Ellery shifted beside me but didn’t speak as she surveyed the land with sadness and anger. I knew she’d prefer not to kill again after having to do so this morning, but she’d do what was necessary to save the forest.
“Should we bring forth the rain first?” Tucker inquired.
“Not yet,” I replied.
“We get to attack afterward, right?” a poltergeist inquired.
I couldn’t help but smile at their thirst for blood; I felt it too. My father, these men, and all his cronies had pushed us all too far. This was war, and I didn’t care what it took to bring them down.
I didn’t move my hand to the sky to bring forth the lightning but instead drew it from within me. These bastards wouldn’t get the warning of electricity firing across the sky before it slammed into them.
I studied the guards walking through the trees as they paused every few feet to place their torch against something. The fire starters would be the first to go.
Lifting my hand, I aimed it at them as lightning shot from my fingertips. The bolts sizzled across the distance separating us before striking some of the men.
Their torches flew into the air as the impact threw them backward. The fires either sputtered out before they hit the ground or landed in the dirt and sputtered there.
Cries erupted from below as soldiers scrambled for cover, but those shouts didn’t come from those who’d been hit. They were already dead.
They’d just realized more than the creatures of the Revenant Woods were hunting them…Iwas hunting them. And I’d show far less mercy than anything else in this forest.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Ryker
When I unleashed lightning again,more guards screamed as they scampered out of the way. Two portals opened, and some soldiers fled into them, but most remained below. When he caught them, my father would make those who’d fled wish they’d been hit by lightning or burned alive.
More torches flew before hitting the ground. Realizing the torches marked where they were, some of the guards threw them away before scampering for cover behind the trees. Caught between the growing fire and us, those guards couldn’t hide for long.
Farley floated forward to bob beside me as the guards went into hiding while a few more fled. I could strike down the trees they hid behind, but that would only cause more damage to the forest, and while I’d never sensed anything from these woods before, I felt its suffering now.
I was sure Ellery did too, but I didn’t know how many others would as well. It was best to unleash less destructive means on the trees. The guards didn’t stand a chance.
“Now you can play,” I said to Farley as I unleashed more lightning on the few idiots who still held torches. They were determined to carry out my father’s orders.
Farley let out a whoop of excitement, lifted his arm in the air, and flew down the hill with his dagger before him. The other poltergeists echoed his battle cry as they swept toward the amsirah below.
I almost felt sorry for the poor unsuspecting souls below… almost. They had no idea what was coming for them.
From the woods behind us, the rattle of underbrush and snapping twigs drew my attention before a pack of black dogs burst free. Members of our group scattered to get out of the way of the sulfurous-smelling monsters bounding across the earth toward us.
I stiffened as lightning swirled up to my wrists, and Ellery lifted her hands to fend them off. However, the ravenous creatures ignored us as they pounded past with their red eyes glowing and their claws churning up the earth.
They sprinted toward the flames and guards as more creatures rushed out of the shadows. I couldn’t make out most of them, but they rattled the underbrush, swung through the trees, and descended on the guards.
The scorpion-like cordous held their stingers over their tiger heads as they scampered down the hill. Other creatures followed them.
Birds swooped out of the trees. The wind they created ruffled my hair, and one of their wings skimmed my cheek as they swooped past.
Screams rebounded from below as the creatures of the Revenant Woods mercilessly destroyed those threatening their home. I had no idea how they all knew to converge here, but much of these woods were a mystery and they always would be.
I recalled a conversation I once had with Tucker and Ianto.“What if they set the woods on fire?” Ianto had asked.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if they tried, but something tells me the Revenant Woods won’t be easily destroyed,” I’d replied.
“I agree,” Tucker had said.
We’d been right.
