Page 70 of Children of Blood and Bone

“We cannot risk it—”

“No!” I cry out. Tzain presses his hand against my mouth to stifle the sound. Guards or not, I will not abandon Nailah. I won’t leave my oldest friend behind.

Lekan releases a frustrated sigh, but we creep back to the temple. My vision fades in as he motions us close, pressing against the side of the temple to peer out front.

Across the graveyard of skulls and ruins, I see Inan reach down, aiding his admiral as their remaining soldiers urge their ryders over thefinal ledge. There’s a crazed drive in his eyes, a desire to find us that runs deeper than before. I look for the prince who trembled in his dreamscape. Instead all I see are the hands that wrapped around my throat.

Ahead of Inan, three guards kick over crumbled stones and broken bones. They’re close.

Too close for us to hide.

“Sùn,1mí ?kàn, sùn. Sùn,1mí ?kàn, sùn.”Lekan weaves an incantation under his breath like a needle through thread, moving his staff in circles. The words summon a coil of white smoke that twists and swirls through the air.

Sleep, spirit, sleep, I translate.Sleep, spirit, sleep…

We watch as the coil slithers along the ground like a snake. It wraps itself around the leg of the closest guard, squeezing until it seeps into his skin. The guard lurches forward, stumbling down behind a pile of stones. His eyes flash white with Lekan’s spirit before rolling into unconsciousness.

The white coil slithers out of his body and incapacitates the next soldier by the same means. As he goes down, Inan and the admiral pull the vicious snow leopanaire over the edge.

“Lekan,” Amari hisses, beads of sweat forming on her brow. At this speed we won’t make it.

They’ll find us before we get out.

Lekan chants faster and faster, moving his staff as if stirring tubani in an iron pot. The spirit slithers toward the final guard, seconds away from Nailah. Her yellow eyes glint with a predator’s malice.No, Nailah. Please—

“Agh!” The guard’s ear-shattering cry rings through the air. Flocks of birds soar into the sky. Blood spurts from his thigh as Nailah releases her giant fangs.

Inan whips around, death raging in his eyes. They land on me and narrow; a predator who’s finally caught his prey.

“Nailah!”

My lionaire bounds across the destroyed ruins, reaching us in mere beats. Tzain hoists my body into the saddle before everyone else scrambles on.

Tzain snaps her reins as Inan and the admiral draw their swords. Before they can reach us, Nailah takes off, zipping across the mountainside. Broken stones tumble under her paws as she flees, clattering off the narrow ledge.

“There!” Lekan points to the jungle’s thick underbrush. “There is a bridge a few kilometers ahead. If we get across and cut it, they will not be able to follow!”

Tzain snaps Nailah’s reins and she tears through the jungle at breakneck speed, dodging vines and massive trees. Peering through the underbrush, I spot the bridge in the distance, but a menacing roar reminds me that Inan is right on our tail. I sneak a glance behind me. Thick branches snap against his snow leopanaire’s massive frame as she rips through the underbrush. She bares her ghastly teeth as she nears, hungry like her master.

“Amari!” Inan yells.

Amari tenses and squeezes me tight. “Go faster!”

Nailah already sprints faster than I’ve ever seen her go, but somehow she finds the strength to push. Her bounds lengthen our life, creating needed distance between us and our pursuers.

We break through the underbrush and skid to a halt before the rickety bridge. Withered vines string together the rotted wood; with a gust of wind the entire structure quakes.

“One by one,” Lekan orders. “It will not hold us all. Tzain, guide Zélie—”

“No.” I slide to the ground, almost collapsing when I hit the dirt. My legs feel like water, but I compel myself to be strong. “Nailah first—she’ll take the longest.”

“Zél—”

“Go!” I scream. “We’re running out of time!”

Tzain grits his teeth and grabs Nailah by the reins. He guides her across the creaking bridge, cringing as the wood moans with every step. The second they make it across, I push Amari forward, but she doesn’t let go of my arm.

“You are weak,” she chokes out. “You will not make it alone.”

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