Children of Virtue and Vengeance (Legacy of Orïsha #2)(75)

Ojore’s voice is a lifeline and a curse. He runs to me through the madness, wrapping my arm around his shoulder. Troops cover our tracks as a Tamer runs forward, a large girl with sunflowers in her curls. Clouds of pink magic fly from her hands, turning our ryders rabid.

Soldiers scream as they’re flung from their panthenaires’ backs. The ryders foam at the mouth. I look away when a rabid panthenaire sinks its fangs into its soldier’s throat.

“How could you do this?” I shout. “I gave you a command!”

“I didn’t have a choice!” Ojore pulls me forward. “I couldn’t lie to your mother!”

“Mother ordered this?” My hands fall limp as realization takes hold.

“She said Amari would kill you the moment you met. She ordered us to save you from this trap—”

BOOM!

One of our wagons collides with a blinding gust of fire. The force of the blast knocks us to the ground.

“Get the king to safety!” Ojore orders as another round of soldiers descends. A t?tán lifts me onto a ryder, steering me away from the battle.

As we ride away from the front, I want to scream to call off the attack, but I know I can’t now that the battle’s begun. The Iyika hit us with everything they have. Even fighting at our strongest, we’ll never be able to break through their defense.

This is the end.

I clutch my chest as we flee. At this rate, we’re going to lose the war. All of Or?sha will burn.

A few kilometers away, Mother flags us down. She flings her arms around me when I dismount and squeezes me tight.

“Thank goodness you’re alright!”

“I wasn’t in danger until you attacked!” I pull away from her hug. “We need to retreat now! Or else we’re going to lose this war!”

“Don’t worry.” Mother points to another transport in the distance. “Jok?ye’s forces are coming in. The Iyika end today.”





CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE


ZéLIE


“èMí òKú, GBA ààyé nínú mi—”

My throat scratches raw as magic rattles from my core. Shadows twist from my hands like snakes, lunging toward the ten soldiers who charge. They go down in one wave, shadows binding them to the jungle’s mammoth trees. Mazeli follows with an incantation of his own, raising a giant animation that knocks a dozen more t?táns unconscious.

“We’re doing it!” he shouts, smile stretching between his large ears. Across the way, Nao and her Tiders drag five t?táns into the gushing river along the sanctuary’s trail. They create a whirlpool that drags the soldiers under the water’s surface, drowning them as they spin.

Mazeli and I pivot, preparing to cast again. Then the monarchy’s horn blares.

Ha-woooooooooo!

The siren echoes through the rolling valleys, a blare that sounds like death. As the approaching troops come to a stop, the remaining soldiers fall back.

“They’re retreating!” Kenyon punches his hands up, shooting a stream of fire into the air. The rest of the maji cheer as the soldiers flee, abandoning their caravans and majacite bombs.

I grab onto a tree root and lift myself up, climbing higher to watch them run. I look past the maji and wreckage in my path, searching through the dense greens of the jungle. I’m ten meters off the ground when I feel it—the vibration building in the air.

My stomach clenches as I turn, peering into the distance. A single cart rides down the dirt path four kilometers away, pulled by three snow leopanaires. Two dozen soldiers stand on the wooden transport, arms clasped behind their backs. The general we faced in Chandomblé’s halls stands in front of them, thick braid falling to her waist.

Though each soldier wears golden t?tán armor, my tattoos hum at the sight of the general. When she and her t?táns ride past the monarchy’s retreating soldiers, it all makes sense.

The enemy’s not running away from us.

They’re running away from them.

“Retreat!” I scream. “Get back to the sanctuary!”

The Iyika meet me with confused stares as the t?táns stop their cart a full kilometer away. The soldiers riding on top of it dismount in waves.

“What’s going on?” Mazeli shouts. I can’t speak when the general raises her hands. At her command, the t?táns form a circle around her. Her eyes glow with silver light as she opens her palms.

“She’s a cênter!” I yell. “She’s harnessing the wind!”

The vibration in the air transforms to a violent shake. The wind sucks everything forward, pulling at my clothes and the dirt and the leaves.

Chaos descends as everyone scrambles back toward the sanctuary. Paws thunder all around us as wild ryders gallop, trying to escape the general’s attack. Na’imah uses an incantation to freeze a pack of wild tigenaires fleeing from the north, stopping them until the elders and maji can climb on.

“Go!” I shove Bimpe up the beast’s striped coat. I try to shout more instructions, but the whipping air swallows my voice. In seconds, I can’t even hear myself breathe.

A new terror grips my chest as I spur Bimpe’s tigenaire forward before motioning for Mazeli to take cover. I can’t believe my eyes when I see the blade the cênter forms out of the sky.