Rudjek does an intricate dance around me, far enough to mind his swords, but close enough to keep me in his sight. His shotels move in smooth arcs, dispatching enemy after enemy. His body is fluid as he twists and turns, slicing and drawing his swords into chests and bellies and throats. Majka does the same—although with less grace.
While Rudjek is protecting me, Fadyi and Jahla protect him. They cut down shotani with the hook-shaped knives they call reapers that slide through flesh and bones with ease. Re’Mec’s shotels shimmer as he cuts down demon after demon. He’s flamboyant and arrogant as he wields his swords.
Kira flings her knives, her aim true as she takes down several demons in a matter of moments. Behind us, Ezaric and Tzaric have changed back into their human forms. Sukar and Räeke fight side by side, but there’s no sign of Essnai as a horde of demons overtakes them. My belly twists in knots, and I turn my firestorm toward the demons behind me, to help my friends. Kira runs headlong into the thicket of demons, fighting her way to Essnai. I lose sight of her too.
Thunder cracks in the sky at the same time an arrow grazes my cheek. My face burns, and blood rolls down my chin. Rudjek tries to fend off three demons at once, but he’s bleeding too, his movements less fluid and less sharp.
“Are you okay?” he shouts over his shoulder, winded.
Before I can answer, the sky opens. A great beast drops into the valley and the ground shakes. I almost lose my balance, but Majka grabs my arm to keep me from falling. In its descent, the beast crushes dozens of demons and shotani.
“What in the name of the gods,” Majka yells over the battle cries.
The beast is mammoth, its black hide covered in short spikes of bones, its mouth full of sharp, crooked teeth. It rolls its head back, its snout thrust to the moon, and growls—a sound that reverberates through me. It stomps toward us, shaking the ground with each step.
“My sister,” Re’Mec laughs, “always one for theatrics!”
The beast disperses into a red mist and the demons closest to it drop to their knees, clawing at their throats. Rudjek catches my eye as a single figure emerges from the mist. Koré rises from one bent knee, two shotels in her hands, her long braids a writhing bed of serpents.
Not sure if my eyes are deceiving me, I whisper, “I saw you die.”
Koré grins, her head held high. “I’m not so easy to kill.”
Where has she been all this time? I’m both relieved to see her alive and angry that she survived when the witchdoctors did not. I look to where my father fell, but now bodies litter the valley and I can’t see him. “The Demon King’s ka?” The words are stiff on my tongue and my chest tightens. I can’t have come this far only to fail. My father didn’t die in vain.
“Still safe for now,” she finally answers, and I ease out the breath burning in my lungs.
“I had the situation under control,” Re’Mec says to his sister. Although his tone is relaxed, his posture is anything but.
Before Koré can answer, Efiya steps out of the void again and plunges a shotel into Tzaric’s back. Ezaric doesn’t fare any better when her sword slices through his neck. Rudjek screams—his rage palpable as he cuts down two more demons and runs to help the cravens.
My heart slams against my ribs as the sounds of the battle echo in my ears. So many good people have died already because of my mother and Efiya’s quest to raise the Demon King. My father, my grandmother, the witchdoctors, even my mother herself. Still more die now. I can’t let their deaths be for nothing. If I don’t stop my sister here, she and the Demon King will destroy everything.
Efiya appears with her bloody swords slashing down at Sukar’s head. Things happen so fast that one action blurs into the next and then the next. The air ripples with the sting of anti-magic, and a sword pierces through Efiya’s chest. Sukar takes the opportunity to slide his sickle across her throat. The sword turns to ashes, and both wounds heal without spilling a drop of blood. She bears down on Sukar again with rage and murder in her eyes.
“No!” My magic flings Sukar out of Efiya’s grasp, but I push too hard—he crashes into a column and falls to the ground in a heap. My hand flies over my mouth to stifle the scream burning in my lungs.
“I’m no longer amused.” Efiya closes the space between us in two steps. “Time to end this game.”
Rudjek charges at Efiya, but Jahla and Fadyi hold him back. Koré and Re’Mec and Kira launch weapons at her, but time stops again. By my hand. I have to get Efiya away from my friends, or she won’t stop until she kills them all. The chieftains tell me what to do. I take one step backward and I’m inside the collapsed Temple. When Efiya steps into the void and reappears in front of me, a blinding light flashes, sealing us inside. There is no sound now—everyone outside remains still.
We stand in the Temple as it was before she destroyed it. Pristine pillars and columns glimmer in the torchlight. Murals engraved with stars and flowing ribbons of Heka’s pure light decorate the walls. This place is another gift from the chieftains—a place where Efiya and I exist outside time itself.
“You bring nothing but destruction to everything you touch,” I say. “It must end.”
“Dear Arrah, I’m only beginning.” Efiya smiles. “I’m life and death.”
I shudder, my knees weak. “How could you kill our parents?”
“They are here!” She thumps her fist against her chest. “Can’t you understand that?” She blinks back tears, her face twisted in an emotion that looks foreign on her. “They’re safe with all the others inside me.”
“You’re mad,” I spit, and the words are bile on my tongue.
Efiya frowns like my accusation wounds her. “Are you still sour about Rudjek?”
I will not give her the satisfaction of seeing how much pain she’s caused me.
“I gave him a gift that you never can,” Efiya answers without malice. “You should thank me.”
“Thank you?” I laugh.
Efiya points a bloody shotel at my chest. “It’s your face he’ll remember, not mine.”
Is she jealous? I dismiss the idea. If it’s any emotion at all—it’s contempt. But every soul she’s consumed has become a part of her. It’s changed her. Oshhe’s a part of her now too. He loved me. Arti loved me too. “I don’t hear the chieftains’ voices anymore. Have the kas of all the people you murdered been silenced too?” When she doesn’t respond, I add, “This place is special.”
“I’ve seen visions of us entering the Temple, but I could never see inside it.”
“It’s not meant for you or me to see inside,” I say. “Our magic will not protect us here.”
Efiya considers this for a moment as she stares down at her shotel. Then she glances back up at me, her face set, her eyes savage. “That’s very unfortunate for you.”
Her blade digs into my belly before the Demon King’s dagger even crosses my mind. Efiya smiles down at me through tears, her sword still piercing me. I cough, the taste of blood on my tongue. There’s so much pain in my sister’s gaze as she yanks back the sword and it clangs against the floor.
“It has to be this way.” She pulls me close.