Chapter Five

"I'm armed," I say but I hate how weak my voice sounds.
“Armed? With what?” He swallows as though his throat is in the pits of hell. "Where the hell would ya get a werewolf's hair strand? That thing never shaves. A mermaid's tear? She never comes out of water. And don't even get me started how impossible it is to get a minokawa's feather. He never comes down."
I press air into my lungs but can't seem to draw a big enough breath. I exhale. "The gatekeepers."
There are three ways outsiders could discover our village. Through the gate in the sky, the one through the woods, or the one under water.
But no one has ever found our nation. The gatekeepers have made sure of that.
"How'd ya--"
"Not now." My head pounds. "Go distract her. Hurry."
"Fine. Fine." He mumbles something else as he walks away with a quick, graceful lope.
I hear him at the counter making Madam Thembi laugh, so it's safe to sneak to the back wing of the shop. I pull the fake sword closer to my side, wrap a hand over it and make my way up the aisle, shivering.
Finally, I reach my destination: a dreary, dim lit room. It looks like a room where terrible things happen.
I take one last look around the room. Of the ten swords on display my eyes only focus on one. It sticks out like a sore thumb. It was meant for me.
It glows blue in the darkness. The tip of the gold hilt is sun shaped.
My heartbeat slows.
If I'm not careful, the moment I touch the sword, flames will engulf me and my time on earth will come to a swift, ashy end.
I tip my head and drink the mixture of a tear, a burnt feather, and a werewolf strand. My stomach convulses. I gag.
Dread flutters into my chest. I can do this.
With more delicacy than time allows, I pull out the duplicate and make the exchange.
A voice whispers -- in those creepy horror movie demonic voices -- whoever they might be, wherever they are, my owner 's blood streams silver in his veins. Ye’re not.
It's coming from the sword.
The second I touch the Bakantwa Sword, the light fades.
My mouth falls open in shock. I hope I haven't killed it's magic. The sword, after all, is the source of our magic, of immortality, of vivid landscapes and luscious terrains.
Leza forgive me.
I quickly stuff it under my armour.
The Elders have been clear. The Bakantwa owner would get a jolt of light. The blue glow would transfer to the hair, the gold would move to the eyes. The sword would just be silver.
No jolt. But the sword lost colour anyway. What's changed?
Suddenly I hear Ayize’s voice. "Imani?"
He's close. My heart kicks up.
"Imani?"
In the hallway, footsteps echo, speeding toward me.
Shit.
If Ayize finds me here--
Kaseke gets to me first but Ayize is still nearing. My brother beckons me to him and hurries off.
Everything is back where it belongs. The duplicate glows blue and gold like the original.
I look around me for anything out of place.
And then I see him. Gabada. He's wearing a mask that shows only his eyes and mouth. He's leaning against the north wall, some ten paces from me. His legs are crossed, he has his hands in his pockets and he's looking at me. Really looking at me.
My chest tightens.
His eyes glow like the moon through the gloom of the shop. There are no whites in his eyes, just a solid, silver gleam.
A shock goes through my body.
I can't run because he knows what I look like.
I can't kill him because I don't have it in me.
I want to beg him to secrecy, but the words die at my throat.
Without permission, my feet move toward him. He must have some sort of gravity on me, in order to have me give him the sword, perhaps.
I try to stop but his magic seems to be strong.
I'm still walking to him.
I'm getting faster. I'm beginning to feel uneasy. I don't even know this guy. What if he's a serial killer?
Okay, I can probably do some damage to him if only I can find my knife. But he's a Noddon, his animal instinct is stronger, more dominant.
I've never seen anything like him before. Never felt such power emerge from a single being.
Is he even Noddon?
This kind of magic would ruin our kingdom if it were in the wrong hands. I can just imagine all of us unwillingly jumping off the cliff. Lead by an entity we neither see or can ward off.
He doesn’t take his eyes off me, neither does he move even when I retrieve my knife and get ready to defend myself should the need arise -- he keeps staring.
There's something about the way those big eyes lie on me. It makes me warm and dizzy.
I'm now in front of him. I'm too close.
He looks into my eyes with the strangest expression — it is intrigued but with unmet expectation.
I have all kinds of emotions taking over me.
I have to look away.
“I was going to come back and bring it back!”
He snorts. “I doubt that. But I’ll let the F300 go and I won't report you for stealing if you agree to do lunch with me tomorrow."
Bloody hell.
Not only is this creep following me but he's blackmailing me into dating him?
Where the hell does this guy come from?
No seriously.
I take another step. He whispers something too low for me to hear and I suddenly stop.
Whew! It's been a rough couple of seconds. I need to pee. Desperately.
"Imani," he says.
Again, how does he know my name?
Is he stalking me? Did he follow me here?
He smiles and shakes his head, his neat, blue, waist-length dreadlocks becoming free from the ponytail he pinned them in.
“You were taking too long to figure things out, I couldn't wait.”
I frown. Figure what out?
“I couldn’t sleep last night, I was too excited,” he says, there's a twinkle in his eye. "You're finally sixteen. I'm sorry I didn't buy you anything. But I promise I'll make it up to you."
I don't know him, he doesn't know me. We both aren't supposed to be here.
“Aren't you going to say anything?” he asks.
Of course not.
What is wrong with this guy?
I start biting my bottom lip again.
“You look nervous,” he says again. "Just don't hurt yourself this time. The sight of blood makes me sick."
He’s right, I am. Why is he even talking to me.
He doesn't move, neither do I. Minutes waste away. I notice he keeps glancing at me under his mask. If only my stomach would stop churning.
"What do you plan to do with my sword?"
I raise an eyebrow questioningly.
I stop when I notice the look on his face. It says “ya didn't really think I'd let you just steal my sword, did you?”
It doesn't matter. I'm not giving it back. I can't give it back.
He grins at me as he asks, "So about that date?"
"Okay, dude, look." I glare at him, resisting the edge to hit my head against the wall. "I'm not going out with you--ever. So stop trying. Pestering me for small change, when you can't even afford me. Boy please. And what crazy fool asks a thief out? I'm in the middle of stealing a sword, can't you see?"
"It's kinda romantic, wouldn't you agree?" he says enthusiastically.
Rubbish man.
He looks like he wants to pursue the subject some more but suddenly jerks his head, eyes scanning over my shoulder, as though he just heard something and narrows his eyes. "We'll have a little chat soon," he says.
“Bye,” I say, dismissive, glad it's almost over.
He doesn't leave, instead he looks at me and smiles. I don’t smile back. He keeps smiling.
Dear Gods! Is this real?
Behind me, a slightly annoyed voice says, “Come this way.”
I jump and turn my face to the intruder, and for some reason, I'm annoyed too.
Leza! It's Sir Ayize. He's a Griffin. He has enormous black and yellow wings.
I'm waiting nervously for the moment he will pounce at me. He must know what I've just done. I hope he'll just claw me to death instead of taking me to the Royal palace. King Father's strongest attribute isn't forgiveness. He'll strip me naked and at dawn offer my neck to Leza as sacrifice.