Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX

Ellery

I opted to travel by portal this time and didn't take Adira into the forest with me. I planned on going to Tucker's camp, where he stayed with other amsirah who had fled their homes for the Revenant Woods. There was no reason for the mare to enter the haunted forest again.

My hair was still damp, and my weapons were in place, when I opened a portal from my bedroom to emerge at the edge of the clearing Tucker and his followers had created in the woods. Since the last time I was here, they'd cut down more trees and built more tree houses.

The group looked to have swelled to almost fifty, but there could be more hunting in the woods or in the tree houses. They'd added a pen and erected a barn.

Some sheep baaed from within the pen while chickens pecked the ground around it. A separate pen contained a dozen calazars, the small brown creatures native to Tempest that had been tamed into livestock and were delicious when cooked.

Goats stood in a separate pen, and a horse stuck its head out of the barn. The amsirah living here were turning this place into a little town.

The thuds of a hammer striking nails reverberated through the clearing as some amsirah worked to build another tree house. A dozen more stood guard while others tossed food for the chickens and tended the goats.

Across the way, ten amsirah practiced with bows and arrows. Unlike the last time I was here, Tucker had given them arrows to shoot at the targets he'd created in the woods. Bow strings twanged, and arrows thudded as the amsirah trained to become fighters.

These men and women loathed the king. Most had been simple farmers, workers, merchants, or wanderers who bounced from one job to another. Then, unable to pay their taxes, they were driven from their homes and livelihoods and turned into fighters.

I hoped these amsirah one day made King Ivan pay for his choices. I didn't know how they would do it, but they were becoming warriors under Tucker's guidance.

Tucker, a tall, lean man with thick stubble lining his high cheekbones and narrow jaw, walked behind the amsirah as they practiced archery. Sometimes, he paused to fix how one held a bow, lifted their hands higher, or adjusted their stance.

It had been over a month since I last saw him. In that time, his dark blond hair had grown past the collar of his shirt.

I looked around the clearing but didn't see Ryker anywhere. I didn't let that dissuade me; Tucker probably knew where he was.

When I emerged from the shadows, one of the guards noticed me and did a double take. He stepped toward me, and I held up my hand in a pacifying gesture.

"I mean no harm; I'm just here to speak with Tucker."

He shifted his grip on the spear. I couldn't recall him from the last time I was here, so he could be new, but I also hadn't met everyone.

"I've been here before," I continued. "How else would I know your location?"

The man grunted.

"I came with Ryker last time."

"How come you're not with him now?"

That was a lot of history I wasn't about to unload on this guy, but his words intrigued me. Had Ryker returned here since the man remembered him?

"Because I'm allowed to walk the woods freely and came by myself," I retorted.

When his eyes narrowed further, I wasn't sure he could see out of them anymore.

"Look, I'm not here to argue; I'm going to talk to Tucker, and I'm not leaving until I do," I told him. "You can drag me into the woods, but I'll return."

I rested my hand against the bottom of my bow; I was better with it than everyone here, including Tucker. I couldn't kill them all, and didn't want to, but I could incapacitate more than a few.

If push came to shove, I'd unleash my lightning on them too, if it meant getting to Ryker. No one in this clearing could help me with the king and his father, but he could, and I would do whatever it took to find him.

I'd much prefer to keep my lightning a secret for the rest of my life. I doubted it would happen, but I could hope.

When I stepped forward, the guard moved to block me, and my fingers twitched on my bow. I wouldn't mind shooting an arrow straight into his foot to keep him in place, but making enemies here wasn't the best way to get help.

Taking a deep breath, I forced a smile that was more like a baring of my teeth as I shouted, "Tucker!"

When the guard's lips curled into a sneer, I grinned at him. I didn't dare take my gaze away from the man, but I saw Tucker turn toward us from the corner of my eye.

Irritation swiftly replaced the confusion on his face. He stalked across the clearing toward me and the guard.

I kept my chin high and my jaw set. This was going to be ugly, but I'd get through it.

I would again pay the price for what I'd done to Ryker, this time, with his best friend. No matter what Tucker said or did, I wouldn't leave here without learning Ryker's location.