Chapter 41 Ìlú-Òdì, Sixth Ring, Kingdom of Oru
ìlú-òdì, Sixth Ring, Kingdom of Oru
L’?R?
Fear had always been L’?r?’s greatest enemy.
Fear of being beaten up as a child because of who her father was.
Fear of living up to the name coward. As she grew older, she had more to lose and more to be afraid of.
She couldn’t tell when it formed around her like a shadow following her every step, but fear led her to where she was today.
Fear of losing her best friend to the gods.
Fear of living in a land that would never accept her.
Fear of losing the people she loved so much.
Fear. It was what made her lose fights she’d been trained to win.
It was what activated her agbára òtútù. Fear killed Command.
It made her lose control of what should come as easily to her as breathing.
L’?r?’s chest tightened as she heard Tofa and Milúà draw nearer, their energy blasts radiating an ominous hum in the air.
Curse or not, this agbára was all she had left, and she wasn’t going down without a fight.
L’?r? saw the shadows in the distance, and the choice was made for her.
She could either die in the storm or die at the hands of her brother.
She walked away from the wall, allowing the winds to push her, and when she stopped, she reached into her core, feeling the energy all around her.
Her agbára crackled to life inside her. She forced Command’s dying face out of her mind.
If this was to be a fair fight, she had to match their energy.
She focused on ìyá-Idán’s lessons. Then stepped forward, took a deep breath, and allowed the heat inside her to boil over as she turned the air around her to ice.
It didn’t matter if she made mistakes as long as she wasn’t directing any of them towards her friends.
She formed an ice wall, shielding them from the attacks, exactly like she had done in the temple – but bigger, stronger.
Immediately, it shook and groaned, pummelled with attacks from the other side.
‘I don’t know how long this will hold for,’ she said, turning to Alawani and Rmí, whose mouth was hanging open as he glanced between the ice wall and L’?r?. ‘We need to figure out how to get out of here.’
Rmí’s expression quickly settled into one of acceptance and L’?r? knew this wasn’t the face of someone seeing agbára òtútù for the first time.
‘Maybe we just let them keep shooting at the wall. Eventually, they might create that hole we desperately need,’ he said.
‘That’s if we don’t die first,’ Alawani said. ‘That’s a terrible plan.’
‘I don’t see you coming up with much else,’ Rmí spat back.
‘Stop arguing! What are we going to do?’ L’?r? shouted.
Just as she asked, the next attack completely shattered her shield, sending them all hurtling against the wall.
Pain shot through her back, right into her head. L’?r? got up despite it. Her agbára buzzed as sparks flew around her fingertips.
‘I’ve got this,’ L’?r? said, quickly finding her footing against the wind.
This was her fight, after all. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine exactly what she wanted to do.
Her hands felt heavy, and this time the agbára felt more like a sting in her veins, flowing with thorns.
When she opened her eyes, she knew they were blue.
She could feel the burn. She raised her hands behind her head.
Rmí and Alawani looked on in awe as the ice formed from nothing and raged against the sandstorm.
Screaming as she threw her hands down, the ice shards shot towards Tofa and Milúà.
The crown prince and the maiden stood together, hands interlocked, one hand each left free.
They held their free hands forward against the approaching ice-storm.
It looked like they were forming energy blasts, but they didn’t form fully; instead, they kept the air around them hot and simmering.
L’?r? watched as her shards reached Tofa and Milúà and melted away in front of them, overwhelmed by the heat shield.
Another use of agbára oru that L’?r? had never seen before.
It was a good trick. But they couldn’t keep that up without boiling themselves alive.
It only became clear what the two planned to do when she saw them push their hands out forcefully in her direction.
It was too late to do anything to stop the energy blast. She felt the heat before she felt the impact.
Then she felt the sharp pain going through her body as it hit something solid, and she fell to the ground in a slump.
She felt someone pull her hands, and she thought it was Alawani until she heard Milúà’s voice. L’?r? took in deep breaths as pain surged through her body. She sat up and wiped the blood that streamed out of her nostrils, then rose to her feet.
‘Come with us now,’ Milúà said, her braids flying in the wind like tendrils. ‘Or die here and let the vultures use your bones for their nests.’
L’?r? looked at her captors. Milúà no longer looked like the pristine maiden.
Her white robes were stained with blood and sand and torn in several places, although her gold armour still shone brightly.
Tofa, on the other hand, looked like he had just had a good day at training.
Not a single cut or tear marred his bare chest or trousers.
L’?r? sighed, her breath ragged and trembling as she exhaled. It was over.
Tofa’s voice cut through her thoughts. ‘Take the prince and the captain’s ward back to the city. That’s an order, maiden,’ he added in a steel voice.
Alawani glared at him and moved closer to L’?r?. Her eyes grew wide with terror. She knew exactly what her brother meant and felt a chill crawling up her spine. ‘No. Why are you separating us? Wherever they go, I go.’
‘As the words have left my mouth, maiden,’ Tofa said, ignoring the looks on their faces.
‘So let it be done, Crown Heir.’ Milúà nodded and pulled Alawani closer to her.
L’?r? was still lost in a cascade of emotions, her mind spinning in circles.
He was going to kill her. Why else would he separate them?
It was just like ìyá-Idán had told her. Of all the people in the kingdom, he most desperately needed her to die.
At that thought she allowed her agbára to hover just beneath the surface, and in her mind, she calculated how many steps she would need to take to touch him.
She was still stunned, unsure of her next move, when she saw Alawani move in the corner of her eye. When she turned, he pulled out Milúà’s dagger from her sheath and braced it against his own neck. With each step, he moved further away from their reach.
‘Let her go,’ Alawani said, pressing the blade to deepen as they all turned to look at him.
‘Stop that!’ L’?r? shouted above the storm, and she could taste sand in her mouth. ‘What are you doing?’
Alawani drew blood.
Milúà shouted, ‘Stop!’ The maiden’s eyes were filled with terror, and her outstretched arms trembled in his direction. ‘Don’t you dare!’
L’?r? looked at her and realized at that moment that Alawani and Command were right after all.
The maiden wanted him alive, and by the look on her face, it was more than that.
She needed him alive. L’?r? couldn’t help but wonder what the Holy Order would do to a maiden who lost her àlùfáà – let alone the Prince àlùfáà.
On this, they could agree. Alawani couldn’t die.
Rmí stood back from the four of them, putting enough distance between himself and Tofa.
‘I don’t care what you do to yourself, Alawani. Join your father if you must, but this girl isn’t going anywhere,’ Tofa growled and pointed at L’?r?.
The blade moved, and more blood spilt.
‘No!’ Milúà screamed, mad with fury. She turned on Tofa. ‘Let her go, Tofa!’
‘How can you ask me that? Don’t you know who she is?’ Tofa said.
‘I don’t care who she is. I don’t care what she is. Let her go now!’ She turned on Alawani. ‘Stop this madness! Stop it!’
Crimson wet the prince’s hand, and he pressed deeper.
Milúà pulled out a gold rod from her thigh strap, and with a single tap, it grew, bringing out the sharp end of a spear from within it. She looked to L’?r? and said, ‘Go.’ Then pointed it at Tofa, ‘Let her go.’
L’?r? moved back to where Rmí stood by the wall. There was no way to reach Alawani with Tofa and Milúà standing between her and him.
She shouted over them, ‘Alawani, don’t do this, please!’
‘You have your orders, maiden. Don’t make me repeat it,’ Tofa growled at Milúà.
Milúà’s frown deepened. She ignited her spear, pointed it at the crown heir, and said in a low, defiant tone, ‘Let the girl go. I can’t let him die. He’s àlùfáà. My àlùfáà.’
Tofa brandished his dagger in response. What good would that do against the maiden’s blazing spear?
In the next heartbeat, Tofa had poured his agbára into it, turning the black blade furnace red.
It melted in his hands. He pressed and pulled until it turned into a thin, razor-sharp sword.
Even Milúà stepped back in surprise at the transformation, but it didn’t change her mind.
She moved towards him and struck. Where the gold staff and the black sword met, sparks flew.
She withdrew and went in again, this time trying to cut the blade off his hands, but he caught it to strike.
The sparks must have gotten into her eyes because she screamed and held her arm up to shield them.
Clearly, Tofa was not trying to hurt her because he had the chance to end the fight immediately but he held off, allowing her to recover.
L’?r? tried to meet Alawani’s gaze but he stood in place on the other side of the fight, avoiding her eyes. This wasn’t the time for this. If he could just find the energy to blast a hole in the wall …
Behind her, Rmí looked like he was ready to run as well. She knew if he left this time, she’d never see him again.