Chapter 19

Ryker

Whoever the Hooded Robber was,they were fast and moved through the trees like they were one of the ghosts drifting around me. I swatted at one of the poltergeists; when my hand passed through its icy, misty body, it laughed.

Something howled deeper in the woods as a creature crept through the trees. After spending a year in Doomed Valley, a jungle full of monsters that would gladly tear the flesh from any living thing, the lethal creatures of these woods didn't bother me.

When a piglike beast erupted out of a grove of brambles, I pulled my sword from its sheath and carved the creature down before it could take out my legs with its six-inch tusks. Blood spurted from the hole I'd created in its head as it faceplanted into the ground.

One of the poltergeists screeched and whizzed behind a tree before recalling it was already dead. It flitted back out from behind the tree and came back toward me.

Above me, the Hooded Robber raced from one limb to another as they sought to evade capture. I kept waiting for arrows to fly, but so far, the thief wasn't unleashing any more of their projectiles.

Thin and limber, the thief moved with unrelenting grace from tree to tree. He was small but quick; his black clothes didn't snag on any branches while he moved.

I didn't understand why this asshole wasn't firing more arrows at me, but I would use their hesitation against them. I was tired of them hiding in the trees and not about to climb up there after them.

Gathering the power of the air and the electricity around me, I lifted a hand to the sky. The air crackled with electricity as thunder rumbled and a bolt of lightning shot down from the sky.

The Robber was in midleap from one tree to another when lightning hit the branch he was about to land on, causing it to explode. As bark sprayed the bastard's face and sparks erupted into the air, the Robber fell away from the still-smoldering end of the branch.

He bounced off a few branches, his hands flailing for purchase as he plunged toward the ground. I smiled grimly and planted my feet as I waited for the fucker to hit the ground, but his upper body wrapped around a tree branch, and his arms hooked over it.

They didn't issue a sound, and pieces of bark rained onto me as their toes scraped the tree while they scrambled for purchase. He pulled himself back onto the limb; the Robber knelt on it as he studied the burning remnants of the branch before shifting his attention to me.

A layer of thin cloth covered the thief's eyes. It must be sheer enough to see through, but it kept his eyes covered. The only parts of him exposed were his nostrils and hands, neither of which did me any good in helping to identify him.

Rising again, the Robber climbed higher before leaping toward another tree. The Robber's legs kicked as he soared through the air before the man started to fall short of the next tree.

My heart raced in anticipation of finally getting my hands on this dick as I tracked them through the forest. The Robber's legs scissored, kicking back and forth as they sought to keep themselves airborne.

As the thief descended, more branches battered him until he crashed into another tree. Instead of bouncing off and crashing to the earth, the Robber grunted and somehow managed to keep himself off the ground by enclosing his arm around the trunk.

The Robber hooked his leg over another tree branch and pulled himself up. Before he could completely right himself, I sent another lightning bolt into the tree. With a loud crack, the wood splintered from the top down.

The Robber's startled cry was drown out by the sound of the tree tilting toward the earth. It had nearly hit the ground when the Robber released his grip and leapt off.

With the speed of one of my bolts, the thief sprinted into the woods, but I wasn't about to let him get away. He'd stolen from me, and I wouldn't let him evade my wrath.

Lifting my hand, I drew energy from the sky while the fingers of my other hand pointed to the ground, drawing electricity from it too. I pulled another lightning bolt from the electricity pulsing through the earth and directed it at the man dashing through the trees.

Before he could try climbing into the trees again, I unleashed the lightning; it sizzled across the space separating us. The bolt was about to knock him on his ass when the Robber spun, threw up his hands, and caught the bolt.

With a flick of his wrist, he fired it back at me. My shock over their ability to control the lightning in such a way held me immobile as the bolt streaked toward me.

At the last second, I flung myself to the side to avoid the lightning. It sizzled over my head before crashing into the tree behind me.

What the fuck?

I gawked at the still-smoldering bark above me as I tried to process what happened. The only way someone could have controlled my electricity was if they were also a lightning bearer, but that couldn't be possible.

I was the only amsirah who was a lightning bearer. It had been that way since my mother's brother died shortly after my birth.

The amsirah could control the weather, but over the millennia of our existence, only a few possessed the gift to call on lightning. Discovering the existence of another lightning bearer wasn't something I'd ever considered, but my enemy had proven another one did exist.

Leaping to my feet, I raced after the Robber. Now, I had more than one reason to capture the thief.