KHETHIWE RAN, THE flash of her waist protested against the knife inside of it with every step.
She was in pain, but she couldn't afford to let it stop her.
She could have taken that sharta with her face, but she was set off balance by seeing someone in her body — in her face. It was that other one who would be a problem if she followed.
The vase had fallen on the sharta's head, knocking her out. From the way things had looked, she was dead. Good riddance. When the strange looking one had screamed and ran over to her partner's body, Khethiwe knew it was time to leave. No doubt the two were done for the day.
The awkward looking Qa'bean boy had just stood there - watching Khethiwe leave. She thought about killing him as insurance, but that might have gotten the strange one's attention.
Looking at the sky Khethiwe approximated highmoon was fast approaching. There was limited time for her to get to the East Seat. And with this wicked wound in her side...
Khethiwe walked up to her hut and saw the light was on inside.
"Sharta," she breathed. Her skin was pasty and covered in sweat from the pain. She couldn't fight anyone in this condition. Ma Mdluli's body was gone, and the bloodstains washed off the floor, but there was still the couch to deal with.
Jadi walked out of Khethiwe's hut. "Kheti? I heard footsteps but they stopped." She took in Khethiwe's appearance and gasped. "Mgani! What has happened?"
Khethiwe shushed Jadisiwe and let her help her into the hut.
"Oh sun, Jadi," Khethiwe said rummaging through her stuff for the right herbs and plasters.
"Khethiwe! Yini okh'gwenzahkaleyo?" What happened.
"Oh sun..." Khethiwe threw all her stuff on her bed, not caring that Jadi would wonder why she had so much medical equipment. She needed something to clear her head — rewbark, peppermint, and lemongrass — and something for the pain — rubiaceae root, woodspider, and whitetooth powder. "Boil this, quickly please." She handed Jadi the right herbs and showing her the tiny coal stove in the corner.
Jadi took the herbs and lit the stove.
Khethiwe wanted to sit down but knew that would make the wound in her side worse. She had to hope the knife had missed her organs, especially her bowels.
She gritted her teeth steadying her hand against the wall while she tried to think. She needed to sterilize the needle, dress the area then stitch it up. Quickly.
"Mgani?" Jadi said. She was staring with concern at her friend. She reached out a hand and put in on Khethiwe's shoulder, "Let me help you."
Tears sprung into Khethiwe's eyes. She gasped trying to hold them back. "There's a bottle with gel next to the stove. You need to heat up the bottle in water then grind the paste." It was a mixture of honeybush, buchu, and gotu kola, all on acacia gum.
Jadi got to work on the gel. Khethiwe took her needles and threw them in a pot of water.
It dawned on Khethiwe that there were two dead bodies in the compound of the Black Sun and she, for once, had no explanation for them.
"Oh sun... Jadi, I... I..." she hadn't been a good friend to Jadi. Jadi had always been honest and kind. Jadi had always been her pillar of support, even now when Khethiwe was standing here with a knife sticking out of her and various cuts and bruises. Jadi was a good friend. "I need to get to the East Seat by highmoon."
Jadi's eyebrows shot up, "East Seat? Now? In what state, friend? No. You have to stay here and rest. You have to see a doctor in the morning, no matter how qualified you are."
"I must be with him," Khethiwe said quietly. She had made her choices, cut off her options, and now she had no choice but to be at the East Seat by highmoon. To stay was death on all sides.
Jadi pursed her lips and nodded, understanding who Khethiwe was talking about.
The pot with the herbs started to boil and Khethiwe took them off the tiny stove, replacing it with the needles.
She poured the tea into a cup and pulled out the rewbark to chew on. She could feel her head clearing even as she inhaled the vapor from the tea.
"I need to stitch my arm. Then I'll pull out the knife, and stitch my side," Khethiwe said. "If I look like I'm about to pass out, slap me."
Jadi stared in horror as Khethiwe took the paste from her and applied it to the wound on her arm. She was losing blood, which was the main thing. Rewbark could only do so much.
Khethiwe walked over to the stove and used a hook to pull one of the needles out. She measured out some string, took a deep breath and got to work on her arm.
When she was done, she broke the string with her teeth and measured out some more. She closed her eyes and leaned against a wall. This was it. She placed a hand on the hilt of the knife noting how it fit perfectly in her hand, as though it were made for her. She braced herself.
A hand on her arm made her open her eyes. Jadi.
"Let me," Jadi said.
Jadi pulled out the knife. Khethiwe gasped in pain, her eyes dimming, nausea crawling from her belly to her chest.
"Breathe," Jadi reminded her as she began stitching the wound. Her hands were clumsy and trembling, but she did a better job than Khethiwe would.
When the stitches were done, Khethiwe grabbed some dressing, spread the paste on them and placed them on her wounds. Then she measured out bandages and had Jadi wrap them around her midriff.
"Thank you," Khethiwe said when Jadi was done. There was so much more to say, but all she could say was, "Thank you."
Jadi nodded and carefully wrapped her in a hug. "I don't know what is happening, but you have always been a sister to me, and you always will be."
"You are the only family I have ever known," Khethiwe swore.
She picked up her dagger and looked at the room around her. It was a mess. A blood trail told where Khethiwe had been standing and the bloody fingerprints on the wall attested. Most of her possessions were spewed out over the bed and floor. Mostly tools for work. Things she had no personal attachment to. There was nothing here for her to remember. Nothing but the girl standing in the middle of her hut, her hands clasped in a prayer to the Black Sun.
Khethiwe smiled, "See you soon. Enjoy your leave."
"Go well," Jadi said. "May the sun shine on you."
Khethiwe walked out of the room, hyperaware of the progressing night and where she had to be. She walked into the stables, fretting about the time she would waste saddling a horse.
She was in luck.
The skinny Qa'bean assassin jumped back from the horse he had been saddling.
Resourceful, this one.
He had an honest look that made Khethiwe want to punch him in the face.
Idiot.
"'Tsek," she snarled at him.
He sprinted out of the stable, not looking back once.
Khethiwe climbed onto the horse and rode out into the night heading for the East Seat.
She said a small prayer to the Black Sun. "Wait for me, I'm coming."
YOU ARE READING
Secrets of Kolini
Fantasy"Let me be clear. I never willingly discuss this. And the few people to whom I have had to are as twisted and wretched as I was back then; As blinded by their own light. They cannot see the light from outside. I want no part in this, but it is far...
