Gbàgede – The Arena, The Capital City, First Ring, Kingdom of Oru
L’?R?
The next morning, L’?r? was off to Gbàgede – the arena in the capital city. Her commander had only one rule: never visit the arena when the sun is in the sky. Due to the terms of her father’s punishment, she wasn’t supposed to be in the capital at all – and everything looked different in the sunlight. She remembered the first time she’d come to Gbàgede with her father in the dead of night, begging Command to train her, to give her a chance at rising above her bond to a traitor.
L’?r? had only seen twelve first suns when Command made her swear her first vow. Promising that as long as she lived she wouldn’t tell a soul about her training, and that she’d only train at night and only on nights when Command had sent for her. Back then, L’?r? was as sure as the breath she swore upon that she’d never break that vow. She almost thanked the gods as she walked closer to the arena that it hadn’t been a blood oath. For when blood oaths are broken so are the minds that swore them, and now was really not the time to lose her mind.
At the entrance to the arena were twin arching pillars connected at a midpoint where the sun’s image sank deep into the stone. The sunken pit of the arena was home for her inmany ways. It had broken and rebuilt her more times than she could count. She rubbed her fingers against one of the pillars, brushing off the dust to reveal the initials she and Alawani had etched into its side. In that pit, L’?r? had found the two things she’d desperately needed: friendship and strength.
L’?r? scanned the group training in the pit. She was looking for … there he was. ‘Kyà,’ she called from behind a wall, keeping her face hidden inside her hood. Four first suns ago, Alawani had introduced her to Kyà. Adékyà – the one whom the crown saved from suffering. A name that portrayed his family’s debt to the royal family, although L’?r? never knew what that debt was. Kyà never spoke about it and she had too many secrets of her own to go prying into others’.
Two kinds of people came to the arena. Royal guards, and those aspiring to be royal guards – hoping to be chosen to join the elite force one day, just like she’d hoped before her world began to crumble. They had a plan, she and Alawani – a good plan. She was to join the royal guard, and he was to take command as a captain in the royal army. But then the gods came calling.
Kyà towered over the girl he trained with, but she seemed fast enough to evade the strike of his long limbs. He was shirtless, wearing only the clay-brown trousers assigned for training, and the girl he fought wore a matching ensemble that exposed her torso and legs, allowing for the high kicks she sent his way. Kyà dodged her strike and his cloud of hair bobbed with every move; his bare chest was drenched in sweat, and his brown skin glistened in the light that illuminated the pit.
‘Kyà!’ she tried to keep her voice low but also loud enough for him to hear. He didn’t, but another trainee did. They turned, and she quickly hid behind the wall, hoping they wouldn’t be curious enough to come looking for her.She wasn’t supposed to be in the arena, but she desperately needed to speak with Kyà. Command’s words echoed in her mind, reminding her of their deal: ‘Not while the sun is in the sky.’ If she were caught, she and her father would be punished – and if anyone suspected Command of training her, they would both be executed without trial. Showing favour to those the Holy Order had deemed unworthy was always going to end with their heads rolling into a firepit.
L’?r? didn’t hear Kyà’s footsteps, so when she turned to peek again, there he was, staring at her. She pulled him behind the wall.
‘What are you doing here?’ Kyà asked, looking around. No doubt searching for the same person she’d been avoiding. ‘If she sees you here, it’s over,’ he whispered, still looking over his shoulder.
‘I had to see you. I need your help,’ L’?r? replied.
And as if seeing her for the first time, he stood and looked into her eyes, then pulled her into an embrace. ‘I’m so sorry. I heard what happened.’
Curse the sun. He was making her cry again. She untangled herself from him. ‘I need you to speak to your brother.’
‘What do you need my brother for?’
‘He’s a royal guard, is he not? I need to know where Alawani is being held in the Sun Temple. Like a map or directions. Something. Anything. Your brother’s girl is a maiden, isn’t she?’
‘Shh …’ Kyà covered her mouth with his palm. ‘Curse the sun, L’?r?, keep your voice down! Are you trying to get my brother killed?’
‘I’m not asking for anything dangerous – just information. You don’t have to get involved. I need to know –’
‘You’re asking me to commit treason! And you’re asking my brother to do the same.’
‘He doesn’t need to know why you’re asking.’
‘No, L’?r?. The answer is no. How can you ask me to do this? I don’t know what you have planned, but Alawani accepted that call because he wanted to. You can’t change his fate.’
‘I’ll ask someone else then,’ she turned to walk away from him.
He pulled her arm, and her back pressed against the wall, his tall figure towering over her. He leaned down to her face. ‘Please don’t do this, L’?r?. Don’t go looking for trouble. The priests have killed for less. I’m begging you.’
‘I have to,’ she said, freeing herself from his grip. ‘If I die, I die.’
He gestured with his hands, ‘Why? Why can’t you just let him go? He made his choice.’
Why couldn’t she let him go? To the Order who destroyed her father’s life, murdered her mother, and would gladly sever her own head. She lived in a constant state of fear and desperation, trying to claw her way out of the grip the Order had on her life. She wasn’t just going to let them have her best friend and take everything from her. How much more would she lose to the gods of the sun and sands? No. They couldn’t have him. Not while she lived.
‘So you’ll just let them torture him to death?’ she spat back. ‘I shouldn’t have to beg for this. Help me. He’s your friend too! And you’d be dead without him, and you know it. You owe him.’
‘You don’t know that he’ll die. Many people survive the stripping. Your father did!’
‘Alawani isn’t my father, and this is different,’ she said through gritted teeth. ‘And even if he survives, what will he be without his agbára?’
‘You mean what would he be without you?’
