L’?r? moved in closer and spoke softly to Command, caressing her locs. ‘Tell me what to do, tell me how to fix this.’
Command gasped as the warmth seeped into her. ‘À?írí,’ she said in a coarse, strained voice.
Tears streaming down her face, L’?r? cried out, her voice full of anguish, ‘No, no. Hold your secrets. Tell me when you are better. You’ll be fine, I promise.’
She met Milúà’s gaze. ‘She’ll be fine, right?’
Milúà glared at her with a piercing stare. ‘No, she won’t,’ she said, wiping sweat from her face and pouring her agbára into Command’s body. ‘If you don’t want her to die two deaths, take her à?írí.’ Milúà leaned in close to Command’s face. ‘You know who killed my mother. Tell me. Please.’
That last word was something L’?r? never thought she’d hear from a temple maiden. The ache in her voice as she begged was even more of a surprise.
‘You need to focus. Use more energy, please don’t let her die,’ L’?r? said to Milúà.
Milúà glared at her, her eyes brimming with tears. ‘I need to know.’ Then she returned to Command, crouching lower. ‘Please tell me. Was it Ìyá-Ayé? Did that woman kill my mother? Who is my father? Command, please,’ the maiden’s voice cracked.
The ice was growing again – Milúà’s agbára wasn’t saving her.
‘Our king was murdered,’ Command’s voice broke through their sobs, and with that, her haggard breathing stopped. There was no raspy sound coming from her, no more groaning. Nothing.
They looked at each other, shocked by the secret revealed.
L’?r?’s eyes widened. ‘No, no, no,’ she mumbled as she grabbed Command’s clothes, shaking her cold body, calling her name, rocking her in her arms. L’?r? wailed loudly, ran her hand through Command’s hair and pulled out a cowrie, and pressed it into her palm. Her first cowrie. Her first life taken.
L’?r? didn’t recognize the voice that whispered in her head. It wasn’t Command’s. Command was gone. Her voice was gone. Forever. This voice was unfamiliar. Softer, calmer, sweeter.Look up, it warned.
L’?r? moved to find Milúà standing before her with her spear pointed at her face.
‘You killed her,’ Milúà said, rising with her weapon. ‘You killed her, and she was the only one who knew about my family.’
‘She gave the only secret she had. If she were the only one alive who knew your parents she’d have told you. She didn’t. So someone out there knows. Go find them and leave me alone. Find whatever answers you seek, and let her soul find rest in the city of light.’
‘You killed her before she could tell me,’ Milúà said, her voice so gritty and coarse with fury that L’?r? was reminded who exactly the maiden was. Not someone worthy of pity, but a tool for murder. And in Milúà’s eyes, L’?r? saw blood.
L’?r? poured out her rage and agbára in a blast of energy,creating a crystalized barrier that formed a dome around the maiden – trapping her within it. The structure was so thick that L’?r? could only see faint glimpses of the maiden’s shadow within.
‘You can’t hide from me. I’ll find you!’ L’?r? heard Milúà’s muffled voice shout from within the dome, as she grabbed her bag and blades and ran as fast towards Command’s horse as she could. She jumped on it and bolted out of the fourth ring.
As she raced towards the border wall, in the distance to her far right, she saw a beam of light shine from the ground up. A few heartbeats later it shone again, and again. Alawani. She knew that signal well. She raced towards it and hoped no one else had seen it, or at least hoped she’d reach him before Milúà did.
The sun had set when she finally found Alawani and Márùn waiting by the base of the tower-high stone wall a few miles from where she’d left Command’s body. She leapt off the horse and ran into Alawani’s embrace, her body shaking with sobs and tears streaming down her face.
‘What happened? Where were you?’ Alawani said, arms outstretched. ‘We looked everywhere for you.’
He hugged her so tightly, she felt the pain from the crack around her ribs earlier. ‘I thought I’d lost you,’ he breathed.
L’?r? shook her head, then pulled away. ‘We need to leave now. Anyone could have seen your signal.’
‘I told you not to do that,’ Márùn said to Alawani.
‘It worked, didn’t it?’ Alawani said.
‘How did you get away from Milúà? Before I got knocked out, I saw her standing over you.’
‘By the time we both woke up, no one was there,’ Alawani said, squeezing L’?r?’s hand.
‘She just left you there? Why would she do that?’ L’?r? asked.
‘Whatever the reason, I’m glad she’s gone,’ Alawani said. ‘Where were you? Who knocked you out?’
