by Evan Winter
Jabari laughed. He was always laughing, thought Tau, but this was serious, serious enough to make Aren push his hate for Lekan back, serious enough to make Aren anxious.
Umbusi Onai appreciated the talents, loyalty, and work ethic of Tau's father. She called him, 'the low-Common of high ability'. Jabari's father was fond of Aren too, but if Jabari did not make the Citadel, Aren's future would be in jeopardy.
Tau was confident, but walking towards the testing made it too real. All it would take was a slip or a bad block, and everything he wanted, for the people he loved, would vanish.
Tau wiped the sweat from his shaved head. They were a few thousand strides from the fighting circles, which had been set up on the flat and fallow fields between Kerem and Mawas. The sun approached its zenith and the testing would begin when it did. Feeling frustrated by his lack of control, he dragged his hand across the perspiration that had begun beading on his scalp as soon as the first swathe had been whisked away.
It was Hoard and it was hot. Too hot to grow, too hot to harvest. Tau took a swig of water from the flask on his hip. It would be horrible to fight in this swelter, which was the point.
Jabari was joking with one of the Ihagu. If all went well, Jabari would be a Full-blooded Indlovu in three cycles. Tau imagined he wouldn't smile as much after he'd been forced to fight and kill Xiddeen in The Wrist. It'd be even hotter there, on the edge of the Curse. Tau wished him luck, he did, but couldn't help but be glad that he'd found another path.
"You keep your head straight too," Aren said to Tau. "Watch Jabari and the other Nobles. This is a great opportunity. You'll get to experience a testing before your own." Aren put his arm around Tau's shoulders and squeezed. "It makes a difference, you know, seeing how desperate fights get when something is on the line."
Tau felt pangs of shame. He hadn't told his father his plans. "I've experienced something similar," Tau said, reminding his father about Daba.
"Yes, I think I try to forget you have..." There was a pause. It looked like Aren wanted to say more. Tau's comment had made that uncomfortable. "Still," Aren said, breaking his silence, "even though you're not fighting today, keep your sword nearby. Warm up with Jabari and try to put yourself in a fighting mind. Give your body the same feelings and stress. It'll help, when it's your turn. Trust me."
"Always," Tau told his father, as the column of men slowed to a stop.
"The testing," Aren said. "We're here."
SHARP
Below them were flat fields, sitting in a small depression in the otherwise hilly scrublands that Kerem shared with Mawas. The Drudge, who had prepared the fighting circles, had done an excellent job. The stones that made up each of the ten circles were pressed into the earth and painted red. They would catch the eye, but were sunk low enough to avoid catching anyone's foot.
In each fighting circle, the scrublands' silt-like soil had been covered with clay, carried all the way from Mawas. The clay had been laid, smoothed, and allowed to harden under Xidda's sun. It was a perfect fighting surface.
Up and down the length of the fallow fields, the black flags of the Indlovu Citadel flew above their sand-colored tents. The flags had been wired with bronze to look as if they flew in a stiff breeze.
Tau scanned the fields. Many Nobles had arrived. Tau knew Aren would have preferred to have come earlier, but it was customary for the more influential Nobles to take their time and Lekan, in his conceit, had dallied. Lekan, at the head of the column, stood with hands on hips, looking down on the assembled as if they were Lessers. In truth, the Nobles, come to watch their sons test, were Lekan's peers if not betters. A few of them, like Greater-Noble Thabo Oghenekaro, husband to the Umbusi of Kigambe, greatly outranked Fief Kerem and its Petty-Nobles.
Still, the victory, however minor, was Lekan's. The sun was almost at its zenith and the journey had been well timed. They were last to arrive. Even Nkosi Ogozi of Mawas was already on the field.
"Let's go down and get started," said Lekan. "Where is our spot, Aren?"
Tau's father didn't speak to Lekan, opting to point to a cordoned off area close to the center of the field. Aren had sent several Drudge and two Ihagu a quarter-moon early, to stake and hold their spot.
Lekan shaded his eyes. "Good. We'll have a view of nearly all the fighting circles."
The column started down and Aren, looking like he wished he was the one who had to fight, said, "Jabari, we'll set up and Tau will see to your armor and helm. I want you to stretch and run through your forms. Nothing fancy. People will watch to see what forms you tend towards. Don't give them that, just the basics."
"Your will, Inkokeli Solarin," Jabari said. His eyes had narrowed and he was chewing the inside of his cheek. The testing had become, Tau thought, a little too real for Jabari as well.
Things moved fast then. The Drudge and Ihagu settled in and Jabari warmed up, then dressed. Tau did the same, and the two men sparred. Aren didn't watch them as much as glare at them. He corrected this and that, hovering like a mother over a newly walking babe. Tau did what he could to keep his 'head straight' but the energy on the fields was distracting.
Lessers scurried back and forth, attending to their betters. Ihagu were either set as guards or found spots to cheer on their Nobles. The Drudge dug out latrines, carted food stuffs, or offered the young fighters gulps of water, cooling wet-cloths, and even boiled them mashed potatoes for quick boosts of energy. And, the Full-blooded Indlovu wandered the fields like they owned the earth beneath them.
The Indlovu, they were titans, every one. Most were head and shoulders taller than Tau, all of them were more muscular than he could ever hope to be, and quite a few looked like they could crush rocks with their bare hands.
A horn blew, startling Tau. The sound had thrown his mind back to Daba.
"I have to go with your brother," Aren told Jabari, avoiding Lekan's honorific. "He'll sign the official documents for your testing, and I'll be back. The fighting will begin soon. Be ready." But, before Aren could leave, Lekan strolled over with another Noble, and a young man of age with Tau and Jabari.
"Aren," Lekan said. "I have a task." He indicated the Noble beside him. "This is Nkosi Izem Okafor and his second son Kagiso."
The difference between man and son couldn't go without remark. Nkosi Izem Okafor was gaunt and tall, even for a Noble. He had a stern face, long fingers, and his skin was well-oiled, despite the heat. He was shiny from the oils, but wasn't sweating and Tau wondered how the man managed that trick.
The son, on the other hand, wasn't that much taller than Tau. He was pudgy, had eyes that were set deep in his moon of a head, and his skin was the color of light top-soil, rather than the deep-earth dark that was characteristic of the Chosen.
"Kagiso has drawn one of the first matches," said Lekan, "but has no one with whom to warm up."
Aren glared, his look a clear warning.
"I believe," Lekan went on, "that your son could step in and serve Kagiso in this regard."
"I would be indebted," Nkosi Izem Okafor said. His voice melodic, a surprise given his ascetic appearance. "I wish to give Kagiso every opportunity to succeed."
"Indeed," said Lekan.
Aren was furious. He hid it, thought Tau, but he was furious.
"Tau, warm up with Nkosi Kagiso," Aren said, managing to obey the order without speaking to Lekan. "Nkosi Jabari, do not interrupt your forms, I'll return once your documents have been registered with the Citadel."
Aren strode off, without excusing himself, and without waiting for Lekan. The tall and thin Okafor raised an eyebrow. Tau worried he'd comment, forcing Lekan to act on the disrespect.
Lekan struggled to keep his composure. "Yes, yes. Always such a rush at these things," he said, as if he attended a testing every cycle. "Shall we, Izem?"
Izem Okafor inclined his head and, together, they left. Izem, Tau noticed, did not exchange any words with his son.
"Well met, Jabari," said Kagiso. His voice, like his father's, defied expecta
tion. For all his girth, Kagiso spoke like his seeds had yet to drop.
"Kagiso," Jabari said, continuing his forms.
"Haven't see you since the Grow festival in Mawas."
"Has it been so long?" Jabari said, showing his back to the heavyset Noble as he worked through a thrust, low-cut, and riposte combination.
"We should get started, Nkosi," Tau said to Kagiso.
Kagiso turned to Tau, looked him up and down, and turned back to Jabari. "What a horror-show, this testing. The life of a Noble son, yes?" Kagiso's grin revealed a row of teeth, yellowed with Cala leaf stains.
Jabari replied with a grunt.
Kagiso, disappointed with the response, switched his attention to Tau. "Well, Lesser, let's get this over with."
Tau moved them back a few paces from where Jabari was working. "Nkosi, would you like me to fetch your practice sword?" Tau asked, seeing Kagiso wearing sharpened bronze.
"It's light sparring," said Kagiso. "And, it'll take too long to get it. My match is coming up. Let's go."
Tau wanted to protest, but Kagiso had his sword out and was already swinging. Tau backed off and, worried about getting hurt, he fought defensively. Kagiso took this as a chance to push the pace, increasing the strength of his swings. Tau made sure to be aggressive enough to keep him at bay. If he took an unblocked blow, the injury would be serious.
He considered asking again if Kagiso would use his practice blade but, after their first few engages, he realized Kagiso was no swordsman. The discovery turned Tau's concern to surprise. The only other Noble he'd crossed swords with was Jabari and he'd believed all Nobles to be as capable. Kagiso's hack and slash style flew in the face of that belief and Tau wondered if the man he faced was a poor fighter or a more accurate representation of the abilities of his kind. If the latter was the case, Jabari would make short work of the men he faced.
More likely, thought Tau, Kagiso was a poor example, a Noble son who had never taken to his duties. It would hurt Izem Okafor's fief to have a son who failed to make the Citadel. It would also hurt Kagiso's chances at a good marriage.
"Hey, Tau!" said Jabari, followed with a reluctant, "Kagiso." Jabari didn't break his form or momentum, but indicated a direction with his head. "See there," he said. "that's Jayyed Ayim, the ex-advisor to the Guardian Council. The way my father tells it, he's probably a match for many Indlovu."
Kagiso scoffed. "A Lesser as good as an Indlovu?"
Jabari ignored him. "After your testing," he said to Tau, "do everything you can to get into Jayyed's Scale. You want to train under a man like him."
Tau looked at Jayyed. He was middle-aged, but strong and unusually tall for a Lesser. He had a square-jaw, heavy brow, and walked with the sure and capable movements of a fighter. Beside him were two taller men and, without their formal attire, it took Tau a breath to recognize them. Jayyed Ayim was walking beside Dejen Olujimi and Abasi Odili, the Chairman of the Guardian Council.
"Councillor Odili is with him," said Tau.
Kagiso attacked, swinging blind. Tau blocked the first strike, turned the second, and ducked the third, aimed for his neck.
"Char and ashes!" shouted Tau. "Are you mad... Nkosi?"
"Pay attention, Lesser! You're sparring against a Noble."
"Easy, Kagiso," said Jabari. He had stopped his formwork and was watching the two of them. He had seen Kagiso swing for Tau's head. "This is sparring. Why do you have a sharp blade? Where's your practice sword?"
Kagiso didn't answer. Instead he pressed Tau. Swinging like a drunk trying to catch a fly.
"Calm it!" Jabari hissed. "They're walking this way."
Tau risked a look behind him and almost got his nose chopped off. He brought his full attention back to Kagiso and saw bloodlust in the fat man's eyes. Kagiso came at him again and Tau had had enough of the fool.
He blocked Kagiso's swing, whipped the fat man's blade wide, stepped in and shouldered him away. Kagiso tripped and fell to the dirt. From his ass, he glared at Tau. Then, his eyes flickered past Tau and back.
A vein on Kagiso's forehead bulged and something changed in the young Noble's face. Tau was about to ask if he was well, when Kagiso bumbled to his feet and charged, his razor sharp blade leading the way.
"Blood will show!" Kagiso yelled.
Tau had no idea what the idiot was doing, but he was done playing. He sidestepped Kagiso's lumbering charge and smashed the flat of his blade into the Noble's back. Kagiso was launched from his feet and hit the ground hard, skipping across it like a poorly thrown stone in a pond.
"By the Cull, man, what are you doing?" said Tau, his blood up.
Kagiso moaned and struggled to rise. When he lifted his head, blood gushed from his broken nose, and that was when Tau began to worry. He looked around and his worry became fear.
The Chairman of the Guardian Council, his Body, Jayyed Ayim, Lekan, and Kagiso's father were there. Several Indlovu were watching and so were a handful of Ihagu, Lessers, and Drudge. Tau looked to Jabari for help, but Jabari was staring at him like he'd broken out in Curse scars.
The fighting fields were silent. No one moved and the world stood still. Tau felt like he was in a nightmare, and it got worse when the Guardian Councillor began to clap.
DONE
"Well, this is an interest," said Abasi Odili, walking to Kagiso and bending over the downed man. "Who are you?" His Palm accent made the words glide together like they'd been greased. Kagiso moaned and Odili kicked him. "Speak up."
"Kagiso, Kagiso Okafor," he managed.
Tau had never seen a Noble treated this way and Kagiso's father was there, watching. Izem Okafor did not come to his son's aid.
"Kagiso..." said Odili, straightening and turning to take in the growing crowd. "Well, we should thank Nkosi Kagiso. He's saved us a lot of time."
The crowd murmured.
"Kagiso," said Odili, "was bested by a Lesser." He glanced at Tau, his pupils black and face hard under the midday sun. "A Low-Common." Odili picked up Kagiso's sword. "He fought him with sharpened bronze and the Common has a practice blade." Odili clucked his tongue and turned the edges of his mouth up. It wasn't a smile. It couldn't be called that. "Indlovu, we leave for Kigambe. If these Southern Nobles can be bested by Commons then none are fit for the Citadel."
Odili began to walk away and the murmuring gave way to shouts of protest. Tau saw his father in the crowd. Aren look frightened. Nearby, Lekan was trembling, he was so angry. Tau was about to go to Aren, thinking to explain about Kagiso, when Jabari threw down his sword in disgust. It had all gone wrong and it was Tau's doing.
"Councillor Odili," Tau yelled, trying to be heard above the protesting crowd and hoping his form of address was an appropriate one. "Councillor Odili, please. You will find good fighters here. Please, Nkosi, continue the testing."
Aren was on him then, pulling Tau back, trying to get him away. Tau resisted. He had to fix this. Odili stopped and Tau was thankful. There was a chance.
With his back turned, the Guardian Councillor spoke. "You, little Common, are lucky I don't have you hung for attacking and injuring a Noble. Scurry back to your mud hole now, before I change my mind."
Tau couldn't believe the man's words. Hung? Attacking a Noble? He let his father pull him back, and that was how he heard Lekan.
"Your indulgence with that Low-Common offal did this," Lekan hissed at Jabari.
Tau didn't think, he reacted. He turned to Lekan, the man who had tried to force himself on Anya and then had her and her family murdered. "I fought Kagiso fairly," he said, seething, "and, Common or not, I was the better man. I'm a better man than you and, by the Goddess, I'll prove it!"
Tau's hand went to his sword hilt and Lekan stepped back, sputtering. Everyone who'd heard Tau's words spoke at once, shouting over one another until Odili raised his hand in the air, commanding silence. When he had it, he poured slippery words in its place.
"Kellan," he said, letting his voice carry into the crowd behind him, "this Lesser has the
dangerous idea that he knows the sword."
Like the sea before a ship's prow, men parted and Kellan Okar stepped forward. A sculptor could have carved the Champion's nephew from granite and the likeness would have been too soft. "He seems to know the sword as well as he needs to," said Kellan. "Is a future Drudge worth our time?"
Tau bristled, the insult cutting too close to truth. His father clutched his upper arm hard enough to crush it.
"You mistake me," said Odili. "I'm not asking."
Kellan looked down at Tau and back to Odili.
"I hope we won't have to make examples of two men today," the Guardian Councillor said.
Kellan, jaw flexed, locked eyes with Odili. A breath passed and Kellan looked away. Taking his time, he unsheathed his sword and squared up with Tau.
It didn't feel real, none of it. From the crowd massed around him, to the mountain of muscle facing him, to Lekan's sneering face, none of it felt real. Tau's heart began to pound, his hand tightened on his practice sword, and he looked to his father. Aren paid him no mind. He had a tight grip on Tau's arm, but he was facing Odili and Kellan.
"Councillor Odili, this is my son. He is barely a man and has not yet tested for the Ihashe. I am a Full-blood, a military man. I take his place."
Aren pulled his sword free and shoved Tau towards his Ihagu. The Ihagu grabbed and held him, as Aren strode over to Kellan Okar.
"Father!" Tau shouted, finding more arms had joined the others to hold him back.
Odili opened his mouth. It seemed he would deny Aren's request to fight in Tau's place. Aren did not give him the chance. He threw himself at Kellan and they crossed blades in a crash of metal and sparks. The crowd roared, its ranks swelling to form a wall of human flesh, and Odili's protest died on his lips as the fighters circled.
Kellan was the bigger man, much younger too. However, he was an initiate, only two-thirds through training. Tau knew the Indlovu Citadel's reputation, everyone did, but his father was the best fighter in Kerem.