“Was it after she saw her Indlovu go down that she enervated you?” asked a man from the North.
Yaw’s mood changed with the question. He’d been a playful and buoyant storyteller but turned somber. “Tau lured a demon away from me,” he said.
The room was quiet again, even Chinedu.
“It was going to kill me and there was nothing I could do. I know it can’t actually… but it’s so real.… It…” He trailed off.
“It shouldn’t have happened,” interjected Aqondise Anan, his words slurring. “The Enervator held you under for too long. I made a formal complaint to the citadel and her preceptor. It was improper of them to place someone who wasn’t ready into a skirmish.”
Jayyed spoke. “She made a mistake.”
“Eh, but what if she had turned one of our men demon-haunted? Last skirmish, Itembe damn near broke. Some nights he… All I’m saying is that I’m proud of you lot. It’s been a while since we’ve had a victory like that, and”—Anan glanced at Jayyed—“it makes this old soldier’s dream of seeing Ihashe in the Queen’s Melee again seem a little less idle.”
Jayyed inclined his head, acknowledging Anan’s words and the respect he was paying to the umqondisi’s own history and legend. “A long while since we’ve had a victory when an Enervator was present,” Jayyed said before raising his jug. “To the Ihashe, to the Omehi, to the Goddess, and our dreams.”
They drank, laughed, celebrated, but Tau couldn’t focus, and as soon as he could, he spoke with Jayyed.
“Maybe this cycle will see Ihashe in the Queen’s Melee again,” Tau said, trying to be patient, trying to hold back the thing he really wanted to ask.
Jayyed smiled. “Maybe.”
“Is it often the same scales from the citadel that make it to the melee? Or is every cycle different?”
“Like most things,” Jayyed said, “a few become dominant, some maintain a measure of power, and most remain powerless. The citadel is no different and the majority of the sixteen scales that qualify for the Queen’s Melee are there time and again.”
“So, though new initiates come in, the same crop of umqondisi seem to train and produce the best?”
Jayyed chuckled. “Yes. And they’d swear to the Goddess their results were entirely due to their brilliance. Closer to the truth, early success eases the way for more success, often leads to better resources, more say in matters that contribute to success, and even the power to hamper the progress of those behind you.”
Taking a long drink, Jayyed drained his cup and placed it at the table’s edge, balancing it. “The same crop of umqondisi do tend to train and produce the best, but it’s not just because they’re the best teachers. Remember, my reputation allowed me to bend rules. I chose all the initiates I wanted in my scale before any of the other umqondisi had a chance.”
Tau’s patience had seen the seeds he’d planted grow. It was time to harvest. “Which scales do you expect to see in the melee?” he asked.
Jayyed looked off, thinking. “Hmm… I’d wager a good sum we’ll see Scales Ojuolape, Onyekachi, and Otobong, but I’d face down dragon fire if Scales Osa and Omondi didn’t qualify.”
Tau nodded at the names, memorizing them. “They’re the best?”
“They are.”
“We’ll be better,” Tau said, not really meaning it, but looking to end the conversation.
Jayyed laughed. Tau smiled and pretended he had to make water so he could slip away. He left the drinking house and wandered a while, not wanting it to look like he traveled with purpose. A quarter span of that and he made for the circle where Zuri had taken him on his first trip to Citadel City. It wasn’t hard to find it, though he felt foolish doing so.
How could he think she’d be there? As if she had nothing more to do than wait for him. Would she even know his scale had been in the skirmish today? Tau shook his head, told himself to turn back and enjoy the rest of his time in the city with his sword brothers, but he didn’t want to go back, not without looking.
So, Tau strode into the circle, ready to find disappointment. He found Zuri instead.
GIFTS
She was sitting on the same bench. She was the only one in the circle.
“I didn’t think you’d come,” she said, standing.
Tau went to her and didn’t know quite what to do when he got there.
“You could hold me,” she told him.
He wrapped her up in his arms. She melted into him and he sighed at the feel of her.
“I think of you almost as much as my training,” Tau said.
“That much? You shouldn’t,” she said, her voice edging toward laughter.
“I… I think of training all the time. It’s a lot, really.”
“I’m sure.” She laughed that time and drew back slightly, so they could look at each other.
Seeing her calmed him.
“I heard you won,” she said.
“We did.” Tau couldn’t take the pride from his voice. “We beat the Indlovu and their Enervator.”
“It caused a stir. Preceptor Inti has been removed from teaching duties. They’re sending her to the front, to fight, and the initiate, Namisa, she’ll be doing newcomer lessons for the next four moon cycles.”
Tau hadn’t thought of that, how the ones on the other side, the losing side, would suffer for being part of such a dramatic failure. “I’m not happy to hear that, but we deserved to win. The odds are heavily weighted against us and we beat them.”
“You had three times the men.”
“They’re Nobles, and the citadel fields initiates from all three cycles of training. They had an Enervator,” Tau said, to drive the point home.
“Namisa is barely that.”
“She knew her work well enough to cause me to lose an arm to a demon.” His words shocked Zuri, and none of this was going the way he wanted.
“She held you long enough for a demon to attack?”
“I saw one eat the face off an Indlovu.”
“She sent a Noble to Isihogo?”
“She sent the lot of us, Ihashe and Indlovu. Is that not acceptable, if the Gifted can save herself in the bargain?”
Zuri’s voice went hard. “Not in a skirmish.”
“Ah.” Tau was beginning to understand why Namisa and her preceptor’s punishments had been so harsh.
“My first skirmish was a few days ago,” Zuri offered.
“You could have faced us?”
“It was a scale from the Northern Isikolo.”
“You won?”
“Of course.”
“Of course,” Tau repeated, rolling the words in his mouth like they were rotten.
“You know what I mean,” Zuri said.
“What it’s like? Fighting on their side?”
“Whose side? The Omehi?”
“You know what I mean,” Tau said.
“I don’t. We all train to defend our people against the hedeni.”
“Then, why are the skirmishes set up so Lessers lose?”
“They’re not. Lessers can rise up the scale ranks as the citadels do. Lessers can win the Queen’s Melee.”