Tofa withdrew his agbára and the room cooled quickly.
‘I want to find this L’?r?. She will not claim what is mine.’
Ìyá-Ayé tried to stand but Tofa said, ‘Stay there.’
She knelt back down and said, ‘I can get you to my maiden, and she will lead you to the girl. Find her and kill her.’
‘This is what you wanted,’ Tofa said. ‘What you and Àlùfáà-Àgbà have always wanted. Blood on my hands. The blood of my blood, spilt by my hands.’
‘Àlùfáà-Àgbà tried to tell you, but you wouldn’t listen. Everything I have done, including the trial of K?ni’s friend, I did to show you the truth. Only the one wearing the crown has the power to do and undo, and you were letting yourclaim to the throne slip through your hands by refusing to hunt down this child of Òtútù.’
‘That’s what you want me to become? A hunter and a killer?’
‘I want you to become the king you were meant to be.’
Tofa eyed the woman before him. Was she really expecting him to be grateful? She’d ruined his life. She’d ruined him. He could feel himself spiralling and brought his thoughts back to focus. ‘Tell me about Mremí of Òtútù,’ he said in the most even tone he could manage.
‘As you wish,’ Ìyá-Ayé said, and began the tale of the servant girl who snuck into the temple pretending to be one of the mages of old magic from Ìlú-Idán teaching the priests the ways of the old gods. A series of unfortunate events later, a child was born, and the servant girl was killed and a reckless decision by Àlùfáà-Àgbà not to find the child she bore led them to where they are now. Tofa listened carefully.
‘Your maiden, Milúà,’ Tofa said, ‘how do I get to her?’
Ìyá-Ayé pulled out a set of obsidian beads from her breasts. ‘I’m sure Àlùfáà-Àgbà taught you how to use time beads with old magic. You can cross all six rings in a single day but remember that with every sleeping moment you will walk back the real distance you’ve skipped past. I recommend very little sleep until your mission is complete. The last message I got from Milúà, she had clashed with Command, whom your father sent to retrieve the girl. They are in the fourth ring.’
Tofa took the beads and slid them onto his wrists. ‘You were expecting me. You knew I’d come here. How?’
‘You are a wise man. You know where the real power is.’
‘When I get back, we have much to discuss.’
‘As you wish, my king.’
‘One more thing,’ Tofa said. ‘Go to K?ni, and pray to the gods known and unknown that your fire heals her and shewakes. Because if she doesn’t, I promise you in the name of all that burns, I will destroy this house, and every maiden who ever stepped foot in it. As the words have left my mouth.’
‘So let it be done, my king,’ Ìyá-Ayé said, giving one final bow to him, then she walked over to a large box by the foot of her throne and brought out a map. She spoke in the old tongue and blew on it. A bright line appeared and she handed it to Tofa. ‘This will take you to Milúà. It’ll burn out when you reach her.’
Tofa had woken up unsure of his place in the world, unable to recognize his own reflection. Now, he was sure that he would not rest until he had destroyed anything and everything in his path that tried to take his birthright from him. He snatched the map from Ìyá-Ayé’s hands and walked out into the world, to hunt his blood, his sister, his enemy.
Tofa had seen ten first suns when he had his first taste of palm wine. The sweet milky liquid went down with ease and he keenly remembered the feeling of going home in a drunken stupor, the world around him slow and fast at the same time. That was what using the obsidian beads to quicken his steps felt like but without the throbbing headache. With every step he took, the world seemed to pass by him in a quick haze; the houses, streets and people blew past him, and in blurs. He wondered how they perceived his movement, if they could see him speed through or if they couldn’t see him at all. All he knew for sure was that after four light beads of walking the King’s Road north, he found himself at the border wall of the fourth ring.
A warm glow snaked across the map Ìyá-Ayé had given him, and he followed its trail until he reached a clearing surrounded by rocks about a mile or two out from the border wall leading into the fifth ring. There on the ground,hunched over a crystallized body, was Milúà, maiden of the Holy Order. As Ìyá-Ayé had said, the map burned to ash the moment he laid eyes on her. Milúà didn’t seem to notice him as he walked nearer to her. Her long braids fell loose around her face, accentuating her long features and sharp chin. This couldn’t be the fearless maiden he’d heard so much about. Her reputation had well preceded her but this wasn’t what he’d expected to find. Her armour was scathed, and charred, her white dress torn and burnt, her body scraped and bloodied. But even with scrapes and cuts and a wound across her forehead, Tofa had never seen anyone more beautiful than the maiden before him and he suddenly became keenly aware of his own heartbeat. Something about the way her shoulders hunched over in despair when he found her made him want to hold her in his arms.
‘Milúà,’ he said softly.
Milúà jumped to her feet and turned her back to him. She moved her hands over her face and he assumed she was wiping tears she didn’t want him to see.
‘Crown Heir,’ Milúà said firmly. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘Turn around,’ Tofa said, and flinched at the commanding tone in his own voice.
Milúà stood straighter and turned in a single move.
Tofa looked down at the body on the floor, completely covered in a thick layer of crystallized ice. ‘Who was this?’ he asked.
‘Command,’ Milúà said. ‘Commander Títí, leader of the –’
‘I know who she is,’ Tofa said, eyes wide. ‘Who did this?’
‘L’?r?. The one who attacked the temple and stole the Prince Àlùfáà.’
