Chapter Ten Yeeran #2
Yeeran’s hand went to her own throat. She remembered how it had felt when she too had been subjected to the same verdict. Only binding with Pila had stopped them before snapping her neck.
Motogo had no such luck.
Yeeran looked away as she heard the snap of death. Malak’s expression had turned impassive, shock rendering his features slack.
The crowd went silent.
‘I’m chieftain now,’ Malak whispered to himself. She felt a wave of sympathy for him. Neither of them had asked for this.
Badum, badum, badum. Anyah had arrived with a retinue of soldiers at her back, their footfalls the only sound in the woodland. Even the animals seemed to have quietened.
‘Go back to your homes,’ Furi shouted to her citizens. ‘Let your conscience rest easy knowing justice was served well this night.’
As the fae began to disperse, Pila arrived.
I’m so glad you’re here. Yeeran buried her face into her fur. She didn’t mourn Motogo’s death–they had never been particularly warm to her–but she was still shaken.
Two murders in one night, is not a very good night, Pila said grimly.
No, it is not.
Pila looked at Malak. The elf hadn’t moved. Did Rayan turn him into a stone too?
Thankfully not, though I’ve no idea where we go from here.
Furi noticed Yeeran watching him. ‘You know we can’t let him go back to the elves, right?’
Yeeran didn’t meet her eye. There was so much left unspoken between them. And now this. Death haunted them both.
‘Make sure he’s taken care of, though,’ Yeeran said. What else could she do? Malak had been privy to a crime that would bring war down on Mosima.
‘Take Malak to the prison,’ Furi said to Anyah. ‘And give him provisions to last a few days.’
This brought Malak out of his shock. ‘I am a prisoner of war now?’
‘You are a guest, being assigned new quarters,’ Rayan said placidly.
‘Yeeran, are you really going to let them do this? What about all our work?’
‘The treaty turned to ash the moment the obeah was killed,’ Yeeran said honestly. ‘And that, Malak, is not my fault.’ For a second she saw Malak’s temper flare in the depths of his eyes. She flinched from the heat of it, but then it cooled as quickly as it came.
‘Motogo did not do this, you’ll see,’ he said, and Yeeran believed him. ‘But do what you have to do.’ Then he let himself be led away.
Once the woodland was empty of all fae, Rayan turned to the grieving Zayed. ‘Do you have family nearby that you can go to?’
He nodded, tears still streaming down his face.
Rayan called forward another faeguard. ‘Escort him home. Have another soldier carry his love.’
‘No,’ Furi said. ‘Amnan will carry her–if you would let him.’
Yeeran was shocked. It was an intimate thing to touch an obeah you were not bound to. It was a sacred rule that respected the sanctity of the binding. When Amnan had reached for Yeeran in the past she had known how exceptional the moment was and she’d cherished it.
Zayed bowed low. ‘You honour her,’ he said, his voice raw.
Furi beckoned Amnan who had arrived with Pila. Then she removed her cloak and tenderly wrapped Cely in it, veiling her nakedness.
Silent tears fell down Furi’s face and Yeeran wanted to go to her, but she was unsure whether she should. ‘I don’t want you to misunderstand what this is,’ Furi had said.
So she stood apart from the fae and watched as Furi and Rayan positioned Cely on Amnan’s back.
Once she was secure, Zayed turned to Furi and said, ‘Thank you.’
In those two words were an ocean of gratitude. She had sated his vengeance before it had consumed him. Furi had claimed another loyalist for life.
Amnan left with Zayed by his side.
Now it was just Furi, Rayan, Pila and Yeeran left. And Motogo’s body.
The only sound was the flapping of the star glider wings, until Furi spoke, ‘I killed another chieftain.’ Her voice cracked at the end.
‘Yes, you did,’ Yeeran said with a sigh. ‘There will be war.’
Furi lifted her chin. ‘That is all you have to say? Where is your wrath? I know I deserve it.’
Yeeran assessed her feelings. And to her surprise she wasn’t angry.
Would she have killed Motogo in that situation?
Probably not, but neither had she ever hoped to be in that situation.
The crowd had been as dangerous to the elves as to the royals.
The Lightless rebellion was still fresh in all their memories.
‘I’m not angry. I’m just sad, I think,’ Yeeran said.
‘I’m sorry that all your work was for nothing, Yeeran.’ Furi did sound remorseful.
But that was not all Yeeran was sad about. Furi’s words from earlier rang out in her mind. She tried to quash the pain of it; there was too much to think about.
‘Do you think they really did it? Ordered the obeah’s death?’ Yeeran asked.
Silence again. Yeeran stole a look at Rayan. He had closed his eyes. She wondered if he had fallen asleep standing up.
‘I do not think that it mattered really,’ Furi said. ‘The fae would have wanted war either way. By killing Motogo I sated their need for violence.’
‘For now,’ Rayan said.
So he was listening.
‘We need to come up with a plan. We don’t have long before Malak and Motogo are expected back at their camp,’ Yeeran said.
Furi looked down at Motogo’s body. ‘Why don’t we do nothing?’
‘We can’t do nothing. If Malak and Motogo don’t return, the elves will take it as an act of war,’ Yeeran said.
Furi pointed to the body of the chieftain. ‘War has begun already.’
‘What do you think, Rayan?’ Yeeran asked. He looked so haggard as he opened his eyes.
‘I’m happy to do what you suggest,’ he said.
‘Where has this deference come from?’ she asked. ‘As my captain you always had an opinion.’
‘And you so often ignored it,’ he reminded her with a small smile.
She didn’t return it. ‘It doesn’t matter; you’re no longer captain now, you’re king. Rule like one.’
Yeeran was rarely sharp, especially with him, but the night had grated on all of them.
‘I’m sorry I’ve been so distracted.’
‘That’s all right,’ Furi said. She was more forgiving towards him than Yeeran was. ‘I think we keep Malak here,’ she decided. ‘Right now, if they don’t return there will be questions, but if Malak is released, they’ll know the extent of what happened here.’
‘But all we’ll be doing is delaying the inevitable,’ Yeeran reminded them.
‘The delay will be to our benefit. We need to recall every single bound obeah back to Mosima. They’ll be the first people who the army will attack.
’ Rayan made a good point. Ajax was one of the many obeah who had been spending most of his time topside, despite the danger.
Yeeran wasn’t sure how Rayan could stand the anxiety of it and she idly wondered how much that had contributed to his listlessness.
‘Hopefully it will give us a day or two,’ Furi said. ‘I’ll get the message out immediately.’
Yeeran kneeled beside Motogo. ‘We need to move the body.’
‘We cannot send it back to the elves,’ Rayan said.
Furi lowered herself next to Yeeran and pushed her hands into the dirt.
The ground opened up like the jaws of a lion. Motogo was quickly consumed by the churned-up soil. Green seedlings began to push through the dirt as the queen extended her own power. The shoots grew into blooming daisies, bright white and pure.
Yeeran ran her fingers through the flowers, disturbing the star gliders who had already settled on the buds.
She felt as though she should say something.
There was no love lost between them, and if they had ordered the obeah killed then Motogo was not only obnoxious but heinous.
But the loyalty instilled in her in the Waning army was hard to shake.
‘You were my general once,’ she said quietly. ‘And I didn’t always agree with you. Though I respected the chain of command, and in turn you respected me. For that I will always be grateful. Lay down your drum and rest now. The battle is over.’
She saluted, pounding her chest once with a closed fist. She looked to Rayan, expecting him to be doing the same, but his gaze was elsewhere, his mouth hanging agape.
‘Rayan? Are you all right?’ she asked.
He jerked as though coming round from a dream. ‘I’m fine…but Lettle is not. Alder, he is not either.’
Yeeran felt her palms begin to sweat. ‘What do you mean? How do you know?’
Rayan’s eyes focused on hers, and he said miserably, ‘Ajax.’
Yeeran sat back on her heels. The broken pieces of Rayan slotted into a shape she finally understood. She felt foolish for not realising it sooner.
‘He’s been with Lettle all this time?’ Furi whispered. Yeeran could see that she too felt guilty for not knowing. But they had been preoccupied and more inclined to pass Rayan’s disquiet off as lovesickness.
‘Yes. And there’s much to tell.’
Yeeran’s heart felt as though it was beating in her throat. ‘Tell us everything.’