Page 45 of Firstborn of the Sun
Kyà looked at Máywá. ‘He is as good as dead. There is nothing more we can do for him.’
L’?r? moved to hold Máywá. He flinched when she touched him as his skin pinched together, and blackened from her touch. Little pricks of ice grew on top of it. L’?r? quickly removed her hands from him. The dread inside her grew with every passing moment. What was she turning into? What was happening to her?
On the other side of the ice, Àlùfáà-Àgbà was still throwing fireballs, screaming incantations and summoning the old gods. The ice crystals still weren’t budging. The maidens started using agbára oru, and after a few tries, L’?r? saw the faintest crack, and the black mist inside it spun like sand caught in a storm. On the ground, Máywá’s mouth was still spouting blood. She knew Kyà was right. He wouldn’t make it. It was all her fault. He didn’t deserve to be caught up in her mess. When he’d asked to leave, she should’ve let him go, and for that she would never forgive herself.
She turned to Alawani and shook her head. Never in their decade-long friendship had she ever seen him look so broken. His empty eyes stared at Máywá’s body for a moment, then he turned away to climb the rhino’s ladder to the top.
Hot tears filled L’?r?’s eyes and rolled down her cheeks. ‘I’m so sorry, Máywá. You shouldn’t have been a part of this. Forgive me.’
‘L’?r?! Climb now! Whatever that is, it looks like it’s coming down soon!’ Kyà shouted.
Máywá’s eyes closed and opened slowly.
‘Kíni à?íríì r?? Tell me your à?írí – give me your secrets,’ L’?r? whispered. ‘Let me do this for you, please.’
Another crack in the wall.
‘L’?r?, let’s go!’ Alawani shouted, ‘It’s breaking!’
‘I’m coming!’ L’?r? screamed back. ‘Máywá, please!’
Máywá smiled softly in L’?r?’s arms. ‘I … I have none. Ju … just tell m … my parents I … I died on the Red Stone a … an … and not trying t … to escape.’
‘Are you sure, Máywá? Think about it. Take nothing of this world to the one beyond. Let me bear your burden.’
‘I have no burden to give you,’ and with his last breath, he whispered a few words into her ears.
L’?r? closed Máywá’s eyes, whimpering, and rushed to climb the battle rhino, holding on tightly to Alawani as Kyà led the animal through the maze. It crashed through stone and cleared a path right across the rubble with its horn. She huddled behind Alawani, trying to avoid the debris that splattered around her as the beast raged through the temple gates, stomping over those who tried to stop them. They rode over the bridge, moving so fast that L’?r? was sure the bridge would collapse and she’d find herself at the bottom of the golden river, but somehow the bridge held. Once off the island, they sped through Ìlú-?ba as fast as the beast would go.
L’?r? kept looking back at the temple, unable to take her mind off the young boy who lay dead on its grounds. Her eyes poured out hot tears, and she’d never wished for anything the way she wished she’d never laid eyes on Máywá, the chosen Àlùfáà of Ìlú-p?. In the quiet of her heart, she said the words she’d thought she’d never say. ‘May your heart burn like the sun, bright, hot, and undying.’
In the days before the day of the First Sun, seven tribes called the continent home.
In those days, the gods who ruled listened only to those who spoke their tongue.
Only to the descendants and scions of their blood, those who had à??in their veins.
And so the people of Ìlú-Al’à?? were a force to be reckoned with.
Manipulating the life force of everything around them to their will.
With the gods on their side, they had no foe or enemy for no one would touch those protected by Òrì?à.
16
The Sun Temple, Royal Island, Kingdom of Oru
MILÚÀ
Milúà stood before Àlùfáà-Àgbà as he rained curses on her and her entire lineage. It wasn’t like she had any family anyway, she thought grimly as his voice reverberated through the room. She kept her eyes fixed on her feet. The Elder Priest’s age and station meant he was so far above her in the pecking order that it was her duty to remain still as a statue until he was done berating her and probably even thank him for taking the time to do so.
‘Your foolishness could cost us everything,’ Àlùfáà-Àgbà barked.
Milúà bent her head even lower to hide her grimace as his spit landed on her forehead. She dared not wipe it. Instead, she allowed her mind to think of answers to the question she hoped he wouldn’t ask. Where was she when her Àlùfáà ran away from the Sun Temple? Many thoughts crossed her mind, but the truth kept barging in. She couldn’t well say she’d stolen the High Priestess’s key to the secret library beneath the temple to search for records of her mother, could she? Maidens were supposed to be fully devoted to the mother who trained them. But Milúà had overheard one of her sisters of the Order talking about how her birth motherwas a maiden, and like an itch that drove one mad if not scratched, she had to know if it was true. And the records in that library, the record of all temple maidens since the day of the First Sun, would tell her the truth. She couldn’t miss the chance to find out. She’d been deep beneath the ground, searching through rows of books, unaware of the chaos unfurling over her head. And the truth she’d found was too heavy to speak of.
‘The kingdom our forefathers built is on the edge of ruin! For nothing,’ Àlùfáà-Àgbà raged on. ‘Because you couldn’t keep hold of a boy! Never, never in our history has a chosen one run away or been killed on our very own land!’ He was brimming over with so much fury, she thought he might pass out.
First, that was not true. Chosen ones died all the time. Sure, not by arrows, but death is death. She wondered if it was the fact that a chosen one was taken that enraged him so much or that it was his grandson. Whichever way, it was ridiculous that she was getting the brunt of his anger when the maidens at the entrance couldn’t capture the boys. Although, losing the chance ever to be a high-ranking maiden was punishment enough. Maiden Bùnmi, whose Àlùfáà died, went mad with rage.
