Chapter 41 Ìlú-Òdì, Sixth Ring, Kingdom of Oru #3
‘Tèmi, there is no place for you here,’ Alawani said.
‘Not in this kingdom. No one wants you here. I don’t want you here!
’ His words seemed to hit him as hard as they hit her.
He sighed and wiped the sand from his eyes.
‘I don’t want to spend the rest of my days thinking you’re somewhere here in Oru waiting to be caught and killed. ’
‘Alawani, look at me,’ L’?r? said, holding his face firmly in her hands, her voice breaking.
Tears streamed down her face as the storm raged on around them.
‘I love you. I love you, and I choose you. I’m choosing you, and I’m asking you to choose me.
I will fight with you, and I will fight for you.
I will fight gods and men alike. I will not let them take you.
Alawani, the gods cannot have you because you are mine.
Mine,’ she said, and planted a firm kiss on his lips.
He held her face and kissed her so passionately that the sour tang of blood blossomed in her mouth, and she pulled him even closer, welcoming the taste of him, holding on to him like he would vanish before her eyes. Desperate for that moment to last forever.
‘I love you, Tèmi,’ he said, panting and wiping at his sand-filled tears. ‘I love you, and I am fighting for you; I am putting myself between the gods and those who want you dead.’ His voice broke, and he put his head to hers, ‘But I am àlùfáà.’
‘You self-righteous bastard! You swore loyalty to me. To me! I am your queen! I am the firstborn of the sun!’ L’?r? shouted. She wasn’t sure if she even accepted it herself – she just didn’t know what else to say. Every word was a desperate act to bring him back to her.
As she looked at the boy she’d built her life around, the uncanny resemblance to his grandfather flickered across his face again and she recoiled.
He was lost to her. She screamed and launched herself at him, but Rmí caught her, holding on to her waist and pulling her towards the tunnel.
She fought him off; her elbow crashed into his nose and she heard the crack but kept fighting.
His grip on her didn’t loosen. In her rage, her eyes turned blue, and she grabbed his hands.
Ice seeped into his skin, and he screamed.
He dropped her, and she fell in a slump.
It lasted only a moment, but her fingers still left a brand on his hands.
L’?r? felt her chest tense up. Horrified and desperate, her thoughts swirled like the storm around her.
She couldn’t take her eyes off Alawani. She couldn’t understand who she saw standing next to the maiden.
At that moment, she heard her father’s voice: Remember the daughter of whom you are.
Even though he was miles away, Baba-ìtàn always found a way to say the right thing at the right time.
Her shoulders slumped as she released a deep, sorrowful sigh.
She went to Alawani, close enough to feel his breath if it weren’t for the wind, and she shifted his shirt to reveal his tattoo. Their bond.
‘I’m sorry,’ he whispered. ‘I release you from your blood oath.’
L’?r? placed her hand on it, weeping and sobbing. ‘I don’t.’ She summoned her agbára in a flash and burned it off. Alawani screamed at the pain and shoved her hand away.
‘I never want to see you again. Let your heart burn to dust, oath-breaker,’ she spat in the sand.
When blood-oaths are broken, both parties eventually go mad as penance to the gods.
She tried to remember the exact wording of the oath.
Us against the world. Till the sun falls from the sky.
Hand to flame, we burn the same. L’?r? could already feel her mind fraying but in this moment, her fury was greater than her fear of losing her mind.
Let him see if the temple won’t spit him out when his mind crumbles.
‘Let’s go,’ Rmí shouted, ‘the storm is getting worse.’
L’?r? ignored him and kept her eyes fixed on Alawani.
Her best friend. Her lover. Her everything.
In her mind, her fortress and prison – the platform she’d stood on her entire life, protected by the pillars of her father and best friend – shattered in a single explosive burst, throwing her into the storm that raged within her.
It was nothing compared to the storm that raged around now, which started to graze away layers of her skin.
She felt her world break open, and she sank deep into the darkness of the sand, consumed by everything she’d ever been afraid of.
Tears streamed down her face as her sobs wracked her body, making it difficult to breathe.
How was this what her life had become? She’d started with so little.
Desperate to keep her family together, she’d lost it all; lost her father, her friends, and her – Alawani.
She hadn’t realized how much she had to lose.
Maybe if she had, she wouldn’t have stormed that temple.
She’d have had a better plan. She’d have avoided all the pain and death that followed her like an evil spirit.
And all that for what? For Alawani. Alawani, who had broken his oath to her.
Alawani, to whom she’d given her life and body.
Alawani, whom she’d held on to like the breath in her lungs, fighting to keep him in.
Still, she had lost him. Still, he was leaving. I am not enough.
She turned towards the tunnel, the pitifully small opening Milúà had created.
If she was to leave, she would leave standing, not crawling.
With trembling hands, a broken heart and an anguished howl, she raised her hands to the sky and pulled on the energy around her.
She channelled the core of everyone around her.
As the energy rushed into her, she could see and feel every inch of her body light up as bright and brilliant as moonlight.
Ignoring their screams, she reached for the lightning that flashed in the sky and with a loud cry she blasted her agbára at the hole Milúà had created.
The great wall shook and groaned as nearly half the stonework came crashing down and blasted out, creating a huge tunnel, large enough for a building to pass through.
Without looking back, L’?r? walked through.
Rmí followed closely behind her, and together they left the kingdom of Oru.