Page 100 of The Merciless Ones

Even as I say this, memories flash: the Idugu’s gigantic golden hand reaching for me in the temple; Okot’s presence always seeming to appear whenever I was near his worshippers. I curse under my breath, berating myself for my stupidity. Foolish Deka, assuming the Idugu were ever bound by the gold veiling them. They’ve been free all this time, unshackled the moment I released the Gilded Ones from their prisons, because it was never the gold that compelled them to remain in place; it was their tether to the mothers. And I freed them from it, just as I freed the mothers. How they must have laughed when I made the assumption they couldn’t move from their temple.

“Descend,” I shout to Ixa.

My massive companion quickly complies, landing on the sand with a gigantic thud. Everyone jumps off and glances around in alarm. The glass river really has been broken.

“Looks like an army came through,” Lamin says, his eyes narrowing, as he joins Keita and me at the edge of the river. He’s a skilled tracker, the best in our group. He kneels so he can examine the devastation in the swiftly falling darkness. “Used ballistas to break through, most likely. It’s moving fast. Judging by its pace, the soldiers should be up in the mountains now.”

Britta looks up, frowns. “That doesn’t make sense. If there’s an army going up, why aren’t the alarms sounding?”

My eyes narrow – she’s right. There’s no motion in the jungle canopies, no noise. If an army was making its way up, the creatures there would be in uproar, birds flapping away, lemurs and leopardans alike running for safety. And yet, the Temple of the Gilded Ones seems serene: no drums, no lights. It’s strange – the mothers built a thousand warning systems and alarms when they reshaped the N’Oyos, but I can’t sense a single one. It’s as if something has muffled the entire mountain. Wait… My eyes narrow when I spot it, the haze drifting around the N’Oyos' peaks. A less-trained eye would dismiss it as the evening breeze, but I know better.

“It’s the Idugu!” The answer reaches me in rush. “They must be hiding the army’s ascent!”

So that’s why they were so sparing in their power before, using just enough to speak to me and to open doors into their temples. It’s not that they were considerably weaker than the goddesses; they’ve just been biding their time. It requires an immense amount of energy to cloak an entire mountain. To sneak armies of men up without alerting the alaki or waking the goddesses is no small feat. They’ve no doubt been planning this very carefully for some time now.

I swiftly force myself into the deep combat state, straining my senses to push past the quiet – past the illusion the Idugu have created – until finally I hear it: the distant echo of footsteps. Only it’s not up on the mountain, as I expected, but at the base of the foothills. The Idugu’s army hasn’t made real headway up the mountain yet. And they don’t seem to want to do so either. Those footsteps aren’t the uniform march of an army to its destination. They’re more tentative. Seeking.

What are they doing?

I don’t have time to dwell on the question. I rush over to Ixa. “We have to go,” I say, beckoning to the others.

Ixa nods. Deka, ride, he agrees, kneeling so we can get on his back.

“What are you waiting for?” I say when the others linger. “Get on!”

There’s a mad rush as everyone swiftly mounts Ixa. I hurry to seat myself behind the spike in the centre of his head. “Everyone ready?” I ask.

“Yes,” Britta says hurriedly.

I turn to Ixa. Let’s go.

A column of dust rises as Ixa launches into the air and begins flying. All it takes is a few flaps of his wings, and the army at the foothills comes into view. A dull throbbing starts at the base of my skull when I take stock of them, thousands upon thousands of true jatu and Forsworn deathshrieks in that distinctive armour, the kaduth emblazoned on their breastplates to prevent my power from reaching them. The sheer number of them has my breath constricting in my chest and my eyes widening. Just where did all those true jatu come from? The Idugu must have been gathering them from the armies they’ve raised across Otera, keeping them hidden for this day.

I force myself to swallow the sudden dryness in my mouth as I quickly estimate the numbers of soldiers, weaponry – anything that can give me greater insight into the Idugu’s attack strategy, really. An army of this size means only one thing: complete and utter annihilation. But not for the mothers. Sheer terror rises inside me as I understand: the Idugu can’t kill the mothers without killing themselves, but they can kill all their children. They can kill everyone who gives the goddesses the worship they require. They never have to lift a finger against the mothers; they could simply starve them into submission. I stare at the army, my mind racing, heart pounding, until suddenly, I notice something strange. At the edge of the mountain, a contingent of Forsworn deathshrieks is grouped around a gigantic hole in the mountain.

The sight seems so familiar to me, it takes some moments before I realize what they’re doing: pulling another of their kind from out of the mountainside. At least, that’s what the massive purple form embedded in the dirt looks like.

“WHAT ARE THOSE DEATHSHRIEKS DOING?” Keita has to shout to be heard above the wind, which is whipping aggressively in our faces as Ixa flies up the mountain.

I squint harder, trying to ensure I’m seeing correctly. “THEY’RE PULLING OTHER FORSWORN OUT OF THE MOUNTAIN!”

But why? Are they trying to reach Abeya from underground? Is that hole their method of entering the mountain without alerting the mothers to their presence? That somehow doesn’t seem right. Something is niggling at me, something I need to remember. I try to squint at the deathshrieks again, but shouts ring out from the front lines, followed by frantic drumbeats. The jatu commanders have spotted us, are turning the ballistas our way.

Watch out, Ixa! I shout when a boulder flies in our direction.

Ixa immediately tilts away, his body swiftly evading the onslaught despite its enormous size. He darts and weaves, headed higher up the mountain, until soon, we’re out of reach of the projectiles. By now, his movements are growing heavier, his breathing more and more laboured. He’s been flying all day, and he’s almost at his limit.

Almost there, Ixa, I encourage him. You can do this.

Deka, he replies wearily, struggling onwards.

The guards on the perimeter seem shocked when Ixa crashes into the landing area just beyond the lake, too exhausted to go any further. The haze is even thicker up here than below, so I’m not surprised they didn’t see him. It’s coiling around me now, dulling my senses. Infinity only knows what it’s doing to everyone else. What it’s doing to the mothers.

What if it’s dulling their senses, making them sleep, so they don’t realize what’s happening around them? I quickly dismount, my expression grim.

“Prepare for battle!” I command. “Jatu are coming up the mountain, and they’re bringing male deathshrieks with them.”

“But—” a guard gapes.

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