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We needed to get in. Annoyed, I put my hand to the door, gritting my teeth and hissing out all my anger, feeling it heat my palm so that the metal beneath it went red and hot. The heat didn’t blister my skin, didn’t crack my hands open. The fire that had burned me in Tavornai now wouldn’t even feel like warm bathwater.

Topi scrambled away from the sudden heat, cutting off a yelp as her sister caught her shoulders. The men inside would be in worse shape, desperate to get away from being cooked alive.

The door opened, releasing the smell of charred meat, and I dragged the first man out, his sword falling as he collapsed onto the sand. His hands were bright red, burned where he had touched the handle of the superheated door. He was screaming.

I tried not to pay attention, to focus instead on the task. The next man got Topi’s knife to his eye, and we could have continued like that except I heard another bang and another door opened further down, more men flooding out, onto the sand.

“Find your father!” I shouted at the twins. They would know better than me if he planned to stay inside until the last minute, or if he was leading the charge against us.

I grabbed the next soldier who came out of the open door, pushing him down on the sand in front of me, landing hard on his back. The twins had scrambled up the side of the sand crawler, looking back and forth for their father among the mass of men. The soldiers ran toward us, their feet throwing up granules of sand.

I didn’t see Bemishu anywhere. But why would he stay inside?

Tensing my body, I readied myself to fight the oncoming soldiers, twirling my blade in my hand. Naî suddenly plunged down. She grabbed two men in her claws and released a breath of ice that froze the rest. They screamed, panicked, as frost crawled over their bodies.

Then Naî pushed herself back up into the air, her massive wings sending spirals of sand whirling around us. She reached twenty, thirty, forty feet in the air and then dropped the men. They screamed as they plunged down to earth, hitting their fellows.

Shaking my head, I waited for the next man to come out, readying myself for an attack, but he hesitated, shifting backward.

Well, no sense in letting an invitation like that go to waste. I leapt up, scrambling into the doorway. He barely had time to lift his blade when I pounced, drawing my sword across his throat and tossing his body out the door. The corridor was wide beyond the narrow door, and I could see a dozen men hesitating.

Screams echoed inside the metal walls of the sand crawler. They could hear everyone dying outside, and despite their fierce loyalty to General Bemishu, I doubted any of them were eager to throw their lives away.

The twins came in behind me, and I circled the group of soldiers.

Then I raised my hands, letting ice form in front of me, knowing exactly what I wanted to do. They were a herd, and I was more than happy to drive them straight into the trap of Naî’s ire.

I released ice, letting it crawl along the floor. The first man it touched panicked, screaming and running for the door. The rest followed. They were ready to try their luck with the monster outside rather than the assassin inside.

“I don’t know the layout,” I said.

“This way,” Pito said.

She led the way down corridors dotted with wide open rooms, and narrow ones where the electro mages had been launching their attacks. The sand crawler was empty. Bemishu might have convinced enough men that he could win, but none of them were willing to follow him into an obvious defeat.

At the front of the sand crawler was a room with a wheel like the helm of a sailing ship. Bemishu stood in the middle, staring out the front window at Tallu, who was wielding his electro magic against Bemishu’s forces. Saxu and his men were making quick work of them, disabling them where they could, and killing them when they had to.

“It’s over,” Pito said.

Bemishu didn’t look away from the battle unfolding in front of him. “Why?”

“You know,” Topi said.

Bemishu laughed, an ugly, short sound. “Your mother? She hated me. Why should I risk any of my capital to save her life?”

Pito let out a scream of rage, moving so quickly through the room that she was on Bemishu before he could even draw another breath. He blocked her, bringing a handful of electricity against her skin. She might have the advantage of strength and speed, but he had a lifetime of experience at war.

She went tumbling back, her clothes smoking, and Topi took her place, slashing her dagger across her father’s face. He grabbed hold of her wrist, pulling her close and slapping her with another electrified blow.

I moved in myself. When I swung my blade, Bemishu met it eagerly. We exchanged blows, and I kicked Topi’s dagger back to her where she pushed herself up off the ground, hoping she would understand.

Bemishu feinted, his free hand preparing another bolt of electro magic, but I saw through it, continuing my defense, bringing my blade up and aiming at his throat. I kicked his hand, sending the bolt of electricity wide, where it was absorbed into the metal of the sand crawler. He leaned back, and gasped as Topi’s blade pierced him from behind.

Bemishu fell to his knees, looking down at the bloody tip of his own daughter’s weapon. Pito lunged forward, falling to her knees before pressing a narrow assassin’s blade against her father’s throat. “This is for Mother.”

“I gave you everything. If you had helped me conquer this hellhole, we could have all the powers of the animalia. You could have been the empresses—” Bemishu’s eyes went glassy as Pito’s blade drew across his neck.

Blood spurted out, coating her hands and arms, soaking into her clothing. She sat back on her heels as his body fell. Neither of the twins spoke.