I lunged forward to drive my sword into his heart. His eyes widened as he stared in horror at the blade in his chest. When I pulled my weapon free, his gaze fell to his chest, and his hands fumbled to keep the blood from spilling, but it was impossible.
Lowering my shoulder, I smashed into the guard, tossing him away. I turned to find the woman had crawled away; her fingers tore up the earth as she dragged herself through the battle.
Someone grabbed her arm. Given their slender build and how Callan defended them, I suspected it was Luna.
She helped the woman to her feet and rushed toward the waiting portal. Unable to defend themselves against the lightning, more guards fell back or fled.
I looked back at Ellery as she released more lightning on the land. It threw up rocks and debris when it crashed into the earth; the ground shook beneath my feet as smoke rose from the craters she’d created.
Bowstrings twanged as arrows flew at her, but the electricity surrounding her sent them spiraling into the shadows of the alleys. Ianto’s head poked up from the roofline, but he ducked down every time Ellery released a new bolt.
I couldn’t see his face, but I imagined the giant had damn near shit himself when Ellery started shooting lightning. If we weren’t fighting for our lives, and Ellery wasn’t up there, bared for all to see, I would have laughed at the giant’s head bobbing up and down like a buoy in a hurricane.
When another guard ran toward me, Ellery took out his legs. Drawn forth by the commotion, townspeople hovered in the shadows of the buildings, too terrified to come closer and too captivated to flee.
Most of the prisoners and Tucker’s men had either fled through his portal or one of their own. Tucker, Callan, Ellery, Ianto, and I were the only ones left.
“Go!” I bellowed at Ellery in a voice I dropped to a lower octave so as not to be recognized.
I wouldn’t leave here until I knew she was safely away from this place. When another guard charged me, I ducked the lethal arc of his blade and drove mine upward as he ran past. The sword sliced into his groin and cleaved upward before I freed my blade.
The man howled as he fell to the ground, gripping his balls and rolling like a dog trying to shake fleas. When my attention shifted back to Ellery, I saw the portal Ianto had most likely opened while she remained turned toward the battle.
When Ellery’s head turned to me, I shouted at her again, “Go!”
She turned and ran toward the opening as I sprinted toward Tucker and the others. Callan fled into the portal.
Tucker waited until I was almost to him before following the young amsirah. The shouts of the guards followed me as I raced forward.
CHAPTER FOUR
Ellery
I struggledto regain control of my lightning as I ran toward the portal Ianto had created. His labored breathing followed me into the opening as we ran onward.
“Holy shit,” he muttered over and over again.
After what I’d revealed, there would be a lot of confusion and disbelief, but I only wanted to see Ryker and reassure myself he was okay. He hadn’t been in the portal when I left, but I knew he wouldn’t go until he saw me leave.
I’d picked many battles with him and was sure I’d have many more, but this wouldn’t be one of them. If I’d remained, he would have too, and he was in far more danger than me, but every beat of my racing heart screamed at me to get to him.
I couldn’t shake the image of his bloody shirt and his wounded neck from my mind. If that blade had gone all the way through, I would have lost him.
A knot lodged in my throat as I pushed myself faster through the dark portal. A small beam of light started to form at the end before I ran out of the opening and into Ianto’s old encampment.
I skidded to a halt when the clash of steel and shouts greeted me, and I discovered chaos had followed us. Some guards had managed to enter the portal and chased the others into the woods.
I didn’t have a chance to get my bearings before someone on our side, I suspected Tucker, sprinted past me and crashed into a guard running toward a portal. If they escaped, they would know how to get back here.
While this wasn’t our main encampment, it was close enough that we couldn’t allowanyoneto leave here. We also couldn’t have anyone learning how deep into the Revenant Woods we’d established our base.
Perched on his back, Tucker bashed the guard’s head into the ground until it crumbled beneath him. When he finished, he pulled the dagger from his sheath and placed it against the man’s neck.
I looked away when he started carving off the guard’s head. My gaze found Ryker as he used his sword to take out another guard, and three of our group pounced on the back of another; they took him down and beat him until he went still.
When another guard ran toward the trees and a portal she’d opened there, I threw out my hand, and a stream of lightning poured from it. I kept hold of the stream as the current encircled her waist.
Lifting my hand, the lightning followed my movement as the screaming woman rose from the ground. With a flick of my fingers, I smashed her back into the earth before lifting her and bringing her down again.
