Chapter 36
ìlú-Oní?nà, Fifth Ring, Kingdom of Oru
L’?R?
L’?r?’s day had started in ìyá-Idán’s house, on the bed her mother had slept in, and in less than a day, she’d lost her refuge, been captured, taken a life and now at just a few light beads past midnight she was sleep-deprived and exhausted, dragging herself towards the sixth ring.
L’?r?’s pulse raced as her heart hammered in her chest, driving her mad with fear.
Her agbára prickled beneath her skin, threatening to burst as she grew even more anxious.
Never again. Never again would she use her agbára.
Whatever she thought she knew about it was a lie.
It was nothing more than a curse, her mother’s cruel gift to her.
She felt a deep, aching shame in her heart, the sound of its throbbing reverberating in her chest. If the gods had ever favoured her, she’d have begged them to take the curse from her, but the gods had no ears, not for her.
The further they went into ìlú-Oní?nà, the darker and thicker the air got.
Every attempt to breathe was a struggle; L’?r?’s lungs burned as she worked to fill them.
Hoods up, scarves tied over their faces, and heads down.
Those were Márùn’s instructions as they followed her lead through the town.
L’?r? was grateful for the cloaks, which helped hide her tears from Alawani, who held on firmly to her hand.
She’d killed Command. It was an accident.
She knew that. And she wanted to tell him as much, but every time she pulled him back to speak to him, the words wouldn’t come.
I killed Command. The unspoken words tasted bitter in her mouth.
Worse still, how could she tell him about Command’s à?írí?
How would she say she found out that his father was murdered?
She’d have to explain everything that happened with their commander, and he’d never trust her again, at least not while agbára òtútù plagued her soul.
For the first time in her life, L’?r? was comforted by the night’s darkness that cloaked them.
The dusty haze they trod through would make it harder for anyone to find them.
So even if Milúà was on their tail, she’d have difficulty finding them.
And L’?r? never wanted to see that maiden ever again.
As the moon’s light struggled to break through, they ran into a small town with fewer giant clusters of buildings and more familiar bungalows forming rows of streets in all directions.
They ran towards the buzzing noise in the distance and entered what seemed to be a sort of marketplace.
Loud voices laughed and haggled over everything from roasted plantains to peppered goat meat to pottery and grains.
The market had traders and blacksmiths alike.
It felt like the midday market in the capital but all of this was in the dark of night.
The people seemed more alive, although they all wore the same washed-out clothes and threadbare materials as the ones they’d seen closer to the border.
‘Why is there a night market?’ L’?r? asked.
‘People here spend daylight working for the overlords, so everything happens at night. Their day has just begun.’
‘Overlords?’ L’?r? said, looking from Márùn to Alawani.
‘I don’t think this is the time for this,’ Alawani said quietly.
‘Those monstrous buildings you saw closer to the borders were prison houses,’ Márùn said. ‘The fifth ring has hundreds of those all around the state from north to south. Each ward has an overlord.’
‘Why so many? Who’s in there?’ L’?r? asked, and noticed the glance between Márùn and Alawani. Again.
‘Everyone and anyone. From those who dabbled in old magic to those who defy the crown or the Holy Order to those who can’t pay their taxes or debt. Everyone sent here from any ring in the kingdom is serving a life sentence. They go in as people and return as dust.’
L’?r?’s eyes bulged in disbelief.
‘How come you don’t know this?’
‘I’d never – never crossed the border of ìlú-ìm before,’ L’?r? said, defending herself.
‘Even then, don’t you read? It is written.’
L’?r? had read. Or at least she thought she’d read all there was to know about the kingdom of Oru, but every moment she spent outside of Baba-ìtàn’s library proved that reality differed greatly from the books back there.
‘You didn’t tell me about this,’ L’?r? said to Alawani, who had been to all ends of the kingdom on his adventures.
‘There was no point,’ he said plainly. ‘It’s just more people my father promised to help and didn’t.’
‘Don’t they try to escape?’ L’?r? turned to Márùn.
Márùn snickered. ‘Where would they go? They’re trapped between the magic border of ìlú-Idán that we just passed through and the heavily secured walls of ìlú-òdì, where we’re headed.
’ Márùn pointed behind them in the direction of the wall they had come from.
‘That wall has only two gates, and they are on the King’s Road – one on this side and the other on the south side.
As you experienced coming in, old magic protects that wall, and it’s monitored by the Holy Order.
Only those who know the words and the way can pass through.
’ She sighed. ‘If that wall ever falls, it’ll spit out the bodies that tried to cross and got lost in its stones.
There’s nowhere to run, so no one does.’
L’?r?’s life back in ìlú-ìm suddenly seemed less brutal.
At least she hadn’t had to work for overlords till her bones dropped.
Back home, if she stayed indoors protected by books and a father who loved her, she could always pretend that all was well in the world.
Once, she thought she had the worst fate in all of Oru.
Now, looking at these people hunched over from hard labour, she knew she was wrong.
Márùn pulled L’?r? along as she slowed. ‘This way, we need to get some food.’
‘No, we can’t stop,’ L’?r? said.
‘Let me give you some advice. When you’re on the run and you see food, eat it. You don’t know when next you’ll get a meal. And we don’t know what army Milúà is bringing with her. I don’t think the Holy Order is going for stealth anymore,’ Márùn said.
‘She’s right,’ Alawani added.
L’?r? nodded and kept running alongside her.
Everything was a blur in L’?r?’s mind. She couldn’t tell what parts were real and which were nightmares she conjured in her head.
She was moving and speaking, but it was like she was outside herself.
Command’s face kept flashing in her mind, and L’?r? knew that face would haunt her for the rest of her life.
Márùn stopped a few times to buy food from different sellers.
She returned with mounds of bread and balls of àkàrà – golden fritters made from blended beans, wrapped in paper from torn books.
For their reserves Márùn got roasted yams which would last many days before going bad.
They ate as they walked, not deviating from their mission.
L’?r? grimaced at the oil-soaked sheets wrapping the food. She knew just how much work was done to get that single sheet from plant to book, and here it was, soaking in fried oil and serving as a plate. Baba-ìtàn would be horrified.
Márùn led them to a small house at the end of a dark street. ‘Wait here,’ she said to them as she entered the clay roundhouse with a woven raffia mat at its entrance in place of a door.
‘Hurry,’ L’?r? whispered as they watched her disappear into the darkness.
All around them were large clay huts and houses separated at even distances from each other.
More than L’?r? had ever seen in a single location.
The fifth ring clearly saw very little of the kingdom’s wealth.
She wrapped herself in her cloak as the desert cold seeped into her bones.
Peering into the house, she saw nothing but flickers of candlelight.
Her fingers rubbed against the obsidian beads ìyá-Idán had given her, and she wondered if she could still go back for Baba-ìtàn and Kyà.
She’d been more confident when all the Holy Order wanted from her was her agbára.
She’d had something to bargain with. But now, with everyone thinking she’d magically transformed from the coward’s daughter into the heir to the throne, L’?r? knew if she went back, she’d never get out.
‘Do you think we’ll make it out?’ L’?r? said quietly.
‘We will. I promise,’ Alawani said, meeting her gaze. He placed a kiss on her forehead and she melted into his arms. ‘Do you still have the hourglass?’
L’?r? nodded and showed it to him.
‘The storm will be here in a few light beads,’ Alawani said, bringing the hourglass close to his eyeline. ‘Definitely before sunset tomorrow.’
They heard raised voices and although L’?r? couldn’t hear what they were arguing about, she heard Márùn’s voice and a word – Msàn. Msàn meant nine. Was this another member of their group? L’?r? didn’t understand how this group worked and it unnerved her.
The soft hum of the market they’d passed by still buzzed in the air. Suddenly the voices turned to screams and shouts. Márùn ran out of the house and then quickly disappeared behind it, returning with two horses.
‘Climb. Now!’ Márùn commanded.
A man came out shouting, ‘The crown will have your head for this, Márùn!’
In the direction of the market, blasts of explosions lit the night sky as the screams intensified, and L’?r? knew in her guts that Milúà was coming for them.
They rode their horses fast and hard towards the base of the border wall leading into the sixth ring.
A light bead later, they came to a stop about a mile away from the King’s Road entrance.