by Evan Winter
"Was it after she saw her Indlovu go down that she enervated you?" asked a man from the North.
Yaw changed with the question. He had been a playful and buoyant storyteller and he turned somber. "Tau lured a demon away from me." The room was quiet again, even Chinedu. "It was going to kill me and there was nothing I could do. I know it can't really... it's so real... it..." he trailed off.
"It shouldn't have happened," interjected Aqondise Anan, his words slurring. "The Enervator held you under for too long. I made a formal complaint to the Citadel and her Preceptor. It was improper of them to place someone who wasn't ready into a skirmish."
Jayyed spoke. "She made a mistake."
"Eh, but what if she had turned one of our men demon-haunted? Last skirmish, Itembe damn near broke. Some nights he... All I'm saying is that I'm proud of you lot. It's been a while since we've had a victory like that."
"A good long while since we've had a victory when an Enervator was present," added Jayyed. He raised his jug. "To the Ihashe, to the Omehi, to the Goddess."
They drank and, as soon as he could, Tau pretended he had to make water and slipped away. He went to the circle where Zuri had taken him on his first trip to Citadel City. He had no trouble finding it, though he felt foolish doing so.
How could he think she would be there? As if she had nothing more to do than wait for him. Would she even know that his Scale had been in the skirmish today? Tau shook his head, told himself to turn back, enjoy the rest of his time in the City with his sword-brothers, but he didn't want to go back, not without looking.
So, Tau strode into the circle ready to find disappointment. He found Zuri instead.
GIFTS
She was sitting on the same bench. She was the only one in the circle.
"I didn't think you'd come," she said, standing.
Tau went to her and didn't know quite what to do when he got there.
"You could hold me," she told him.
He wrapped her up in his arms. She melted into him and he sighed at the feel of her.
"I think of you almost as much as my training," Tau said.
"That much? You shouldn't," she said, her voice edging towards laughter.
"I... I think of training all the time. It's a lot, really."
"I'm sure," she said, laughing and drawing back, so they could look at each other.
Seeing her calmed him.
"I heard you won," she said.
"We did." Tau couldn't take the pride from his voice. "We beat the Indlovu and their Enervator."
"It caused a stir. Preceptor Inti has been removed from teaching duties. They're sending her to the front, to fight, and the Enervator, Namisa, she'll be doing newcomer lessons for the next four moon cycles."
Tau hadn't thought of that, how the ones on the other side, the losing side, would suffer for being part of such a dramatic failure. "I'm not happy to hear that, but we deserved to win. The odds are so heavily weighted against us and we beat them."
"You had three times the men."
"We face Nobles and the Citadel fields Indlovu initiates from all three cycles of training. They had an Enervator," Tau said, to drive the point home.
"Namisa is barely that."
"She knew her work well enough to cause me to lose an arm to a demon." His words shocked Zuri and none of this was going the way he wanted.
"She held you long enough for a demon to attack?"
"I saw one eat the face off a Noble."
"She sent a Noble to Isihogo?"
"She sent the lot of us, Ihashe and Indlovu. Is that not acceptable, if the Gifted can save herself in the bargain?"
Zuri's voice went hard. "Not in a skirmish."
"Ah." Tau was beginning to understand why Namisa and her Preceptor's punishments had been so harsh.
"My first skirmish was a few days ago," Zuri offered.
"You could have faced us?"
"It was a Scale from the Northern Isikolo."
"You won?"
"Of course."
"Of course," Tau repeated, rolling the words around in his mouth like they were rotten.
"You know what I mean," Zuri said.
"What it's like? Fighting on their side?"
"Whose side? The Omehi?"
"You know what I mean," Tau said.
"I don't. We all train to defend our people against the Xiddeen."
"Then why are the skirmishes set up so Lessers lose?"
"They're not. Lessers can rise up the Scale ranks as the Citadels do. Lessers can win the Queen's Melee."
"When did that happen last?"
Zuri was no longer in Tau's arms. "What do you want me to say?" she asked.
"This isn't how I wanted this to go."
"Should I leave?"
"No," he said. "Can I start over?"
"How does that work?"
"How are you? How is the Gifted Citadel?" Tau asked. Zuri sat on the bench, leaving room for Tau. He sat next to her.
"I don't want to talk about it."
"Oh..."
She took his hand. He extricated it, put it around her shoulders, and gave her his far hand to hold. She leaned her head on his upper arm and they sat like that for a time, letting the day turn from dusk to evening.
"I'll have to go soon," he said.
"I know."
"I'll come back."
"Next skirmish."
"Will you—"
"Of course. I'll wait."
Tau nodded, didn't want to spoil the evening, but had more he needed from Zuri. "I have to win."
"Mhmm."
"The Gifted..."
"What about us?" Zuri asked, emphasizing the last word.
"How..." Tau wasn't sure he wanted to ask. "How does enervation work?"
Zuri sighed and lifted her head from his shoulder. "How did you get the scar? Was it... Lekan?"
"Lekan."
She turned to him and really looked at it. Tau didn't think of himself as vain but it was uncomfortable, having her study the mark that marred him. Zuri lifted a hand to his face and let her fingers rest below the puckered flesh on his right cheek.
She let her hand fall, lowering her head. "The first part you know. Enervation pulls a man's soul out of this realm and into another. To understand the Gifted, our abilities, and enervation, you need to understand the realm to which your soul is sent. You need to understand Isihogo."
"I see," said Tau.
"No, you don't. Isihogo is the realm of Ukufa and his demons. It is the prison the Goddess made to hold them."
Tau performed his daily prayers but would never have called himself religious. Still, at mention of Ukufa he made the symbol of the dragon span, warding away evil.
Zuri noticed his quick hand movement and raised an eyebrow. "Yes, well, everything began with Ananthi. She spun the universe out of her desire for more. She created the sun, stars, Uhmlaba and all that is between them."
"I remember hearing this when I was child."
"You're the one who asked," she said.
"About enervation."
"This is about enervation."
Tau kept silent.
"Anathi created everything. She created life. She made all the creatures and she made all the races of man, each of them unique in the way they commune with her."
"Gifts."
"Gifts. Every race has unique capabilities," Zuri said. "And, Ananthi continued to create, seeking perfection in what she had begun. The races of man, however, were combative, destructive. Ananthi needed to create order among them. To do this, she set the races of man tests. These were tests of service, honor, will, passion, empathy, and intelligence. It took a thousand cycles for the tests to be complete and, when they were done, Ananthi created order.
"The Castes."
"More than that. She made the Omehi her Chosen and placed all others below us. We are Ananthi's voice on Uhmlaba. That did not sit well with Ukufa.
"Ukufa was a man and, like all the first men and women, he was immortal.
He held his jealousy in check for a time, but as the eons slipped by, his hate for being less than his betters did not subside.
"He gathered a following, men and women from many of the races of men, and corrupted them with lies. He told them Anathi had decided to end their immortality, that she would let them die. He told them that, if they used their Gifts together, they could drain Ananthi, pass her power into him, and he could prevent her from damning them with death.
"The corrupted men and women did as Ukufa bid and attacked Ananthi. We, the Omehi, saw Ananthi's need and led the faithful races of man to her aid. We did not come soon enough.
"Ukufa had gained power beyond the abilities of other men. We forced him and the ones he had corrupted back but could not finish them. It fell to Ananthi to end the war. She wrapped herself around Ukufa and his corrupted, trapping them.
"She used the energy of her being to form an impenetrable prison, a new realm. Ukufa, seeing defeat was inevitable, reached beyond the prison before it could be sealed. He used his powers to sap Ananthi, loosening her hold on Uhmlaba, drawing her into the underworld that she had created to hold him. It was in that final attack that the races of man lost their immortality. Ukufa's evil actions had made his lies true.
"Fear of death broke the weakest among us and these weakest called out to Ukufa. The prison was breaths away from closing forever and, in those breaths, Ukufa made his offer. He promised immortality to the weak who had called to him, immortality in exchange for their souls.
"They would serve him by destroying her Chosen and, in so doing, weaken Ananthi enough for Ukufa to escape his prison. These people accepted and Ukufa gave them their Gift. In this way, the weakest among us became the strongest for, though they can be killed, they do not die from age or sickness."
"You're describing the Cull," said Tau.
"I am."
"The Cull are a tale, meant to frighten children into doing their prayers."
"I am telling you what we are taught at the Citadel."
"They teach make-believe?"
"Shall I finish?"
"Is the rest a child's tale too?
"Fine," said Zuri, turning away.
"Apologies," Tau said. "Go on. Please"
Zuri sighed but turned back. "Our powers come from Isihogo. All the Gifts of all the races of man come from Isihogo. This is because Ananthi is Isihogo. Her essence is what forms the barrier that Ukufa and his corrupted may never pass. So, if we are to use her Gifts, we must enter the underworld and take them from there. All the races can do this and every man, woman, and child can enter Isihogo."
"All? It's forbidden for any but Gifted to let themselves slip to the underworld."
"Yes, and you are warned away for good reason. The demon took your arm, you said?"
"I... I fought but couldn't beat it."
"No, you couldn't. Thankfully, the harm they do cannot transfer to Uhmlaba, unless—"
Tau's eyes widened. "Unless?"
"Unless you draw power from Isihogo."
"Only Gifted can do that."
"No, anyone can do it."
"Everyone is Gifted?"
"I didn't say that," Zuri said.
"You're losing me on this path."
"Everyone can enter Isihogo but the corrupted, the demons, attack all living souls, seeking vengeance for their imprisonment. They can do no physical harm, so long as the soul they seek to destroy does not draw energy from Isihogo. Drawing energy from the underworld makes you corporeal there."
"The entire purpose of being Gifted is to draw energy from Isihogo. Why don't demons kill Gifted?"
"They..." Zuri stopped herself. "... You are asking what makes someone Gifted. The answer is that Ananthi gave us the ability to hide from the demons."
"Hide? ... I think I saw that. The Enervator—"
"Namisa."
"Yes! In Isihogo, my body and the bodies of the other fighters were cloaked in golden light—"
"The light is your soul. It draws the demons."
"Namisa had no soul-light. She was all darkness."
"Eh... that's half right," Zuri said. "Namisa has a soul, and it must shine in Isihogo, but she can shroud it. That is the definition of being Gifted. It is not being able to enter and draw energy from Isihogo. Everyone can do that. It is the ability to shroud your soul's light for long enough to draw then use the energy."
"How long?" asked Tau.
"How long what? Can we shroud? It's individual and depends on the strength of your Gift."
"How do you strengthen your Gift?"
"It doesn't... you're born with your Gift. It's always the same."
"You can't improve it? Train it? Why are you at the Citadel? For the stories?"
Zuri did not look amused. "We are there to learn how to use the strength we are given."
Tau frowned, trying to place this in terms that would make sense as a fighter. "You can't train your Gift?"
"It is a Gift."
"So is my body. I can train that, make it stronger, faster."
"That's not how it works."
"Perhaps," Tau responded, earning himself a cold look. "Either way, what happens if you take energy from Isihogo and are found by the demons?"
"We are killed."
"Like in Daba..."
"What?"
"During the raid on Daba there were five Gifted with the Entreater who called the Dragon."
Zuri's face changed. Yes..." she said.
"A demon must have found one of the Gifted. She died without any cause that I could see, but... she wasn't using power. The Entreater was, but the one who died, she was just standing there."
Zuri said nothing. It gave Tau pause. He could tell she was hiding something. He thought to press her, but still didn't have what he needed. It was enervation that interested him. "If I don't take power from Isihogo is there anything the demons can do to me?"
Zuri relaxed, a little. "No, nothing real, but the demon-haunted—"
"The crazy ones who see things?"
"They're not crazy. It's just... some people break after a demon attack."
"It feels real. The pain, the fear, all of it feels real." Tau clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "Can one learn to hide?" he asked.
"Have you listened at all? The ability to shroud is what it means to be Gifted. You are either born with it or without. That, like the strength of the Gift, does not and cannot change. Also, among the Chosen, only women are ever Gifted. It's why the Citadel tests every Omehi girl when she becomes a woman. The testers teach us how to shift to Isihogo and how to leave it. They show us how to shroud ourselves. We flee the underworld before the demons attack and the test is repeated as many times as needed to confirm each new woman's Gift, or lack of it."
"Every Omehi woman has faced a demon?" Tau shook his head, trying to picture his mother doing it. "No one talks about that."
"It's not something you want to talk about."
"No," said Tau, recalling his own experience. "It's not."
"So, other than shroud yourself," Zuri said, "you can do everything in Isihogo that I can."
Tau tried to see if Zuri was teasing him. "I can Enervate?"
Zuri tilted her head from side to side, weighing the question. "You can learn the technique, you can take yourself to Isihogo, you can even take energy from the underworld, but you'd die before you had the chance to use it."
"The demons," Tau said.
"In part. Time works differently in the underworld. A single breath on Uhmlaba is more than fifty in Isihogo. Also, souls shine brighter when they take on Isihogo's energy. Without being able to shroud, the demons would find you and tear you apart before you could use what you had taken. Tau, if you are ever in Isihogo, never take energy into yourself. Never."
"Show it to me."
Zuri started. "Show you what?"
"I need to know how to resist the enervation," Tau could tell he was losing Zuri. "I got lucky today. We were isolated from the bigger fight and Namisa hit
the Indlovu as well as my sword-brothers. I won't be able to win if an Enervator can just point her hands and drop me."
"Resist enervation? You can't."
"Then I need to know how to avoid being incapacitated by it."
"I'm not going to enervate you."
"I have to try."
"Then go to Isihogo yourself," Zuri said, flicking her fingers at him, dismissing the request.
"How?"
Zuri eyes widened. "I didn't mean that seriously."
"No, you're right. Teach me how to go to Isihogo?"
"I didn't mean it."
"But you could teach it?"
Zuri licked her lips and looked around at the still empty circle. "You already know how. It's why we pray, to anchor our souls to this realm. Some of us still drift to Isihogo when we sleep and our defenses are down."
Tau considered this. "The ones who die bleeding in their beds. The ones who wake and have lost their minds. That's why we pray? To prevent that?"
"It's not the only reason. We pray to show faith. To worship Ananthi. She protects us."
"Of course she does," Tau said, trying not to sound brusque. "Help me, Zuri. I almost couldn't keep fighting after the enervation."
"If you were attacked by a demon you shouldn't have been able to fight at all."
"Help me."
"You want this? To learn how to travel to the underworld?" Zuri asked. "You'll have no power there. You'll be hunted the instant you enter."
"But they can't hurt me?"
Zuri laughed without mirth. "What do you mean? You've already experienced it. They'll hurt you. They'll rip you to pieces, and you'll feel everything. Your physical body won't be harmed but who knows what it'll do to your mind."
Tau was insistent. "Can they kill me?"
Zuri pursed her lips. "Not unless you draw energy from Isihogo."
"I won't do that."
"As you wish," Zuri said, standing.
Tau jumped to his feet, nervous, and wondering just how much of a damned fool he was being. "Now?"
"Isn't this what you want?"
"Eh... yes, of course."
"You're sure?" She arched an eyebrow and Tau caught up to her game. She had thought to scare him off the path by putting his feet to it.
Tau would not be scared off. "I am."