78

As we're tearing through the city, I let my mind drift. In the vision I have enormous power. I picture my power manipulating this shadow, breaking that shadow’s neck. I imagine victory.
On top of the mountain the moist fog reaches past my shoulders, making it difficult to see. The shadows are waiting. They carry no weapons, their bodies are weapons enough.
They charge for us, screaming rage. I tell my soldiers not to meet them half. They must come to us. It's safer this way because behind the shadows is a cliff. If someone falls, it will be into the evil forest, where the Black Shuck won't waste time devouring the flesh.
They reach us and I pull out my sword. The red glow helps somewhat.
Suddenly the wendigo next to me screams, clawing at invisible flames before it bursts and the only evidence it ever existed are the ashes. Instant cremation.
My heart kicks at my throat. I swing my sword blindly. Hoping to hit something. Left. Right. Left. Right. A waste of my time. And energy.
I pause, listening for movement. The smell of a shadow to my back. I turn, lash out blindly, hear my sword dig into decaying flesh. One down. Hundreds more to go.
Another one comes for me from my left. I run to meet it halfway. My heart galloping. It punches. I duck. A kick. I kneel and slash its stomach. Dead.
Smelly Roar above me. I look up. A shadow throws itself at me with a thundering crash. Torso to torso. My steels block its heat. But I drop my sword during impact. It smiles, licking my face. A dog lapping at water. Its finger touches the tip of my nose. Pain stabs into me. It goes all the way to my head. Another smile.
“Imani,” it says.
That voice. “Sithole?”
Another lick.
I try to wiggle but he’s deadweight. “If ya're here then,” I say, “who’s yer master?”
“Onele,” he says.
I stretch my fingers. My sword is close. “The royal maid?” I must keep him talking. “Yer lover?”
“My younger sister, ya.”
I touch my sword, barely. He notices my preoccupation and kicks it farther away. I'm trapped.
“Ya thought ya were so clever huh?” He laughs. “How'd ya think I managed to come into yer room but lover boy chased me through the city?”
He raises his fingers, ready to feed off my life essence. I must distract him. Keep him talking. I open my mouth but before I can utter a word, Kaseke beheads him. He helps me to my feet. I run for my sword.
When I turn back to Kaseke, there's a shadow behind him. It swings a roundhouse punch. He bends backward, the fist swishing past his nose. The shadow doesn’t give him time. It kicks him. Kaseke jumps back. Another punch. My brother keeps moving backward. The cliffs are very close behind him now. He keeps backing away, afraid to touch it.
The shadow continues to attacking; Kaseke continues retreating.
C’mon Kaseke. ya can do this. Just focus.
I run towards him. He isn't getting any time to block.
Someone kicks my leg out from under me, I try to save myself from falling. ya must never be on yer back again.
But my attempts are futile; the ground shoots out from under me. The shadow stands over me. I grip my sword tighter and slash its knees, then its waist, then its neck. Killing it.
Kaseke.
I find Mama first. She's focusing on something other than the shadow she's fighting. It punches, she staggers back.
I'm making my way to her. When my eyes follow Mama's horrified gaze. Kaseke is at the very edge of the cliff and he falls. Mama screams and runs after him, to catch him, but she doesn't.
I reach the cliff. It's too late. The Black Shuck howls. Thanking the Gods for a fresh meal. Kaseke.
I collapse to my knees. Nothing in this world makes sense. Why? I look up to the heavens and curse the Gods.
And scream and scream.
Air swirls around me. It feels as though I'm a ball of electricity. But I don't care. The feeling is comforting.
When I finally manage to blink the tears away, I realise that I really am flying. D'ziko holds me tight. A balloon flares up in my chest, expanding. I close my eyes and rip off his mask, pressing my lips hard to his.
This is goodbye.
And he knows.
I feel him tense. He doesn't even bother kissing me back. My teeth press against his lips. He doesn't move. He doesn't even breathe.
“No, Imani, no,” he says but I'm already letting go of him and dropping to the ground.
I land on my side. I push back the groan of pain. I will kill them all. For Kaseke. For Commodore.
I stab my sword into the ground. But slit my palm in the process. The sword glows red now.
My blood drips to the floor, stains the fog. I stand and red threads move in and out from the sword’s hilt to my hands. There's electricity everywhere but it isn't consuming me. It's reviving me.
Uncoiling my magic. I spread my hands at either side of me, palms up, and lift them.
The threads keep coming, they follow my every move. The balloon finally bursts and the threads become black, they turn to metal.
I am the Blacksteel.
The power is too great. I can’t control it. I won’t even try.
The treads break, become thousands of black blades floating. Waiting for my command.
I shoot one to D’ziko whose expression is either awe or fear. It doesn’t hurt him. Instead it creates a bubble around him. A black metal bubble. He stands back and rams his shoulder into it, trying to break free. It doesn’t even crack. My shield. The Blacksteel.
I count my men. Nine of them left. I despatch my blades. Each locked in a shield. Mondo screams at me. I ignore him. Luleka is crying.
The shadows surround me. They must die. They killed my mother. My brother. Rage consumes me. The blades vibrate, wanting to be release. I lift up my palms and close my eyes.
Then I shoot, spinning around, shooting blindly.
Mondo runs toward me, his eyes focused on something behind me.
"Mondo, what the hell?"
He doesn't answer. He wipes the blood clinging to sword on unstained grass. He raises his sword, gives me a fleeting smile as he brings it down on the shadow behind me.
"Go find Onele," I tell them. My men flee the hills.
D'ziko hesitates. "But Imani--"
"Go D'ziko. Yer people need ya."
He is quiet and sullen. "Are ya sure?"
I spray metal bullets into a wall of shadows. Dust in the air. Stench of mushrooms and decaying flesh. A few turn to ash immediately, while others scream before disappearing into thin air. Dead. The rest of the herd inches closer, hands outstretched, steeling themselves for the onslaught.
I glance at D'ziko over my shoulder. "Go D'ziko, now!"
He looks at me for a long moment as if he's trying to memorize the scene, then his eyes harden, says I love you, and rushes off.
My fingertips tingle as I produce more metal knives. The shadows are close. I close my eyes and let the rage consume me. Spraying metal knives all around me.
I keep going until I burn out. Until there's no more tears to cry, until I feel the electricity dulling. I open my eyes. The blades have disappeared. And so have the shields. And shadows.
D'ziko looks sceptically at me. He takes a cautious step forward.
I frown at him.
He takes another. And another. I want to hug him but the nine pairs of eyes looking at us make me uncomfortable.
But why should I care. This is my life mate. I thought I'd never see him again. D'ziko is here. And he's all mine. I jump him.
He holds me just as tight.
“Never scare me like that again,” he whispers, showering me with kisses on my head, my neck, my shoulder.
I don't say anything. I just cry.
“Promise me, I'll go first,” he says, looking me in the eye. “Promise me ya'll never die first. Promise.”