Children of Virtue and Vengeance (Legacy of Orïsha #2)(76)

The attack is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Anything I knew could exist in this world.

The blade of air hurtles toward us, a massive scythe ripping through the sky.

It’s as if she flings a twisting tornado at us like a boomerang. The howling storm shakes the air as it twists toward us.

The blade of air tears up the earth beneath it as it flies. The dense jungle clears away. The air turns heavy in its presence. I lunge for Mazeli as it nears the forest.

“Get down!”

Sound returns when the blade hits the first mammoth tree in its path. The world explodes around us, a whirlwind of splintered bark and clouds of debris. We crawl under the web of thick roots as massive trees rain from above. I can’t see beyond the cyclone of dirt. I can’t hear beyond the howling winds.

How is she doing this? My body shakes as I try to protect Mazeli. I know cênters can absorb the magic of t?táns around them, but this magnitude is beyond comprehension.

Giant trees lie ripped from their roots. The damaged wagons that littered the dirt path are blown to smithereens. The jungle is completely unrecognizable. A whole kilometer of land lies in ruins.

Mazeli trembles in my arms as the wind abates with a vicious hiss. Only a quiet breeze blows through the destruction, passing over the thin stretch of battered land that lies between us and the t?táns. It won’t be enough to shield us if the cênter can strike again. For all our scrolls and training, we can’t face this kind of power. The cênter doesn’t fight with the magic of mortals.

She fights with the might of a god.

“Is it over?” he asks.

“I don’t know.” From afar, I see the dozen t?táns she drained for her first attack lying on the ground, their skin wrinkled and their cheeks hollow. They all lie around their general in a ring of death, skeletons protruding from their sunken forms.

But despite the fate that awaits them, a new wave of t?táns circle around their general. The general loads them up like ammunition, preparing to absorb their magic.

“One more hit and she’ll blow through the sanctuary’s walls!” Mazeli’s eyes bulge. “We have to take her out!”

“How? We can’t get close!”

I press my fists to my head when the cênter’s eyes fill with silver light again. The steady hum ripples through the air. The winds begin to howl.

“There’s one thing we can do.” Mazeli balls his fists, filling his chest with a confidence I know he doesn’t have. I step back, looking at the tattoos along my skin.

The power of that cênter is one we can’t face. But if we wielded that power ourselves …

“It’s too big of a risk.” I shake my head. “The connection could kill us!”

“If we don’t use it, that cênter will kill us! We have to protect the maji, no matter the cost!”

The conviction in his big brown eyes brings a calm to the chaos. He’s right. We don’t have a choice. Our people are behind those walls.

My body warms as the magic of the moonstone stirs in my chest. Mazeli’s heartbeat starts to bleed into my ears. The violet light of the ashê beneath his skin appears before my eyes.

“Are you ready?”

He nods, lacing his fingers with mine. My tattoos glow with golden light as I whisper the ancient command.

“? t?nná agbára yin.”

It’s like a bolt of lightning crackling in the space between our palms. Mazeli grunts as we’re both lifted into the air, chests arcing toward the sky. Violet light shines from our eyes and our mouths. The same particles of light materialize before our hearts.

They stretch forward like ribbons, weaving themselves together as our lifeforces tether together. The air continues to thin, but I feel the power of Oya in our breath.

“It’s coming!” Mazeli shouts as our feet land back on the ground. The general’s wind swallows all sound in its deafening silence. Trees snap in half as the blade of wind rebuilds. But as the cênter prepares to release her attack, purple light crackles around our hands.

“?mí àw?n tí ó ti sùn—”

Our incantation rings in the absence of sound.





CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR


ZéLIE


IT STARTS WITH A SHAKE.

A shift beneath the earth.

The first hill explodes as monstrous animations twist from the dirt.

They claw their way out of the ground, each as big as a gorillion. Even at my strongest, I can only summon dozens of animations. In seconds, Mazeli and I create hundreds.

“—mo ké pè yin ní òní.”

Veins bulge against our necks as the tide of spirits rises. Dirt rains from their bodies when they charge, a tsunami of animations surging over the land.

The cênter releases her blade, blowing our monstrous animations to smithereens. But it’s not strong enough to take out the whole wave. Her wind dies half a kilometer away.

“Keep going!” I shout. I feel Mazeli’s heart beating in my chest. My body burns as our ashê bleeds together.

The magic of the moonstone binds our souls, creating a force unlike any I’ve commanded before. Animations crawl onto the carts, ripping the soldiers apart. The t?táns’ screams ring as our soldiers attack. But the longer we push, the greater the strain. The more I feel our pain.