Ivan didn’t just have the metalsmiths working on these chains; they’d also devised contingency plans in case things went wrong.I didn’t kid myself into thinking Ivan was behind this plan; this was all my father.
My father hadn’t expected me to turn on Ivan; I’d guarantee he was probably apoplectic right now and possibly frothing at the mouth, but he’d contemplated how to destroy me if necessary.And this was part of that plan.
The thunderous boom of another cannon was followed by the tortured screams of those who couldn’t escape its destruction.Smoke coiled into the air from the empty cannon as another fired.
“We have to go,” I said.“We have to get to the Revenant Woods.We’ll be able to open a portal there.”
Ellery’s hand slid into mine as she turned to Scarlet and Ruby.“Stay close.”
“We will.”
“Do you still have the keys?”
Ruby held up a set of keys before slipping them into her pocket.“I’ll keep them safe.”
Ellery nodded as I waved my hand before me to create a vortex of wind.When a tornado appeared before us, Ellery waved her other hand, and another materialized.
I frowned when I noticed the unnatural bend in her arm and the awkward movement of her fingers.“What happened to your arm?”
“It’s healing.”
“What happened?”
“I displeased a guard.”
I shifted my attention back to the cannons.If I could, I’d slaughter every last one of them.
“We have to go,” Ellery said as she tugged at my hand.
I tore myself away from my delightful thoughts of murder as more tornadoes sprang up around us.We weren’t the only ones who could control air, as the women surrounding us also brought forth vortexes to help keep us protected while we ran.
Ruby and Scarlet sprinted beside Ellery while we raced toward the Revenant Woods.As we ran across the field, more cannons rolled into place, and more archers lined the hill crest.
They had no problem firing off more cannons and releasing another wave of arrows on those below.However, they kept those weapons aimed away from the last place they’d seen Ellery.Without the glow surrounding her, they had no idea where she was and couldn’t risk killing her.
They’d stop at nothing to get their hands on her, but she was useless to them dead.Fifty feet ahead, another cannonball ripped through the crowd, decimating those unfortunate enough to be in its way.
Right now, we were safe from their fire.That wouldn’t last as we sprinted straight at it.
I ignored the throbbing in my leg and side as we ran.Without our lightning shining around us, the crowd was slower to get out of our way, but we pushed through them the best we could.
We skirted the bodies of fallen guards and their mounts as more cannon fire rocked the day.Screams rebounded around us; the stench of blood and excrement filled the air.
The clear blue sky turned into a hazy gray as smoke choked it and cannons roared.My lungs burned from the smoke permeating the field.
I kept waiting for them to stop firing now that they had no idea where Ellery had gone, but they must have decided to draw her out by destroying everyone they could.I didn’t know if they assumed she’d somehow survive, or if my father was too livid to care anymore and was ordering death delivered to all those he deemed of no value.
We had to get out of here.
The closer we got to the Revenant Woods, the more our progress slowed.The crowd was thick through here, but it wasn’t just them who hindered us; it was also the fallen bodies of the innocents.
Many retracted their tornadoes, and Ellery and I did too.Whipping up the bodies of the dead and turning them into weapons by flinging them around wasn’t the best way to stay safe.It was also what nightmares were made of.
Horror and tears filled Ellery’s eyes as we picked our way over tattered limbs and broken bodies.Her hand trembled in mine.
“This isn’t your fault,” I told her.
Her attention remained focused on the bloody field.I’d seen this and worse during the Ghoul War, but Ellery had never experienced such a massacre, and I’d hoped to keep her from ever doing so.
