Storms of the Forest

by Dele Daniel

  The more I stared at her, the more uneasy I felt without fully understanding why. Sensing my stare, her large head turned my way and her beady eyes met mine. I could have sworn her expression changed just minimally when she looked at me, but it happened so quickly, I couldn’t be sure. Nevertheless, my skin crawled. I shuddered and folded my arms more tightly around myself, grateful when she finally looked away.

  Despite how unsettled she made me feel, there was something familiar about the rotund woman. I had the overwhelming feeling I knew her, and it wasn’t just because we were from the same tribe. I knew her on a more personal level that I just couldn’t figure out. When she wasn’t looking in my direction, I studied her, trying to place my finger on what forgotten memories she was triggering within me.

  Sometime later, the woman began moving to the center of the room. Her walk was a labored waddle, but there was clear confidence in every step she took. She cast a steely gaze around the room, almost as if daring anyone to even think about teasing her. Seeing the challenging look in her eyes, I finally figured it out. The haughtiness in her gait, the way she held her head proud and high, the smug look on her face—it all gave her away.

  She cleared her throat. “Can I have everyone’s attention, please?” she said, though the tone of her voice made it obvious that this was not a question but a command. Even her diction was familiar and served as the final confirmation I needed. This was Leni’s mother. Rashida, I believed her name was. I stared into her round face and spotted his annoying countenance reflecting through it.

  I’d seen her several times before, long ago, back during my hometown school days. One day in particular, Leni had been so obnoxious and disruptive during class that our teacher had stopped everything to call his mother in for a conference. My desk had been near a window, and I remembered seeing Rashida waddling down the road, coming toward the school. When she reached our class, the teacher had given us an assignment to complete while she quietly spoke with Rashida in the hallway.

  Even back then, Rashida and Leni had looked extraordinarily alike. And if I remember correctly, when they left, Rashida had looked more annoyed with the teacher than she had with her own son’s behavior. I guess Leni never did any wrong in her eyes. That was probably why he’d grown up to be such a jerk. Spoiled rotten to the core.

  With the way Rashida positioned herself before us with such an air of importance, she had clearly been given a role of prominence. With the absence of Prince and Leni, it was apparent that this was her meeting. That meant Leni—and by default, Prince—had put her in charge of the Hawk women.

  I closed my eyes for a moment, incensed by the realization but knowing it was true. The room fell silent.

  “Thank you,” she said, though there was little gratitude in her tone. “Well, I’m sure everyone is up to speed by now. You all should know that the men are out training, under the orders of my . . . of our new king.” She paused for a second. It didn’t take a genius to deduce that she’d almost said, “My son,” instead of “Our new chief.” Obviously, she knew who was really in charge. “So with the men away, it’s up to us to keep everything else running smoothly. And I’m here to make sure that’s exactly what happens, you understand? So if there are no further questions,” she said, without giving anyone the chance to ask questions, “it’s time to get to work.”

  Wasting no time, Rashida began barking out orders, quickly running through names and assigning tasks. I stood there, wondering how all of this had been decided. Was she doing this on her own, or had she previously met with her son and my brother to determine who would be in charge of what?

  I listened carefully to the names she called, noticing that the women being put in charge of various tasks were the wives, mothers, and daughters of prominent male Hawk members.

  Hence, the teams being put together were far from random.

  I held my breath, waiting to hear my mother’s name, as well as my own. As the mother and sister of the chief, there was no doubt that we would be put in charge of some task or other.

  Busywork. That’s all it was. These tasks had been designed to keep our minds off the fact that our dear chief had essentially ruled the women of our tribe to now be second-class citizens. The jobs we were being given served no purpose other than to distract us from their decision that we were no longer deemed good enough to actually assist the rebellion against King Henry.

  “Genesis,” Rashida said, saying my name slowly and causing the room to fall even more silent than before. She turned her chubby face toward me, remembering precisely where I stood. Her eyes narrowed, putting her resemblance to Leni on full display.

  “Yes?” I said, my own voice cold as I unflinchingly met her gaze. Both she and her son needed to know that I wasn’t afraid of them. Revolted by them, but not afraid of them.

  Her cheeks jiggled as she spoke. “You will lead a group to the stream nearby,” she said and then turned around to face the remaining women, listing off some more names. “Those of you I just called, you are a part of Genesis’s group. The water team. Get some buckets, bring back some water, and purify it for drinking and cooking.

  “Which brings me to the last group.” Finally, she sought out my mother. “Kewe, you are in charge of cooking. If you haven’t heard your name get called yet, it means you are a part of Kewe’s cooking team.”

  Rashida took in the room at large and gave one loud clap of her hands. “Well, what are you all standing around for? Get to work!”

  CHAPTER 17

  A total of seven girls had been placed into my group of water gatherers, or the Water Team, as Rashida had called us. After Rashida had demanded everyone get going with their tasks, all the women had scattered, not wanting to cause any problems with her. Her beady eyes had gleamed in pleasure at the sight of everyone scurrying to obey her orders, making it apparent where her son had gotten his power-hungry ways from. The apple certainly hadn’t fallen far from the tree.

  Taking orders from Rashida was almost as bad as having to listen to her son, but given our current circumstances, none of us had any other choice.

  I trailed behind my group, five girls walking a short distance ahead of me while two lingered behind alongside me. It was a nice day, the sun shining with a comfortable breeze in the air. Yet, we carried our buckets in silence, the only sounds being our footsteps and the twigs snapping under our feet.

  I stared off into the distance as we walked, wondering how things had come to this. I still had a hard time wrapping my mind around how drastically life had changed for me within such a short time span. Sometimes, it all felt like a cruel joke that I was waiting for to end. It would be a miracle if I could just wake up to discover that all of this had been one long nightmare. To wake up and find out that the only thing on my agenda was going hunting with Remington, competing to see who could score the most game to deliver to the food bank for the day.

  Funny how life had seemed so mundane back then and how I would have given anything to return to those days. It was a shame that I had never fully appreciated those simpler times until they were over.

  I’d been mindlessly staring at the ground, watching my own feet when my eyes darted upward. My heart skipped a beat and I glanced around, peering through the trees surrounding us. Positive that I’d heard someone, I almost came to a halt but then realized the sounds were simply coming from in front of me. The girls. They were whispering to each other.

  I relaxed, despite feeling slightly irritated. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but I could sense the tension running through their conversation. Their voices were low but their facial expressions tense and serious. It was obvious to me who they were talking about.

  My suspicions were confirmed when one of them, tall and big-boned, angrily glanced back at me.

  “I think they’re talking about you,” one of the girls beside me said. I refrained from saying, “No kidding.”

  With a sigh, I switched the bucket I carried to the other hand. I suddenly wished Dolly was
with me; she would have been better company to me than these girls, that was for sure.

  It seemed like it had taken an unnaturally long time, but we finally reached the stream. We came to a stop, an awkward silence falling over us now that the other girls had stopped their whispering. The one who had glanced at me earlier looked at me once again, and not before long, all five of them were starting at me.

  “I’m glad you all find me so interesting, but you’re here to fetch water, not stare at me. So if you girls have a problem with me, I suggest you say it to my face and get it over with because I’m not in the mood to tolerate all your obnoxious whispering and not-so-subtle glares on the way back.”

  The girls beside me shifted uncomfortably, while the other five continued to stare back at me with wide eyes. The tall one, who seemed to be their ringleader, stepped forward and opened her mouth to speak, but two of the others nudged her in the arm at the same time. She ignored their warning. “Yeah, we’ve got a problem with you, Genesis,” she said. “You’re the chief’s sister, right?”

  I put one hand on my hip while still holding the bucket with the other. “Yes, I am.”

  “Well, we’re disappointed in how he’s running things. Extremely disappointed.” She held up her own bucket. “This is not the Arnazuri way. I don’t know and don’t care how the other tribes run things, but for the Arnazuri, men and women have always been treated equally. Your brother is completely going against the ways of our culture and everything we stand for!”

  I looked up toward the sky and sighed. “And how, exactly, does that translate into a problem with me?”

  The girl huffed. “Because he’s your family, and look at the way he’s turned out!” She shook her head, disgusted. “It just shows what kind of values your family holds, and it’s despicable. You should be ashamed. But I suppose this is all fine with you, huh?”

  My bucket dropped to the ground with a loud thud. I wasn’t even consciously aware of loosening my hold on it. All I knew was that I couldn’t deal with this girl looking at and speaking to me in such a manner. I stepped forward, bypassing the other girls and making a beeline straight toward her, my temper flaring.

  “I swear to the gods, if you say one more thing about my family—”

  She dropped her bucket as well, the noise temporarily halting my threat. “Your family is a disgrace to the whole Arnazuri tribe!” she yelled.

  Without even thinking about it, I punched her in the stomach, relishing the feeling of my fist in her gut and the way it instantly silenced her. But just one second later, she looked up at me, her teeth bared in an ugly snarl. She lunged forward, driving her large body into mine and knocking me to the ground.

  I reached up, gripping her shoulders and pulling her down with me. The next thing I knew, we were rolling in the dirt, ignoring the protests of the girls around us.

  The girl managed to land a hard slap across my face and then clawed at the other side with her nails. I gritted my teeth, one side of my face stinging and the other side burning. In retaliation, I grabbed a fistful of her hair, temporarily raising her head and then banging it as hard as I could against the ground. She screamed and her eyes clouded over for an instant. Recovering quickly, though, she reached up and grabbed my hair, yanking my head backward and forcing me to release her. Pain soared through the back of my neck and shot down my spine, but I managed to twist away from her before immediately pouncing on her gain, using my hunter’s strength and agility to pin her on the ground beneath me. She was bigger than me, but I took advantage of my full weight anyway, using it to hold her in place. She screamed and squirmed beneath me, her body bucking wildly until she landed several kicks against me. But I fought the pain, remained undeterred, and refused to let her go.

  My anger had escalated so high that I was practically seeing red. The yells of the girls around me sounded so distant that they may as well have been coming from under the water rather than from beside it.

  Hearing their voices combined with the water sloshing in my ears from the nearby stream, I found myself abruptly grabbing the girl and pulling her toward it. She continued to scream and kick, and I struggled to catch my breath after our tussle, but my rage supplied me with enough adrenaline to keep her firmly in my grasp.

  “GENESIS, STOP IT!” one of the others yelled.

  But I was in a trance and my only thought was to cause this girl as much pain as possible. To teach her that she was never to say anything bad about my family ever again, at least not in front of me and expect to get away with it.

  When I brought her to the edge of the stream, her eyes widened just seconds before she realized what I was about to do.

  I pushed her facedown into the water. Her panicked and gurgled cries rose into the air, her arms flailing and splashing cold water into my face.

  “GENESIS! STOP IT! WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU! STOP IT!”

  The girl continued to struggle under my grip, although her movements steadily grew smaller with each passing second. I watched her hair floating through the stream and listened as her cries started to decrease. Bubbles swirled in the water around her head, but even they were beginning to become fewer in number . . .

  “GENESIS, YOU’RE GOING TO KILL HER!”

  I blinked, my arms aching even though the girl was no longer fighting against me. My heart pounded, terrified at the realization that she had grown motionless.

  What was I doing?

  With my arm muscles in agony, I lifted her head and pulled her away from the stream.

  Immediately, she scampered away from me, using the last of her strength before collapsing to the ground, coughing, wheezing, sputtering, and spitting out mouthfuls of water.

  The other girls hurried to her side, asking if she was all right and patting her on the back, all the while casting disgusted and fearful looks at me.

  The comfortable breeze now felt ice-cold as I stood there, trembling with stream water running down my face and dripping off my hands.

  CHAPTER 18

  Although it was a brand-new day, my mind couldn’t be convinced. It may as well have still been the previous day, for all I could see in my mind was the image of the girl I’d nearly drowned.

  The girl I had nearly killed.

  Over and over, the scene replayed in my head, making me relive the way she had collapsed when I finally lifted her out of the water and she rushed to get away from me. I kept recalling the way her body had felt, shaking and jerking under my hand as I held her head into the stream . . .

  Every time I thought of it, I had to suppress a shudder. It was unnerving, the body count I was acquiring, and the way I had almost senselessly added another to that list.

  What would Jason say if he could see me now, almost killing a perfectly innocent girl for no other offense than distasteful words? I’d had far worse than bad words happen to me—being discriminated against at Promenade, being sentenced to death by King Henry, narrowly escaping the rapist prison guard, seeing the devastation and smelling the stench of my people’s dead bodies scattered across the ground, losing Jason . . .

  With all I’d gone through, what some girl said about my family should have been the least of my worries.

  After the incident, we had returned to our camp with the water we’d gathered, and I had subsequently retreated for the rest of the day, not wanting to be around anyone, afraid that I had returned from the stream, looking like a fledgling murderer. My parents could tell that something was wrong, as could Remington; certainly, the discoloration on one side of my face and the scratches on the other had tipped them off. But thankfully, they understood that I just wanted to be alone, so I was spared from having to answer any questions.

  My solitude only lasted for so long, though. The very next day, as the men left for training, the women were left behind to resume their tasks under the watchful eye of Rashida. So once again, I had to return to the stream with the same group of girls to gather more water. I’m not sure why it hadn’t occurred to me before that this was a
daily task that we’d be doing from now on. For me, it would be daily torture to see that stream and remember again and again what I had almost done to a peer.

  During our walk the next day, none of the other girls, including the two who had walked alongside me the first day, would even look at me. This time around, they walked several paces ahead of me, right along with the other girls, leaving me to trail behind alone.

  So much for me being the leader of the group.

  I certainly didn’t blame them, though. Yet, I also couldn’t deny how terrible it felt to get the cold shoulder from all of them. These were frustrating times we were going through, and they would at least have the luxury of each other’s support to help them through. I, on the other hand, was all alone. It felt like even the people who had been a normal staple in my life for as long as I could remember were suddenly out of reach to me. Prince had gone rogue, I still wasn’t on the best terms with my parents, and I didn’t even have Remington anymore, thanks to the long hours of training he had to attend with the other men.

  The weather was a little chillier than the day before. When we reached the stream, the wind bounced off the cool water and sent chill bumps spreading along my arms. Or perhaps it was the memory of what had happened there just twenty-four hours previously that made me cold to the bone.

  “I hope we eventually get something more to do than water duty every day,” I said, breaking the intense silence that had accompanied our entire walk. But I may as well have been talking to myself because the other girls ignored me, as if I hadn’t spoken at all. It was at that moment I realized I was used to occasionally giving others the silent treatment, but I wasn’t used to being on the receiving end of it.