Page 134 of Firstborn of the Sun
‘Are you from the north?’ she said, her words pouring out quickly.
‘From the ice mountains? Òtútù?’ he scoffed. ‘Definitely not.’
‘Then who gives you life? The old gods?’
‘My gods are not of the sands and storms, nor are they your old ones. They are the ones you’ve long forgotten,’ he said as he swung his bow across his chest. ‘Why can’t you?’
L’?r? placed a trembling hand on the stone wall. Every time she used her agbára there was a risk that she’d hurt herself or someone else. Even while she tried protecting him, Alawani’s wound had still been from her agbára. ‘I don’t know,’ she said finally, unwilling to discuss her powers.
Rmí’s shoulders dropped in disappointment as he let outa sigh. ‘So we are dying today, then. I really didn’t think the storm would be the thing to take me out.’
Alawani slowly rose from the ground, leaning against the wall, but he still didn’t look at her. He pointed in the direction they had come from, ‘They’re coming!’
And so started the first and only civil war in the history of Oru.
All children born without agbára were killed, dragged from their mothers’ breasts and tossed into the fire.
All who had what could only be described as the cursed agbára met their end.
Fathers slayed sons, and daughters slayed mothers, all in pursuit of a land glowing with the pure light of agbára oru as was intended by the gods of the sun and sands.
41
Ìlú-Òdì, Sixth Ring, Kingdom of Oru
L’?R?
Fear had always been L’?r?’s greatest enemy. Fear of being beaten up as a child because of who her father was. Fear of living up to the name coward. As she grew older, she had more to lose and more to be afraid of. She couldn’t tell when it formed around her like a shadow following her every step, but fear led her to where she was today. Fear of losing her best friend to the gods. Fear of living in a land that would never accept her. Fear of losing the people she loved so much.
Fear. It was what made her lose fights she’d been trained to win. It was what activated her agbára òtútù. Fear killed Command. It made her lose control of what should come as easily to her as breathing. L’?r?’s chest tightened as she heard Tofa and Milúà draw nearer, their energy blasts radiating an ominous hum in the air. Curse or not, this agbára was all she had left, and she wasn’t going down without a fight.
L’?r? saw the shadows in the distance, and the choice was made for her. She could either die in the storm or die at the hands of her brother. She walked away from the wall, allowing the winds to push her, and when she stopped, she reached into her core, feeling the energy all around her. Her agbáracrackled to life inside her. She forced Command’s dying face out of her mind. If this was to be a fair fight, she had to match their energy. She focused on Ìyá-Idán’s lessons. Then stepped forward, took a deep breath, and allowed the heat inside her to boil over as she turned the air around her to ice. It didn’t matter if she made mistakes as long as she wasn’t directing any of them towards her friends. She formed an ice wall, shielding them from the attacks, exactly like she had done in the temple – but bigger, stronger. Immediately, it shook and groaned, pummelled with attacks from the other side.
‘I don’t know how long this will hold for,’ she said, turning to Alawani and Rmí, whose mouth was hanging open as he glanced between the ice wall and L’?r?. ‘We need to figure out how to get out of here.’
Rmí’s expression quickly settled into one of acceptance and L’?r? knew this wasn’t the face of someone seeing agbára òtútù for the first time.
‘Maybe we just let them keep shooting at the wall. Eventually, they might create that hole we desperately need,’ he said.
‘That’s if we don’t die first,’ Alawani said. ‘That’s a terrible plan.’
‘I don’t see you coming up with much else,’ Rmí spat back.
‘Stop arguing! What are we going to do?’ L’?r? shouted.
Just as she asked, the next attack completely shattered her shield, sending them all hurtling against the wall.
Pain shot through her back, right into her head. L’?r? got up despite it. Her agbára buzzed as sparks flew around her fingertips.
‘I’ve got this,’ L’?r? said, quickly finding her footing against the wind. This was her fight, after all. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine exactly what she wanted to do. Her hands felt heavy, and this time the agbára felt more like a sting in her veins, flowing with thorns. When she opened her eyes,she knew they were blue. She could feel the burn. She raised her hands behind her head.
Rmí and Alawani looked on in awe as the ice formed from nothing and raged against the sandstorm.
Screaming as she threw her hands down, the ice shards shot towards Tofa and Milúà.
The crown prince and the maiden stood together, hands interlocked, one hand each left free. They held their free hands forward against the approaching ice-storm. It looked like they were forming energy blasts, but they didn’t form fully; instead, they kept the air around them hot and simmering. L’?r? watched as her shards reached Tofa and Milúà and melted away in front of them, overwhelmed by the heat shield. Another use of agbára oru that L’?r? had never seen before. It was a good trick. But they couldn’t keep that up without boiling themselves alive.
It only became clear what the two planned to do when she saw them push their hands out forcefully in her direction. It was too late to do anything to stop the energy blast. She felt the heat before she felt the impact. Then she felt the sharp pain going through her body as it hit something solid, and she fell to the ground in a slump.
