Page 111 of Children of Anguish and Anarchy

A group of Baldyr’sgaldrasmiðarwalks into our path. The rectangular runes on their masks start to glow. With one swift arc, Amari drives her obsidian blade across eachgaldrasmiðr’s chest. Crimson splatters at our feet as Nailah makes her final leap.

When we land on the mountaintop, I jump from Nailah. I fall to my knees, taking my sister in my arms. Her silver eyes hang open. Her body grows colder by the second.

Even as I hold her, it doesn’t feel real. I put my hand over the wound in her heart. Her warm blood coats my fingertips. I pull Zélie to my chest.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper into her white hair. I feel every single person I’ve lost.

Mama.

Baba.

Zélie.

I have no one left.

Inan stands over me. He can’t bring himself to speak. Around the altar, the battle rages. The Skulls fight to recover the girls. Their vicious yells ring as they charge. The Green Maidens enclose us in a circle of spinning vines. The warriors who try to get through are flung off the mountain.

Within the circle, Amari runs forward. She shuts her eyes and raises her hands. Blue light pours from her palms in waves, bringing the remaininggaldrasmiðarto their knees. But more Skulls race through the caves with every passing second. Far too many for us to fight.

“We have to go!” Amari shouts at me.

Though everything feels numb, I force myself to rise. I clutch Zélie in my arms and return to Nailah, pulling myself up to her saddle. Inan and Amari follow, both lifting Mae’e’s body up.

With a unified twist of their arms, the Green Maidens expel the circle of vines. They clear the way for us to run.

We ride away from Baldyr and his army of Skulls, scaling back down the mountain rock.

CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE

TZAIN

“THERE’S STILL A CHANCE.”Amari attempts to comfort me as we fly across the seas. New vines cross over our torsos and waists, keeping us strapped to the vessel’s side.

The Green Maidens push beyond their natural limits, using their vines to latch onto rock formations and island chains leagues away. Every time they find a new anchor, our videira launches into the sky. We catapult over the ocean waves, hurtling to New Gaia in record time.

As we soar, I clutch Zélie’s body to my chest, unable to loosen my grip. Numbness fights the well of sorrow that threatens to spring forth.

We were supposed to go back home.

My sister was supposed to live.

Please.I close my eyes. I dare to hold on to the shred of hope that lies inside. The New Gaians were able to save her once before, but that was back when Yéva reigned. Even Mae’e was strong enough to intervene.

Now the sacred hierophant lies unconscious, strapped to the bottom of our vessel in a blanket of woven vines. Her brown skin has turned pale. There’s no life in her sparkling gaze.

Zélie may have stopped the ritual, but Baldyr sucked the very life from Mae’e’s veins.

The thought of the mutilated king haunts me—the mess of bloodmetal and human flesh. I see the twisted golden skull melted to his form, no longer just a mask. Zélie stopped him from becoming a god. But what power does Baldyr still have?

HA-WOOOOOOOOOOO!

I whip around as a long horn blows. Dozens of black silhouettes appear on the horizon, glowing under the Blood Moon. Crafted from bloodmetal, each carrier is massive. They spread five times the width of any ship I’ve ever seen. The carriers don’t have masts or sails, yet they move with unmatched speed.

Hundreds of Skulls stand at attention on each carrier’s flat base. For the first time, I witness their army’s collective strength. The hulking men wait in long lines, ready with their axes, their hammers, and their poleaxes.

“What are those?” Amari whispers.

Beside me, Inan reaches for his stolen maps. He looks over the schematics of the Skulls’ ships, searching for a match. His hands go limp as realization dawns. He releases the parchments, allowing them to blow in the wind.

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