Page 73 of Earthbound

Yeeran chewed on a pistachio. ‘You’re chieftain now, you know.’

‘I suppose.’

‘Do you still want peace?’

She watched his expression change from annoyance to frustration. ‘All I have ever wanted was peace. War has stripped me of everyone I loved.’

‘Who did you lose?’ she asked softly.

But he didn’t answer the question.

‘Yeeran, let me go and explain everything to the coalition. If Motogo did what you think they did, then the other chieftains need to be told. Motogo broke the terms of the ceasefire and suffered for it.’

‘Your freedom is not my decision.’

‘You tell me that I have power, but so do you. I see how the queen looks at you. And the king, Rayan, he was your captain once.’

She liked Malak, she really did, and she hoped one day he would serve as the chieftain the Waning tribe had always needed. But it wasn’t going to be today.

‘What would you do in my place?’ she asked him. She filled her mouth with more pistachios.

I don’t know when I last ate, she realised.

Give me some, Pila said, pushing her snout into the bag.

You’ve just got them all sticky with mango juice.

Tastes better that way.

Yeeran pushed the bag towards Pila so she could finish them off.

‘Honestly? I would use me as a political prisoner. Negotiate to get the peace treaty back on the table.’

She appreciated Malak’s candour. ‘You think the coalition will negotiate again with another chieftain dead at the queen’s hands?’

Malak’s lips screwed up in an uncharacteristic sneer. ‘The other chieftains hated Motogo. They gave Motogo the task of negotiating because they all knew it would be a burden. If I offered myself up, I think they’d be amenable to the treaty.’

‘You’ll tell them how well we treated you.’

‘I’ll be sure to mention the pistachios,’ he smiled, all scorn disappeared.

‘The problem remains: why did Motogo order the killing of an obeah?’

Malak’s fingers absently worried a crack in the tiles. ‘Motogo wanted war.’

His admission shocked Yeeran. She had thought Malak’s loyalty ran more than skin-deep.

‘Motogo wanted the glory of doing what Salawa could not,’ Malak continued. ‘Lighting every home with a fraedia crystal.’

Salawa’s purpose had long gone awry before she died, Yeeran thought but didn’t say.

‘Release me, I will tell the story favourably. The queen had no choice.’

Malak was saying all the right things, but she knew that desperation could sweeten any tongue. Besides, this wasn’t her decision alone. Yeeran turned to go.

‘I’ll discuss your release with the court.’

Panicked, Malak stood up and gripped the cell bars, his knuckles going white. ‘Yeeran, heed my warning–the coalition has contingency plans for everything. If you do not release me then this peace treaty will be a thing of the past. It may even be too late already.’