What guards had remained on top were gone. I didn’t know if they’d fallen into the palace, been blown off the roof, or had been evaporated by the light. The gargoyles flew over the top of the palace, but they didn’t swoop down to grab anyone else.
Instead, they dove down toward the dungeon we’d entered earlier. From what I could see, the palace hadn’t collapsed on that part of its foundation, but I didn’t know if the inside of the palace had collapsed onto the lower levels.
“Is there anyone left in the dungeon?” I yelled to a group of amsirah on my right.
“I don’t know!” a man yelled back.
The gargoyles probably had the answer, but they were either in the sky or too far away to ask. On the field, the soldiers glanced from the palace to us as they tried to decide what to do.
They could try to retreat. The palace still offered some protection, but with Ellery inside its walls, they were retreating to their deaths.
They could keep coming at us and try to get past to flee into the forest—a conclusion that seemed to come over them as their attention shifted back to the field.
Either way, their options weren’t good. If the duke still lived and they ran, he’d hunt them, but if he did still live, he was clearly losing… and so were they.
If they fled and somehow managed to get past us, the poltergeists would be more than happy to take them down. There was only so far the soldiers could run… and the woods would never set them free.
Pulling on the last dregs of my energy, I lifted my sword and, gripping it in both hands, prepared to attack. With a shout born of my desire to end this, I raced toward the fighters who looked more panicked than resolved as desperation etched their features.
That desperation fueled their aggression as they charged forward with spears and swords raised. The cannons fired again, but this time there weren’t as many; the blast had tossed many of the weapons aside, and the gargoyles destroyed the others.
Despite their lesser numbers, the noise of the cannons was more deafening than it was before. I didn’t understand how that was possible or why the earth shook so much until the ground heaved and an endless roar filled the air.
What the fuck?
I wasn’t alone in my confusion as the guards stopped their newest charge and all the others looked around. I didn’t have to look far as the towers closest to us crumpled.
Stones and debris toppled in a thunderous crash that heaved the earth so violently it rose beneath me in a wave. Knocked slightly off balance, I staggered to the side before righting myself.
As the towers fell, the walls gave way. They collapsed downward in a burst of deafening booms as the dust billowing outward climbed into the air. It became a soaring cloud of death and despair, choking out the clouds as it wafted across the land.
The collapse seemed to take forever, but it lasted less than twenty seconds. When it ended, only broken, jutting walls and strange, steepled twig-like figures of the main section of the palace remained.
Their skeletal ruins stood as a testament to the destructive forces that had resided and ruled there. Distant clatters and thuds sounded as more pieces of the palace tumbled and clattered over each other.
I had no idea where the main section of the building had gone; no pile of rubble decorated the hill. It had vanished completely.
Too distracted by the collapse to focus on their weathers, the amsirah released their remaining control over the rain, hail, tornadoes, and wind. The abrupt end was as unsettling as the collapse of the building that had represented power and control in Tempest for thousands of years.
The natural, gentle breeze stirring the night carried the cloud of dust farther across the field, coating all those who stood in its way. As the cloud dissipated, it revealed what remained of the palace on the other side of the hill. Two or three buildings still stood. It was difficult to tell from my position.
With the storm clouds gone, three of the moons emerged, and stars poked through the velvety black curtain above. They backlit the broken towers and the surviving pieces of palace in an eerie, brown glow as particles danced through the air.
The dust stuck to my lashes, plastered my skin, and left a bitter taste in my mouth. I didn’t know whether that taste came from the fine particles of the wreckage or from everything we might have lost.
I didn’t know if any gargoyles and amsirah remained in the dungeons where we’d freed the children, but I was certain Ellery and Ryker were inside when the castle toppled. Closing my eyes, I tried to shut out the anguish squeezing my heart as tears pooled in my eyes, but it was impossible.
Ryker.
My best friend, the man I considered my brother, the one who I’d survived the worst of times and shared some of the best with, was inside that palace when it all came apart. I loved them all; they were my family.
And, immortal or not, I didn’t see how anyone could have survived it.
CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR
Ianto
I lowered my staff as a small remaining section of the palace collapsed into the abyss of whatever lay below. The sound that accompanied this new disintegration was nowhere near as loud as the cacophony of the initial collapse, but I still winced as it thundered in my throbbing ears.
