surprise. “Call me Zola, and a woman. Bahtir would not allow women in the fight, he wanted them only for his bed. Yafeu is better. With him I can show my strength in both places."
Zola grinned at Odion, exposing teeth sharpened into points. Her stare had an animal quality to it, something almost predatory. Judging from his reluctance to meet the woman's stare, Odion did not find her aggression appealing. Njeri didn't like it either; Zola had a showiness about her that was distinctly off-putting. Not like Kanika's understated strength.
Njeri took up her obsidian blade, protected in its leather sheath. “The general will set us to work immediately then?"
"In a land where power shifts like flowing water, there is no later. Everything worth doing is worth doing now.” Zola glanced again at Odion, but again he gave her no response. She shrugged and led them to the guardhouse. A pair of goats were tethered outside, undoubtedly part of her payment for serving the new general.
Before they entered, Zola tapped the door three times with one end of her bow, announcing their arrival to those inside. The guardhouse looked the same as it always had. Sleeping bunks lined the walls, and supplies were stacked in neat piles beneath and around the beds. Only the occupants had changed, the Maiwatu guardsmen replaced by the Upyatu.
General Yafeu sat atop a makeshift throne at the back of the room. He was a young man, barely older than Odion, and he had surrounded himself with female guardsmen. His guards were in full uniform, but the general's chest was bare except for a piece of vibrant yellow citrine that hung on a leather cord. It was carved into the shape of a lion's head, reminiscent of the decorations on the citrine throne in the capital. Two other stones hung from his belt, Bahtir's tiger-eye and the rose quartz of Bahtir's predecessor. At the base of Yafeu's throne were two men, bound and gagged. Njeri was unsurprised to see that Bahtir was one of the prisoners. The other was a man she did not recognize.
Zola stood to the left side of the general's throne and whispered something into his ear.
"So you are the Surgeon of Stonewall,” Yafeu said.
"Yes,” she replied, “and this is my apprentice.” She did not bother with her name, or Odion's, for Yafeu had the look of a man who cared not about such things.
"And the wall will show these men for the evil creatures they are?” Yafeu asked, gesturing at his prisoners and curling his lips as though the very thought of them repulsed him.
"The wall reveals the innermost secrets of our nature,” Njeri replied. “Those placed on the wall can hide nothing."
Odion stepped forward. “If they have shadow in them, the wall will expose it."
Njeri resisted the urge to rebuke her apprentice, but only because she didn't wish to fight in front of the general. It was not his place to speak in this situation, and it diminished Njeri that he would misbehave like this.
General Yafeu laughed. “I like this apprentice of yours. He shows spirit, and a willingness to please."
Njeri forced herself to nod and smile, even as Yafeu let his gaze linger on her apprentice. The general's words held the promise of intimacy that Odion had long sought with Njeri, and the boy was lonely enough that he might be swayed by the man's attention. She would have to be careful.
A guardsman entered without knocking and knelt, with his head bowed, in the center of the room. He was coated in sweat and dirt, and panted as though he had run the entire way from the capital.
"Go.” Yafeu waved them away. “I will send you the prisoners when I'm finished here, and you can begin your work."
The wall was three times as tall as Njeri, and thicker than the length of her arm. It stretched twice the length of the village, winding east into the hills like a crystal snake. The morning sun glinted bright off the stones, if they could really be called stones. The wall was made from blocks as clear as glass, irregularly