Chapter 81

CHAPTER EIGHTY-ONE

Ryker

Nottingshire was busier than normal when I emerged from my portal into an alley alongside Main Street. I couldn’t open a portal in the road or on a walkway in case someone was coming with a horse or walking there.

I couldn’t take the chance of getting hit while I was weighed down with my pouches of carisle, especially since we’d labeled each of them with an HR for Hooded Robber.

Main Street was full of amsirah rushing about. From their booths, merchants hawked their wares, but few amsirah stopped to purchase their goods; many didn’t have the extra carisle for anything more than the necessities anymore.

Harnesses jingled as carriages rattled past. The clip-clop of the horses’ hooves beat out a steady rhythm on the road as the sun baked its surface.

An immortal with his face painted white juggled ten balls on the side of the road. No one tossed him coins, but I threw a couple into his hat.

“Thank you, milord,” the man said without taking his eyes off the balls.

I moved on to purchase a sweet bun from one of the merchants; I leaned against a wall while I ate it and studied the dirty, sullen masses with hollow cheekbones and bellies who radiated desperation. Hopefully, I could ease a little of that for some of them today.

When I started walking again, I released two purses when I was sure no one was watching me. A passing child scooped up one; they giggled as they ran past me. The other would find a new home soon enough.

As I strolled along, I studied the crowd while listening to them. When they spotted me, many grew silent, but the ones who didn’t see me gossiped over what they’d heard about the earl’s ball.

Though the rebels had lost, their excitement over the king looking like a fool again so soon after the robbery, and this time so had the earl, was palpable. Their words were almost frenzied as they huddled together.

Between the robbery of the king’s money and now this rebellion, these poor, broken masses finally had some hope. And soon, they would have more money.

When I dropped another purse, I spotted Ellery and Scarlet on the other side of the road. They stood before a merchant booth, smiling as a man handed them two cups of flavored ice.

They turned away from the booth, and the crowd swallowed them. My heart smashed against my ribs when I lost her; I hated the idea of her doing this right now, even if she and Scarlet did have the most experience.

She’d just lost her mother, and no matter what she said, her mind wasn’t completely in on this. It could prove to be extremely dangerous, if not lethal, for her.

I flexed my fingers to ease the building tension constricting my chest. If I didn’t get myself under control and focus on what I was doing, this could prove dangerous for me too.

Taking a deep breath, I strolled further down the road. I watched for Ellery, but most of my attention remained on the amsirah and my mission to ease their burdens.

I was halfway down the road when booming shouts filled the air. Amsirah cried out as they scrambled to escape the large contingent of horses, guards, and sheriff’s men traversing the street.

Carriage wheels clattered over the ruts in the road as the group rode on. “Get out of the way!” someone bellowed.

The crush of amsirah scrambling to get off the road pushed me into a building. They were all focused on the riders, which allowed me to remove three more purses and toss them at the feet of the townsfolk.

No one noticed them or me. They were too focused on the roadway and the army rolling past.

“Get out of the way!” a commanding voice boomed.

The contingent rode past where I stood. Unlike the king’s guard, the sheriff’s men didn’t wear chain mail. The earl’s men wore his colors and insignia, as did my father’s.

The king’s men wore his insignia on their chests, and his flag bearers waved Tempest’s flag. Like the king’s insignia, the Tempest flag bore a lightning bolt, fog, rain, and snow, but unlike the king’s insignia, a tornado spun in one of the corners, and a lightning bolt shot through the middle of it.

This presentation of a united guard, from some of the most powerful amsirah in Tempest, was meant to instill terror in the hearts of all those watching. And I was sure it was working as the amsirah around me sank further into themselves and the shadows of the huts and buildings lining the street.

When the prisoner wagons rolled past, frightened, dirty faces peered out from the bars they’d enclosed their hands around. Some stretched out a hand and pleaded for help as if these broken masses could somehow save them, but there was no help for those trapped souls.

At the end of the wagons, they’d chained more of the earl’s captured servants to the guards’ horses. While their hands remained bound by the magicked manacles that would keep their powers suppressed, they’d freed their feet.

They jogged to keep up with the animals, but some of them failed to do so and fell to the ground. Unwilling to allow them to regain their feet, the guards sat tall in their saddles as they dragged them onward.

Blood coated their clothes and bruises marred what little flesh I could see through the dirt covering them. I had no idea why some had been chosen to ride in the carriages while the others ran, but I suspected it was one more mind game from Ivan. He wanted the amsirah here to see every possible fate they might receive.

At the end of the procession came a bigger contingent of guards. This one also consisted of Ivan’s, the earl’s, and my father’s men and women.

They surrounded a massive golden carriage with the king’s insignia emblazoned on the side. There was no doubt who sat inside that carriage as Samael and Gaius rode beside it.

At the end of Main Street, just outside the rotary with a large green lawn, the contingent halted. In the center of the lawn, a broken fountain of four dragons no longer spewed water.

The riders dismounted, and steel doors slammed closed, but I couldn’t see what followed. The loud voices of the contingent carried through the street; their words were unintelligible.

While the rest of the amsirah around me remained unmoving, I started pushing through the crowd toward the center of Nottingshire. Many were too focused on what was happening ahead to notice me, but once they did, they scrambled to get out of my way as they sputtered apologies I barely heard.

When I reached the edge of the town center, I stopped to watch as Samael’s men erected thirty-six pillories in a straight line, where all could see them. My worst fears about this happening while we were here were coming true.

I wasn’t concerned about myself; I’d seen others tortured before, but Ellery was somewhere in this crowd, and her heart was too big. It was about to be crushed… again.

My eyes scanned the crowd for any sign of her. It was too late to get her out of here; even in this crush of amsirah, there were too many guards for the opening of a portal to go unnoticed, but if I could at least see her, maybe she’d gain some strength from that, but the crowd continued to hide her.

They unchained the prisoners and removed them from the carriages. They huddled into themselves as the sledgehammers drove the wooden pillories deeper.

It said something about Ivan’s reign that this was the first time these wooden structures had been placed in Nottingshire in my lifetime. Leo hadn’t allowed his followers to be tortured and imprisoned unfairly. They were punished if they broke the laws, but not like this.

When they finished with the pillories, the prisoners were led forward by their chains. Reinforced with steel inside them, it would be impossible for these weakened men and women to break free.

Samael and his father led the guards in locking up the prisoners. They shoved them to their knees before the pillories, unchained their wrists, placed their head and arms inside the structure, and put the top piece on before locking them in place and rechaining their wrists before them. They left their feet unshackled.

After they were all in place, the guards stripped and cut away their clothes to leave them bare to the baking August sun. Some around me shifted uncomfortably, but they were all compelled to keep watching as none turned away.