Page 40 of The Merciless Ones
Acalan nods, fondly squeezes her back. “I love you too,” he says. Then he turns to me, straightening as he wipes his eyes dry. He’s locking away his emotions for a safer time. It’s something we all do when we’re on a raid or in the heat of battle, so I understand his actions immediately.
“All right then, that’s that,” he says with a determined nod. “I’m back to it. What do we do now?”
I glance around, taking stock of our situation. We’re on a roof in the middle of a Hemairan river market, with no women in sight and only our already-compromised disguises to cloak us. And Melanis, the only one of us with wings, is likely halfway back to Abeya by now.
“I don’t know,” I say honestly. “I have no idea what to do.”
Adwapa walks into the centre of the group. “Aren’t we skipping a step?” She gestures around us. “How did we get here in the first place? Did the angoro make a mistake?”
“It wasn’t the angoro,” I say quietly. “It was Idugu. He exists.”
“No,” Britta says, frowning. “That’s just what Elder Kadiri wants us to think.”
“It’s not,” I reply firmly. “He’s an actual being – a god – and he brought us here – well, brought us to the temple. I think I brought us the rest of the way.” As my friends stare at me with bewildered expressions, I explain: “I changed the direction of the door.”
Li wipes a hand over his face. “You just said a lot of things that don’t make sense, Deka, so let’s start with Idugu. I thought he was the angoro.”
“So did I,” I say, “but now I think the angoro doesn’t exist. Or perhaps it does, but Idugu is separate. He’s the true threat here.”
“Then why didn’t the mothers warn us about him? No – why didn’t they tell us another divine being existed in the first place?” This question comes from Belcalis, who doesn’t seem confused by my declaration, only enraged, as she finishes, “All this time, they’ve said they’re the only gods and now you’re telling me there’s another? And he’s male?”
“Not quite certain on the gender as yet,” I say truthfully. Then I sigh. “I don’t know,” I whisper. “I don’t know why they didn’t tell us.” Every time I think about this question, I think about my conversation with Anok and how she warned me to— I blink again, the thought already vanished. “What was I saying?”
Keita frowns at me, his eyes peering into mine. “Are you all right, Deka?” he asks. “It’s not like you to lose your thoughts.”
“I must be tired.” I slump to the floor, suddenly exhausted beyond imagining. “I did just change the direction of a door.”
“No.” Britta shakes her head in disbelief. “Only the Gilded Ones can use doors.”
“I think we’ve already established that there’s a lot the mothers have told us that isn’t true,” Belcalis says archly.
I’m so tired now, I don’t even bother to reply. I just collapse further, wishing this day was already at an end.
Deka? Ixa shrinks to his kitten form and scuttles over, lapping a prickly wet tongue over my face. I fold my arms around him, burying my head in his softly scaled and furred body.
“Just what in the world is happening?” I whisper, overwhelmed.
“Awful things if we don’t barricade that door and get our bearings,” Lamin says quietly, moving towards the wooden entrance behind us, the ornate sun carvings on it another reminder that we are truly in Hemaira. “I know we have to talk about what just happened,” he says in his usual calm, gentle fashion, “but if anyone comes through there, we really are done for.”
Katya leans her mass against the door. “I’ll secure it,” she says. “Find any others.”
Nodding, Lamin follows Keita and the other boys as they fan out, exploring the rest of the roof.
After some minutes, they return. “It’s secure,” Lamin says. “No other doors here – human ones, I mean,” he corrects.
“We can’t stay for ever, though,” Keita adds.
“Can’t we?” Acalan humphs from his corner. “I’m good with hiding here for ever, if we have to.”
“But here is not safe,” I say wearily, accepting Keita’s offered arm as I force myself up. “There are people downstairs.” I can hear them scurrying from room to room if I close my eyes. An entire family of at least eight people, half of them fully grown.
They’ll be coming up to the roof soon, as most Hemairans do every evening, to eat dinner as a family. We have only a few hours remaining – three at the most before that happens. It’s already late afternoon now.
“We have to find a secure place to hide,” I finish.
“Why don’t ye just open the door again?” Britta asks. “Take us back to Abeya.”
I shake my head. “I wouldn’t know how. I just changed the door’s direction. I didn’t open it myself.”