Chapter 23 Ìlú-Opọ, Third Ring, Kingdom of Oru
ìlú-p?, Third Ring, Kingdom of Oru
L’?R?
L’?r? sat across from Alawani in the inn they’d stopped at when the rain got too heavy.
She was glad of the chaotic energy in the farm bar.
In the corner, a man drummed while a few women danced in front of him, singing above the cheers of the drunk audience.
Between them and the gambling table in the corner, L’?r? hoped she and Alawani were invisible.
As soon as the storm cleared, they’d leave.
They were only a few miles from the border of the third ring and she wanted to put as much distance as possible between her and whoever the Holy Order had sent after her.
L’?r? felt Alawani’s lingering gaze, but she ignored him.
àmàlà and gbgìri were staple meals for farm hands to build up strength or recover from a full day’s work, so when the serving girl offered it to L’?r?, she took it gratefully, unsure when she’d have her next full meal.
Alawani opted for a light, peppery soup with goat meat and a small mound of bread instead.
He finished his meal first, and washed his hands in the bowl underneath their table, then slowly moved to stand.
L’?r? slammed her hand on his. ‘Where are you going?’ she whispered.
‘I’ll be right back. The storm is getting worse. We might need to stay the night.’ Just then, the winds crashed the door shut as someone ran out of the bar.
‘Baba-ìtàn had told me about the rainstorms in the third ring, but I never imagined anything like this could happen in a desert kingdom with nothing but cracked earth and dry harmattan. Not one drop of this gets to ìlú-ìm and we’re just one ring over,’ L’?r? said.
Alawani shrugged. ‘Old magic. Without ìlú-p?, Oru would starve.’
‘Yes, but how is it done?’ L’?r? said.
‘Shh … not here,’ Alawani said, pulling out his seat. ‘I need to pay for a room upstairs before this place gets booked out. I think the owner’s just walked out.’
‘Okay, I’m coming with you,’ L’?r? said, pushing her food aside.
‘No, finish your meal. I’ll be right back,’ he said, shoving the bench underneath the table. ‘Don’t talk to anyone. Keep your head down.’
L’?r? sighed, ‘Hurry.’
She cautiously glanced around the room. No one seemed to pay attention to either of them.
Her eyes lingered on the two hooded figures in the corner, but she quickly looked away.
If they weren’t looking at her, then she shouldn’t be looking at them.
She washed her hands in the bowl beneath her table, too anxious to finish her meal.
One of the men nearest to her stood abruptly, raising a small gourd of palm wine. ‘To Máywá, son of ìlú-p?, our àlùfáà and chosen priest of the third ring.’
The room echoed, ‘To Máywá! The chosen of the chosen.’
L’?r? shrank in her chair. She needed to get out of this room.
The man continued, ‘It’s been decades since an àlùfáà from our great state has survived the stripping ceremonies. But I’ve heard on the grapevine that our Máywá has survived the first stripping!’ The room cheered louder.
Alawani burst in through the door, soaking wet from the rain. ‘Let’s go,’ he said quickly as he reached for her.
‘What’s happened?’
The words had barely left her mouth when a middle-aged man burst in after Alawani, his frown so deep it further disfigured his scarred face. ‘I’m talking to you, ?m?’ba.’
The man’s words slurred as he moved to corner them, ‘You think I won’t recognize the son of our king?’ he hiccupped.
The music stopped. The room quietened and the buzz that had lingered in the air floated away. L’?r? could feel her chest grow cold as panic rose to her throat. They backed away from the man until they were leaning against the bar top.
‘We don’t want any trouble,’ Alawani said, his hand outstretched to the man. ‘What do you want?’
L’?r? glanced from Alawani to the man inching closer to them, his eyes bloodshot.
How had their night turned to this in mere moments?
At least this wasn’t about her. The people of the third ring seemed less concerned with fulfilling their civic duty to harass the coward’s daughter and instead, were more enraged by the presence of the prince.
‘Gbk, go home,’ a deep voice came from one of the hooded figures in the corner.
Gbk croaked and spat on the floor, ‘Mfà, stay out of this. I only asked this young man a question.’ He turned to Alawani, ‘Are you or are you not the ?m?’ba? The oath-breaker’s son.’
‘He’s not the prince,’ L’?r? said, squeezing Alawani’s hand even tighter.
‘Then he only needs to take off his hood and prove it,’ Gbk said.
Eyes roamed and the room went silent. Their gazes settled on Alawani and L’?r? felt the hackles on the back of her neck rise.
‘You’re drunk,’ Alawani said sternly.
‘Even so,’ Gbk said and hiccupped, pointing at the wall. ‘I may be drunk but I’m not blind.’
Curse the sun. Right there was a sand portrait of the late king next to the Lord Regent. Right on cue, Command was in her head: Another fight? L’?r? nearly spoke out loud defending herself and telling the voice that none of this was her fault.
Whatever you do, don’t use those blades or agbára. The secrets you hold will turn this crowd on you quicker than you can imagine.
L’?r? stepped forward. ‘I told you, he’s not the prince,’ she said above the man’s voice.
Gbk glanced at L’?r?. ‘Why don’t you stop talking before I make you stop talking.’
‘Touch her, and there’ll be nothing left of you to bury,’ Alawani growled.
Get ready now. This is going to turn into … The sound of Command’s voice was drowned out by the loud cry from Gbk as he lunged for Alawani, reaching for his hood, trying to pull it off.
Alawani lit his agbára and punched the drunk man with a blast of energy that flung him back against the entrance door. The bar erupted in a frenzy with men rushing towards them.
L’?r? picked up the stool nearest to her and broke it over the head of the man who approached her with a raised cutlass.
She held on to one of the chair’s broken legs and swung at the next man’s face.
Behind her she heard a crunch as Alawani crashed his fists into one man’s jaw and slammed another face down into the bar top.
By now, most people who’d come for some peace and quiet had run out of the bar, leaving the angry people defending the man Alawani had blasted off.
Gbk finally found his footing. He strolled towards them with charred clothes. ‘So you are, after all …’ Gbk said, slurring his words and pointing at Alawani, whose hood was now uncovered, ‘… the son of that bastard.’
L’?r? saw the anger rise in her friend.
‘Gbk, I said get out,’ the cloaked figure in the corner shouted again.
‘And I said shut up. His father is the reason we’re starving in this ring.
All our food ends up in the capital city, and we beg for scraps of what they could not have produced without us,’ Gbk shouted back.
‘Oath-breaker. Just like his father. Did the Holy Order not announce that the gods broke their own rules and called the prince to the Red Stone? So what is he doing here?’
‘Those were just rumours, Gbk,’ the bar owner called out to him. ‘The gods cannot call the prince to be àlùfáà – it is forbidden, and you know this. Just get out of my bar.’
Gbk spat and slurred his words, ‘This bastard may have turned his back on the gods but I tell you now, our Máywá is destined for greatness, and the gods have told me he will be our next High Priest.’
‘Eèw,’ came a soft whisper from the corner. ‘Abomination.’
Alawani took advantage of the distraction and lunged at Gbk.
‘No!’ L’?r? shouted, but the words caught in her throat. She couldn’t speak. She could hardly breathe; her hands grabbed her neck, and she reached out for Alawani as he collapsed.
One of the figures in the corner stood and pulled off his hood to reveal a bald head and a severe face, tribal-marked cheeks, deep-set eyes, and something bulging in the middle of his forehead like a large stone beneath his skin. When he stood up, everyone in the bar fell to the ground.
‘Mfà!’ the young woman he’d sat next to called out to him. ‘Leave him.’
L’?r? noticed the woman’s cloak was identical to Mfà’s. She didn’t look as sullen as he, and the fullness of her cheeks made her appear younger. She had the same tribal marks as Mfà and most of the people in the bar – six horizontal dashes.
Mfà glanced at the woman, ‘To speak such things is treason,’ he said in a low gruff voice.
‘We don’t need this att—’
Mfà didn’t wait for the rest of his partner’s sentence. He turned towards Gbk, who was now looking up at him in shock, a hint of fear on his face, his hand also holding his neck.
The older man turned slowly without saying a word.
Then the lanterns in the room grew brighter, and the room got so hot that L’?r? felt herself growing even more faint.
A few feet from her, Alawani was breathing heavily, and she crawled towards him.
The man’s agbára boiled the air in the bar and every person except he and the woman next to him was gasping for air.
Alawani stretched his hands towards L’?r?’s face, his agbára taking away some of the heat in the air around her so she could breathe.
The man’s agbára glowed so bright L’?r? squinted to see him and watched in horror as he punched his fingers into the drunk man’s mouth and burned out his tongue.
The younger woman sprang to her feet and shouted, ‘Mfà, stop it! Now!’ She gathered her things and stormed out of the room – Mfà following in step behind her. The room cooled as soon as Mfà crossed the threshold, and everyone exhaled in unison.
Half the bar emptied after that. The air was no longer hot but heavy with delayed panic.
‘Gbk, you idiot! No one in this entire state is foolish enough to pick a fight with Mfà. You’re lucky he didn’t burn us all alive.
I’m warning you for the last time. Don’t come back to my house,’ the bar lord said, ignoring the drunk man’s pain-filled groans as his friends carried him out of the bar.