Chapter 41 Ìlú-Òdì, Sixth Ring, Kingdom of Oru #2
Milúà’s shout pulled L’?r? back to the fight.
The maiden snapped her spear over her knee, breaking it in two.
Then she went in again, this time striking from both sides.
Tofa turned his sword into a shield, hiding from each blow and using its weight to knock the maiden off balance.
How was he doing that? It had to be old magic.
But he clearly used his agbára. L’?r? didn’t understand it.
She kept her eyes on Alawani. There was no way through to him without going through the fight that played out before her.
Her agbára burned at her fingertips, waiting to be unleashed.
The maiden landed on her back more often than the crown heir did.
It wasn’t a fair fight, but L’?r? noticed that Milúà was still standing where many would have fallen and retreated.
She kept going. Nothing was keeping her from saving her Prince àlùfáà. And for that, L’?r? was grateful.
The thing in Tofa’s hand went from dagger to sword to shield to axe, and now, a sword which he swung at Milúà with full strength. Milúà grunted every time she struck it, clearly exhausted but keeping up with his moves.
Finally, Tofa said, ‘Enough of this, Milúà. I don’t want to hurt you.’
‘Let the girl go,’ was all Milúà said through heavy pants.
‘He’s not worth this,’ Tofa said, looking at Alawani, who hadn’t moved from his position or tried to stop the blood that soaked his shirt.
The pillar in L’?r?’s mind bled as Alawani did.
Blood pooled over his hands and the sight of it made her sick with panic.
Had he sliced an artery? Was he dying? No.
No. No. She felt her mind fraying, coming apart, and she couldn’t find the words.
Her mouth couldn’t speak. She didn’t care if it was a trick or a ploy to distract Milúà.
She wanted the bleeding to stop. She wanted him to stop.
She just wanted it all to stop. Freedom shouldn’t come at such a cost, but if this was how her brother wanted it to be, she’d gladly oblige.
Her hands glowed bright, and she felt the energy in the storm billowing around her.
L’?r? forced her racing heart to slow and poured all her focus on the crown heir before her.
As she stared at him, she reached deeper, finding his core, and then she pulled from it.
L’?r? moved closer, drawing energy from him.
She could feel her own energy rage through her like the lightning striking the wall.
Sparks fell off her body like rain, and Tofa fell to his knees and crawled into a foetal position.
‘What are you doing to me?’ he cried out in pain.
‘What you would have done to me,’ L’?r? said, her outstretched hands trembling as she drew his agbára from him, fuelling her own agbára with his core.
The light in her hands crawled up her skin, covering her entire arms. She could feel his energy boosting hers and she felt as though her heart would burst.
‘Stop!’ Alawani shouted.
Hearing his voice, she recoiled and quickly quelled her agbára.
‘Curse you!’ Tofa shouted and flung his hand at her.
He’d clearly expected something to happen. Something with agbára oru. But she’d taken it from him, and his eyes widened in horror as he fell back. ‘What did you do?’ he shrieked, and slumped to the ground, trembling with cold.
‘Gods of the sun and sands!’ Milúà exclaimed.
L’?r? shot her an icy glare, and the maiden stepped back.
Milúà rushed to the crown heir, pouring her agbára into him and heating his body. ‘You are a curse! You’ve frozen his core!’ she shouted at L’?r?.
L’?r? felt a sharp pang in her heart as the words hit her. She’d said as much to herself. She ran to Alawani and pulled the knife from his hands, placing her hand over his wound. She tore off a piece of her top with the knife and wrapped it around the wound.
‘Were you going to kill him?’ Alawani asked.
‘No!’ L’?r? said. ‘Even though he was definitely going to kill me.’
‘What did you do?’
‘I made it impossible for him to hurt me or you or anyone,’ she said, glancing back at Tofa on the ground.
She didn’t know whether what she’d done was permanent or not.
She didn’t even fully understand what it was that she’d done, but she could still feel his energy inside her, pushing against her core with a violence to match the raging storm.
Alawani’s head shook, his eyes fixed on her.
‘Tèmi.’ My own. That was all he said, and L’?r? felt her heart fail within her.
His eyes, his beautiful brown eyes. The ones she’d lost herself in many times looked at her now, and she felt like he was looking through her.
‘I’ve gone as far as I can with you, Tèmi,’ he said, and walked towards Milúà, who was still warming up Tofa’s core to keep him from freezing to death.
Milúà rose to meet him, standing too close to him, her face almost buried in his neck. Alawani whispered something to her that L’?r? couldn’t hear over the howling wind.
‘What’s happening?’ L’?r? said.
Milúà looked at Alawani, and he nodded.
‘Step back!’ Milúà shouted at L’?r? when she moved forward.
Rmí took L’?r? by the hand and pulled her away, putting distance between them and the maiden.
Milúà formed an energy ball and launched it at the wall. Then another, and another. She took a break, exhausted and choking from the dust that ensued and the sand that blew. The storm was closer, and had layered the ground with about half an inch of sand.
‘Keep going,’ Alawani said, encouraging her.
L’?r? didn’t understand what was happening. Was Milúà helping them escape? Why? What did Alawani say? What in the damned names of the gods was going on?
Milúà resumed, and one by one, more pieces of the wall came loose until, finally, there was light at the end of the tunnel. The hole was just big enough to crawl through.
‘Let’s go,’ L’?r? said to Alawani once the dust settled.
‘He’s not coming with you,’ Milúà said, a knowing look on her face.
‘Yes, he is!’ L’?r? replied.
‘No, I’m not,’ Alawani said from behind the maiden.
‘You see, L’?r?,’ said the maiden, ‘a deal is a deal. I help you out of the kingdom, and he returns to his true calling, the Holy Order, and his oath to the gods.’
‘Never!’ L’?r? shouted.
Alawani took a few steps closer, and she could see the concern in his eyes. He held her face in his palms, and she shoved them away. ‘You made a deal with her? When?’
‘We have our ways,’ Milúà said, enjoying the look on L’?r?’s face as the realization hit.
‘After ìyá-Idán’s house. When Command took me. That’s why you let them go.’ L’?r? turned to Alawani. ‘Were you going to leave this kingdom with me?’
‘I can’t, Tèmi. I swore an oath.’
‘To me! You swore an oath to me, Alawani!’
‘I swore an oath to my father, my grandfather. To the gods of our land. I survived the Red Stone. I am àlùfáà,’ he said, holding L’?r?’s hand.
‘I wish we could have left this place before the call. I wish so much for you to be free, and when I saw you in that temple, I knew you wouldn’t leave without me.
My love, I cannot exist in a world where you are not.
It breaks my heart to lose you this way, but at least you’ll be safe.
My place is in the temple with the chosen.
My destiny is here in Oru, and yours is not.
I wish the gods hadn’t called me, and my father hadn’t … but fate has decided, and I am àlùfáà.’
She slapped him across the face. ‘No, you are not! You are not called or chosen. You are nothing!’ Tears stung her eyes as she screamed the words at him.
He held his face in his palm but did nothing. Then he said, ‘I want you to be safe. I want you to find your people, wherever they might be, and be happy with them.’
‘If you say another lie to me, I will slap you again! All of this, all of this was for nothing! I loved you. I love you! I risked my life for you. My father rots in the dungeons because of you!’
‘I never asked you for any of those things! It was you who went looking for trouble. I told you from the start I have to do this. You just wouldn’t listen.
You never listen. And look what’s happened, Tèmi.
Everything is a mess. Kyà is in the dungeons with your father.
We don’t know what happened to ìyá-Idán.
Everyone who’s helped us in this self-imposed exile has suffered for it. Command is gone.’
L’?r?’s agbára flared in her veins as his words crashed into her.
‘You would have killed him!’ Alawani pointed at the crown heir, shivering on the ground.
‘He tried to kill us. He tried to kill you!’
Alawani’s hands remained at his side, but he could’ve sunk his dagger into her heart, and the pain would be more manageable than what she felt at that moment.
‘If you felt this way all along, why did you come this far?’
‘I chose for you the same way you chose for me. You decided all on your own that I needed saving. You put my life and yours at risk. But I realized that it was you who needed saving; they’ll never stop coming for you and I was going to make sure you got out of this kingdom alive.
I’d never have let you cross all the rings alone. But I am going back.’
‘Curse you, Alawani!’ she spat at him.
‘We don’t have time for this,’ Milúà said, breaking the glare between L’?r? and the prince.
The world was a blur behind the tears that fell from her face and the sandstorm that swirled around. ‘I could kill you,’ L’?r? said, every word filled with bitterness.
Milúà sneered, ‘The oath-breaker’s son and the coward’s daughter. Even I could see how this would end.’
The look L’?r? gave Milúà could’ve burned the whole earth to ash.