Page 45 of The Gilded Ones

Thankfully, Karmoko Thandiwe doesn’t even seem to notice me as she walks to the front of the desks, a scroll in hand. She turns it towards us, displaying a picture, one that never fails to produce tremors of fear inside me. “You all know of the Gilded Ones, the alaki’s infernal ancestors,” she says.

I nod, reluctantly taking in the monstrous golden-veined beings depicted on the scroll. There’s four of them: one so white she’s glowing, another brown with a pendulous belly and protruding breasts, the third red and scaled over with wings like a dragon, and the fourth amorphous in shape and as dark as an inkblot. The sight of them fills me with unease. To think that I’m descended from them, from beings so frightening, so nightmarish of form. I may have come to terms with being alaki, but reminders like this still unsettle me.

I push back the thought as Karmoko Thandiwe hands the scroll to the neophyte nearest her, a short, doe-eyed Southerner named Mehrut. “Today, we will begin learning about the demonic heritage the Gilded Ones have left you and how to harness it against the deathshrieks,” she says. “Open your scrolls to section three. Let’s get started.”

When the lesson ends, I remain seated, anxiety building. What does Karmoko Thandiwe want with me? I’m so tense, everything she taught us about alaki physiology has disappeared, replaced by a thousand horrific scenarios involving bloody rungus and questions about my true nature. My fears spiral higher and higher until Keita walks over, places a hand on my shoulder. I shiver from the surprising warmth of it, my thoughts abruptly calming.

“If Karmoko Thandiwe wanted to report you to the jatu, she would have done so by now,” he says quietly, “so remember that before you panic.”

I don’t even know how he sensed my feelings, but I exhale. “I’ll keep that in mind,” I whisper.

He nods, heads for the door, but now the others have noticed

I’m not following behind them.

“Ye not coming, Deka?” Britta asks.

“In a moment,” I say, waving them away. “Save me dinner. Karmoko Thandiwe wishes to speak with me.”

“What did you do?” Li, Britta’s uruni asks. He’s a lanky boy from the Eastern provinces, all smiles and easy manner.

“Nothing that I know of,” I quickly say. Then I frown. “And why would you think I did something?”

Acalan humphs pompously. “Well, what else would it be? She never asks for you.”

“Let’s hurry and eat, I’m starving,” Li complains.

“Yer always starving,” Britta notes.

“A case of the river condemning the stream for rushing too fast, isn’t it?” Li sniffs.

Keita turns to me, a silent reminder in his eyes: don’t panic. “I’ll save you dinner, Deka,” he says.

I force myself to nod. “My thanks.”

Their voices disappear down the hallway.

Now I’m alone with Karmoko Thandiwe in the large, forbidding cavern, tension worming its way through my insides as I watch her put away her teaching scrolls.

Finally, she turns to me. “Follow me, Deka,” she says quietly.

I nod. “Yes, Karmoko.”

My nervousness grows as she leads me out of the caverns up to a narrow stairway I’ve never seen before. Its sides seem to gather closer the farther up I go. What does the karmoko plan for me? Does she want to imprison me, study and bleed me? My thoughts whirl faster and faster until finally, I can’t bear the anticipation any longer.

I stop, apprehensive. “Karmoko Thandiwe,” I say.

“Yes?”

“Is this about before? About what happened with the deathshrieks?”

She turns to me with a frown, seeming confused. “Something happened when the deathshrieks came? I cannot recall.” As I blink at her, perplexed, she steps closer, whispers in my ear: “If something did, however, happen then, I would be wise to keep it to myself, would I not? Just as I would also be wise to explore it at the most opportune time.”

Shock washes over me like a wave.

She’s not going to lock me away? Study me like the deathshrieks caged under the Warthu Bera? My muscles feel weak. My entire body feels unbalanced. “I don’t understand,” I say, looking up at her.

Karmoko Thandiwe shrugs. “I have no intention of hurting you, alaki. You are Umu’s daughter, are you not?”

---