
I was unsure if they were ours or the enemies.
I prayed it was the latter. I summoned my shadows forward, and they blanketed the manor, seeping down the walls and across the yard, snuffing out fires where they fell.
Vines erupted from the garden, bursting with thorns and whipping at the enforcers who were moving toward the bunkhouse.
Helena hurled rocks toward the enforcers that fought just outside of the bunkhouse doors, careful not to hit any of our girls.
Screams echoed through the darkness as the madness unfolded.
Liv sent her signal to Margaret, Raf, and the girls in the store room in the form of blooming flowers.
Moments later we watched as the back door flew open.
Raf ran out first, checking their surroundings, followed by Margaret and the girls.
They ran straight for the woods, but they were not fast enough.
Enforcers rounded the manor and encircled them.
Raf engaged as many as he could, but he was no match for their magic.
His only worked when they were sleeping.
I redirected my shadows. They lashed at the enforcers who were coming from the front of the manor.
Liv and Helena were focused on the front of the house, still attempting to save the girls who were being targeted by the enforcers.
They were not killing the girls, they were taking them captive and killing the family members.
“Liv!” I shouted for her. I needed more help in the back, the girls were trapped with Raf and Margaret.
Eliza screamed as an enforcer approached her and Christine.
I wrapped my shadows around his legs and flung the enforcer into a tree.
Arrows rained down around them. Liv positioned herself at my side and branches erupted from the trees.
They swung and crushed the enforcers, creating a path for everyone to escape.
“Run!” Liv shouted. “Do not stop!” She immediately turned back to the front and helped Helena with the girls as I provided cover with my shadows.
Raf corralled the girls and urged them into the woods.
Liv called to me. There were too many in the front and without my shadows, she and Helena were struggling to hold them off.
When I was sure that the path was clear in the back and everyone had made it to the treeline, I ran back to help with the bunkhouse.
We were making headway. The enforcers were held back enough for us to create a path for the girls from the bunkhouse to run to the back of the house and into the woods to Helena’s tunnel.
With the three of us focused on the front, we were able to pick off the enforcers one by one.
Their forces were thinning. Just a few girls left.
Just as we doubled down on the attack on the enforcers, a scream sounded from the back of the manor.
Liv and I locked eyes and then ran across the roof.
We skidded to a stop at the edge just in time to see an enforcer run a blade clean across Margaret's throat.
The scream that left Liv’s throat was earth-shattering.
My ears rang as she fell to her knees. The enforcer smiled and dropped Margaret’s body.
She fell limp to the ground with a dull thud.
Then the enforcer went limp. The sound around us died completely and bodies began to hit the ground, one after another after another.
It was Liv. She had torn their life force from them.
Every last enforcer. I stood frozen in shock as she scrambled toward the ladder that hung from the side of the house.
The rusty metal creaked beneath her as she rushed down it. I followed.
She did not bother with the last few rungs.
She threw herself to the ground and raced toward Margaret.
Liv let out another harrowing yell as she pulled her mother’s head into her lap.
I knelt beside her. She cradled Margaret’s body.
Blood soaked everything from Liv’s hands to the ground beneath us. And still she prayed.
“Please gods, please, no. Not her.” Tears poured from her eyes and my heart broke with hers.
“Please, gods, do not do this to me. Do not take her.”
She continued to plead with gods that had long since forgotten us.
She knew that, but it did not stop her. Helena’s footsteps sounded behind me, and then stopped.
A small gasp. Then she too fell to the ground.