“It’s bigger than my village,” added Yaw.
“Meant to be like if the hedeni got into one of our cities?” asked Themba. “Ask me, we lost already, if they ever get that far.”
Tau had heard more than enough from Themba. “So, they get to our cities, you’d like to lie down and take what they give us?”
Themba was about to answer, but Hadith cut in. “He’s not wrong. Once the hedeni are in our cities, we can’t call the Guardians down on them in any good way. The dragons would burn everything and kill as many of us as they would them. If our enemies get into Palm, Kigambe, or Jirza, it would mean the end of us.”
Themba smirked, vindicated. “Like I said, they get that far, we’re already dead.”
Anan strode over. “Too much talking. Stow your gear. We’re for the desert battlefield to watch Scale Njere tackle a third of Scale Oban.”
“Fifty-four Ihashe initiates against eighteen from the citadel?” Tau asked. He knew they let themselves be outnumbered, but a third of a scale wasn’t enough men to do much and Tau couldn’t see how the Nobles would come out on top against such odds.
“They’ll have an Ennie,” Anan said, as if that alone made up the gap in men.
“Happy to be watching and not fighting, then,” chimed in Themba.
“Hurry over,” Anan said. “We’ll listen in on Umqondisi Njere’s strategy. Maybe the plan will be simple enough for even you lot to learn something.” Anan pointed to where Scale Njere was already gathered. He went that way himself, not bothering to see if they were following.
“Planning ain’t gonna make much difference.”
“Shut up, Themba.” Hadith seemed to have had enough of him too.
Tau left them arguing and followed Anan. Lessers against Nobles. This he wanted to see.
ENERVATED
The plan, as best as Tau could judge, was a good one. Scale Njere would fight on the desert battlefield and that meant it would be a brawl. The desert had several man-made dunes, but there were few places to hide or maneuver. To take advantage of that, Umqondisi Njere opted for a brute-force approach, with one catch. He split the scale into four units.
The units would attack as one, but each unit was also given a direction on the compass. When the Enervator took aim, the units would run in the direction of their compass point. Tau had learned that a Gifted could make use of her gifts only once every quarter span or so, and given that limitation, the goal was to minimize her effect on the battle by minimizing the number of men she could hit.
The scale’s inkokeli was Itembe. He was Governor caste from Kigambe and a strong fighter.
“Plan’s good,” said Uduak as the scale took the field.
“As good as it can be when you’re fighting in a wide-open desert,” Hadith agreed.
Themba picked his teeth. “Not gonna matter.”
“Shut it,” Yaw told him.
“You’ll see,” Themba said.
Most of the men had taken a seat on the ground just beyond the battlefield. Tau was standing. He scanned the Crags, hoping, praying, to find Kellan, and not knowing what he’d do if he did.
“Tau, you’re making me nervous,” Hadith said. “Sit.”
Tau ignored him.
“Here they go!” said Themba as an aqondise blew a war horn, signaling the beginning of the contest.
Scale Njere’s fifty-four Lessers and their opponents, the eighteen Nobles from the citadel along with their Enervator, ran onto the battlefield from opposite sides. The Indlovu broke into two teams, both making for dunes large enough to conceal their movements. The Enervator, dressed in the standard black robes, had been assigned two bodyguards.
It was forbidden and punishable by death to attack a Gifted, but coming within a blade’s length of one during a skirmish counted as a kill. The “killed” Gifted had to leave the field, depriving her team of her power. The bodyguards were there to repel any who dared come close.
“Interesting,” said Hadith. “Itembe has all four units going for the side with the Gifted.”
Uduak grunted.
“It’s clever,” Hadith said. “If he can get there fast enough, he can take her out of play.” Hadith leaned forward and Tau felt himself do the same as Scale Njere streamed up the near side of the dune, which hid just nine Indlovu and the one Gifted.
The twelve fastest runners in the scale made it to the top and were met by three Indlovu. This won’t take long, thought Tau. Bronze flashed, and in two breaths, Tau saw four Ihashe dropped to the churned soil, one of them a bloody mess.
The three men from the citadel, all still standing, were joined by two more. The Nobles engaged the eight closest Ihashe as the rest of Scale Njere closed the distance. The Nobles smashed their way through the eight Lessers and closed ranks to take on the newcomers. Tau couldn’t believe what he was seeing but thought the Nobles’ luck had run its course; the Scale Njere fighters were together on the dune and attacking.
The other unit of Nobles, seeing their sword brothers facing all of Scale Njere, rushed to join the fight. They came for their opponents’ rear side, likely intending to split the scale’s attention in two. It was then that the Gifted, flanked by her two bodyguards, surfaced.
She waited until Scale Njere was committed to its attack, and her hands came up. The Indlovu guarding her stepped back, not wanting to be grazed by the energy she was preparing to blast.
Scale Njere saw her and scattered. It wasn’t organized and it wasn’t to predetermined compass points. The men just ran, clumping as they fled. They didn’t get far before the Gifted fired.
To Tau it looked like heat pulsed from her fingers in a thick, unbroken, and shimmering wave that shot across the battlefield, dropping any man it touched. Itembe was one of them, falling to his knees, his face locked in terror. The Enervator lowered her arms, and less than a full breath had passed, but the affected men didn’t rise.
A scattered few, wild-eyed and frantic, came back to themselves somewhat. They made as if to stand, weapons in hand, but were still useless as they threw their heads back and forth, eyes rolling, trapped in the afterimages of unseen horrors. The rest were worse. Some had gone prostrate, faces in the sand, as others rocked on their knees, whimpering or sobbing.
There was also Itembe, holding himself up on his hands, staring off at nothing. He was slack-jawed, the veins on his neck tensed to the point of bursting. Then, back hunched, Itembe craned his head to peer at the sky, stretched his mouth wide, and screamed.
The sound was raw, terrible, and it ripped from Itembe’s throat like stitching torn from a wound. The howl chilled Tau. It chilled him to his marrow.
There wasn’t much to the skirmish after that. As the men struck by the Gifted’s powers struggled to recover, the Nobles tore through the rest of Scale Njere. By the time the afflicted Ihashe were on their feet, it was a simple thing for the Nobles to send them back to the dirt. Just two Indlovu had been “killed” in the skirmish, and every last man from Scale Njere had been eliminated.
“Hmm,” said Themba. “They did better than I thought. Got two Nobles.”
“Nceku,” said Hadith, no force behind the curse. He looked crestfallen.
Tau glanced at Uduak. The big man was shaken.