“Tau!” she said.
“My father—”
“Aren is well. It’s not him. It’s Anya.”
“What’s this?” said Jabari, squeezing his way into the hut, making the tight space feel oppressive.
Zuri struggled to find the words. “Nkosi Jabari,” she said, addressing him formally, “it’s my friend’s father… ah, Aren’s second-in-command.… He’s been accused of attacking a Noble.”
“Nkiru?” Jabari asked. “No. Why?”
Zuri’s mouth opened and closed, like the words wouldn’t come. “Your brother was… I mean to say, Nkiru struck him when he—”
“Why in the Goddess would Nkiru…” Jabari’s face went slack. He’d pieced it together at the same time as Tau.
Zuri still had to say the words, though. “Lekan was forcing… Pardon me. Nkiru found Nkosi Lekan with his daughter, Anya.”
“Cek!” Jabari swore.
Zuri winced. “Your brother wishes for the laws to be upheld, but Aren refused.”
Tau slumped against the nearest wall. There was no way Aren would order, or allow, the killing of Nkiru and his family.
Jabari paced, or tried to, in the tiny home. “Lekan, that half-witted fool.” He stepped outside. “Let’s go. This has to get sorted before it gets worse.”
They sped down the mountain. It was late, but the closer they got to the keep, the thicker the crowd.
Lekan, along with his family’s guard, stood in the center gateway to the keep. The guards held peat-moss torches that illuminated both their faces and the worry on them. Ochieng was one of the guards, and like the others, he looked forlorn. They faced a crowd that was two wrong words from becoming a mob.
Standing opposite Lekan were Tau’s father, a few of the men under his command, and Nkiru.
“Give him to me, Aren,” said Lekan. “Don’t make me say it again.”
“Nkosi Lekan, I only ask that we take time to discuss this with Umbusi Onai,” Aren said.
“My mother is resting, and this is not a matter that needs her attention,” Lekan said. “You have my orders. Carry them out!”
Tau, along with Zuri and Jabari, pushed their way through the crowd. Tau watched Lekan the whole time.
Lekan was taller than Jabari and heavier, though not from muscle. The umbusi’s eldest son was known for his appetite and, in a land where food was rationed, it sat ill with many that he could grow so large. The Petty Noble also enjoyed his drink, and it was said, behind hands, he drank more olu than water.
“Nkosi Lekan,” Aren said. “I believe we can solve this without death, and I invite your counsel, in addition to your mother’s.”
“In addition? Damn you, Lesser! Send over the man!”
Nkiru looked miserable and Anya was beside him. She was a wreck. Her eyes were bloodshot and she had bruises on her arms, visible even in the dim torchlight. Her dress was torn. Zuri went to her.
“Well met, brother,” Jabari said, pushing through the crowd to stand beside Tau’s father.
Lekan did not look pleased. “Jabari.”
“What’s this, then?”
“I was accosted,” Lekan said, lifting his square chin.
“Accosted? How?”
“It’s not a matter for public discussion.”
“Surely, an attack on a Noble is the exact type of discussion to be had publicly. If a punishment that destroys an entire family is to be meted out, we must know the story.”
Lekan glared at his sibling. “I was accosted. Is a Noble’s word no longer enough in Kerem?”
Tau saw Jabari’s hand tighten around his sword hilt. That was bad. In a fight, Lekan would lose, but that would do less than nothing to help Nkiru and his family.
“Nkosi,” Aren said, addressing them both. “I have had time to interrogate the accused.”
Tau figured that, at most, his father had had Nkiru drink a cup or two of masmas to calm his nerves.
“Nkiru was looking for his daughter,” Aren said. “He—”
“I won’t have my name slandered!” Lekan said.
“He came upon his daughter and—”
“I’m warning you, Aren!”
“And saw her enticing a man.”
Lekan’s eyes went wide and he cocked his head, as if trying to hear a far-off noise. Anya began to sob and Aren told the awful lie that was the only chance he had to save Nkiru, Anya, and the rest of the family.
“Nkiru was incensed with his daughter’s lewd behavior,” Aren said. “He struck out at the unknown man and, when his attack was repelled, realized his grave error.” Aren spoke louder, telling the story for the crowd, making it easy for Lekan to let this tale become the official one. “Nkiru snatched his daughter and drew her from the keep in shame. He came straight to me to admit her sins and to atone for his part in shaming the fief.”
“The fief was shamed!” said Lekan.
“If it please the nkosi, I was dragging this man and his daughter to Umbusi Onai to tell her that I would ask for their banishment.”
“Yes!” said Lekan. “Wait, banishment?”
“Yes, Nkosi Lekan!” said Aren. “We cannot allow such diseased behavior to continue unchecked. A Noble with a Lesser? A Common! Disgusting and disgraceful. Who would believe it possible, except that the wretch of a woman did all she could to beguile you.”
“Yes…” Lekan was catching himself up to the fable.
“Nkosi Jabari,” Aren said, “if you and your elder brother agree to banishment, there is no reason to bring this before Umbusi Onai. All gathered here already know Nkosi Lekan’s character. We know what is likely, were he found in a room alone with a Common like Anya.”
Aren was running along a ridge here, and the crowd, knowing Lekan’s character well, began to murmur.
“We can imagine what took place,” Aren continued. “So, why waste the umbusi’s time? I have sworn, here among my peers and betters, that Nkiru acted in fear for his daughter. We would be unjust to punish him and his family for a child’s behavior.”
“That’s no child,” said Lekan, looking at Anya sideways, as if he could see scales, fangs, and venom.
“Even better,” said Jabari, seeking to help Aren get his way. “Let us excise the evil from our midst. I agree with Inkokeli Solarin’s advice. The family will be banished from the fief.” Jabari spat the distasteful words like the rot they were.
“My Noble person was offended.” Lekan still wanted blood.
“Unknowingly,” Aren reminded him.
“Unknowingly.” Lekan gnawed on the word. “Yes, the fool must not have known who it was he attacked. He wouldn’t have dared, if he knew.”
“He wouldn’t have dared,” said Aren.
“I was wearing my sword. If he’d seen me clear, he’d know that to face me is to die,” said Lekan, glaring at the crowd. “Yes, banish the scum. Know this, though,” Lekan said, placing a hand over his heart. “If I see any of their kin within the boundaries of Kerem after morning’s light, they will be eviscerated.”
“What could be more just?” Aren said.