Children of Blood and Bone - Tomi Adeyemi Page 0,21

one leaves until she’s caught.”

“Our mistake,” I apologize with a respectful bow. “We’ll wait inside.”

Dammit. I turn and walk back toward the stalls, scanning the frantic market. If all the exits are covered, we need a new plan. We need a new way to get—

Wait.

Though I’m almost back in the market, the girl isn’t by my side. I turn to find her frozen before the guards, the slightest tremble visible in her awkwardly placed hands.

For gods’ sakes!

I open my mouth to hiss her name, but I don’t even know it. I’ve risked everything for a stranger. And now she’s going to get us killed.

I try to distract the guards, but one is already reaching for the girl’s hood. There’s no time. I grab my metal rod and flick. “Duck!”

The girl drops to the ground. I whip my staff and smack it against the guard’s skull. A sickening crack rings through the air as he collapses into the dirt. Before the other can unsheathe his sword, I thrust my staff into his sternum.

“Ugh!”

With a swift kick to the jaw, he falls back, lying unconscious in the red dirt.

“Skies!” The girl curses like a noble. I retract my staff. Skies is right. Now I’ve attacked the guards.

Now we’re really going to die.

Tzain’s imminent fury flashes in my mind as we take off, sprinting as fast as we can through the merchant quarter.

Don’t screw this up. Get in. Get out. Where in that plan did it make sense to help a fugitive?

As we tear through the streets lined with pastel-colored buildings, two troops of royal guards fight to take us down. Their shouts grow loud. Their footsteps pound even louder. With swords drawn, they close in, only a few paces behind.

“Do you know where we are?” I ask.

“A little,” she pants, eyes wide with panic. “Enough to get us to the slums, but—”

“Head there!”

She pushes forward, sprinting a step ahead of me to take the lead. I follow her as we run through the stone streets, blowing by confused merchants in our dash. Adrenaline rushes through my veins. Heat buzzes beneath my skin. We’re not going to make it. There’s no way we’ll escape.

Relax, I hear Mama Agba in my head. I force myself to take a deep breath. Be resourceful. Use the surroundings to your advantage.

I scan the compact streets of the merchant quarter in desperation. As we round the corner, I spy a towering stack of wooden barrels. That’ll do.

I expand my staff and take a giant swing at the tower’s base. When the first barrel comes crashing to the ground, I know the rest are soon to follow.

The guards’ screams fill the air as the barrels take them down. The diversion gives us enough time to sprint into the slums and stop to catch our breaths.

“What now?” the girl gasps.

“You don’t know the way out?”

She shakes her head, sweat dripping down her face. “I’ve never been to this part of town.”

The slums looked like a labyrinth from afar, but from within, the shacks and shanties cluster like a web. The narrow paths and dirt streets tangle before our eyes. There’s no exit in sight.

“This way.” I point to the street opposite the merchant quarter. “If that way leads toward the city center, this has to lead out.”

We kick up clouds of dirt running as fast as we can. But a troop of guards cuts us off—we have no choice but to dash the other way.

“Skies,” the girl gasps as we race through an alley, riling up a group of homeless kosidán. For a moment, I’m amazed she’s made it this far. I doubt evading her soldiers was part of her noble education.

We round another corner, just paces ahead of the guards. I push myself to run faster when the girl yanks me back.

“What are you—”

She presses her hand to my mouth and pushes me against a shanty’s wall. It’s only then that I notice the narrow space we’ve squeezed between.

Please work. For the second time in over a decade, I lift up a prayer, calling to any god who might still be there. Please, I beg. Please, please hide us.

My heart threatens to break free of my rib cage, pounding so hard I’m convinced the sound will give us away. But when the troop nears, they rumble by like rhinomes chasing prey.

I look up to the sky, blinking as the clouds pass overhead. Bright rays of light shine in between their gaps. It’s almost like the gods have risen from