Chapter 1
1.
There were two types of limits. Those imposed by the weak and those that killed.
Thato pushed her muscles to the limit with an act as simple as closing a book. She was way too young to have knuckles creak like old hinges sending jolts as she slowly, painfully, agonizingly closed her journal, her senses on the highest alert as she kept ‘acting natural’ after picking up the alien change in the air.
Whomever had entered the range of her senses was caught but unconfronted.
As to how she’d confront… well…
Her brass knuckles were stuck in her pockets, the other side of the continent for all they were good for. Under the table was a curved butcher blade, short with a black heavy spine and wide edge.
The problem with people killing her was the actual… killing her part.
Not because the Chui had impenetrable skin, likely any assassin would too. (human assassin? Laughable). No, the problem with killing her in a room with no space for the use for something interesting, like a sling shot, lay in her ability to hit people.
She was genuinely, sincerely, earnestly good at hitting people.
And her assassin was about to be splayed out for investigation. There’d be no prison, no public execution for the attempted murder of a noble. The woman would just disappear, and Thato would have another skin for… something.
Chui skin made for some of the sturdiest leather.
Her mind froze. The stillness in the air deepened. Whomever was past the threshold. It was time, no need to slowly reach for the blade, whomever was committed.
She grabbed her lightning stone, yanking up.
It was essentially a burned metal slab the size of a fist. As soon as it rose the blade fell, unglued.
A window staring into the black of night popped open, splitting her focus. She retreated, angling in a triangle away from the two sources of danger.
Steps didn’t feel enough, so she dove, spinning and rolling back. Dense and tight silver dreads splayed with a thwap, her headband slipping as she popped up, only needing a shoulder shrug to control her momentum. She was up on her feet, pointing the blade, and raising her stone. The shadowy figure stayed in place, still as death. At the table next to hers was a tall man, athletic shoulders, a muscular neck visible behind glistening silver hair. It shined against candlelight obscured by the alarmingly dark hood he wore. It wasn’t cloth, not spider silk… was it suede? From what creature?
It must have cost a fortune.
What soured things was the immaculate grin of the 19-year-old Malusi Ndlovu-Sana. He leaned on the table, arms crossed.
“Brother” Thato breathed, not easing. “Which means, sister-in-law?” she said to the shadow.
The shadow dissipated to reveal a tallish, actually thin woman. Two long, thin glistening blades, crystal with metal all around it like veins. It should have been ceremonial, but it was Malusi’s wife. They could likely peel armor.
“Baby Teetee,”
The worst name in the world.
The man’s voice wasn’t wispy, though one could be mistaken. It was the sound of a flute, airy but could be deep enough to convince one of the ability to thunder.
“We missed you.”
Thato eyeballed the blades.
“Missed me to death?”
“Gramma told me to check on you.”
“Which, naturally, you interpreted as a test to see if I’m worthy of life.”
“And are you?”
“Is the examiner asking the student his result?”
“Exactly right. And?”
“I didn’t find you until the last moment.”
“Oh, not going to defend yourself?”
Thato said nothing, she wanted to complain, an absolute laughable amount.
She had reasons, detailed answers, but ‘losers listened’ And Grammy didn’t send Malusi to ‘check on her’.
Utter nonsense.
She was on the oldest God Tree in Sedibeng, away from home. It would have taken over a week to get there. And Malusi had a family of his own to lead. Yonneleni had to be what? Four years old? They would never have left her behind. They’d drag their daughter all the way? Just to ‘check on her’?
Ridiculous, his purpose involved grammy, the former Matriarch, bypassing Nomvula Ndlovu-Sana, the current Matriarch, and their Aunt.
Malusi sighed, the grin only growing.
“What were the knives for?” She said after a moment too long.
Sister-in-law stepped up.
“I figured if I got a hold of you. I’d strip you down, leash you and walk you around.” The Wife hissed.
The sound wasn’t a choice. That hiss was who she was. Unless perhaps, at some point, she might have sounded solid, bold. Then she made her first kill. She’d likely selected a tone that brought the most discomfort. Either that or Nature had a uniquely sick sense of humor by sticking death and a snake’s rattle to her throat and the monster had been living up to it since birth.
“I’m twelve.”
“Yup, exciting!”
The voice, it was an assault upon Thato’s soul.
“And brother? You’d-”
“Naturally.” Malusi cut in immediately.
“I’d tell.”
“You’d never. Because mother would have to war with us along with any witnesses along with any who attacked the family honor. A hundred people would die. As a start.”
“Fair,” Thato said, extending her arms and dropping her blade. “come then.”
Was Misses Wife bigger than Thato? Yes. Would Malusi still lose a wife? In the worst way possible.
Or…
“Your wife knows what crowning is, right?”
Wife’s eyes gleamed and there was a dangerous smile attached to Malusi now. Thato was a kid and confident in her amazing ability to hit strangers. Armored, trained, paired, all could be beat. Sadly, they had all of the above and they weren’t strangers. It was her clever big brother, and his evil wife. Neither would underestimate her. Because they were unique. But… She froze, stopping herself.
“This is stupid.” She muttered loudly.
‘Losers have only the right to listen.’ And Malusi was having too much fun to talk, because of course.
She deliberately let her shoulders drop, turning from The Wife to rest on one of the other library desks. She mimicked her brother leaning with her arms crossed.
“Tell me big brother, why are you here?”
A moment later, the detailed knife touched her neck. The Wife put an arm around her. She’d propped herself on top of the desk, using it as a chair behind Thato. Thato didn’t react, working aggressively to do nothing. Not even trying to get a sense of her. But nothing happened. Just silence.
Malusi sighed heavily.
“So boring. Calling my bluff. As if I won’t follow through on principle alone.”
“And yet the invitation stands.”
“Indeed.”
“Message please, big brother.”
“Would you kill the architect?”
She blinked; it took a moment to adjust to the change of pace.
The architect, of course. The dam architect, one of the most important people to all of Sedibeng. The man who’d formed the plan, created a knowledge that could destroy their civilization. Malusi was asking about that man. A person Thato was not supposed to know about. And yet there he was ‘continuing’ some conversation.
There’d been none!
“I am twelve!” She yelled suddenly.
Oh the satisfaction he’s radiating.
The glee in his eyes. The need to hit him eased as she hammered it down to a stub.
“And yet…”
He extended a hand, offering, not her, but her future words a boost. Passing it up would have extended big brother’s playful mood.
She accepted.
“You cannot kill him.” She said, firm, recrossing her arms, unsure of when she’d uncrossed them.
“Because, killing bad?”
“No, that’s nonsense. He’s a key. If you kill him, you slow things down by a year, at most.”
“Why a year?”
She stared, weighing over what to say. Not thinking it over so much as balancing what to share over her Sisterhood. But the look in his eye said, playing around wouldn’t work.
“Because it’d be madness to believe that he wouldn’t have journals. They’ll learn quick, outstandingly quick. And when they do, everything falls apart.”
“We need to prep for war, even a year will help.” He countered.
“It’s an offensive war for us. Every day we gather resources, is a day they get to fortify. And the order of magnitude needed to launch an effective attack grows.”
“Which, if grammy is right, is something the kingdom can’t afford.” He said, nodding.
“I am twelve.”
“You are stalling.” He said quickly.
“Can your wife at least make herself more comfortable against me seeing how it’s cold on this side.”
Misses Wife adjusted her grip, getting right against her back, pulling Thato until none of her was on the desk, her toes barely touching the thick rug. Her face buried against Thato’s ear, sniffing her scalp.
“I remind you both I am twelve.”
“Oh, don’t even bother with that. Fifteen is child rearing age but you’re a grounds Keeper. In under two years, there’ll be constant offers of aid to ensure someone puts a baby in you.” She said poking Thato’s stomach with the business end of the blade, with enough force to have cut human skin. Instead it left a hole in her cotton shirt.
Oh ho!
Her mind screamed in adulation. But hitting would be a distraction. There was a bigger question they were determined to avoid. Why were they there? She wasn’t stupid, which proved to be an issue because he appeared to know that too.
She wasn’t in danger but most certainly at risk. Her head spun. They weren’t there for a fight, they were there for her mind. A test, but why? Were they going to invite her to something? Would she be a part of some… ‘thing’?
No, she was twelve.
That meant nothing for grammy, but Malusi too?
Thato had managed to successfully steal multiple moments of time using The Wife. Malusi would let ‘Wife’ talk whenever ‘Wife’ felt like it.
But for Thato?
His bemused smile yelled ‘stop stalling’.
But the question of ‘why her’ still hung.
Answering with no hope of catching where the questions were heading… stalling was all she had.
“Teetee, if we can’t afford a war, then…”
“Never said, we can’t afford a war. I said if we wait then we definitely can’t. We must still pay the sage’s tax or risk losing a thousand sons.”
“So, in your mind, to stall the dam is to stall the war. The two are not connected.”
“The war is to destroy the dam! We certainly do not have nearly enough for conquest. Nongoma is just too large.”
“And what do you know of Nongoma fortifications?”
“What grammy tells me.”
His lips pursed and his brow rose. Was, that disappointment?
“I am twelve!”
“Sweet Star is twelve.” The Wife cooed.
Despite Thato’s best effort, all that work to flatten her pride, her silver hackles rose.
Consoling, patronizing.
Malusi shrugged, throwing his hands up.
“That is true, I guess, even nature has limits. I’ve wasted your time.”
“Shut up brother. I’m no fool. It’s the kingdom’s reports, along with other means that are my own as you have your own!”
“And you say they are open for attack?”
“A strike. Just one. If you kill him you expose their weakness, fortifying the dam would take a few moments more, but they’d waste little wealth to do it. And to destroy it after would bleed us of wealth we do not have. We’d die.”
“We’re at war girl, how do we NOT waste wealth?”
The snap back was so quick it didn’t leave hope for a breather, and she was due a moment, she’d even take a breath!
“I never said we wouldn’t waste wealth, it’s about them losing wealth too!” She yelled.
She sat up straight, ankles touching rug, Misses Wife’s legs gave way before she was dragged off the table. The blade cut a line into her shirt.
“My shirt!” Thato cried and lifted the lightning stone which snapped against the hilt of Wife’s sword, slamming her fingers as metal attracted metal.
The Wife hissed and Thato pulled free. The Wife grabbed at her with the unoccupied hand which had been on its way to rescue the pinned hand.
On her toes Thato waited. The Wife went from swinging legs on the desk to standing up and Thato kicked her knees mid transition, hard.
Balance and grounding disappeared as her feet launched backwards while her torso moved forward. She flopped only to land in Malus’s waiting arm, hanging until she collected herself.
Thato was out the door.
Malusi’s laugh and The Wife’s scream, the only thing following after her.
