While we ran, we encountered two more servants. I dispatched one while Samael took out the other.
When we reached the door to the library, Samael stopped outside it and rested his hands against the stone facade. I wanted to think the room beyond remained quiet, but we had no idea what was on the other side.
“Be ready for an attack,” Samael said and pushed a rock to open the door.
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
Indon
I soared over the top of the palace before diving down to grab another combatant from the parapets. Arrows whistled as they flew by me; I rode the air currents as I steered between them, seeking to avoid the annoying projectiles.
Screams sounded from below as the amsirah clashed near the tree line. With the battle underway and Ellery inside, the fog wasn’t nearly as thick. The other fog bearers couldn’t fight the soldiers or avoid their weapons if they couldn’t see them.
I swooped to the right to avoid the fresh barrage of arrows fired my way. Some of them bounced off my chest, but I closed my wings to keep them protected while diving toward the castle.
Below, more guards emerged from the palace and raced onto the field to bolster their numbers while amsirah fired arrows from the woods. I caught a soldier in my arms and opened my wings to sweep across the field.
The man screeched as he stabbed his sword into my chest, but it didn’t penetrate my flesh. I carried him straight into the top of the palace, battering his body off the stone. Bones cracked, some of them broke free of his flesh, and his screams were distorted as I released him to face the rocks below.
His howls faded as he fell, and I rose higher to sweep across the land. The wind assaulted my face as tornadoes sprang up to churn across the land.
I relished this feeling of freedom, of soaring, of the wind against my body and blowing across my wings. We spent most of our imprisonment in a state of hibernation. We often didn’t know time was passing, but at other times we did. And it was maddening.
We’d longed to see the trees, move amongst the forest, fly through the skies, and be together in something other than our stone state. We weren’t meant for imprisonment. We were creatures of nature, of the wild, and we ached to be at one with Tempest and the forest again.
We’d woken to discover Tempest under attack by its own children. That couldn’t be allowed to stand. There would be no more unjust treatment in this realm. We would not allow it.
As I swept over the trees that swayed in the breeze and called to my soul with their beautiful, silent music, I spotted portals below the convoluted boughs. Amsirah were arriving in droves from the villages and towns.
There were far more than Ellery had hoped for and far more than had been planned for. They were as determined as I to take back their rightful place in this realm.
Many of the amsirah carried makeshift weapons, but some brandished swords, bows, maces, armor, and other assorted weapons. Ellery’s group had weapons stashed in their cavern, and some of these amsirah were armed with those supplies, while others arrived straight from their homes with whatever they had. Despite the wintry air, some still wore their nightclothes.
When I swept back over the trees, a sneer curved my lips as a wall of guards amassed in front of the trees. They had hundreds of long shields at the ready and had retreated from the woods to regroup and try a new attack.
“They’re planning to force their way past the poltergeists and on toward the amsirah,” I cautioned the others.
A murmur of voices ran through my head. Despite the dozens of voices and over one hundred beings connected to me, the noise wasn’t overwhelming. This was how our lives had always been; we were a separate, yet united front created to defend this realm.
The shields were useless against the specters, but if the guards got past them and onto the amsirah, it could be a bloodbath. The soldiers were better armed, protected, and trained than those gathering below.
They rolled torches and cannons across the field and placed them into position. Before I could figure out what they intended, some of those cannons fired into the air as they sought to take us down.
Their loud booms briefly drowned out the screams still coming from the amsirah being tossed off the castle and lifted from the field. Even in the dark of night, the black balls were easy enough for me to see and avoid.
I folded my wings and veered to the left as a ball skimmed my chest before vanishing into the forest. Screams came from the woods, as it wasn’t so easy for the amsirah to avoid the lethal projectiles.
As the cannonballs tore into the souls below, body parts flew, scattered across the ground, and littered the forest as the amsirah shrieked in agony and fear. The poltergeists flew back and forth, shouting at the soldiers to stop being cowards and come and get them.
The soldiers didn’t move as torches were brought to the front row of shields. Some of those torches lit others, while others ignited arrows. From the trees, the amsirah released their arrows, and while a few struck flesh, most bounced uselessly off the shields.
A roar of fury reverberated through my head as they tossed some of the torches into the forest. The poltergeists screeched, and some of the amsirah stomped at the flames trying to take hold.
In the forest, Ianto yelled for the rain bearers, and some of them scampered forward as more torches flew into the Revenant Woods. Sadness filled my soul as, unable to stop the flood of torches and fiery arrows permeating the woods, the trees I loved so much went up in flames.
CHAPTER FIFTY
Indon
