by Dele Daniel
Wordlessly, they took their buckets to the stream and began filling them. I watched, the discomfort slithering through me growing stronger.
Could this really be my life from now on, day in and day out? Sitting around with absolutely nothing to do but gathering water, carrying heavy buckets back to the camp, and then waiting to do it all over again the next day? With girls who all hated my guts, no less.
Never in my wildest dreams could I have envisioned that this was what my life would become as a Hawk member. When I’d vowed to avenge Jason’s death, this nonsense hadn’t been part of the plan.
The thought of Jason sent a pang through my chest. With the way things were going, it seemed that I could pretty much kiss avenging his death goodbye. He had been counting on me to carry on for him. Now look at me.
My eyes started to sting. I blinked rapidly, not in the mood to let those tears fall.
I clenched my fist around my bucket handle. I just couldn’t take it anymore. The other girls may not have liked me, but I could tell from the sour looks on their faces that our current conditions weren’t ideal for them either. By no means was I the only reason for their anger; I may have been a part of it but definitely not the only part of it.
I cleared my throat as I approached the stream. The girl closest to me took several steps sideways, increasing the distance between us.
I set my bucket down. Folding my arms against the chill, I turned toward the girls—particularly the one I had almost killed. “Look,” I said. The girl beside me blinked, and the others tensed as they leaned over the stream with their buckets. One of them even stood and jumped away from the stream entirely. I cringed, noticing how frightened they all looked. Did they think I was about to snap and attack another one of them?
How would you feel if you were standing with someone who you’d just watched nearly drown a person to death? I thought to myself.
I took a deep breath. “You all can hate me if you want. I don’t even blame you for it. But still, I want to apologize for what I did yesterday. I was out of line. I know that. And . . . and well, I’m sorry. I’m truly sorry.” I met eyes with the girl who I’d almost drowned. She and the others remained silent. I looked up to the sky, not knowing what else to say. So I picked up my bucket, prepared to gather my water and leave, ready to isolate myself again for the rest of the day.
“I’m sorry too.”
I froze for an instant and then slowly turned my head to the side. The girl I’d attacked was looking my way. The girls around her all had come to a halt too, looking from her to me.
She met my gaze, although I could tell she struggled to look me in the eyes. “I shouldn’t have insulted you and your family like that. I . . . That was inappropriate of me. We all saw how you first reacted to the news when your brother explained what was going on. We all know his decisions were made when you were away. And your parents—they weren’t exactly pleased with what he decided either. So I know he couldn’t have really gotten such warped values from you guys. I was just angry and looking to take my anger out on someone. So I’m sorry. I’ve been angry for a long time, actually. My big brother . . .” She paused for a second, her voice choking up on her. “He was killed in one of the royal soldiers’ earlier raids.”
Images of the ground littered with dead Arnazuri bodies flashed through my mind. More than likely, I’d seen her brother amongst them and just hadn’t known it was him.
Not knowing what to say, I just nodded as I swallowed against the lump that had formed in my throat.
Seeming to understand my sentiments, she nodded back in return and gave a small smile. “I’m Nasheeda, by the way,” she said, offering me her hand, which I shook before returning to my bucket and taking it to the stream.
Feeling like a weight had been lifted off my shoulder, I knelt to the stream, letting the water gather into my bucket. The air around me felt lighter, and I could sense how much the other girls had relaxed.
One of the two who had walked with me the previous day came to my side. She smiled down at me. “I’m Shiva,” she said.
“Nice to meet you,” I said, smiling up at her.
She nodded. “I’m glad to know that we’re all on the same team now.”
“Well, we all want the same thing, right?” I said. “I feel like for the most part, the rest of us—with the exception of the chief and his . . . his right hand,” I rolled my eyes, thinking of Leni, “we’re all on the same page.” I looked around, pleasantly surprised to see the other girls agreeing. The last of the tension among us melted away. I stood, feeling emboldened and encouraged. “We’re Arnazuri women,” I added, “and Arnazuri women have always been strong and fierce, and we always will be. Nothing can change that, be it the king in the capital or a new chief in our own tribe.”
“Exactly,” the girls muttered.
Shiva shook her head. “I don’t think there’s a single woman in the tribe who likes how the chief has started treating women. Well, maybe Leni’s mother doesn’t mind, since she’s been put in charge of us. But what else could you expect from a woman like that?”
A few girls snickered.
“To be honest, I doubt most of the men agree with it either,” I said. “I know my father and Remington don’t. But just like us, they’re not really in the position to do anything about it.” I pouted. “And trust me—I’m as surprised as anyone that Prince would behave like this. But I’m also positive that most of the blame lies with Leni and how he was able to get inside my brother’s head. Prince is young, and Leni’s a con. He knew just what to say to stroke his ego.”
“Uggh, Leni. He is the worst!” Shiva said.
“Tell me about,” one of the other girls chimed in.
I smirked, grabbing my bucket and proceeding to fill it with more water as the girls took turns participating in cathartic rants about Leni and his archaic beliefs. I was just about to join in with some additional Leni complaints of my own, as well as some toward Rashida for good measure, but I thought I heard something. I turned toward the trees and peered down the path we’d come from, listening.
“Shhh!” I said.
“What is it?” Nasheeda asked. If I hadn’t been so alarmed, I would have found it comical to see such a big and tough girl like her looking so frightened. Then again, she had made it painfully obvious the day before that she wasn’t exactly the best fighter. She was a prime example of why women needed to be at those trainings right alongside the men. Nasheeda would have made an excellent warrior if she knew how to properly use her body. But before I could think any further on it, I heard another suspicious noise.
“I heard something,” I said.
“Wha—” Nasheeda began to ask just before a figure came dashing out of the woods on horseback, breathing heavily.
My posture tensed, automatically going into fighting mode. Without even getting a decent look at our intruder, I reacted as if he was one of the royal guards. Had the dead ones been discovered yet? Were they out here, coming after me? Looking for Remington and Zane?
Seconds later though, I saw that it was not a royal guard, but one of our own Hawk members. Yet, this initially only brought minimal relief as I contemplated whether we’d been followed outside our knowledge. Had Prince and Leni secretly told people to follow us? Or had they stationed spies to hide around, waiting to catch any of us speaking poorly of them? The thoughts were preposterous, but with someone like Leni being placed into such a prominent position of power, anything seemed possible.
I glanced around at the other girls, wondering if any of them were having similar thoughts or if I was just being paranoid.
“Hurry,” the guy said, panting and looking down at all of us. “There’s been an emergency and the chief has ordered for everyone to return at once!”
A ball of dread rolled through my stomach, and I instinctively knew something had gone horribly wrong. The only question was who. Father? Mother? The whole camp?
Fear seizing me, I dropped my bucket. The cool water sloshe
d across the ground and splashed my feet and ankles, but I didn’t care. More water could be retrieved another day.
My legs took off as if with minds of their own, chasing after the messenger on his horse. With every step, my mind spun in a million directions, guessing at what doom had occurred.
Without looking back, I heard footsteps behind me and knew the other girls were following, hot on my trail.
CHAPTER 19
We were all panting and sweating by the time we got back to the camp, and no one had managed to hold on to any water. But that was the least of my concerns as I glanced around, seeing fellow Hawk women also hurrying back to the premises, their expressions equally confused and concerned, trying to figure out what was going on.
I rushed inside, seeing Prince and Leni standing on the far side of the room, their expressions grim. Father stood a short distance away, his mouth held in a tight line and his arms folded across his chest. Mother stood beside him, anxiously chewing her bottom lip.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” I asked, pushing my way toward them through the quickly thickening crowd.
“Your silence is appreciated,” Leni said, casting a stern gaze my way. “You will learn the details of what happened right along with everyone else once the meeting officially starts.”
I clenched my teeth to prevent myself from starting trouble. But I just wasn’t sure how much more I could take of Leni always speaking on Prince’s behalf. I just couldn’t wrap my mind around how Prince had come to be so resentful of his own family yet had no problem with letting this buffoon regularly be his voice.
Sensing my frustration, Father caught my eye and shook his head, silently telling me to stay calm. So I did, even though there was something in his gaze that made me want to panic even more. I could tell that he knew something but wasn’t at liberty to speak at the moment.
I took several slow and deep breaths and then turned around to find a decent spot among the crowd. I eventually spotted Nasheeda, Shiva, and the other girls in my water-gathering group. They beckoned me toward them, and I made my way over.
Nasheeda looked at me expectantly, likely having seen my brief exchange with Leni. I shook my head, letting her know that I hadn’t been given any information and was still just as in the dark as everyone else.
Glancing around, I noticed that it was mostly women who had gathered inside. Now that all of us had been notified and had returned from our day jobs, the men were starting to make their way inside.
As the male Hawks gathered among us, returning from retrieving the women in the area, Prince stepped forward. “Thank you all for coming under such short notice,” he said. “And a special thank-you to all the men who helped locate our women. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.” He paused, and his shoulders rose and fell in response to a deep breath. “I . . . I am afraid the news I have for you today . . . is not good.”
Murmuring broke through the room, and goose bumps broke out over my arms once again.
“Silence,” Leni commanded, quieting the room instantly.
Nasheeda shifted on her feet beside me as we waited for my brother to continue.
Prince nervously cleared his throat. “Well . . . this, uhm . . . this meeting has been called because . . . because during practice, while the Hawk men were training . . . our training grounds were attacked by royal guards.”
Gasps broke out across the room, and a swoop went through my stomach, making it feel like the floor had suddenly dropped. My mouth went dry. I’d already known this was going to be bad. I just didn’t know how bad. My eyes scanned the room again and I felt nauseous. Despite the room being overcrowded, it felt like the temperature had plunged.
Everyone knew that wherever royal guards appeared, death was quick to follow.
“We . . . we fought them off as best as we could,” Prince said, raising his voice to be heard over the crowd, “but they still got away with some of our men. Two of them. They were captured.”
Muttering broke out again, and Prince began to squirm. He no longer looked so sure of himself. I thought back to the expression on his face when I had tried to talk reason into him and ask if I could attend the training; it stood in stark contrast to how he looked now. Despite my fury at him, the protective big sister within me began to stir awake. Watching him squirm and appear to shrink before my very eyes, I wanted so badly to do something, anything, to get rid of his discomfort. But there was nothing for me to do. No last-minute plan to spare his embarrassment came to mind. Plus, I feared he wouldn’t even be receptive to my attempts to console him in the first place. He had made it abundantly clear that he didn’t exactly appreciate my attempts to come to his rescue, for he had come to interpret my desire to want what was best for him as undermining his wishes.
I glanced around the room, looking for Remington and wondering if I could sneak a word with him. With this newly acquired sexist attitude that Prince had developed, thanks to Leni, I suspected that there was a slight chance that maybe Remington could still get through to him in ways that I no longer could.
Right that instant, the ball of dread in my stomach—the one that had been steadily rolling ever since we’d been retrieved from the stream—suddenly grew tenfold.
Where was Remington?
Two men had been taken. Which two?
No, I thought. No, no, no . . .
I looked back toward Prince, only to find him already looking at me. He was trying so hard to put on a brave face, but I could tell he was just barely holding it together. He held up his hand, motioning to silence the crowd once more.
“Excuse me! The chief is not done speaking yet,” Leni said, successfully restoring a hush over the room.
“Thank you,” Prince said, and he took another deep breath. His voice sounded so weak in comparison to Leni’s. “As I was saying, two of our members were taken even though we tried to fight off the royal guards. And when they were t-taken, we tried to go after them, but the guard got away with them anyway.”
“Who did they take?” a woman in the crowd asked, giving voice to the question running through everyone’s minds—or at least through the women’s minds. It wasn’t until then that I noticed that the majority of the men in the room, who’d likely all been at the training, were staring into space, their faces revealing they were already aware of the bad news. After all, they’d been there to witness it firsthand with their own eyes. Some of them even looked beaten and battered, like they’d been in the front lines attempting to fight off the royal guards when the attack happened.
Yes, there had been a pretty big fight all right. That was more than apparent now.
Just like it was also clear who had been taken. Who was noticeably missing . . . “Remington and Adey,” Prince said, his voice heavy. His eyes flickered toward me and then lowered to the floor, dejected.
My heart sank even though I knew his name was one of the two. That was why I had panicked so badly at the stream; on some level, I had already sensed it. Still, it didn’t make it any easier to accept.
Of all people, why Remington? There were people in this room that I would gladly trade for him in a heartbeat, without even a second thought. Why couldn’t it have been one of them?
I swayed on the spot, feeling lightheaded.
“Genesis? Genesis, are you all right?” Nasheeda asked from beside me. But I felt like the breath had been stolen from my body and I didn’t have enough air in me to respond. I didn’t need to, though. One look at me would tell anyone that I was far from all right.
Remington. One of the fiercest warriors I knew and the only consistent friend I’d ever had in my life—taken.
Taken. I would not allow my thoughts to go any further than him simply being taken because I couldn’t handle to think any further than that.
Once again, I felt close to tears, but I dutifully pushed them away. This was not the time to cry. Crying wouldn’t help anything. Besides, Remington deserved more than my tears. He deserved my action.
I stepped forwa
rd, my eyes glued to Prince. “Pr—my chief,” I said, correcting myself and hoping no one else could hear the way my voice quivered. “We have to go find them.
Immediately.”
It took Prince a moment to look at me, but I was glad that he eventually did, and even more glad that he responded to me rather than letting Leni talk on his behalf. “No, Genesis,” he said, shaking his head. “We can’t do that. It’s too dangerous.” His voice, too, had quivered for a moment, but he disguised it with a fake cough. “This kidnapping is proof that we have to be more careful. The last thing we need is for our hideout to be discovered. Imagine how many more of us they would try to take. Or worse.”
He fixed me with a keen gaze, forcibly reminding me that I was one of the main targets. If any of the royal guards found our safehouse, particularly with me in it, all hell would break loose, especially if the two dead guards somehow got traced back to me.
I swallowed, wondering if that was the reason Remington was among one of the taken. Had his identity been discovered? Did anyone know he’d been with me when the guards were killed?
Please, let this kidnapping have been random, I inwardly prayed to whatever gods would listen.
“That’s right,” Leni said, his booming voice breaking through my thoughts. “Under the chief’s orders, everyone is to stay indoors for the next forty-eight hours. During that time, the ki and I will determine what our next moves should be.”
I blinked. Forty-eight hours?
Did they have any idea of the horrors that could happen over the span of forty-eight hours? There may be no more Remington in forty-eight hours.
“That’s preposterous!” I said, unable to control myself. Leni turned his vile stare toward me, and from the corner of my eyes, I saw a large figure move and automatically knew it was his mother. “We can’t wait a whole two days before taking any action! Do you know how much could go wrong by then? Those guards could reach King’s Forest by then! And if we let that happen, do you have any idea how much harder everything will be? Waiting that long is essentially the same as giving up, and the Hawks are not quitters.” Though I’d been staring at Leni as I spoke, I shifted my gaze to Prince and added, “My chief.”