“Get down!” someone screamed.
A hand seized my wrist and tried to jerk my hand down, but they weren’t strong enough to budge me. When they tugged again, I threw myself to the ground as flames leapt across the tree branches overhead, a shower of sparks rained down, and a cannonball carved through the trees.
Dirt wedged its way into my nose as I flattened myself against the earth. The ground was hard and cold against my chest as trees broke and crashed all around me.
Sparks shot over me. They fell against my cheeks, seared my forehead, and danced all around me as the fires rolled over. My fingers dug into the ground before I lifted them to beat out the sparks before they could become flames.
Shrieks resonated all around as not everyone managed to evade the cannons and fire. With a thud, an arm landed a few inches away from me. When its fingers fell toward me, I recoiled when they brushed my nose.
I stared at them for a second as anguish filled me. I’d come into this war fully prepared for devastation, but the stench of death clogged my nostrils so thickly it blocked the reek of the fire and dirt also embedded in them.
I’d made my living as a traveling wrestler, throwing daring men and women out of the ring. It hadn’t been the kindest profession, but it wasn’t brutal and violent like my life now.
I’d always considered myself a simple man. I was content to travel, do my show, collect the money, and move on, but that life had been replaced with one far less simple, far more brutal, and far more meaningful, even if it was a lot crazier. No matter how much I hated all this death and destruction, I had to keep fighting for myself, for the amsirah around me, and for the children used as pawns and weapons.
There weren’t any other options.
It had been an endless night, and we were heading into a bloody day, but we would win this.
Planting my palms against the ground, I rose as fire and rain fell in a cascade of gold around me. I ignored the rain pelting me as the poltergeists shrieked with excitement.
They were working themselves into a fit that had me concerned they might turn those blades on us to sate their maniacal bloodthirst. The creatures of the woods raced forward, leapt onto guards, and took them down, but the soldiers and flames slaughtered others.
The hair on my nape rose as the poltergeists screamed for blood so loudly, they drowned out the fire. Chaos ruled the woods as I lifted my staff and smashed the arm of a guard running at me with his sword raised; I moved so fast that I delivered two more blows to him before he knew what happened.
The last blow sent him spiraling into the fire. He screamed as he spun around in the flames, seeking to break free but blinded by the inferno devouring him.
The scent of cooking flesh mingled with the burning wood and smoke. Flames arced over my head as they spread through the trees, igniting more of their branches.
The rainmakers strained to keep up with the fire’s growing intensity. Before, when they lit the woods on fire, they’d sent the duke’s men to separate sections of the forest, but here, they were all focused on us.
Soon, we’d either have to retreat or get onto the field… and I had no intention of retreating. Ellery and Ryker were in that palace, fighting from the inside, and we would do everything we could to destroy our enemies on the outside.
However, we couldn’t leave the fires. The Revenant Woods had protected us, and we wouldn’t leave them to burn.
“We need more rainmakers!” I bellowed again.
More amsirah ran toward the fire; the rain sluiced sideways in a torrent that battered the earth and sizzled through the trees. Branches snapped off and plummeted to the ground.
Despite the growing chaos, more amsirah from the villages and towns emerged from portals to join the battle. They didn’t have much training or many weapons, but they brought their abilities.
More tornadoes formed on the field, and a fierce wind whipped the downpour through the trees, turning it into a hurricane. The gale whipped branches from the trees, creating lethal projectiles.
I dodged a branch as the wind pushed the fire back toward the field, refusing to let it spread further. When the guards on the field tried to light more fires, the torrential rain doused them, and the soldiers gave up.
I could barely see through the rain bombarding me and the wind whipping through the woods. Clutching my staff, I ran toward the combatants forcing their way into the woods.
One of them was about to run an amsirah through with his blade when I brought my staff down across his arm. The splintered bone erupted through his skin, and the man howled.
Before he could react, I swung my staff upward, smashing it under his chin and breaking his jaw. Some of his teeth sprayed from his mouth as his head shot back.
I didn’t take pleasure in hurting the man, but I also didn’t stop myself from bringing my weapon down on his head. The back of his skull caved in, effectively ending any future fight from the man.
From somewhere to my right, Tucker shouted, “Get to the field!”
With the back of my arm, I wiped the rain from my eyes before gripping my staff in both hands and charging toward the land where our enemy reigned.
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
