In the Shadow of the Fall by Tobi Ogundiran

Author:Tobi Ogundiran
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tor Publishing Group

* * *

Soon Ashâke was washed, dressed in fresh clothes that were a little too big for her, and treated to a mouth-watering breakfast of ogi and akara. Ravenous though she had been, Ashâke found that she now did not have much of an appetite, and after poking at her food and forcing down a few more spoonfuls under Mama Agba’s watchful eye, she pushed aside the remnants of her breakfast with an apologetic grimace, promising to attend to it before the morning was spent.

She sat on the pallet in Mama Agba’s room, the stench of poultice thick in the air as the woman dressed her wound.

“You have not asked how I came about this wound,” she said. There were many things the woman had not asked, like where she came from, although it was not hard to guess that she was an acolyte. Perhaps she thought her fleeing the temple. And she wouldn’t be wrong. Perhaps Ashâke was not the first fleeing acolyte she’d met.

“Do you want me to?” She dabbed the wound, causing Ashâke to inhale sharply. “A young woman alone in the wild—there are many, many ways to get injured.”

“And you’re not curious … you don’t wish to know why I’m here?”

Mama Agba smiled. “Child. Half the people in this camp have come to us in some manner or the other. Some were babies abandoned by their parents. Either because they had one too many mouths to feed already, or believed the word of some hack shaman who pronounced them cursed. Others were cast from their families, cast from society, shunned and ostracised. And since we do not belong to any one kingdom, since we live, in a manner of speaking, at the edge of society, we take them in. It doesn’t matter where you come from, if you are in need, there’s always a place for you among us.”

Ashâke imagined the tribe as one giant rake, ploughing through the Ten Kingdoms and picking up strays. And perhaps, too, collecting gems.

“I cut my hand in a binding ritual.” She gave a dry, bitter laugh. “I tried to summon an orisha, which was foolish of me, but … I suppose it doesn’t matter anymore. The orisha do not want me.”

A curious look crossed Mama Agba’s features, but it was there so briefly Ashâke fathomed she had imagined it.

“There,” said the matriarch as she looped the bandage and tied it up. “Now try to be careful with that hand, so you don’t reopen the wound.”

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.