Page 58 of Firstborn of the Sun
The words ‘from the grave’ kept echoing in Milúà’s mind, and she felt her head nearly explode with grief.
‘My mother –’ Milúà started to say.
‘You need no other mother but me,’ Ìyá-Ayé sneered at her.
When Milúà was younger, she’d asked Ìyá-Ayé about her birth mother and could still feel the burn of the backhand slap she received that day. Milúà bit her tongue to keep from saying anything she might regret.
‘Leave me. I will deal with you later,’ Ìyá-Ayé said.
Milúà bowed and left the room without saying a word. When she got to the room she’d grown up in, she closed the door and fell to the ground, weeping quietly. In a little corner of her heart, Milúà had hoped that she too might one day stumble upon the woman who birthed her in the market square, the way Bùnmi had found hers. It was a long shot – but she’d hoped. But now she knew her mother was dead. Maybe she didn’t even abandon her, perhaps she wanted to keep her, but death had other plans. Someone had other plans.
She still had so many questions. No maiden could bear a child. They all drank the same herbs that made them barren from the moment they saw their first blood. To seal their bonds, maidens gave their bodies to their priests. Her birth mother shouldn’t have been able to get pregnant – how did she? And how did she hide being pregnant long enough to give birth? Milúà’s head throbbed as she cried into her palms. The Holy Order could never allow a maiden that bore a child to live.
Milúà gasped out loud as the realization hit her. Her gaze fixed on the wall towards Ìyá-Ayé’s throne room. Only one person could permit the killing of a maiden of the Sun Temple – the woman she called Mother.
The old gods do not shun their scions, they answer all who call, all who know them by their true names.
They have but one rule:
Do not call upon more than one of the gods at a time.
Make your choice and stick to it.
Those who are wise call upon only one of the Òrì?à for as long as they live.
Call upon many, and none will ever hear your cries again.
Perhaps that is why the scions of the old gods live in chains today.
I do not know.
20
Ìlú-p?, Third Ring, Kingdom of Oru
L’?R?
L’?r? was exhausted and sleep-deprived by the time she and Alawani reached the border of Ìlú-p?, the third ring. They’d kept off the King’s Road just as Baba-Ìtàn suggested, riding through Ìlú-Ìm on a horse Alawani stole. When they got close to the border wall, they traded the horse for passage through the main gates.
And that was how L’?r? found herself stuck underneath the floorboard of a wagon, struggling to breathe as it slowly inched towards the guard checkpoint. It helped that Alawani was right next to her, although it didn’t help that his elbows were crushing into her side with every shake of the wheels. Among the crowd of voices that echoed into the small wooden compartment, L’?r? could hear the guards questioning the drivers, and she could feel a chill coming in through her sweat-soaked shirt. She formed fists with her palms and felt Alawani’s hand reach for her gloved ones. She was taking no chances with her new powers.
Alawani squeezed slightly. ‘We’ll be all right.’
L’?r? barely had space to nod. If she moved more than a few inches, her head would knock against the floor of the cabin. She inhaled deeply, nearly choking on the dust ofplantain flour that hung in the air. She squeezed Alawani’s hand and hoped they wouldn’t get caught before even leaving her home ring.
‘Reason for crossing the border?’ the guard’s voice boomed from outside the wagon.
‘I’m returning to my farm,’ the driver said confidently, with a hint of annoyance.
There was a brief silence, then the guard said, ‘With a wagon full of èlùb? Were you not supposed to sell them?’
‘My customer wanted èlùb i?u not èlùb gd, so back to the farm it is.’
L’?r? could picture the driver’s face and hoped the man’s prickly tone wouldn’t aggravate the guard. The last thing they needed was anyone searching the wagon.
Pay him, L’?r? urged. When guards asked too many questions, they wanted sun coins. Everyone knew this. She’d added to the driver’s fee in anticipation of this moment, so she couldn’t understand why the driver was dragging the conversation. L’?r? strained to look at Alawani, and his eyes met hers. If the guard tried to search, they’d have to fight their way through.
As L’?r? prepared her mind to fight, she heard the clink of coins, and the wagon started moving again. Alawani exhaled next to her. Relief eased all the muscles in her body. The wagon bumped into a hole in the road, and the bags of flour puffed out a cloud of white powder and Alawani sneezed so loudly that the cabin shook with force.
