Storms of the Forest

by Dele Daniel

  Several people nodded in agreement, while others broke out into soft muttering. Beside me, Father nodded in approval, agreeing with what I’d said.

  “Thank you, Genesis,” Remington said.

  “Wait a second,” a voice spoke out. My eyes darted across various faces until I noticed a short and muscular guy step forward. The name Leni popped into my head. I knew him. He was an eighteen-year-old Arnazuri who I’d gone to school with. As I looked into his haughty face, I remembered how argumentative he could be when worked up. Plenty of classes had been spent with him insisting on debating with teachers and students alike whenever he happened to share a differing opinion from them.

  My lips pressed into a tight line, already sensing that we were about to get a reenactment of his infamous debating skill; I just hoped he wouldn’t thwart the whole meeting with them.

  Leni’s mouth tugged downward into a skeptical frown as he looked back and forth from me to Remington. “I don’t know if I’m comfortable with accepting Rowans and Ammirians into our movement,” he said, shaking his head. “It just doesn’t seem like the best idea to me.”

  Remington held his gaze. “Why not?” he asked, raising his eyebrows. “Don’t you think we need to increase our numbers? Do you realize how big the king’s army is? How else are we supposed to stand a chance against them if we don’t reach out to other tribes?”

  Leni folded his muscular arms across his chest. “Have the other tribes ever been concerned about us before?” he asked. “I mean, if memory serves me correctly, Rowans and Ammirians stood by silently for an awful long time while our people suffered. What makes you think they’ll want to help us now, all of a sudden? Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like if they didn’t care before, then they don’t really care now. How can we trust they won’t sell us out?”

  “Excuse me, but have you ever been to King’s Port or King’s Bay?” a voice challenged. I recognized it as Sentana’s. I looked around, seeking her face before finally spotting her craning her neck to look at Leni.

  It was still strange for me to hear Sentana speak. She had been my roommate while I’d been in King’s Bay, and I had found her quietness so unnerving that I didn’t trust her. I learned the hard way that I’d had it all wrong though, for it had been my other roommate, Zudera, who wasn’t to be trusted. Thinking about Zudera made me uncomfortable, especially since the whole ordeal Jason and I had been through with her would have proven Leni’s point all too well.

  “No,” Leni said, once he spotted Sentana. “What difference does it make though? The fact remains—no one outside of the Arnazuri tribe ever spoke up for me and my people.

  Everyone always turned a blind eye to our plight, and I don’t see any reason why we should expect that to change now.”

  Sentana shook her head. “You’re speaking about something you know nothing about. The Arnazuri aren’t the only people who’ve suffered. We’ve all suffered.”

  “Oh, give me a break!” Leni said, sneering. “No one has suffered like my people, and you know it! So don’t give me this nonsense about how you and your folks have supposedly had it bad too! You’re the one speaking about something you know nothing about! Walk a day in my shoes and see how it really is!”

  “Look—I’m not trying to discount what you and your people have been through,” Sentana said. “I know that things are a little better for those of us in King’s Port and King’s Bay than it is for those of you in Black Forest.”

  “A little better?” Leni said, mocking her.

  “At the end of the day, it hardly matters!” she said. “The Kingfishers treat everyone like second-class citizens! In their eyes, none of us are worthy!”

  Leni gave a condescending laugh. “You’re really being delusional right now, you know that? And you’re absolutely crazy if you think anyone else can compare to what the Arnazuri have been through. You—”

  “All right! That’s enough! Enough!” Remington shouted, interrupting before the argument could continue. “Guys, this isn’t a contest! All of us here in this room right now are on the same team, so cut it out!”

  “Cut it out?” Leni said, turning a hard gaze toward Remington. “Who are you to give orders around here, Remington? Do you think you’re our Chief now? You don’t run anything! You’re not the boss of us. If I want to speak my mind, then I can and I will. I won’t be silenced by you!”

  Remington fell silent, although his eyes shot daggers at Leni. The two of them stared each other down, almost looking as if they were about to pounce on each other at any second.

  I shook my head. “You see—this is why we need more organization around here,” I said, turning toward Father in exasperation. “How can we get anything done with this kind of nonsense?”

  “Yeah, you’re right, Genesis,” Remington said, letting me know that I had spoken louder than I meant to. He finally turned away from Leni and looked at the rest of the group at large. “By show of hands, how many of you agree with Genesis about us needing a leader?”

  Without hesitation, virtually everyone, myself included, raised a hand into the air.

  Feeling emboldened, I stood up and looked out at the group. “And raise your hand if you think Remington should be that leader, at least temporarily until we figure out a more official way to go about this?” I said.

  Again, practically everyone, this time with the exception of Leni, raised their hand.

  “Oh, come on!” Leni said. “Why him? Are we not even going to at least nominate other people?”

  “Sure,” I said. “At a later date. But as for now, we don’t have the time. And since everyone else is fine with Remington filling the position, then so be it. He’s already been acting as the de facto leader all along, so he may as well assume the position.” I nodded at Remington, and he nodded back appreciatively.

  “This is so stupid,” Leni complained.

  “And you are outnumbered,” my father said, instantly silencing any additional complaints Leni may have possibly had. The room itself went quiet again.

  “I will serve as the temporary leader until we can gather all the Hawks in the kingdom to make an official vote for a permanent leader,” Remington said. He turned toward my father.

  “Mr. Romunda—would you do us the honor of creating a set of guidelines and rules for our upcoming election so that things can run more smoothly when the time comes?”

  “I certainly can,” Father said.

  “Thank you,” Remington said, nodding his head appreciatively again.

  “There’s just one more thing,” I said, catching Remington’s eye. I took a deep breath. I’d been planning to bring this up all along, but now that the moment had finally arrived, I could feel the tightness in my chest again—that tightness that I had come to associate with thoughts of Jason. I could feel all eyes on me once more as I reached into my bag to produce the scrolls Jason had been studying. I then willed myself to keep a steady, tear-free face. “These prophecies that . . . that Prince Jason was working on . . . they still need to be interpreted. After all, they’ll help us with finding our official leader.” I stared down at them for a moment. “I’ll do what I can, but I’m going to need help. My understanding of the Arnazuri language is still at beginner’s level, so I don’t have much faith in my ability to accurately interpret much of this on my own.”

  “I can help,” someone said after a very long silence. The voice was so quiet, it wouldn’t have been heard if the room itself hadn’t already been quiet. Everyone began to turn around, shifting in their spots to see who had spoken. A tall and skinny boy slowly moved forward from the back of the room, stepping into view. There was a distinct sense of shyness about him, and he appeared hesitant to make direct eye contact with anyone. “I understand the ancient Arnazuri language.”

  “How is that possible?” My father’s voice broke through the whispers and mutters that had begun amongst the group. “What is your name? Who taught you?”

  “I’m Kano,” the boy said, his voice slightly lou
der than before, but his shyness still evident. “Speaking the ancient Arnazuri tongue has always been a family secret. When the language was originally banned, my family took it upon themselves to pass the knowledge secretly from one generation to the next. My great-grandfather used to say that it would come in handy one day. I guess he was right.”

  CHAPTER 3

  “Genesis? Genesis? Genesis!”

  I blinked, realizing that my mother was trying to catch my attention. “Huh?” I said, still staring at Kano.

  “Give him the scrolls. Let him have a look,” she whispered. I nodded.

  Everyone was still muttering and staring at Kano in shock while he looked back at me, as if afraid to look at anyone else. The crowd around him slowly parted, permitting me a path toward him. The scrolls trembled slightly in my hands as I made my way over to him, unable to believe that someone right in our midst could read and understand the ancient Arnazuri language.

  I swallowed, my thoughts inevitably returning to Jason, wishing he was there. If he could have been there to meet Kano—to have someone would could have legitimately helped him . . .

  It all seemed like just another cruel twist in fate.

  Just before I reached Kano, I heard someone whispering to their neighbor, “Perhaps it is a blessing. He led her to him. All the more reason we must keep faith.” My eyes darted sideways, trying to find the speaker of those words and wondering if the “he” being referred to was some higher power or Jason.

  When I came to stand directly before Kano, having to crane my neck up a bit because he was so tall, the room suddenly fell completely silent again, the only sound being the documents rattling in my hands.

  “These . . . These are the documents Jason was working on,” I said, handing them over.

  Kano bowed his head respectfully at the mentioning of the prince’s name and then peered down at the documents. His brow furrowed and his dark eyes slowly moved across the pages from top to bottom. His stance relaxed, having something concrete before him to focus on apparently easing his feelings of shyness.

  I hadn’t realized I’d been holding my breath until the pressure in my lungs forced me to

  exhale.

  Kano, who’d momentarily been in his own little world, looked back toward me, his demure expression returning somewhat. “These clues—I think I can decode them.”

  A wobbly smile spread across of my face. “Great. Thank you,” I said.

  Kano opened his mouth to reply, but the door of the small cabin blew open, causing everyone to freeze before realizing it was just Zane.

  “Sorry I’m late,” he announced, pushing his way through the room, seeming intent to get to Remington.

  “No worries,” Remington said, although he looked slightly perturbed by the tardiness.

  Zane shook his head, frowning. “I wish there were no worries,” he said, his voice grim. “I hate to admit it, but I come bearing bad news.”

  Remington sighed. “Again? Any good news to balance it out?”

  “I’m afraid not,” he answered, capturing everyone’s undivided attention. “What is it?” Remington asked, his brow lowered in concern.

  “Word has it that the king has just successfully changed the rules about kingship in Nayja. He has now officially made it so that his family can rule forever. All he needed was the full support of the Central Royal Council to make it happen, and he got it.”

  “That certainly isn’t good news, but it was expected to happen eventually. No real surprises there,” Father said. Murmurs of agreement broke out through our group.

  “I’m afraid that’s not all though,” Zane said. “King Henry has also decreed that all tribes must stay within their own respective districts. All work and study permits have been revoked. He’s ordered that anyone outside of their home community must leave immediately and get back to their own districts. Not only that, but there is to be no movement between communities, period. At least until further notice.”

  “So are they going to start tracking us all?” someone asked. “How will we trade goods?” someone else asked.

  Zane nodded, turning in the general direction of the voices that had spoken. “Yes—everyone will be carefully monitored. And as for moving goods from one community to another, guards from King’s Forest have been put exclusively in charge of that. So basically, this all means that under no circumstances are people from different tribes to meet any more. Anyone in violation of these new rules will pay for it with their lives. Anyone spotted with someone outside of their tribe is to be shot on sight.”

  “Are you kidding me?” I said, unable to believe what I was hearing. “That’s going to make everything . . . impossible.”

  “The king knows there’s strength in numbers too,” Remington said grimly. “He knows that if all of us come together under the united cause of defeating him, he wouldn’t stand a chance. So now, he’s trying to make sure that can’t happen.”

  Now the silence filling the room was not one of curiosity but one of stunned and helpless fear.

  CHAPTER 4

  In the aftermath of Zane’s unsettling news, murmured conversations quickly broke out among everyone present to hear it. The mood in the air grew heavy and somber. I stood, silently taking it all in, trying to wrap my head around what we could possibly do moving forward now that the king had forbidden people from different tribes to communicate with each other. It was like with every step forward the rebellion managed to take, something sent us hurdling several leaps backward.

  I watched as Zane and Remington separated themselves from the group to have a hushed conversation in the corner. I turned in their direction, compelled to join them until Prince caught my eye. He looked at me meaningfully, beckoning me toward him and then doing the same to Mother and Father. Curiosity seeping through my frustration and shock, I wondered what Prince possibly wanted with us at a time like this.

  Father stared down at Prince, his brow furrowed, while Mother stood beside him, chewing her bottom lip with her hands clasped tightly together. The three of us formed a small circle around him.

  Prince looked at each of us and then took a deep breath. My heart skipped a few beats, knowing instantly from his expression that he had something important to share with us.

  “I have something to say,” he prefaced, and then took another deep breath. My parents exchanged glances with one another as they always did. And then they narrowed their eyes at me, inevitably trying to determine if I already knew what Prince had to say and was only feigning ignorance.

  “What is it?” I said, looking back at Prince, waiting for him to continue.

  “I’ve been thinking a lot about it,” he said slowly, “and I’ve decided that I want to join the Hawks and be part of the rebellion. I’m ready now.”

  His words were greeted with stunned silence. Before I could even fully process the fact that my baby brother wanted to become a rebel, Father’s voice sounded beside me, harsh and strict. “Absolutely not,” he said.

  Prince met Father’s gaze, unflinchingly. The mere sight of it made me squirm uncomfortably; I doubted I would ever get used to seeing such serious expressions on my little brother’s face.

  Looking Father square in the eyes, Prince stretched to his full height. “Why?” he demanded. His voice sounded eerily similar to Father’s, having developed bass that I’d never heard from him before.

  Father blinked, looking just as taken aback as I felt. He narrowed his eyes, offended by Prince’s audacity to question him. “Because you’re too young, that’s why,” he said sternly.

  “No, I’m not,” Prince argued, undeterred. “Why is it that Genesis is always allowed to do whatever she wants, but I’m not?”

  “Prince,” I interjected, shaking my head, “you know that’s not true. Since when have I ever been allowed to do whatever I want? And . . . And how could you even consider something like this? Joining the Hawks? You haven’t even finished hunting school, for crying out loud!”

  “Be quiet, Genesis
!” Prince snapped, his eyes flashing angrily at me.

  I blinked, literally shrinking away from him. Was this really my little brother speaking? I could hardly ever remember him raising his voice at me, especially not in such a harsh way.

  He glared back at me, his lips snarling. “I’m tired of you acting like you’re my mother all the time, treating me like a baby! I am not a baby! When you were my age, you used to go hunting by yourself all the time!”

  “That . . . That doesn’t mean it was safe . . .” I said, struggling to speak around the tightness that had developed in my throat. “And that doesn’t mean they wanted me to.” I looked to Mother and Father, feeling helpless under Prince’s attack and wanting their assistance. But they remained silent.

  “Oh yeah?” Prince said, his eyes still glued my way, challenging me. “Well, Mom told me that it was only Dad who didn’t want you to go hunting. She fully supported you.” His gaze finally left me, narrowing in on our mother instead.

  I looked toward Mother too, startled to find her expression so apprehensive. She folded her arms around herself and her eyes flickered downward instead of meeting any of our gazes. Her refusal to contradict Prince’s accusations were revealing enough though; what he said must have been true, at least from her recollection.

  I cleared my throat and ignored the way my stomach clenched. “It doesn’t matter,” I said. “It was still probably dangerous.”

  “It was dangerous, but here you are,” Prince said smugly, knowing his point couldn’t be disputed.