Malik kicked at the man’s face, nausea rising in his stomach at the blood that welled up beneath his foot, but still he ran. A man beside them fell to the ground and grabbed for Malik’s ankle, nearly pulling Malik and Nadia down with him. With no time to think, Malik picked up Nadia and ran alongside the frantic flow of the crowd. The crowd was too massive for the size of the street the gate opened into, and the onslaught quickly devolved into trampling and shoving as everyone fought to make it inside. The refugees and travelers and all the others who had been turned away from the city burst through its walls with the intensity of a typhoon. On second impact, a massive hole tore through the center of the gate, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop the chipekwe from charging into the newly open path to Ziran.
A spiderweb of cracks splintered the dark wood, sending the people below ducking for cover. The chipekwe lowered its plated head, and with another roar, it barreled straight into the Western Gate. Several soldiers rushed forward to placate the beast, but it simply crushed them underfoot, no more bothered than a human stepping on an ant. The chipekwe that had been sleeping so peacefully just seconds before reared back, pulling its lead out of the hands of its shocked handler.
So quickly he might have imagined it, her eyes turned a vibrant bright blue, the color of a too-hot flame. The griot’s lips curled into a smile that showed too many teeth. “Nadia, let’s go,” commanded Leila, who was already beginning to turn away when Nadia blurted out, “I want to go to Ziran!” Now they were close enough to see the woman’s hair was pulled into a multitude of micro braids that had been threaded through with strands of rainbow color, and throughout her tattoos were recurring motifs of the seven patron deities. There was something odd about this griot, as though he were looking at her through a piece of colored glass. Malik followed and tried to ignore the shivers crawling over his skin as the crowd stared at him and his sisters. “No, thank you-I mean, thank you, but we’re fine,” interjected Leila, running to Nadia’s side. “Anything?” asked Nadia, her mouth falling open. “To thank you for helping with my story today, I will grant you one wish-anything you want.” The beads woven through Nyeni’s braids clicked together as she knelt down to Nadia’s eye level. She twisted out of Malik’s grasp and charged to the front of the crowd, where the griot welcomed her with a wide grin.
Nadia’s eyes glinted brighter than stars.
Just as the siblings turned toward the small cluster of caravans leaving Ziran, Nyeni yelled, “But wait! Before we disperse, I would like to call forward the young woman who solved today’s riddle. Disappointed that the story had ended so soon, Malik rose to his feet, dusting sand off him and Nadia. Shouts and applause rang through the air. and that, my siblings, is the tale of the first Solstasia!”
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