Page 70 of Ashes of Gold
The Seer rolls her neck; her pallid flesh is slick with sweat. The thin shift she’s wearing is tearing at the seams. Questions about her daughter, about how she got this way, about why she’s keptlocked up like this, sit on my lips, but I swallow them.
She studies me with a narrowed expression. “Make your request, Jelani.” Her words are raspy.
I snuff out the fireball in my hand and clear my throat. “I need to know if there’s a way for me to talk to my Ancestors.”
Between her curtain of hair, I faintly make out a few broken teeth as her lips split in the faintest hint of a smile. It doesn’t seem to cause her any pain, which is a relief.
She reaches across the thin void between us and sets a cold, bony hand on my forehead. The world goes black. I am heavy. All over. I try to inhale but can’t.What in the…
“Ssssh.” She presses harder, holding her hand there for a moment like she’s checking my temperature. But my head feels like it might explode. Then her fingers break contact and I gasp as she comes back in focus.
“Your intentions are as pure as your heart.” Her pupils are tiny dots and she stares at me, but somehowinto me. “But death does not flinch at the tenderhearted, Jelani. Death does not flinch ever. When it comes time, you must not flinch either.”
Huh?“I… okay… so, is there a spell I use? Or?”
“Yes, yes, there are words that you can mutter to pierce the grave.” She opens her palm, licking her lips.
Gold and blood.
“Uhhh.” I gulp, patting my pockets, and find a lump. I pull out the bone and one of the two gold coins.
The Seer’s eyes smile. “Yes, yes, that’ll do.”
Sickness swirls in my insides. Taavi had no idea I had a way to pay this woman. She had no idea I’d make it out of here alive, andlocked me in. But Totsi, her sister, must have known I’d come for answers. She had to have left that bone and gold for me to find. She had to have wanted me to ask her mother questions and get answers. It’s the only thing that makes sense.
I hand the bone and a single coin over. She bites the coin before tucking it in her bosom and drops the bone to the hungry flames below. They gush, crackling in response, the room glowing brighter.
Her eyes roll around in their sockets and her lips part. “A drizzle of jpango sap.” She speaks in short breaths, as if each syllable pains her. “A loc of hair from an Elder… a-and…” She grunts. “A loc of hair from an enemy.” She shudders. “Take them to your Ancestors’ grave when the moon is highandthe skies are heavy with sorrow. Chant ‘u’shaka wesee’ three times with your hands dug into the dirt where their spirit lives. They will come.”
An Elder? But the Elders are all dead. And my enemy? The Chancellor? How will I ever… Cold sweat beads down my neck. “A-and what if it doesn’t work? Wh-what if I can’t do it the way you said. I—” I’d wished the answer would be simpler. “The Ancestors have to fix this, you understand? I need something that feels doable. How am I supposed to…”
“Mmph,” she grunts, trying to push something out. “There is coming a—” Her lips snap shut.
“A what?” I lean so close, I can smell her rancid breath. “Tell me! There is coming a what?”
She holds out her hand, but all I have left is one coin. No bone, no blood.
Unless…
I suck in a breath.Here goes nothing.I bite down and rub mypalm hard on the rugged edge of her stone bed. It burns. Blood puckers out the puncture on my hand and the Seer tilts her head in satisfaction, pointing to the fire. I hold my hand over the edge of the stone platform, and blood drips into the blue flame beneath. I hand her my last coin and she smiles.
“There is coming a what?” I ask.
“There is a coming a great betrayal, child.”
Her words pierce like a dagger and I gasp.
“Trust is a dangerous thing,” she goes on. “Someone you trust has already betrayed you. But they are only the first.”
My throat tightens. “Who?” I squeeze out. “Tell me who!”
She holds out her hand.
“I have nothing else. No more gold. Only blood.” The rings in my hair are tiny, nowhere near the amount of gold as the coin. And even if it were enough, giving her those feels… wrong.
“Well, then. I have given you what you’ve paid for.” She eases herself back down on her stone pillow, gritting her teeth as if it hurts her. “Leave me now. I must rest.”
As I turn my back on her, fingers as cold as death wrap around my arm. “Understand me,” she whispers, her gaze racy. I try to pull away, but her grip is ironclad. “Theywillbetray you, Jelani.” She shoves each word out like it’s a fight. “And you will not see it coming.”
