by Evan Winter
Tau saluted.
“Vizier, please remain. Tell us what has happened as you help us dress.”
“My queen,” Nyah said.
“We will meet again in the stables in half a sun span.”
“The stables?” Nyah asked.
Tsiora nodded. “Yes, there’s something we need to do.”
OPPORTUNITY
With no time to rest, a military meeting to attend in half a span, and feeling ill-equipped for the duty he’d been set, Tau went to the infirmary. Hadith was the queen’s grand general, and Tau prayed he was awake. Perhaps it was cruel to need his sword brother less than a day after he’d been wounded, but Tau had no idea whom to gather, and he figured that Hadith could at least give him a few names to call on.
The closer he got to the infirmary, the more guilt he felt. He hadn’t come to see Jabari in days. It was hard to be in his old friend’s presence when the entire time he was he couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d failed him.
“Champion!” The two Ihashe standing guard at the infirmary’s doors snapped to attention when they saw him, their salutes crisp, proud.
Resisting the urge to look behind him to see if they were saluting someone else, Tau nodded to the two full-bloods, both older than him, and marched up to the door. The Ihashe on his left opened it for him and Tau walked into the sand-colored space.
The infirmary had beds lining the walls on either side of its slim width, with a series of lancet windows running along the left that looked out onto a shaded terrace. The first time he’d been in the infirmary, seeing to Jabari, he’d been confused by the build. The infirmary was a permanent structure designed to look like one of the tents the Ihashe and Indlovu used in the Queen’s melee. Tau had mentioned that to Hadith, and Hadith had explained that all infirmaries looked that way.
For cycles after the Omehi had first landed on Xidda, they’d lived in tent camps as they struggled to survive and build. In the fighting that filled those early times, the medicinal order had saved and lost lives in those tents, and either hoping to honor those desperate times or simply because they could no longer picture it any other way, the Sah had given their permanent infirmaries the same shape as those tents.
The way things were becomes the way things are, Tau thought, and then he saw Hadith.
His sword brother was lying on a bed beneath one of the windows. His eyes were closed and his face was tight, as if even at rest it hurt him to breathe. Sitting on a chair beside Hadith’s bed was Uduak. Uduak and Hadith had their arms clasped, wrist to wrist, and Uduak’s head hung to his chest. The big man was asleep and Tau knew he hadn’t moved since being allowed by Hadith’s side.
“Brother,” Tau said, laying a hand on the big man’s shoulders.
Uduak opened his eyes and raised his head. “Mka.”
“What?”
“You look like mka,” he said.
“You think you look better?”
Uduak gave Tau a small smile and turned back to Hadith.
“I need to speak with him,” Tau said.
“When he wakes.”
“I need his advice.”
“When he wakes.”
“Yes, well, I’m awake now, aren’t I?” Hadith said, scrunching his face as he moved a hand to touch at the bandages around his chest.
“What did you think you were doing, Hadith?” Tau asked.
“When?”
“You know when.”
“When I fought the enraged Xiddian? I was thinking that our Ingonyama was losing and that he’d die if I didn’t help.”
“He did die.”
“I know, but I tried to stop it.”
“Foolish to fight an enraged—”
“I don’t think you ever get to use that word when talking about someone else,” Hadith said, earning a grunt from Uduak.
Tau opened and closed his mouth, nothing coming at first. “I know how I can seem, and I’m trying.”
“Can’t say I didn’t learn from the best,” Hadith said.
“You almost got yourself killed,” Tau told him.
“Almost.”
“You … you won’t be able to fight again.”
Hadith started to shrug, grimaced, and ended the shrug halfway. “Didn’t particularly care for all the sword swinging. Waste of my talents, really.”
The words were bold, but Tau saw through them. “I’m sorry,” he said.
“Don’t be.”
“I am.”
“It’s fine. I’m Governor Caste and I’m sure that, given the last few days, the queen has one or two gaps in her bureaucratic administration.”
Tau could feel the venom in Hadith’s words and sought to draw some poison free. “No one’s told you yet?”
“Told me what?” Hadith asked.
“The queen has a position in mind for you.”
“Brave of her,” Hadith said. “I might not have survived the night.”
Tau shrugged. “The priestess says it’s a miracle that you took as little damage as you did. Except for the lung thing.”
Hadith was watching Tau from the side of his eyes. “Except for that.”
“He needs to rest,” Uduak said.
“What does she want from me, our queen?” Hadith asked.
“Rest,” Uduak said.
“She made you her grand general.”
Without thinking, Hadith tried to sit up, and Tau could tell exactly when the pain hit him.
“Sweet Goddess, that hurts!” Hadith groaned. “Did you say grand general?”
Tau nodded. “She declared it in front of most of Citadel City.”
Hadith tried to laugh. “Hurts to laugh too,” he said.
“Grand general?” Uduak asked. “Tell her he can’t.”
“Me?” Tau asked.
“You’re champion,” Uduak said.
“You can’t be serious,” Hadith said. “Does she want another coup? I’m a Lesser and the rebellion she hopes to quell is split across caste lines. Making me the leader of her military can only widen the gap she has to bridge. Why in Ananthi’s love and Ukufa’s hate would she …” Hadith tried to sit up again. “Tau!”
Tau raised his hands, palms out. “She asked my advice.”
“No, she didn’t,” Hadith said, his eyes flitting back and forth. He was thinking. “She asked you to do it.”
“Neh?” was the best Tau could manage.
“Don’t ‘neh’ me. She asked you to do it and you told her that I would be better.”
“Tau …,” Uduak growled.
“Well, it’s the truth,” Tau said.
“Nceku!” Uduak said.
“What’s done is done, and I’ll stand by the rightness of it,” Tau said. “Within a season of me being grand general, we’d all be dead.”
“I’m a Lesser, Tau,” Hadith said.
“So am I, and you keep saying that we can’t let the name they call us be the total of what we are. You keep telling me that things must change, and I know change is hard, but this is an opportunity to do it. Do you think to turn away just because it won’t be easy? Are your ideals, your principles, only held when they don’t inconvenience you? Can’t you see that—”
“Enough.”
“No! I’m right in this and—”
“Enough, Tau. Once you’ve won an argument, the most valuable thing you can do is shut your mouth and take the win.”
“The win?”
“It’s dangerous … even foolish, but you’re right. There’s a chance here to make a change, and what kind of person would I be if I didn’t take it?”
“A living person,” Uduak said.
“Not many of us will live through this anyway,” Hadith said. “This way, at least we have some say in how our lives are spent.”
Uduak lifted his hand and arm out of Hadith’s.
“Uduak …,” Hadith said.
“What kind of life?” the big man said, looking around.
Hadith reached for and took Uduak’s hand. “O
ne we’ll make the best of.”
“The queen is calling her … advisers,” Tau said, guiding his sword brothers back to the current path. “Something happened with Odili and a general named Bisi from the front lines.”
“Bisi? He leads one of our military rages. He’s also our most decorated war hero,” Hadith said.
“As you say.”
“You don’t know who he is, do you, Tau?”
Tau crossed his arms.
“How the … what were you doing at the Ihashe isikolo if you don’t even know—”
“You know what I was doing,” Tau said.
Hadith blinked slowly at him. “You’re right. I do.”
“The queen needs councillors, war councillors, and I’m to help assemble them. Well, you’re her grand general. Who do I bring?”
“Me,” Hadith said, waving with his free hand at Tau, asking him to help him up.
“No!” Uduak said.
“Help me, both of you.”
“No!” Uduak said. “You need rest.”
“I’ll rest when I’m dead. Help me. That’s an order.”
“Order?”
“From your grand general.”
Uduak laughed. “I’ll call the priestess. She won’t let you leave.”
This wasn’t Tau’s plan, and with Hadith so soon out of surgery, he didn’t want to rip up any of the work the priestess had done to hold his sword brother together. “Hadith, can’t you just tell me who to bring or what to say?”
“Do you know what’s happened with Bisi and Odili?”
Tau shook his head.
“Then, let’s go find out.” Hadith waved at Tau again. “Hurry. This will hurt and we need to go before I lose my nerve.”
“I’m calling the priestess,” Uduak said, standing.
“Priestess Hafsa Ekene seems to enjoy telling the same stories,” Hadith said to Uduak. “Like Tau, she also told me how lucky I was in the way the spear cut through me. If I have her words right, she called it the Goddess’s own miracle and said she expected me to be able to rise from this bed today. Well, I’m ready to do some rising.”
Uduak stared at Hadith without a word.
“Goddess wept! Just help me,” Hadith said.
“Stupid,” Uduak said.
“It’s mostly worked for Tau,” Hadith said.
“What did you say?” asked Tau.
“You heard,” Hadith said, waving Tau over to help him.
Shrugging, Tau walked to Hadith’s far side to assist.
“Uduak?” Hadith said. “Help me, please.”
Grumbling, Uduak moved to help.
Hadith smiled, but Tau could tell he was steeling himself for the pain.
“Good,” Hadith said. “Let’s find out what Odili has done now and how we can stop him.”
COALS
With Tau limping and Hadith near immobile, it took all the time they had remaining to get to the stables. If anything, Tau had to caution Hadith time and again not to push himself. His sword brother, leaning on a crouched Uduak on one side and Tau on the other, remained stoic, even offering up the occasional joke. The humor, however, wasn’t enough to hide the way he tensed and held his breath with every step.
“Can’t you bend lower?” Hadith asked Uduak.
“Want me to crawl?”
“Tau?”
“I’m walking on my toes.”
“Feels like I’m caught between a mountain and an anthill,” Hadith grumbled as he nodded to Kellan, who was marching over at full speed.
“Grand General Buhari,” Kellan said, saluting. “I came as soon as I received word you needed me.”
Kellan’s obsequiousness set Tau’s teeth on edge. Hadith hadn’t yet been a general for a full day and Kellan was already treating the change as if it had occurred a dozen cycles ago.
“There’s a council meeting, my first as the queen’s grand general. I wanted you with us,” Hadith said.
Kellan’s chin lifted and Tau could tell that with nothing more than a few words Hadith had earned a deeper loyalty from the Greater Noble. Tau watched his friend, trying to determine if Hadith meant the trust behind the words or if the words’ purpose had been to make it seem as if he’d meant the trust. It didn’t take long for him to realize he couldn’t tell.
“We’re meeting in the stables?” Kellan asked, glancing at the adobe-and-wood-walled building behind them.
In answer, Tau walked to the stable doors and reached for them. Before his hand could grasp the door’s handle, he heard footsteps within and stepped back.
“There’s someone inside,” he said, hoping to sound normal and not as if he had any worries that it might be one of Isihogo’s demons come to torment him.
The leftmost stable door creaked open, and out into the sunlight came Nyah and Thandi.
Seeing the four men, the vizier’s eyes narrowed. “I can name several accomplished military leaders who still stand within this city’s walls. I can name them, but I do not see them here with you.”
“Vizier Nyah,” Hadith said, “I came myself. I am new to my role, but if my counsel is needed to help set our direction, I’d prefer to come to an understanding with as small a group as possible.”
“Well, you’ve brought one Noble with you, though I have doubts he’s old enough to shave,” she said. “Do you fear more experienced leaders might undermine your authority?” she asked. “If that’s the reason for the presence of the men before me, I wonder if your authority might not need some undermining. The Indlovu you’ve excluded have fought battles and led warriors when you were still sitting on your father’s shoulders.”
“With respect, you’re wrong,” Hadith said.
“Am I?”
“I did not know my father and never sat on his shoulders.”
Uduak stifled a snort.
“Ah yes, let’s make light of our situation,” Nyah said. “Nothing is serious until you watch everyone you love put to the sword because you valued your pride and humor over their safety.”
“You misjudge me,” Hadith said. “I value nothing more than the safety and lives of the people I love. It is because I value them that I do not invite more Greater Nobles to my first meeting with the queen. They will seek argument with me, not because of my ideas, but because of my person.”
Nyah waved away his objection. “If your ideas hold merit, they’ll win out in spite of your person.”
“Yes, that’s the lie everyone unaffected by hidden hardships believes.”
“Hadith Buhari, you expect me to believe that, were you to present plans that would save us all, the Nobles would reject them?”
“Vizier Nyah, I think the world is too complex for most things to be purely right or wrong. Given that, the way words, actions, or even intent is viewed depends on who is doing the viewing and on who is being viewed.”
She chuckled. “Is this why you think you can’t achieve all you want? You think that just because you’re a Lesser and they’re Noble, they’d kneel on glowing coals for no better reason than to prove you wrong if you said the fire was still hot? Come, now.”
“You’re right, they wouldn’t do that,” Hadith said. “They’d have me walk across the coals with them as equals, me in my bare feet and them in leather boots.”
Nyah sucked her teeth. “If you regard Nobles with such distrust, you’ll see even the ones reaching down to lift you up as nothing more than hands trying to push you down.”
“I presume the queen is already inside?” Hadith asked.
“That’s it? Nothing more to say?”
“Not to those who can’t hear,” Hadith said, taking a step forward and getting Uduak and Tau to help him on.
Nyah was annoyed, but she also seemed done with the discussion. “Wait. I need to speak with the champion,” she said.
Still holding Hadith, Tau looked over his shoulder at her.
“Alone,” she said.
“Kellan, will you help me inside?” Hadith asked.
“Of cours
e, General,” Kellan said, moving to take Tau’s place.
“Thank the Goddess,” said Hadith when Kellan replaced Tau. “If I had to take two more angled steps, I swear I would have been hunched to one side forever.”
The three men walked into the stables and Thandi followed them, closing the stable door behind her.
When they were alone, Tau turned to Nyah. “Vizier?”
“I’m grateful. I want you to know that. You saved my daughter; you saved me. I am grateful.”
Tau inclined his head.
“But my gratitude cannot offer you favor in matters that hurt the queendom.”
“I don’t follow.”
“A champion is required to fulfill their martial duties,” she said. “That is the only duty they must fulfill.”
Tau frowned. “I think I know what you’re suggesting and I’m insulted by it.”
Nyah moved closer to him and lowered her voice, ensuring her words wouldn’t carry to any inside the stable. “It hasn’t been easy for her.”
“Nor for any of us,” Tau said.
“Oh, enough of that! Can’t you leash your Lesser’s self-pity for even a moment?”
Tau choked back the choice words he wanted to throw in her face. “What do you want?” he asked instead.
“Don’t use her. She won’t be able to take it.”
“Use her? Are you mad?”
“She’s strong, but so much is asked of her, and there’s only so much any of us can take before we crack, before we break.”
“Why tell me? Her Nobles resist her rule, she’s disconnected from the lives of her Lessers, and she must win back a capital without the fighters to do it. Why do I rate in the list of obstacles to be overcome?”
“Because I know her strengths as well as her weaknesses, and because you don’t know her anywhere near as well as I do.”
“And I have no intention of doing so, Vizier.”
“Liar.”
“What did you call me?”
“A liar. She’s told you that she thinks you’re a gift from the Goddess, hasn’t she?”
Tau clenched his jaw.