Matasa ignored his throbbing shoulder and focused his attack on several lightning-fast jabs, which landed glancing blows to his opponent’s shoulders and legs. He was going to finish this, now.
The old man gave him an opening, and Matasa struck. Tsimunuu twisted out of the way with practiced ease and dropped low, so he could slam his staff into Matasa’s shin.
Matasa’s ankle popped, and his leg exploded in pain as it was knocked out from under him. He fell and hit the ground hard on his back. He forced himself to roll as blows rained down around him, showering him with sharp shards of shale. Matasa kicked out with his good leg and connected with something solid.
The rocks stopped pelting him. Tsimunuu bent over with pain. Matasa scooped up a handful of grit and shale launching them at Tsimunuu’s face before the older man could recover.
Tsimunuu raised an arm defensively as Matasa levered himself up enough to jab the older man in the gut. As Tsimunuu twisted to get out of its way, he lost his balance. There was a resounding crack as Matasa’s staff thwacked Tsimunuu in the chest, breaking a few ribs.
The older man dropped his staff and gripped his chest in pain. Tsimunuu was covered in sweat and breathing shallowly. Matasa tried to stand, but he winced when he put weight on his right foot. Tsimunuu picked up his staff.
Where is Finyaka? Matasa wondered. He could really use some help right now.
Tsimunuu rushed forward, driving his staff into Matasa’s chest and knocking him down on the shale again. “You’re dead, maggot.”
A howl sounded from behind them. The gore spattered ghost hound stalked toward them; her gaze intent on Tsimunuu.
Finyaka crept around the stone column and froze. Tamika was in front of him, hunkered down beside an oblong chunk of sandstone, searching for ammunition in the loose shale. Finyaka snuck behind his brother while Tamika loaded his sling.
Finyaka heard the sounds of combat and realized his brother was aiming for their cousin, Matasa. He needed to do something. Finyaka looked inside himself for the emotions to draw forth his Radiance. Tamika begun twirling his sling.
Finyaka grasped his emotions and pushed out with his Radiance, humming as he did so. The sling went flying from Tamika’s grasp, landing ten strides away in the scree. Tamika swore and looked at his hand in confusion.
Finyaka smiled. It had worked. He reached deeper into himself and hummed louder, using his Radiance to lift his brother into the air. Tamika cried out, and Finyaka came out of his hiding place.
Tamika’s eyes narrowed when he saw Finyaka, and he spat. “Doe, where’d you find a witch?” his brother’s voice seethed with such hatred.
It slapped Finyaka, and he faltered. Tamika broke free of his Radiance.
His brother scrambled to his feet and drew his knife. “I will kill you.”
Finyaka couldn’t even look at his brother. Pain and anger warred within him. “Why? What would you gain by that?”
“Father's praise.” Tamika brandished the knife at Finyaka; its edge gleamed in the summer sun.
It seemed he was more like his brothers than he had thought; all they wanted was their father’s praise too. Finyaka had never liked his brothers.
“There’s no witch, Tamika. I lifted you.” Finyaka began humming again, and the power within him grew. He was surprised at how calm he felt.
Understanding dawned on Tamika’s face, and his brother lowered his knife. “I never meant to do those things, Finyaka. But it was a sure way to get father’s praise.”
“You could have said no. You could have defended me. Instead, you laughed and hit me.” Finyaka felt hollow. All he had ever wanted was to be accepted. “Now the tables are turned; all you can do is beg.” Finyaka hurt so much. He finally had a chance to pay someone back for all the years he had been abused, and all he wanted to do was cry.
His emotions were tearing him apart in frustration. Finyaka could feel his anger rising. He wanted to lash out and hurt someone.
Tamika gagged. Finyaka gasped. He had been crushing his brother with his Radiance without realizing it. Finyaka forced himself to calm down.
Tamika gasped. “Don’t kill me.”
“Why would I? I’m not like you.” Finyaka was breaking apart inside. His emotions were overwhelming him again. He wanted to cry and scream at the same time, but he forced himself to calm down. His Radiance ebbed, letting his brother go.
Tamika grinned. “You fool!”
Someone crashed into Finyaka from behind, sending him sprawling on the broken ground. He flung his Radiance behind him and heard a grunt as it slammed into his assailant. Finyaka rolled and regained his footing.
Nahrem lay on the ground, slowly pushing himself to his feet.
“I thought I had killed you!” Though Finyaka hated him, seeing Nahrem alive lifted the burden of his death from his shoulders, tears of joy fell down his face.
“You broke me, but the witch’s herbs work wonders.” Nahrem stood and brushed himself off. The grin he shared with Tamika was full of malevolence. “Ah, the Doe is crying again. What a waste of water. Time for me and Tamika to end this.” Nahrem drew his knife from his belt sheath and advanced.
Finyaka gained his feet and ran. Behind him, his brothers hooted and called after him. Finyaka reached for his Radiance again and found nothing. His emotions were so jumbled; he couldn’t concentrate, so he ran like he’d never run before.
He snaked through the scree and slipped and slid over the shale, keeping the pillars and piles of sandstone between him and his brothers. Finyaka was a dead man if they caught him.
Finyaka had no idea where he was going. He felt like an antelope chased by hungry hounds as he ducked around a pillar and slammed headlong into another.
Finyaka fell backward, dazed. He scrambled to his feet, but it was too late to run. His brothers had him trapped between columns. He put his back to the warm sandstone pillar and faced them. They were both grinning now and holding knives pointed at him.
“Oh, this will be slow and painful, Doe. Call it payback for what you did to me.” Nahrem laughed, but there was no mirth in it.
Finyaka didn’t want to die, but he didn’t want to kill his brothers either. Regardless of how horrible they were, they deserved to live. Finyaka reached for the emotions he needed to fuel his Radiance and found only turmoil. His eyes widened in alarm.
“I want in on this too,” barked Tamika as he pointed his finger at Nahrem. “The little Doe ruined my shot at Matasa.”
“You can play with him when I’m done. Right now, I want him to sweat.” Nahrem chuckled as he advanced. “Where’s your song now, freak?” Madness had touched his older brother’s eyes.
This was how it ended, toyed with by his brothers and painfully tortured. “Why?” Finyaka searched for the calmness that had eluded him, feeling only despair.
Nahrem hesitated. “Is that simple question worth so much?”
Finyaka nodded.
Nahrem’s face twisted into a sadistic smile. “A bit of sport perhaps.”
“Why? All I ever wanted was to be your brother. I never did anything to hurt you or earn your hatred.” Tears flowed down his cheeks. Finyaka raised his head, and the calm returned. “You were father’s favourite. You could be anything you wanted. Why was I such a threat to you?”
“Stick him already!” Tamika threw up his hands in frustration. “Or by the dark, I will!”
“Hold yourself. The Doe wants an answer. I will give him one before we take his life.” Nahrem grabbed Finyaka by the throat. “Neither of our parents praised us. No matter what we did. The only child in our family that received any recognition was you, and that was from mother. I hate you for that. You’re weak and useless and yet, she was willing to take father’s wrath for you. So, if we’re asking questions, Doe. Why? Why did she care for you?”
Nahrem squeezed Finyaka's throat. His eyes were wild with rage. Finyaka could smell his brother’s stench. His spittle flecked Finyaka’s cheeks.
Finyaka forced himself to rel
ax and find the calm he so desperately needed. “I never asked anything of her. I showed her only love.” Finyaka pitied his brother. Nahrem was so caught up in his anger; he couldn’t see the love that been there all along.
Nahrem punched him and pain blossomed in his abdomen. “You worthless piece of goat excrement!”
The blows kept coming. Finyaka felt himself detaching from the situation as if he was watching it from afar. But he wouldn’t just accept his death, not this time. He had cowered for so long.
Nahrem struck him again in the chest this time. Finyaka reached inside himself. All his emotions were gone. What had once been a whirlwind of pain and anger was now a radiant calm. This would stop now.
Finyaka reached out with his Radiance and enveloped Tamika in its light. His brother cried out. Nahrem raised his fist. Finyaka threw Tamika at Nahrem, and the two men fell in a tangle of limbs.
Finyaka collapsed into a heap on the ground. He heard shouted accusations as his brothers righted themselves. Tamika pointed at Finyaka. But Nahrem pushed Tamika, and Tamika pushed back. Enraged, Nahrem tackled his brother, and they crashed to the ground again.
Finyaka reached for that calm again, found it, and bathed in it. He let it spread throughout his body like the warm glow of the spring sun. All his aches and pains receded. He closed his eyes and basked in that glow. That’s how Sinaya did it. Finyaka laughed and started crying tears of understanding. He was still alive.
Finyaka heard a growl and opened his eyes. His brothers lay nearby, unmoving. He sat up, blinking away tears. The alpha ghost hound slowly approached him. Her ears were laid back, but her teeth were borne, and her eyes were fixed on his brothers.
Finyaka touched the hound with the calm of his Radiance. She whined and began licking his face. He laughed. He had never felt such joy. He gained his knees and hugged the hound.
“By the darkness, what happened?” Nahrem rolled over onto his stomach and tried to get up. He swayed unsteadily on his hands and knees then laid back down.
Finyaka laid his head on the hound’s shoulder. “You wanted to kill me. I couldn't allow that.”
“What are you going to do to us?” Nahrem attempted to rise again but decided against it.
Finyaka smiled at his brothers and laughed. Nahrem flinched. But Finyaka just stood up and dusted himself off. The hound sat beside him, and Finyaka absently scratched her ear. “Is Tamika still alive?”
“I am, but I find it hard to believe it.” Tamika touched his face and tentatively moved his limbs.
“Thank the Great Sun Anuu. I was worried for both of you.” Finyaka had never felt so happy to be near his family before. His brothers were alive.
“But we were going to kill you.” Nahrem got to his knees. He wobbled but stayed upright.
“You didn’t. There’s hope for you yet. Go home. Be a better man than you are now. Make our mother proud of you.” Finyaka felt connected to his siblings. He turned his back on them and walked away, the hound at his side. “Let’s go find Matasa,” Finyaka said to her.
Finyaka followed the ghost hound toward the combatants. He was filled with the Radiance of the Great Sun Anuu. The man who had once frightened him stood before him, and all Finyaka wanted to do was talk with him, understand him.
Matasa attempted to scramble away from Finyaka’s father, but Tsimunuu stomped his foot down on Matasa’s chest, pinning him. Both his father and cousin were covered in blood from nicks and cuts.
His father raised his staff. “Come any closer, and I will kill him.”
Finyaka reached out to the hound and called her to him. She growled once more and then trotted back to Finyaka’s side.
Tsimunuu looked at Finyaka and laughed until it turned into a hacking cough. “Finally, you’ve amounted to something more than a snivelling coward.”
Finyaka let his Radiance flow through him until he started to rise into the air. Fire filled his eyes. “Leave now.”
Tsimunuu held up a hand to shield his eyes from his son’s Radiance. Matasa squinted as he pushed his uncle’s foot off him then crawled toward Finyaka. The hound leaped in between Matasa and Tsimunuu before Finyaka’s father could react.
Blood trickled from the older man’s mouth. He wiped it away with back of his hand. “I’m not leaving, boy, not until I’ve been repaid for what I’ve lost. I want that one’s head on a stick.” Tsimunuu pointed the butt of the staff at Matasa.
Finyaka settled back on the ground, but his Radiance had not diminished. “Defiance always was one of your better traits.”
Tsimunuu brandished his staff. “I’m not afraid of the likes of you!” He spat a glob of blood onto the ground where Matasa had lain.
Finyaka released his Radiance and lifted Matasa into the air and put his wounded cousin behind him. Finyaka laid him gently on the ground, and the hound returned to his side. “If you were me, Father, what would you do?” Finyaka looked at the man who had sired him and beat him. But he still felt the calm within himself.
Tsimunuu folded his arms. “What nonsense is this?”
Finyaka tried to reword the question. “If you were me.”
Tsimunuu waved a hand in disgust as he turned away. “I could never be that weak.”
Finyaka ignored the insult. “If you were me, and you had the power I do, what would you do to the man who had beaten you most of your life?”
Tsimunuu’s eyes narrowed, and he faced his son. “Why would I tell you?”
Finyaka let his Radiance diminish. “Who better to judge you, Father, than you?”
“Finyaka, behind you!” screamed Matasa as he threw a stone at something behind Finyaka.
Finyaka turned as the hound leaped at something. A knife cut into his side with a searing pain. He staggered and fell to his knees.
“Even a witch can die by a knife. I should know,” sneered Nahrem as he emerged from his hiding place and prepared to meet the hound.
Matasa staggered forward and fell to his knees, “No!”
Tsimunuu made to move, fell to a knee and coughed. “So much for that judgement, Doe!” He hacked and spit.
Finyaka flashed back to the broken body of Sinaya and heard her humming as she filled the water basin. He knew she was part of him now. Finyaka felt her presence and called upon her strength as he reached into the calm welling up inside him.
Finyaka closed his eyes and focused on the knife in his side. Slowly, he withdrew it with his Radiance healing the wound it left behind. The blade clattered to the ground.
The hound pounced onto Nahrem, knocking him down. But Finyaka touched her with his Radiance, and she broke off her attack and loped back to his side.
Matasa struggled to stand and to find some way to him. That made Finyaka smile. Matasa, always the guardian.
Nahrem gained his feet. He was bleeding and confused.
Finyaka shook his head sadly and reached out with his Radiance, enveloping his brother in its light. He lifted Nahrem and set him beside his father.
Tsimunuu had slumped to the ground from his wounds. Blood flowed from his mouth.
Finyaka approached his cousin, concern on his face. “Matasa. Sit, you are hurt, and I don’t want you to make it any worse. The same for you father. I can heal your wounds but if you continue to struggle, you’ll die.” He rested a hand on Matasa's shoulder. “I will heal you, cousin; I promise.”
Matasa lowered himself to the ground. “I know that.”
“Nahrem, I gave you a chance. I extended the bonds of brotherly love to you, and you discarded them. Why? For Father’s praise?” Finyaka pointed at the broken man he had once feared. “He’s here now. Ask him if he’s happy with your actions.” Finyaka looked at his father and felt only pity. “Are you, Father? Are you happy with your son?”
Tsimunuu glanced between his two sons. His face contorted with uncertainty and regret. Finyaka could never remember his father showing anything but scorn.
Tsimunuu lifted his head and caught Finyaka's eyes. “I am ashamed.” He cast his eyes do
wn in shame.
Finyaka slowly approached his father and brother, the hound at his heels. “I asked you a question earlier, Father.” Finyaka stopped a few strides away. The hound sat down beside him, baring its teeth. “What is your answer?”
Understanding crossed Tsimunuu’s face. “If I had your power, I would destroy the man who had beaten me down.”
Finyaka scratched the hound’s ears. He had killed one of her pack and thrust a staff into her side. He had also healed her and gained her trust. Finyaka doubted he would be so lucky with his father. He saw Matasa move out of the corner of his eye, and he turned to face his cousin.
“You’re better than him.” Matasa waivered unsteadily. He gave his uncle a defiant look.
“I know.” Finyaka reached out with his Radiance and tenderly touched his father. He slowly knitted together the broken bones and the cuts and bruises. He touched his father with a love he had never known before. When he was finished, he was crying and smiling. “I forgive you. I will never trust you, but I forgive you. Now, gather your men and go.”
Finyaka turned his back on them and hurried to Matasa.
“What about me?” Nahrem sat with his head in hands.
“I gave you a chance, and you squandered it. Leave knowing you’ve done that.” Finyaka knelt beside Matasa. The hound licked his cousin’s face. Finyaka touched him with his Radiance and Matasa gasped as its light removed his pain.
The hound nuzzled Matasa, then looked at Finyaka and vanished.
“Where will you go?” Tsimunuu stood and helped Nahrem to his feet.
Finyaka helped Matasa to his feet. “Onabaki. I need to find a witch.” He touched the gold arm band that had been Sinaya’s.
Matasa corrected him, “You mean we need to find a witch.”
To prove himself worthy, Finyaka must explore the unorthodox Radiance that Anuu has gifted him while trying to navigate the politically charged landscape of Onubaki. Will this set him on the path to becoming the mage-priest he is destined to be, or will he fail? Find out in Wayward Magic.
Hidden Magic Page 22