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CHAPTER ELEVEN

TZAIN

“A TTACK ! ” K ENYON SCREAMS. More maji start to break free. A flash of rain cascades down the wooden steps. The Skulls slip as they fall down the stairs.

I try to lunge forward, but shackles still bind me to the maji. My chains hold me back. I won’t be able to fight like this.

I have to find a way to separate myself from the others.

One Skull charges down the hall. He bites into his hand and removes his crimson hammer. Blood leaks from his broken skin, feeding straight into the runes on his sculpted hilt.

As the same runes carve themselves into the Skull’s chest, the warrior transforms before my eyes. His muscles bulge with new strength. The very ground rumbles under his feet. His neck thickens. His bones crack. He releases a guttural roar as he runs to attack.

Six maji swarm the Skull at once, but the Skull swings with inhuman force. All six maji are blown away. They fly back into their cells, bones crushed.

Another Skull runs toward us. He raises his glowing axe in the air. Blood drips from his hand as the Skull swells, growing so large he fills the space between the cages.

I duck as the Skull swings at my neck. The force of his axe cuts through the iron bars of our cell. The Skull rears back and swings again. I throw myself to the floor as the glowing axe passes above my head.

But on the floor, I see my chance. A dagger hangs from the Skull’s belt. With a powerful wrench, the dagger flies free. I don’t waste a second before slicing through the tendons at the Skull’s heel.

The Skull shouts as he goes down. The crimson axe falls from his hand. Taiwo tries to grab the glowing weapon, but touching the foreign metal burns his skin.

“Buy Tzain time!” a maji screams. They hold the Skull down as I strike. I stab again and again, cutting through the Skull’s thigh, through his chest. I dig the dagger into his gut and pull, carving through his abdomen. His blood flies into the air, coating our dark skin.

When the Skull’s body lies still, the glow of his axe fades away, draining with the warrior’s lifeforce. His blood pools around me as my cellmates raid his animal-skin pouches. They use the sulfur-scented tar to break through our chains.

As they slip free, they flood into the hall, aiding the other maji as we struggle to take down the rest of the Skulls. I move to help them, but something pulls at me.

I turn to see the axe lying on the floor.

A sharp heat prickles through my fingers, daring me to get close. Though Taiwo wasn’t able to wield the weapon, after killing its owner, my hands are drawn to it. A magnetic force I can’t fight. I look to the dead Skull as I bend down.

When I grab the sculpted hilt, a quiet force erases all sound.

Blóeseier.

The foreign words fill my head. The sound of chanting men rings between my ears. My eyes go blank. My heart pounds in my chest. A new power surges through my body as my very muscles expand.

The blood from the wound in my arm leaks into the hilt. The crimson metal starts to warm.

I raise the weapon above my head as my axe glows with red.

“ Argh! ” I swing. The blade cuts straight through a Skull’s chest. Another Skull comes at me with his glowing hammer. I strike first, slicing through his neck.

The axe releases the rage buried deep inside. Crimson splatters in every direction as I fight. It coats my hands. My face. My tongue. But I can’t control the animal that awakens in me.

The more blood that spills, the more I need to see.

“The cells!” Kenyon points. Through the wild haze, I see the maji who’ve yet to break out. With a roar, I cut through the iron bars that have caged them for a moon. I slice through their chains, setting them free.

It’s working.

I stand in the center of the hall as the frenzy builds. With the axe, we have enough power. With this weapon, the Skulls have to cower.

“Get to the deck!” Kenyon roars over the maji. “Throw every Skull into the seas!”

I bring Zélie’s face back into my mind and head for the arched door.

I race to set my sister free.