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“ S holei,” Tula called as her best friend cut the ropes that bound her.

“We don’t have much time before they realize we are missing.” Sholei worked to wrap a heavy cloak around Tula’s threadbare shoulders—one of the luxurious items of clothing General Ojore supplied her.

“Did the General agree to my release?” Tula’s fitful cough tore through her chest. “Sholei, talk to me.” She grabbed Sholei’s shoulder and faced her.

“I have his insignia. No one in the camp can stop me if I wield it.” From her robes, she produced a golden crest with the head of a lion the size of her palm.

“Did he give it to you?” Tula watched Sholei’s eyes grow sad as she ran her fingers along its golden ridges.

“Does it matter how I got it? What’s important is that we can leave this camp in one piece.” Sholei folded the crest back into her clothes.

Outside, the soldiers who guarded her prison cell were slumped against the wall. During her time in captivity, Tula underwent multiple interrogations, but she didn’t divulge any information. She hardly talked to Sholei without the presence of guards, and the threat of death loomed over her. She had resigned herself to her fate. Sholei’s sudden appearance felt like a miracle.

“Did you kill them?” She threw Sholei a suspicious glance after they passed the men.

Tula leaned her weight against Sholei and contemplated the changes in her friend. They had been separated for months after Sholei’s kidnapping. Sholei didn’t appear tortured, as Gane had claimed. She was dressed in the finest clothes, and a servant followed her around the camp, leading Tula to suspect something had happened between Sholei and General Ojore. Tula couldn’t decipher whether Sholei was a prisoner or a guest in the camp.

“Of course not. They are asleep. They will be fine when we are far away from here,” Sholei countered, her eyes widening at the accusation.

Being mindful of Tula’s injuries, Tula and Sholei trudged outdoors, away from the holding cells. Fresh air filled her nose outside the putrid and stuffy cells. The camp was quiet, and cold air enveloped them. It seemed Sholei cleared their path before she came for her, as Tula couldn’t see anyone nearby. How did Sholei manage to pull it off ? The heavily guarded camp was devoid of patrol guards .

“We must take a horse. We’ll move faster that way.” Sholei led her in the direction of the stables. In the darkness, they tiptoed. Back home, her brothers Kweku and Anasi took her on horse rides when their father wasn’t around to admonish her for participating in men’s activities. As a woman, she was to learn to become a homemaker, a title Tula despised. She would rather dress up as a soldier and fight than manage a home.

After Prince Gane encountered Ojore in Vipingo Gorge and was brought back to the capital injured and without Sholei, Tula volunteered to join another spy to infiltrate the Dembe military camp. Prince Gane was hesitant to let her go, but Tula camped outside his residence until he gave in. Her brothers were posted to the Keseve Market and weren’t around to stop her. Gane handed her a special potion to poison the Dembe camp’s stored water and its granaries.

“You have to hold on tight.” Sholei’s hushed tone brought her back to the present, and the scent of horse manure assaulted her nose.

“You learned how to ride a horse?” Tula asked when they stopped before the raw wooden stands. Back in Mukuru, as much as Tula and Sholei sneaked to watch the soldiers train, Sholei refused to practice horse riding.

”There isn’t much difference between riding a horse and a donkey,” Sholei glanced around the dark stalls. “A good horse will shorten the time it takes us to get back.”

“Let’s take this one.” Sholei guided her toward a dark horse, the same one General Ojore favored. It neighed and stretched its nose toward her. “Radi is fast enough to get us far away from here.” Tula grew more curious about the relationship between the fearsome soldier and her friend. They must have grown closer in the months he held her captive in the war camp if taking his horse was something to consider. But how close? While in her cell, she overheard the soldiers refer to her as My Lady, and she had heard how Ojore brought her gifts and even went out with her on horse rides. Sholei smiled at the horse, and Tula wondered how true the rumors were.

With a bit of noise, Sholei opened the pen and grabbed Radi’s reins. The tall beast stood still as Sholei saddled its rump. Its warm breath misted the air.

“I know I am not Ojore, but I need you to help me escape. Once I become free, you can come back to him.” Sholei murmured as she scratched its glossy neck. Tula watched in amazement as the horse bumped its head on Sholei’s shoulder before she took control of its reins.

Sholei managed to help Tula get onto the back of the horse before she joined her. Tula wrapped her arms around Sholei’s waist. The horse trotted outside the stalls, but Tula stopped her.

“We can’t go through the front gates. Even if you have his crest, we might not get through,” Tula whispered, alert to any noise.

“If we charge forward fast enough, we might catch the guards by surprise and make it out.” Sholei tightened her hands on the reins.

“I know of a different route we can take.” Tula pointed toward the fence behind the animal shed. “There aren’t many soldiers there.”

Sholei nudged Radi in the direction Tula indicated, and within a short distance, they were out of the camp. Once in the plains, Radi raced like the wind. Tula clung to Sholei, who did her best to control the beast, its hooves almost flying over the ground. Tula tried not to fall asleep lest she fall from the horse. Sholei might not say much about her escape from General Ojore, but her shoulders tensed, even after they covered a considerable distance.

Tula didn’t know how much time had passed since their escape, but no one followed them. She didn’t hear the thundering hooves of pursuing horses and was relieved they weren’t being chased. After a while, Tula grew accustomed to riding and helped Sholei guide the horse toward the Mukuru borders. It took Tula and the other spy, Masaka, who had been highly trained, several days to make it to the camp after leaving Mukuru. The Dembe hid their tracks well, and if it hadn’t been for a stroke of luck, they might never have discovered the war camp. To break into the camp hadn’t been easy. It took time to find an opening.

”How did you escape the general? Did you do as Prince Gane instructed?” Tula whispered behind Sholei’s ear, and her friend’s shoulders tensed again.

“Prince Gane promised to sponsor your apprenticeship in the Faye Islands if you poisoned Ojore to death,” Tula said. “With the rising death in Dembe camp, we have higher chances of winning the war.”

“What did he promise you to make you come after me?” Sholei asked and pulled Radi to a slow trot. “How could you endanger your life like that?”

Tula had expected the outburst since they made it out of the camp .

“Should I ignore your plight and sit doing nothing while you were in captivity?” Tula asked. “I took the chance to come rescue you and help my kingdom win the war against Dembe.”

“What if you died? Your sacrifice would be for nothing,” Sholei said. “I would have found a way back to Mukuru sooner or later. Prince Gane was wrong to choose you to come after me. With the deaths of the Dembe soldiers, Ojore will not spare your life if he gets you.”

“I understood the consequences of this mission when I took it,” Tula answered in a low tone. “Why would you be concerned about the deaths of our enemies? They deserved it for what they did in the Keseve Market.”

“Ojore wasn’t going to hurt civilians in this war. If you’d stayed put, everything would have fallen into place,” Sholei said. Her calling the general in such an intimate way didn’t go unnoticed by Tula.

“How can I stay calm as my kingdom is razed to the ground?” Tula tried to catch Sholei’s eye. “What did Ojore promise you to get you to work with his physician?” When Sholei didn’t answer, it hit Tula that the only thing Sholei cared so much for was admission to the Faye Islands.

“He offered you a chance to join the Imperial Physicians, didn’t he?” Tula’s voice rose. “To achieve your dreams, you decided to work with the enemy?”

“I was yet to accept his offer.” Sholei lowered her gaze, and Tula barked out in bitter laughter.

“How could you turn your back on Mukuru when it’s your home?” Tula asked, her arms slipping from Sholei’s waist, but Sholei pulled them back .

”When has Mukuru ever been my home?” Sholei asked and held Tula’s arms around her waist. “The possibility of wasting away in the medicine yard is high if I don’t join the Imperial Physicians. I am ostracized because of my background, and I found a way to change that. Why shouldn’t I take the chance?”

“Where does your loyalty lie?” Tula asked, her heart squeezing at Sholei’s flat tone. Growing up, Sholei’s life hadn’t been easy, but turning against everything she knew to help the enemy sounded equally bad.

“With my ambitions,” Sholei answered. Her hand squeezed into a fist on the horse’s reins.

“What about now? Did you kill the general? Are you going to accept Gane’s offer and work with him?” Tula held on to Sholei as the horse started forward again. Sholei whispered something, but the rushing wind kept it from reaching her ears as Radi picked up speed.

Ojore leaned against the table, still grappling with the effects of the poison Sholei had administered. He was conscious for hours, but the toxin’s potency persisted, blurring his vision, causing his ears to ring, and his limbs to refuse to obey him. What poison did she feed him?

Akima entered the tent with a steaming bowl. He approached Ojore. “Litonde prepared this for you.” He handed the bowl to Ojore.

”Remember, apart from you two, no one else is to find out Sholei poisoned me to escape.” Ojore scrunched his nose at the sour scent of the medicine. “Her escape has to look like a coincidence. ”

“You are playing a dangerous game.” Akima frowned. “What if she poisoned you with something deadlier? You could have died.” Akima ignored Ojore’s cold stare and pushed the bowl into his hands.

“But she didn’t. She wouldn’t kill me.” Ojore pinched his nose and gulped down the bitter medicine.

“You can’t keep trying fate like this.”

Ojore ignored the judgmental look on Akima’s dark face. Sholei’s betrayal grated on his nerves. She had poisoned him. He coughed when the medicine tried to come back from his unsettled stomach.

“What other options did I have?” He grunted when Akima passed him a water flask to wash down the bitter contents.

Ojore knew the instant Sholei wanted to poison him. It was written all over her face, trembling hands, and teary eyes. Akima cleared the way for her when she went to collect her friend from the prison cells and when they left the camp, as per Ojore’s secret orders. She dared to take Radi with her—how bold! Another flash of blindness crossed his eyes and Ojore shook his head to clear it.

“You could have killed the spy and imprisoned Sholei here,” Akima said.

“If I did so, Sholei would despise me forever. She holds a close bond with Tula and Musembi.” Ojore closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat. “Besides, I will get her back after the upcoming battle. She is heading to Mukuru, and we will also leave here soon. We’ll meet again.”

“It would be better if you would forget about her, my lord,” Akima said .

“Sholei will never get away from me.” Ojore’s eyes flew open, and he glared at Akima as his vision cleared.

“She’s gone back to Prince Gane. In the end, even your offer to let her join the Imperial Physicians in the most populous city on the continent didn’t make her stay.” Akima was unrelenting in his accusations, and Ojore closed his eyes in frustration.

“You think he’s capable of keeping her from me?” Ojore barked out a cruel laugh.

Ojore was ruthless in retaliating against betrayal, yet he was lenient toward Sholei. Choosing to let Tula go after she poisoned hundreds of his men to death didn’t sit well with Akima. If Dembe’s court knew of his choices, he would be summoned before the king to answer for his decisions. The only way to save the situation was to conquer the Mukuru Kingdom and pave the way to Lake Alokove.

Ojore stumbled to his feet, but Akima was right by his side.

“Maybe you should sit this one out,” Akima said. The effects of the poison were yet to disappear even after he took the strong tonic Litonde prepared. Akima didn’t know whether to marvel or be disturbed by Sholei’s skills.

“I will be the first man on the battlefield and the last to leave.” Ojore held on to Akima’s arm, “Gane must pay for the lives of the men I lost. Only then will their souls cross through the three doors of the afterlife.”

Ojore stumbled to where his battle regalia was hung. His steps got steadier the more he walked. Ojore grabbed the container of war paint and stood before a mirror.

“Are the men ready?” Ojore asked, his demeanor fierce as he applied red and black paint to his face and tied his wild locks on his head. Tinted red eyes reflected at him. Evidence of Sholei’s poisoning and her betrayal. Ojore clenched his hand and forced himself to turn from the mirror, but not before he shattered it with a swift punch.

“We’re set.” Akima gave a grim nod.

“When we ride out, the poisoned men should be prepared to return to the capital for further treatment. The remaining ones should break camp and follow us to the Keseve Market as backup if anything goes wrong.” Their camp was exposed, and they paid a deadly price for that. It was time to move.

”Summon the generals. I want this war to end once and for all.”