Page 98 of Children of Virtue and Vengeance

“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 Mâzeli to take cover. I can’t believe my eyes when I see the blade the cênter forms out of the sky.

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 Mâzeli 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 Mâzeli. I know cênters can absorb the magic of tîtáns 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.

Mâzeli 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 tîtáns. 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 tîtáns 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 tîtáns 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!” Mâzeli’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.” Mâzeli 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. Mâzeli’s heartbeat starts to bleed into my ears. The violet light of the ashêbeneath 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. Mâzeli 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!” Mâzeli 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.

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