Chapter Ten: Ash and Thunder
641 Words
Scene 1 – The Oba’s Silence
The air in the palace thickened.
The veil was whole.
But now it bore two truths—Ehia’s gold, the bride’s crimson. A unity the elders didn’t know how to accept.
And the Oba?
He hadn’t spoken in two days.
He sat in the Lion Room, staring at the throne’s base, fingers drumming softly against the bronze armrest.
His warriors waited. His mother watched. The Council murmured like flies in the dark.
Then, at dusk, he finally stood.
“Summon both of them,” he said.
---
Scene 2 – The Warrior from the East
Before the summons reached them, something else arrived.
A rider—black-skinned, sharp-eyed, wrapped in armor stitched with serpent scales—burst through the palace gates on a blood-coated horse.
Behind him trailed a standard none recognized.
Except one.
The Queen Dowager.
Her mouth went pale.
“The Eastern Lords are moving. They swore an oath never to cross the River Zenta,” she hissed. “They’ve broken it.”
The Oba’s hand tightened on his sword.
Ehia, watching from the upper balcony, felt the shift in the air.
The veil at her side began to hum.
Nso whispered beside her, “They waited until the veil was finished… because they feared it.”
Ehia turned slowly.
> “Then let them feel it.”
---
Scene 3 – The Bride’s Choice
Ehia found the bride kneeling before the sacred pool, her veil removed, her hands cupped to the sky.
“You feel it too?” Ehia asked.
The bride didn’t look up.
“I dreamed of thunder eating fire. I think… one of us has to leave.”
Ehia sat beside her.
“There was a time,” she said softly, “when I wanted to destroy you.”
The bride finally smiled.
“I was waiting for it.”
“But now,” Ehia added, “I think we’re meant to protect something bigger.”
The bride nodded. “I’ll stand with you… if the Oba allows it.”
Ehia’s jaw tightened.
“Then we make him see it’s not about what he allows. It’s about what we decide.”
---
Scene 4 – The Judgment Hall
The sky rumbled.
Ehia and the bride entered together—two women, one finished veil slung between them like a sacred bridge.
The Oba rose.
Behind him, the council sat tense. Before him, the warriors stood in still formation. The Queen Dowager held her staff like a spear.
“You both bear the mark now,” the Oba said. “But there can only be one queen.”
Ehia stepped forward, voice steady.
“I don’t want to be queen.”
Gasps rippled.
“But I will be more than that.”
The bride stepped forward beside her. “We will be guardians of the veil. Protectors of the loom. The crown is not enough anymore.”
The Oba blinked.
Then—laughed. Just once.
“You always were fire,” he said.
Ehia raised her chin.
“And you were always drawn to it.”
---
Scene 5 – The Thunder Comes
That night, the drums from the East grew louder.
Scouts returned—terrified.
> “Four hundred warriors. Painted for death. They seek the veil.”
Ehia stood on the highest tower, veil wrapped like armor around her shoulders.
The bride stood beside her, a gold-threaded spear in her hand.
The Oba joined them, sword drawn, a strange light in his eyes.
“You’re not afraid?” he asked.
Ehia smiled, her voice calm as the brewing storm.
> “They want the veil?”
She spread it open. Its light cast over the courtyard like sunrise.
> “Let them try and take it.”
And below, as thunder roared—
The veil began to move.
---
- Writer
