Page 72 of A Tempest of Revelation
Scarlet, her mother, Ruby, and brother, Billy, remained behind. They had wanted to help us bring her home, but with me leaving, someone had to stay with Callan. He had to be kept somewhere he could escape if guards arrived.
Scarlet had offered to take my place, but I would bring my mother home. I wouldn’t let someone else do it for me.
Callan was now ensconced safely in Scarlet’s home. If something went wrong, they could open a portal out of there, and Scarlet would take him to the Revenant Woods.
She didn’t know where Tucker’s encampment was—something I would have to rectify soon—but she knew plenty of other places to keep him safe. We’d agreed to meet by our old hiding place, at the tree with the pixie door, if they had to leave.
If, for some reason, that spot didn’t prove safe, I’d find her by the creek we fished in when we were kids. No matter what, I would find her.
While Scarlet and Billy watched over Callan, Ruby was taking a note to my Aunt Connie. I would have preferred to tell her in person about her sister’s death, but I couldn’t do that and claim my mother’s body.
The outer gates were closed when we arrived at the earl’s castle. When I stated my name and our reason for being there, they opened the twenty-foot-high metal gates, and we entered.
Unlike last night, the inner bailey was hushed. The yellow carpet remained to guide the way, but blood and dirt now coated it.
I’d worn a black walking dress that came to my ankles and black boots. I would have preferred to don my farm clothes as I’d known this place would be a mess, but I worried the earl might take offense if I did.
No fires danced in the torches, and clouds covered the sky instead of snow and stars. The booths that had been shuttered last night remained that way, as no merchants sold their wares.
I didn’t know if some of them had been a part of the rebellion, but I doubted the earl would have allowed those stalls to open today, even if they weren’t. I suspected he would spend the next weeks and months making sure everyone near his castle was someone he could trust.
The merchants who’d probably once moved freely around the bailey would be under constant scrutiny. They would search their homes and interrogate their families; even then, they might not be allowed back into the bailey.
Two guards searched the coffin before escorting us past the bodies piled on top of each other. Then they led us past a smaller row of bodies that I assumed were those of dead guards and guests, as they’d treated them with more care. I couldn’t look at them as I strained to suppress the stench of rot, blood, and something foul clogging my nostrils.
The guards strode beside us as we carried the coffin inside past more of their brethren. Our escorts held their spears before them and kept their expressions stony. They wore the king’s colors, and I had no doubt they’d kill us if we did anything they might consider a threat.
Together, we climbed the outer stairs to enter the bloody interior, where more guards waited for us. I saw more of them now than I had last night.
CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN
Ellery
Ten servants,with buckets and rags, worked to scrub the surfaces of the hallway as we passed them. They wore little more than rags, either because that’s what their master always offered them or because of the awful work they performed—blood stained those rags.
None of them looked at us as we passed by on our way to the open ballroom doors. I braced myself for what we’d find beyond those doors.
The outer bailey had stunk, but it was nothing compared to the cloying stench of blood, death, excrement, and chemicals bombarding me as soon as we entered. Unable to stop myself, I stepped back, but when one of the guards shot me a look, I quickly righted myself.
I couldn’t have them thinking I would try something. I’d had enough of death for a lifetime and would have more in the future, but not today. I needed a break today.
Making sure to stay as unassuming as possible, I surveyed the destroyed room. It was so beautiful last night; today was a horror show.
Other amsirah moved among the rows of dead neatly laid out on the floor. The ones who found their dead, gathered them and loaded them into coffins or lifted them between family members to carry them out by hand.
Judging by the empty spaces between some of the dead bodies, a fair amount were already claimed. A woman wept at the foot of a dead man while two other men loaded him into a black coffin.
A large pile of at least a hundred bodies lay near the open doors to the garden. They’d tossed most haphazardly onto the heap. None of them still wore hoods, but I knew they had to be the rebels.
I suspected they would eventually burn those bodies but had left them there, for all to see, and to know this was what would happen if they dared to try to rebel too. Clenching my hands before me, I resisted my impulse to flee this place of death and tyranny.
I hoped they hadn’t mixed some guests up with the rebels. I couldn’t imagine pawing through that pile in search of my mother, but I would if I had to.
Breathing through my mouth didn’t help ease the stench as my stomach rolled. I wouldnotcry or throw up here. I wouldnot.
Regaining control of my emotions, I scanned the rest of the room to avoid looking at the bodies the guards were leading us toward. Some of my tension eased when I spotted Ryker standing in front of the dais.
He couldn’t stand next to me through this, but he was here, and the strength of his presence helped bolster my own. In a room full of powerful men, he stood out from the others.
