“Nkosi—” he began.
Odili brushed past and swung a killing blow. Tau didn’t flinch until the metal shrieked, Odili’s blade brought to a screeching halt by Jayyed’s sword.
“Peace,” said Jayyed, his sword arm quivering with the strain of holding the edge of Odili’s weapon away from Tau’s head.
Tau didn’t know when the large man had moved, but Odili’s Body had the point of his sword pressed into Jayyed’s cheek, dimpling it, drawing a bright flower of blood from the skin there.
Councillor Odili lifted his sword and stepped back. Dejen pressed his blade deeper against Jayyed’s face, forcing him away.
“Peace, again? Do you only play one note, Jayyed?” Odili asked. “You’re no longer an adviser to the council, and no matter how you preen, the Goddess and world can see you’re a Lesser. You think you’ve fallen far? There is so much farther to go.”
“Councilman Odili is willing to be merciful,” shouted Jayyed to the crowds without taking his eyes away from Odili and ignoring the Ingonyama looming over him.
Odili laughed, jerking the muscles of his face into an empty smile. He sheathed his sword and waved Dejen back. Dejen let his sword dip until it aimed for Jayyed’s heart, but moved off.
Odili kept his voice low, speaking to Jayyed alone, though Tau could hear. “Have this peace, Jayyed.” Odili’s grin stretched as if pulled by hooks. “It’s the most you’ll get.” Raising his voice, he addressed the crowd. “Clemency asked, clemency granted. The Lesser’s father has been punished. I’ll leave the boy to his fief.”
He said it like it was worth a cheer. The southern crowd did not oblige. Unfazed, Odili clapped Jayyed on the shoulder as if they were great friends and whispered, “You’ve been a pest. The old queen would not let me swat you, but the old queen is dead. Get in my way again and it’ll be the last thing you do.”
Odili slapped Jayyed’s shoulder a second time, laughed like they’d shared a jibe, and left. The enormous Dejen, Odili’s Body, followed. Trailing the two, disgust on his face, was Kellan Okar.
Tau didn’t understand. His father could help. He tried to wake him. After long days, Aren would often fall into deep slumbers.
A hand fell on Tau’s shoulder. “He’s gone.” It was Jayyed.
Tau looked up. “My da…” Tau couldn’t feel the ground beneath his knees or the sun’s heat. He glanced around. Jabari was there; so was Lekan. Tau saw Kagiso on the ground. The fat Noble, nose still a bloody mess, was nursing the spot where Odili had kicked him.
Thought of the councillor roused Tau. He placed his father on the ground, letting him rest, and reached for Aren’s sword. A strong hand with rough fingers fell on Tau’s wrist.
“I am sorry for this loss,” Jayyed said, taking the sword from him. “Your father was very brave. He knew if he stepped in the circle to fight Kellan, he would never leave. The Chosen are made less by his passing.” Jayyed called out to Aren’s Ihagu. “Come, take your man. Take him home for his burning.”
The Ihagu, glad for instruction, did as they were bid. Tau wanted them to leave his father alone. He wanted to snatch the sword from Jayyed and hunt down Odili, Dejen, and Kellan. He did nothing.
“Nkosi,” Jayyed said, addressing Lekan, “this Common is from your fief?” He was asking about Tau.
“Yes. Yes, of course,” Lekan said.
“He’ll be cared for?”
“What? Yes, yes. You can trust I’ll take care of him,” Lekan said. “And the testing?”
“Nkosi?”
“My brother is here, we all are, for the testing.”
Jayyed didn’t answer. He gave Aren’s sword to Tau and walked away.
“Who does that cursed Lesser think he is?” Lekan said to the Kerem men around him, low enough that Jayyed would not hear.
The Ihagu took Aren’s body away and Tau would have knelt in the dirt till the sun fell from the sky had Jabari not come to take him away as well.
“I will kill them,” Tau told him through tears. “I swear it to Ananthi and Ukufa, I will kill them all.”
BANISHED
The journey home was made in silence. Jabari sent runners to alert the keep that the ritual burning for Aren would be performed that same night. Tau marched without marking where they were or how much farther they had to go. He marched with Jabari beside him and marched when Jabari wasn’t. He marched as the sun beat down and kept going when it didn’t. They marched past nightfall, into the low cliffs of the Kerem mountains. None of it mattered.
“The pompous ass,” Lekan said, walking up to Jabari. “Does Odili even have the power to cancel the testing? Blasted Palm Royals all act like they’re birthed from the Goddess’s twat covered in gold.” Lekan barked at his own joke, no humor in the sound. The Onai family was in a perilous position as long as Jabari remained unconfirmed for the citadel. “What about you? We need you in the military. We can’t pay higher tithes.”
“I’ll travel to the North,” Jabari said. “They test later than we do.”
“How much later? This season’s tithes are due in—”
“It’s not the time, Lekan.”
“Why not? Because your pet Common got above himself and got his father—”
Lekan didn’t finish. Tau leapt on him, bore him to the ground, and struck him in the face. He raised his arm to hit him again, but Jabari shoved him away. Tau rolled to his feet, ready to attack.
“Kill him!” Lekan yelled, his left eye swelling shut. The Ihagu surrounded Tau, keeping him away from the frantic Noble.
“Kill him!” Lekan shrieked.
“They’ll do no such thing,” said Jabari.
“He attacked me. I’m heir to Kerem.”
“Get up.”
“He attacked me. He cost you your testing. I’ll have—”
“Shut up!” Jabari shouted, startling his brother, before turning to Tau. “High Common Tau Tafari, you have attacked my brother, a Noble, and the punishment for that crime is death by hanging.”
“Fine, I’ll do it myself!” said Lekan, reaching for his blade.
“Everyone here knows the crime and its punishment,” said Jabari to the Ihagu and Drudge with them, as much as to Tau. “We also know what this day has cost you, and, for the love I bore your father, I will both honor and consider that in rendering judgment over you.”
Tau felt cold. He knew Jabari was talking to him but couldn’t make himself care.
“I cannot ignore your crime, but as the second son of fief Kerem, and as a neutral Noble, not the aggrieved party, I commute your sentence.” Jabari swallowed and cleared his throat. “Tau Tafari, you may attend your father’s burning this evening, but when the sun rises, you will no longer be welcome in Kerem.”
Lekan was only a few strides away when he pulled his sword from its scabbard. “No more banishments, Jabari. I’ll take my own justice.”
Jabari was in his brother’s way. “Another step and you’ll need to take it over my blade.”
Tau looked at the two Nobles posturing in front of him. One of them, his friend since childhood, had just banished him from the only home he’d ever known.