THE LAST KEEPER

An hour or less later, Sagiri was finally brought in from the dungeon. He was escorted by the shadow unit. Only this time it seemed their orders were different. The power-taming threads of the seventh wing still crawled all around his body. They bound him so his hands were bound to the back, and his feet were bound in such a way that he could just take small steps. The threads of shimmering energy coiled tightly around his wrists, torso, and neck. They pulsed with faint runic light, tightening subtly with every surge of movement, suppressing the darkness that lay dormant within him. Despite the bindings and the dried blood staining his garments, Sagiri walked upright, his expression calm.

At least he could finally know his verdict.

The council, on the other hand, had not been silent for much longer. After a few minutes of silence, Felunka had found a new target to rain down his frustration on.

"Perhaps the grand marshal of our top war academy is not suited for the role, and he should be stripped of his ranks, and a more fitting grand marshal should be given the position!" he said, looking at the marshal table behind the ten schools council platform. The grand marshals were not necessarily required to speak in this chamber, but still, since he had addressed one of them and the hall was already in disarray, it would be harmful to reply.

"And who should be the best candidate to replace him? You?" Sissara asked.

"Perhaps you want to get rid of anyone who stands in your way, Felunka. What is your intention?" Senraki said after standing and bowing deeply to the supreme mandra.

"How dare you, a mere grand marshal, accuse me?!" Felunka’s eyes twitched.

"You don’t like to be accused, yet you accuse others. You want me to be stripped of my position, yet you are the one who allowed an assassin into the war headquarters of Tagayia, lost two warriors you can’t account for, and now you have lost 120 to a boy. Perhaps it’s you who has failed," Senraki said his sentences calmly, but each word carried weight.

"I think the grand marshal makes sense. Why was the boy and his team personally asked to do their field exercise in the headquarters, and why was he assassinated twice while he was there? The way I see it, Felunka, you are standing more and more in the middle of this mess," Yamina spoke for the first time in an accusatory tone. Perhaps she was tired of Felunka coming for everyone’s throat.

"I only demand justice for my dead men. unless you believe murderers should walk free. Perhaps it is those who want to use him as a weapon who have an ulterior motive." Felunka scoffed.

"I am just the grand marshal of the Galka War Academy. I don’t control admissions to my academy. The exam council does. The boy has been under my care for half a year, and in that time, someone has sent assassins to kidnap him twice. I kept him safe both times, and even inside the walls of the headquarters, it was my marshal and captain who saved him. I dare say someone knew who the boy was a long time ago, and all the ideas leading to this day were arranged by him. Only he did not expect the boy to be a rogue. Felunka, you wanted the boy dead, even long before this, even when you knew he was innocent. Care to tell the council why you were convinced that the boy should have died back then, even when he was the victim?" Senraki continued, and with each word, Felunka looked more and more uncomposed. He looked like he wanted to say something, but instead shook his head and sat down.

"I’d hate to know that I am dancing to someone’s tune," Nakia said, tapping her long, black painted claw on the surface of the platform she sat behind.

"The question is, why did someone insist on forcing the boy to join an academy and try to kidnap him twice and assassinate him three times. Forgive me for speaking out of turn, supreme ruler of our vast lands, but it seems someone in here already knew the boy was from the south and didn’t report it long ago. Why would the person hide it from everyone?" Senraki was choosing his words carefully. It had come to this point, and all he could do was try to make everyone more wary.

"Grand marshal. You should pick your words carefully. Are you saying that someone in Tagayia is colluding with the South to overthrow Tagayia or creating a feud between Tagayia and the land of four winds to his own advantage?" the warriors’ guild master Bekizize warned.

"I dare not make such an assumption," Senraki said before taking his seat. His duty was to plant a seed of more doubt between them, and that was done. As long as the councils were suspicious of each other, perhaps he could buy the boy a way out, even if it was to be deported south.

"The South has never been warring, and they keep to themselves. Why could they suddenly attack?" Tendai Mbeki spoke.

"That is a good question," Linga Maaka said, and there was some silence. The conversation had finally managed to take a new turn.

Suddenly, the doors burst open, and the shadow unit walked in with Sagiri at the centre. They were shrouded in all black like shadows. Sagiri walked in the centre, his head lowered. He was still wearing the Galka Academy combat suit. Only now, his usually covered head was uncovered, and his hair was on display. The red stripes merging with the dark ones were now more visible. There were sharp intakes of breath as he was led to the centre and forced to his knees.

Sagiri did not dare to look up just yet. He could feel the strong auras of everyone in the room, and they were deafening. Some of them made the aura surrounding Senraki seem not so dangerous. The aura of the man sitting on the throne was something he had never felt before. The ruling clan of Tagayia was a mystery, but it was not without its mysteries. Sagiri snapped his eyes forward and only had a second to look at the man sitting on the highest seat before he looked down. His face was covered in a veil so he could not see his face, but it was no doubt his eyes were peering into him.

What raw power and deadly aura!!

Sagiri was familiar with Chief Zaka’s aggressive and prideful presence and felt Felunka’s hostile one. Many powerful auras merged, and it made the room. There was killing intent, scheming, pride, curiosity, and, of course, fear. They were the strongest men of Tagayia, all in the same place.

The shadow unit disappeared in an instant, leaving him alone, but it was clear they were lurking in the walls and shadows of the hall. There had to be at least a hundred. Whispers rippled through the chamber.

"I was hoping he could be taller like a Bami. I am a little disappointed." Nakia was the first to speak.

"Now then," Tsaka said. "The prisoner is here. We can wrap this up."