Chapter 57 - Smoke and Steel
The tunnel air was damp, thick with the stench of mildew, sweat, and old blood. Footsteps echoed like whispers of ghosts, hushed and cautious, each step weighted by the gravity of what they’d seen. Lusweti and his warriors reassembled beneath the city, every face a canvas of shadow and tension. Dirt clung to their skin, blood—some of it theirs, most not—splattered their tunics and weapons.
Irungu was the first to speak, kneeling beside Lusweti. "The delegates were still alive... barely. Skin clinging to bone, breath rattling in their chests. But they’re safe now. The palace is crawling with mercenaries—lazy, drunk, distracted. We thinned their numbers but couldn’t get a full count."
Oduor followed, fists clenched tightly. "The docks are worse. Slaves penned like cattle. The fort... it’s a fortress. Cannons line the walls, mercenaries patrol every inch. Almeida has doubled the guard since the attacks. They know we’re here. They don’t know who... but they’re on edge."
Lusweti rubbed his temples, a dull throb building behind his eyes. He felt the weight of leadership like a millstone across his back. Ten warriors. That was all he had. Ten warriors against a fortress of steel and cruelty. "We should’ve acted sooner," he muttered, voice barely a whisper. "We should’ve moved before the city locked down."
He felt it again—that clawing helplessness that had once gripped him during the Angwenyi siege. That sick feeling of knowing lives hung in the balance and he couldn’t save them all. His knuckles tightened around his blade’s hilt.
"What now?" a young warrior asked. His voice trembled, not from fear but from the sheer pressure of impossibility.
Jumba, still weak and wrapped in a wool cloak, lifted his head. His lips were cracked, his voice dry, but his words were fire. "We were forgotten. Beaten. But we endured because we believed Nuri would come. And you did. Don’t doubt now, son of Nuri. You carry more than a sword—you carry the will of a kingdom that rose from ashes."
Another delegate, Mutiso, scarred across his brow, coughed and nodded. "Your people don’t need you to be perfect. They need you to lead. You’ve already broken fear with fire."
Rehema the priestess, a gaunt woman with cracked lips, nodded. "You are our light in the dark, Lusweti. Even if we die here, we will not die chained. Let our final stand mean something."