“General,” Queen Tsiora said, “we have given this Ihashe leave to speak.”
Otobong seemed to be waiting for Mirembe to do or say something. When she didn’t, he frowned. “Of course, my queen. Why not listen? We have nothing if not time.”
Tsiora looked ready to respond to that, but her next words were gentle, and they were for Hadith. “Go on, Ihashe. Describe the path as you see it.”
“They haven’t left yet,” Hadith said. “The Xiddeen must wait out this storm before sailing, and that means they’re still on our shores.” A thunderclap boomed, as if to support his point. “There are only three beaches beyond the Fist where the Xiddeen could have landed as many raiders as they did. If we split our men into prongs, we can—”
“My queen,” said Otobong, “I apologize, but must we listen to more of this madness? With no humor, I’d rather hear from the horses.”
“General . . . ,” Tsiora said.
“The Lesser is going to suggest we attack the hedeni,” the general said. “He thinks to void our truce by ambushing a force that outnumbers us. Why begin that journey when we can cut to the end of this path by slitting our own throats now?”
“Ihashe?” Tsiora said to Hadith.
She wanted an answer to the problems the general had raised. Tau worried there wasn’t one.
“We don’t need to kill everyone,” Hadith said.
Otobong laughed. “That helps, since we can’t.”
“We just need to kill the warlord.”
“Good thinking, Lesser,” Otobong said. “We won’t fight the other hedeni. We’ll walk past them and only attack the warlord.”
Hadith was becoming angry. His expression hadn’t changed, but Tau had known him long enough to see it.
“We can wait until most of the Xiddeen have left our shores before we attack,” Hadith said.
“Of course we can,” Otobong said. “We have enough fighters to outnumber a single ship’s complement. Our men can swim the Roar, blades held in their teeth, to attack Warlord Achak on his boat.” He grinned at the Indlovu around him. “I see it better now.”
“No, you don’t,” Hadith said, earning himself a sharp look from the Greater Noble. “The warlord is the Xiddeen’s military leader, and by all accounts, he’s a good one. He’ll remain onshore as the majority of his raiders embark. We can attack when the Xiddeen remaining on our land are too few to stop us.”
“Why in the Goddess’s name would the warlord remain onshore while the strength of his force sails?”
“For much the same reason the Xiddeen fight women alongside their men,” Hadith told the general.
Otobong waved away the explanation. “That’s done because it’s the only way they can field enough bodies to overwhelm us.”
“They do it because they view one another as equals,” Hadith said. “Women, men, soldiers, and leaders, for the most part each life is considered to hold equal value and ability.”
Otobong squinted at Hadith. “What are you, Governor caste?” he asked, his eyes flickering to Tau. “Are you trying to tell me that a simple Low Common has equal worth in divining a fief’s finances as you would? Come, now, you’re grabbing a dull sword by its blade and naming it a hilt. The savages are unsophisticated, but even they know that a warlord’s life, with his knowledge of their numbers, strategies, and tactics, outweighs the life of one soldier. He’ll be protected.”
“You’re right on some counts,” Hadith said. “The Xiddeen will protect him, but I’m telling you that, in this, they’ll behave more like Lessers than Nobles.”
Smiling, Otobong spread his arms wide. “Don’t they always?” he asked.
Hadith turned to Tau. “Champion,” he said, “a storm rages outside and no ships can sail the Roar for as long as it does. When the storm dies and the Xiddeen board their vessels, where would you, as their leader, be?”
Tau told the truth. “On the shore. If I lead men into danger, I must see them out of it as well.”
Letting his eyes slide past the general and to the queen, Hadith dipped his head, the gesture taking them both in. “At its essence, isn’t true leadership simply service?” he asked.
Tau didn’t see the queen’s reaction. He was too busy watching Otobong advance on Hadith.
“I’m right here, Lesser,” the general said. “If you have something to say to me, have the courage to do it openly.”
Hadith took a small step back while meeting Otobong’s eyes with his own. “When the storm ends and the Xiddeen begin to leave our shores, we know they’ll do it in several groupings. It’s the only way they can be sure to avoid having their entire fleet sunk by a rogue wave.” Hadith turned to the queen. “I think that the warlord will be among one of the final groups to take to the water, and that gives us our chance.”
“You think?” Otobong asked. “You think?”
“I know it as well as I can know anything that hasn’t yet happened,” Hadith said, pushing on, “and I’m not saying it’ll be easy to get to him. All the fighters in the warlord’s sailing group will still be onshore. It’s like you mentioned. The Xiddeen can’t deny that Achak is important, and he will be protected, but we won’t have to face the full strength of the raiding force.” The general didn’t seem convinced, and Hadith gave it one more swing. “Please, we’ll never have a better chance.”
Otobong closed the remaining distance between them. “You’re saying that you understand our enemy because you’re more like them than I am, and I won’t argue that. On the other hand, I find myself revolted by the fact that you’re using such base commonality as the foundation for your advice to our monarch. Goddess wept, you’re asking your queen to break her sworn word. Lesser, do you lack even a Drudge’s honor?”
Hadith drew himself up to his full height, coming just short of Otobong’s neck. “If you do as I ask, Warlord Achak will never leave our peninsula. He’ll die here and his death will throw the Xiddeen into disarray.”
“I’ll do no such thing,” Otobong said. “I won’t listen to plans for backstabbing and promise breaking when we have Odili and Palm City to consider.”
“Odili stands behind the tall walls of a fortified city that is filled with Indlovu, Ihashe, and Gifted,” Hadith said. “We don’t have the strength to take him on without reinforcements from the fiefs, and we don’t have the time to reinforce before the Xiddeen return to wipe us out. That’s what you told us, right?”
Chairwoman Mirembe spoke then. “And that is why we must make amends with Odili.”
“There will be no amends.” The words were out of Tau’s mouth before he could stop them.
“Champion,” Nyah said, a warning in her tone.
“Champion. . . .” Mirembe cocked her head to one side, saying the word as if she’d never found occasion to utter it before. “Is there something you wish to add?”
“Odili is a traitor. He’ll die a traitor’s death,” he said.
“Really? But isn’t that something your queen should decide?” Mirembe asked. “Doesn’t that decision fall under the purview of the one to whom you swore your oaths, and her councils?”