Poltergeists hovered at the edge of the trees, holding their blades before them and chatting excitedly, though no one fought on the field. More ghosts than I’d ever seen together floated aimlessly around the woods. I couldn’t look at their faces; I was too afraid I’d see a loved one.
I was sure more poltergeists had also risen tonight. I didn’t think they’d joined those by the tree line, as they would have woken confused and probably taken off.
As I strode forward, I caught the attention of some of the gargoyles who turned toward me. I didn’t know this group, but they knew me. They murmured my name and parted to let me pass.
“She’s alive,” one of them whispered.
“I knew she was,” another retorted. “I never had a doubt.”
I doubted that was true, but I didn’t argue with them as I stepped out of the woods and onto the field. The massacre laid out before me caused my stomach to churn, but unfortunately, we’d known bloodshed was the only way to earn our freedom.
I wish it hadn’t been this much blood.
On top of the hill, where the main section of the palace once stood, thousands upon thousands of amsirah had gathered. The gargoyles flying overhead carried stones away from the wreckage.
Wagons, laden with more rocks, were driven away from the debris field. Some of the palace buildings remained standing, but the main part of it had vanished into the town below.
Behind the broken and towering remnants, a faint light illuminated the sky, but I suspected the sun was setting instead of rising. I was unconscious for some time after the collapse, and it had taken a while to dig my way out; it had to be the end of a new day.
I dashed across the field, careful not to step on anyone, but that proved impossible. Swallowing back the bile in my throat, I darted in and out of body parts before tripping over a sword and sprawling into the mud.
It sucked at me, refusing to relinquish me from its depths as I tried to pull my arms and legs free. Had the ground grown so saturated with blood and death that it now craved more?
It was an insane notion, but it took far too long to free myself from the muck. The ground finally gave way with a wet squelching sound as I rose.
Mud dripped from my fingers and weighed heavily on my caked clothes as I ran up the hill toward the others. The dungeon we’d freed the children from had vanished beneath the wreckage.
We sent the servants there.
I buried the guilt trying to rise. I didn’t know if anyone was still in it when the dungeon collapsed.
There were countless other servants inside the palace and dungeon when it happened. You can thank the duke for that. He was imprisoning them.
Oh, there was that annoying bitch again, but instead of urging caution, she’d gone for practicality. And she was right, of course, though I wouldn’t admit that to her.
When I reached the crowd, I discovered they’d created a system of handing stones off to each other to pass them down the line. I pushed past those laboring to remove the rubble. At first, no one noticed me, but as I progressed through the amsirah, the whispers started.
The murmurs originated behind me, but soon sped ahead. Amsirah turned in my direction as I ran toward the hole; some of their fingers brushed my arms, as if they were trying to assure themselves I was real.
“She’s alive,” some of them breathed.
“She’s real,” someone else said.
I didn’t have time to acknowledge their words, but my fingers grazed some of those reaching for me. I felt the connection and joy spreading through the crowd.
Word of my arrival reached the front of the line, and when I stopped at the edge of the pit the palace had toppled into, Ianto, Tucker, Ruby, and Billy were running up the debris toward me. They skidded to a halt when they spotted me standing ten feet above them. Ruby and Billy had been in the cavern in the woods when I last saw them, but they must have come to join the search after the battle ended.
The palace had managed to fill all the space below and created what was now a small crater in the earth. Broken pieces of furniture, stones, glass, and a myriad of other destroyed pieces jutted up from the land. Once we removed the rubble, only a huge pit, where nothing would ever stand again, would remain.
I’d done this. I’d decimated part of the biggest building in Tempest and buried countless others—including those I loved most—with it.
I’d expected terror to radiate through me at what I could do and everything I’d done, but I didn’t experience the emotion. Instead, I understood that while I could do this, I could also control it.
Yes, I brought the palace down on all of us, but I’d kept my loved ones safe from the initial blast. I hadn’t known it would be so big or that the building would collapse afterward. I had known I could control it.
My power didn’t get away from me. It didn’t take control or unleash more damage. It was mine to wield to protect the realm and those I loved, and now I would wield it to free them… hopefully alive.
Shock kept my family riveted, but not me. I ran toward them. Careful not to dislocate my ankle again, it took me longer to get to them than I would have liked, but they’d also started moving again.
