The Truth of the Aleke by Moses Ose Utomi

Author:Moses Ose Utomi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tor Publishing Group

PART II

11

A NECESSARY SACRIFICE.

Osi dangled, suspended in midair. He couldn’t open his eyes. There was too much pain. Throat, pain. Knee, pain. Pain in the raw spaces of his mouth where teeth were missing. Pain in the stump where his arm used to be.

The pain of betrayal had finally arrived as well. A new pain. All the shared runs and workouts, all the hours of sparring. The meals and games and conversations. All those times he’d made a mistake and Lumhen had given him a small smile or a light hand on his shoulder, reassuring him that she understood and that she was there for him even when he failed himself. Each time he reached for a happy memory, the pain was there, reminding him that the happiness was a lie. It was a pain that transcended time, seeping into the past, staining painless moments painful.

Why? he thought.

Osi could do nothing but investigate his memories of the past year, swinging from anger to tears, blaming everyone and himself in equal doses. Nothing he found brought him any closer to answering the question in any of its forms.

Why did Lumhen kick me?

Why was I ever chosen in the first place?

Why did I not know this was coming?

Why am I still alive?

Time passed at its own discretion. When the pain in his eyes diminished, he was able to take in his surroundings. He was in an iron box of a room, cramped and musty, with a thin sheet metal door. Blood was strewn across nearly every surface, even the ceiling, its stench sharp in his nose. His arms were suspended from the ceiling by chains, the shackles around his right wrist and his left stump biting into his skin.

As he was trying to adjust his arms into a less painful position, the door opened.

The man that entered was old, shrunken by time until he was not much larger than Osi’s mama. But he was still leanly muscled, his veins visible even in the dim candlelight. He had deeply sunken and puckered cheeks, and his bald head and beardless face were a stark contrast to the pair of bushy eyebrows that dominated the space above his eyes.

Osi recognized him immediately. Though he didn’t know why or from where.

“Osi, son of Ulodion, Truthseeker of the City of Lies,” the old man said in a calm rasp as he closed the door behind himself. The City of Lies—a name that few would dare utter, yet this man used it so casually. “Before you make any movements, allow me to warn you of the consequences of any action.” His smile was genuine but restrained.

Osi couldn’t have moved even if he wanted to.

“Good,” he said. He produced a pale leather pouch from his khaftan pocket, dipped his hand into it, and pulled out a palm full of roasted peanuts. Then he sat cross-legged on the ground and tossed a peanut into his mouth, chewing as he spoke. “I am Obasa, and I am the minister of interrogation for what you call the Cult of Tutu.

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.