“Ryker, we have to let it go!” Ellery cried.
“It’s why we’re here, and we have a brief window where we can get to it, but we have to movenow.”
Still lying on my chest, Ellery twisted to look over her shoulder. She surveyed the scene on the hill before speaking. “We can do it.”
Wiggling in my arms, she sought to break free, and I reluctantly released her. I couldn’t always shelter her, and given that she was the strongest amsirah in the realm, trying to keep her caged was like breaking the wings of an eagle.
She needed to soar too… even if it terrified me.
CHAPTER FOUR
Ryker
Ellery rolled awayfrom me as the archer by the carriage fired more arrows. With a flick of my fingers, I sent a bolt of lightning sizzling toward him.
The man tried to jump aside to avoid it, but he couldn’t escape my wrath. The bolt struck him in the heart, lifted him off his feet, and flung him backward before the arrows he’d fired thudded into the earth only inches from my temple and leg.
“We need to move,” I commanded gruffly. “And we have to find Callan and Luna.”
We couldn’t leave them behind, but I didn’t know what had become of the siblings. Their bodies didn’t litter the ground, but I couldn’t see what was happening on the other side of the carriage.
I glanced back at the guards on the hill as the archers prepared to fire. It was now or never.
“Go!” I shouted.
CHAPTER FIVE
Ryker
The othersall sprang forward while Ellery and I scrambled to our feet. Without looking at the guards behind me, I unleashed a torrent of lightning from my palms as Ellery waved her hands beside her before moving them back toward the guards assembling on the hill.
A silvery fog rose from the earth in a wave that swiftly obscured the grass. It grew thicker as it crept over the hill and climbed higher.
The creeping tendrils devoured everything in their way until the guards vanished, but not before the archers lifted their bows and fired. Arrows arched high into the sky before descending toward us in a deadly wave meant to devastate all living things.
Throwing up our hands, Ellery and I created a twisting funnel of wind that descended from the sky. It sucked up some of the arrows and spun them away, but it didn’t stop them all.
We sprinted for the carriage as the arrows thudded into the ground. When they struck the earth, their feathers vibrated all around us, but none of them struck flesh.
While it might not occur to my father right away, and it may slip under his radar entirely, by using her fog, Ellery had revealed that she possessed all five weathers. We’d told those in Tucker’s encampment about her unheard-of power, but word of it hadn’t spread beyond the Revenant Woods.
If someone told my father about Ellery and the fog, he would learn her final secret. I was sure that, by now, he’d looked up the abilities she was registered to possess; fog was not one of them.
“They’ll know about you having all five weathers,” I said as we raced toward the carriage.
“Let them know,” she replied.
And while the idea of this troubled me, I couldn’t help but smile at her response. She was so strong and ready to take on all those in her way. I just had to ensure she survived it, even if it meant sacrificing everything.
We reached the road as the archers released another round of arrows. I drew more lightning from the sky to cut through them while Ellery created a blast of wind that knocked more aside.
We couldn’t keep all the projectiles at bay, but again, none of them struck flesh. I fell back to run behind Ellery for the next volley of arrows, but I doubted they’d aim at her anyway. It was the rest of us they sought to take out.
I sprinted across the last few feet of grass before my boots hit the hard-packed sandy road. Ellery moved toward the right as Callan emerged from behind the carriage with a chest in hand.
A small bit of relief ran through me at the sight of one of the siblings. If he was okay and still robbing the carriage, then Luna was too.
Twisting, I looked back up the hill as soldiers sprinted through the fog with their swords raised. The swirling tendrils rose to engulf them once more, but it couldn’t hide the fact that they were coming.
