CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Ryker
It was a chilly day,but sweat beaded my forehead as I hammered another nail into place. With the nail secured, I leaned back and used my arm to wipe away the perspiration as I surveyed the sun peeking through the thick canopy of trees.
Even without their leaves, the skeletal branches stretched so high and were so clustered that the sun barely pierced them. Still, enough filtered through the trees for me to know we were at least a few hours away from sunset.
I shouldn’t have let her go.
But I didn’t have a choice. I’d vowed never to cage Ellery; trying to do so would only result in failure and create a huge fracture in our relationship. I could have gone with her, but that would have been a different kind of cage.
I had to give her freedom; it was the only way to let her be who she truly was, but it was also going to kill me.She’s fine. She’s more powerful than you; she can destroy anything that tries to attack her.
But anxiety clawed incessantly at my gut. My father was out there, scheming, and his main conquest washer.
Wiping away more sweat, I surveyed the secluded area we worked in. We were a good distance away from the center of the encampment and the original cluster of tree houses.
As the encampment grew, we’d had no choice but to spread the homes deeper into the woods. It meant our guards were spread further too, but since we had more amsirah in the camp, we had more guards on duty.
One of the guards moved through the trees now, looking to take up position at the base of a tree closer to the river. He was the husband and father of the woman and boy Scarlet brought back from Nottingshire; I couldn’t remember their names, but they were still waiting for their new home.
Tucker handed me a canteen, and I took it from him. The cool water felt good sliding down my parched throat, and I took a couple of swallows before recapping and handing it back.
“Almost done,” Ianto said as he stood on the ladder to slide some boards through the trapdoor in the floor. “And it’s good timing too; there’s a poltergeist below saying that Val’s looking for you.”
I sighed as I glanced around the tree house. The floor and three walls were in place; we’d almost finished erecting the fourth, and then it would be time for the roof.
It was a project we should finish today, but if Val were here, I had to meet her. She often brought other amsirah to us who were seeking to escape the towns and villages as well as supplies.
“I’ll go with you,” Tucker offered.
“I’ll go too,” Callan said.
“I’ll stay to make sure this gets finished,” Ianto said. “There are some families who would enjoy their own space.”
I set my hammer down. “Let’s go. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can return to help finish this.”
The sound of hammers followed us as we descended the ladder, gathered our weapons, and selected some other amsirah to go with us. I’d prefer to leave them working on the tree house, but it was also good to have numbers in the Revenant Woods.
Besides, we wouldn’t be gone long. We had to walk there, but we could open a portal to return.
When everyone was loaded with weapons and supplies, we set off into the forest after Cryton, a poltergeist grumpier than Farley. Cryton held his blade before him as he studied the woods with a determination that said he’d gut anyone who tried anything. They were all getting a littletoomuch joy from those daggers.
No one spoke while we made our way over the sometimes rough terrain, searching the woods for any hint of creatures that wanted to eat us. In this forest, those were countless things.
It would have been easier if Val returned to the same place in the woods every time, but we’d decided against that. It was safer for her to enter the woods in different locations; that way, no one could learn her routine, or ours.
We’d covered nearly three miles when we rounded a bend and Val came into view. She and some others were sitting on a cluster of boulders.
They held their weapons at the ready as they eyed the forest. When a branch snapped beneath the foot of a woman from the encampment, a couple of the amsirah on the rocks jumped and spun toward us. The tension didn’t leave their shoulders or faces as they kept their weapons at the ready.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Ryker
When Val spotted us,she smiled tremulously as she rose. Her eyes continued to flit over the woods, and I turned to study the forest; something must have spooked them, and I wasn’t in the mood to deal with anything sneaking up on us.
Eventually, Val’s attention shifted back to me. Her face was haggard and drawn; she’d lost weight since I last saw her, and she only met my gaze for a second before her dull brown eyes flitted nervously to the forest again.
