“What the fuck?” I stared at the Corrupted swarming the streets. Corrupted, not corpses.
“Maybe he's run out of bodies,” Xae said.
“You think he's gone through all the dead buried on this planet?” Rath lifted a brow at Xae.
“Then why is he using Corrupted?”
“I don't think he ever stopped using them,” I said. “I think he had them doing other things.”
“Like digging up bodies,” Xae said.
“Yup.”
“Are you fuckers going to help or just stand there squawking?” someone shouted down at us.
I looked up. Then grimaced.
Jathalion. Of course, it was him.
“Come on,” I said to my men. “I want to find Keltyr.”
We ran down the street toward the closest group of Corrupted while we also searched for our missing man. As we ran, we sent forth our magic. Wraiths—shadowy versions of ourselves—flew out of us and then split into an army of spirits. Just enough to enter every Corrupted in range. This was one of the things I did for my lovers. I empowered them in many ways. And I couldn't help feeling a burst of pride and smugness that Jathalion saw it.
The Corrupted jerked with the impact of our wraiths and stumbled to a stop. Our magic kept going, surging out of them and taking the corruption with them to destroy it before flying back into us. The fleeing citizens kept running behind us, though they stopped screaming. Most of them. The Corrupted, or ex-Corrupted, fell to their knees and stared around themselves in shock.
“Stay here,” I said to them as my men and I ran by.
“Ember?” a feminine voice called. “Ember Aldritch, is that you?”
A shiver ran through me, and I almost fell. Rath steadied me, and the three of us turned back toward the freed humans.
“Rachel?” I whispered. Then, in a stronger voice, “Rachel!”
Rachel wasn't a friend of mine. Truth be told, I barely knew her. As I had barely known all of my neighbors in Fress, even the few I'd been intimate with. But I knew her well enough to recognize her. In fact, I'd been searching for her. She and all the other people of my home village who the Corrupter had taken.
“Itisyou.” Rachel stumbled to her feet. “Ember, what are you—”
I cut her off with a hug. Or rather, I barreled into her and held her tightly. “Oh, fuck. Thank the Goddess. I've been looking for all of you.” I jerked back to search the faces of the other freed humans, and I recognized two others. “Albert! Vivienne!”
The other two Fress villagers drew closer.
“Ember?” Albert asked. “What's happening?”
“You were corrupted. We freed you,” I said.
“Youfreed us?” Vivienne asked.
“I'm a Wraith Lord.” I waved off their questions. “I don't have time to explain. Are there any other Fress villagers here?”
“I don't even know where here is,” Rachel said.
Rath took my hand and said, “We'll be back to help you soon. Come on, Ember. We have other Corrupted to free.”
“Sorry,” I said as I turned away. As I ran off, I shouted over my shoulder, “Don't go anywhere.”
I'd found them! Some of them at least. Ever since the Corrupter had taken everyone from my village, including the kids who now resided in the Wraith Lord Citadel, I'd been searching for them. I'd only found the kids and two men, all of whom had been in the Corrupter's castle. But now I had hope of finding the rest of them. I ran through the streets with my men, searching not only for the Corrupted and Keltyr, but also specific Corrupted. Some of the children would soon be reunited with their families!
A few minutes later, we found Kel.
