Page 6 of The Merciless Ones
Beside me, Melanis has cocked her head, listening to the shifting sounds in the chamber. She’s already standing on her own, her body hunching and jerking as the whites round out in her eyes and her scalp sprouts long, sleek black hair. It’s shocking; all the other alaki we’ve rescued took time to heal – weeks, months, even – but Melanis’s skin has already renewed, and her hair is already trailing down her back. Then again, I shouldn’t be surprised. As second among the Firstborn, Melanis is one of the nearest to the mothers in terms of power. Of course she would heal like this.
Deka, Ixa growls low under his breath, his scales bristling. He’s back in his massive true form, and he doesn’t like what’s happening to Melanis.
But then, there isn’t much he likes lately. Ever since our battle with the former emperor in the chamber of the goddesses, Ixa has been distrustful – suspicious of anything that might harm either me or himself.
I don’t have time to dwell on that at the moment, so I force my gaze from him back to the inner sanctum’s door, where the clanking of jatu armour has now stopped just out of view. My eyes narrow. “Show yourselves,” I command, allowing a rumble of power to thread through my voice.
The door immediately pushes open, divine power radiating like heat from the group of men standing behind it. Just as I suspected, they’re all true jatu – every last one of them.
It took me time to understand that the true jatu make up only a small percentage of the emperor’s guards, who are all known as jatu – a deliberate confusion our brothers have encouraged over the centuries so that the citizens of Otera would gradually forget their existence and abilities. Now, when true jatu and alaki engage in combat, humans think that the true jatu are simply ordinary men who have been blessed by extraordinary strength and speed. In the eyes of ordinary Oterans, the true jatu are champions specially chosen by Oyomo to protect the One Kingdom.
No one ever suspects that they and the alaki all come from the same source, and for good reason: the true jatu have very carefully hidden our shared history. In fact, I didn’t even know they existed until the former emperor, Gezo, fought me with superhuman strength. Now, I’m always on the alert for them.
Could they be who I sensed was watching me as I slipped through the Oyomosin’s window earlier? I squint at them as they make their way into the chamber.
Every single man approaching is wearing a dark, leathery suit I’ve never seen before, even though jatu are typically known for their red armour. That’s not even the strange part; the gold old-Oteran symbol on their breastplates is. It’s a series of curved, interconnected lines, with smaller lines inside each one – just looking at it makes my head throb. It’s almost as if there’s something there, a darkness radiating from under the circles. It vibrates every time I try to look at it directly, the movement so nauseating, I shut my eyes until calm descends over me, silent and blissful. I breathe into it, trying to settle myself.
Then my brain splits into two.
Suddenly it’s as if white-hot daggers are stabbing through my skull, searing everything in their path. My body is on fire, every nerve alight with pain. I whoosh desperate breaths in and out, squeeze the hilts of my atikas to ground my body in the present.
Breathe, breathe… But nothing works.
The pain just keeps spreading, my brain throbbing even more violently. I grit my teeth against it. This is some sort of jatu attack, but I won’t let it conquer me. I am the Nuru; my body will recover. This pain, whatever it is, isn’t permanent.
“Deka? Ye all right?” Britta’s concerned whisper comes just in time – a reminder: I can’t show any sign of weakness, no matter how awful I feel.
Not here, with all these jatu surrounding me.
I force my eyes to open, stumbling slightly when my stomach lurches from the effort. As I expected, the pain is already lessening, my body healing, just as I anticipated. So I take one excruciating step forward after another until, finally, I’m standing in front of my companions, who are waiting for my command.
“Nuru,” Nimita rumbles, concerned. She must have seen me struggling too.
“I’m fine,” I quickly say. “Focus on protecting Melanis.”
She’s the jatu’s true target, after all. My presence here is just a happy accident for them, an unexpected but fortunate addition.
Nodding, Nimita and the others immediately form a protective circle around the Firstborn, leaving me in the front. I’m not worried about myself – whatever the jatu may attack with, I’m no longer the weak, pitiful girl I was back in Irfut. Now, every inch of my body is a weapon, and I mean to use it.
I glance at the leader of the jatu, a bearded and armoured giant of a man carrying a multi-pronged spear, one lethal spearhead in the middle, four others surrounding it – metal petals crowning a deadly flower. The other jatu’s weapons are the same, though not as large or impressive – which I can only assume is the leader’s declaration: See how much stronger I am than the others, how much more fearsome. I’m almost amused by the sight. After being among deathshrieks for so long, I find him almost pitiful by comparison.
Still, I focus my eyes on the spear so that I can avoid glancing at that symbol. “Evening greetings. I am Deka, Nuru to the goddesses,” I say formally, threading my voice with power. “Name yourselves.”
To my shock, none of the jatu answer me.
Confusion washes over me. True jatu can’t resist when I speak to them, nor can alaki or deathshrieks – no descendant of the Gilded Ones can. They all obey the subtle waves of compulsion embedded in my voice, which are always there, even when I don’t want them to be. That’s why alaki and deathshrieks avoid me if they can help it and why my friends constantly wear armour or jewellery mixed with my blood – just my voice is enough to command them if they aren’t wearing it. True jatu don’t have any such protections. There’s no way they can be immune to me.
I summon more power. “I said – name yourselves.” The air trembles with the force of my command.
As before, the jatu don’t acknowledge me.
When the leader turns to the others and begins addressing them in a strange language instead, I gape in disbelief. It’s as if my voice slid right off him. Or, rather, slid off the symbols… I can see them now out of the corner of my eye, vibrating from every jatu breastplate. Every time I speak, they vibrate – almost as if they’re blocking me. Blocking my powers…
What exactly are those things?
Britta’s eyes are wide as she glances at me. “They disobeyed a direct command, Deka.”
“It’s the symbol they’re wearing,” I say, the pieces rapidly falling into place. “It’s blocking my commands.”