THE LAST KEEPER

Chapter 237. TRUTHS AND PAINFUL REALITIES

"What did you do?" N’varu repeated the question.

Sagiri was still contemplating what to tell them. Was it right to tell them the intensity of what he had done?

"The number might have grown a little bigger," Sagiri said after a while of the three staring at him.

"Like five more or ten more?" Kiuga asked.

"A hundred and twenty more." Another voice joined in, and the three wheeled around to find the source. It was Gavina, the nephew of Nakia, the kun of the west. She looked like a younger version of her aunt, and it was a bit unsettling. "I knew my oka could still recognize your scent, Sagiri. Your team beat us in the team hunt. I have been looking for a chance to challenge you again," Gavina said, strutting closer. Her snake was curled around her neck. It seemed she had gone to another two smaller ones. One was reaped around her arm and another around her waist. They looked like the spotting image of the one sagiri had killed. Must have been its offspring.

"Now who invited the triplets?!" Kiuga groaned, getting defensive.

"And what do you mean by a hundred and twenty?" N’varu and Kaka asked at the same time.

"Your friend hasn’t told you what he has done?" Gavina said, strutting close to the four. Her two friends were flanking her sides, and it seemed they already knew what she was talking about by how calm they all were. The anku clan girl, Pavire, and the teshini girl Nayira looked even colder in the new combat suit.

"What is she yapping about, Sagiri?" Kaka asked, turning to sagiri and turning him to look at him.

"He wiped out an entire seventh wing squad who were sent after him. My aunt told me this when she came back from Alika city, and the council of the west voted for him to be killed. I might not agree with my aunt on wanting to kill my marriage prospect, but what are you doing here?" Gavina said, lifting her nose to the sky. The women of Tsanka were truly something. She did not seem to bear a grudge towards her aunt for wanting to kill her prospect. She seemed to be mad about something, however. "It doesn’t seem fair that you made the odds too high for me to reach, and I am here to settle the score."

And there it was. It might have been true what Kiuga said. There was no getting out of the challenge, perhaps until she won or he died.

"Sagiri, is what she says true?" Kiuga asked, and N’varu closed his eyes as if to run from the fact. Silence followed as everyone gathered and waited for him to answer.

"Yes," Sagiri said, and N’varu snapped his eyes open.

"They came after me, and I killed them," he continued, and there was even more silence. It seemed everyone had been stunned to silence, even Kaka.

"You what?!" N’varu was beside himself, eyes almost popping out of his skull.

"Is that the reason you have to go south and never return?" Kiuga asked in a small voice after a while.

"That is the deal I made with the shadow corp general and the supreme mandra. As Gavina has said, three council members voted for me to be killed. Three voted for me to be rehabilitated, and two voted for me to go south.

"Then why are you not dead or with the guild?" Pavire asked.

"The mandra’s council withheld his vote. That is why I am here. I finish this mission, then I go south," Sagiri answered.

"So it’s a stalemate," Nayira of the Teshini said. It seemed the ladies were as smart as they were strong. Kaka, on the other hand, had gone completely silent.

"Yes," Sagiri answered, looking at Kiuga, who was not taking the news any better than sagiri.

"Kiuga?" Sagiri called after a while.

"Is there really no way to remain in the north?" Kiuga was still not taking the information well.

"Well, not unless he kills the three councils that voted for him to die. I am going to tell you this for free. If my aunt wishes you dead, she will not let go easily. I won’t tell her where you are, however, since I still wish to challenge you," Gavina said matter-of-factly. She was almost as cold as Nakia, her aunt, but her aunt was the coldest woman Sagiri had ever seen, and that score anytime soon.

"Not now. I have to go back home to the south first, perhaps in the future or never," Sagiri said, answering Kiuga, ignoring Gavina’s truthful remark.

"Your home? What about the north?" Kaka asked. "What about your step-parents? Are you going to abandon them just because they are from the north?" Kaka said it with an edge.

"My parents are in the hands of the shadow general. I have no wish to abandon them," Sagiri said. They were not letting him off the hook easily, and this was perhaps going to take longer than he thought.

"So you are a prisoner," Pavire said.

"Until I finish my end of the bargain, I will not get to see them or go south," sagiri said.

"How sure are you the northerners will keep their word?" N’varu finally spoke.

"I don’t," Sagiri answered honestly.

"So you think all Northerners are evil?" Kiuga asked. His question was directed at N’varu, but sagiri knew it was also directed at him.

"It is the north that wiped out his clan. So tell me why he has to do their bidding?!" N’varu snapped. It seemed he was not the news of sagiri striking a deal with the north well just as much as kiuga was not taking the news of him going south well.

"What is he talking about?" Kaka asked again. He was not taking the news well, either, it seemed.

"Yes, the north wiped out his clan. The reason he doesn’t have a clan is because of the northerners, and now he has to do their bidding?!" N’varu was ready to fight.

"N’varu, let’s talk about that another time. Time is running out now, and soon you will all need to be present for a head count," Sagiri said. He had never thought there would come a day when he would be the one to calm N’varu down. He was not happy to do it either, but at the moment, the only thing he had working for him was time. He had to bide his time. He now knew where to find his enemies, and he only needed to go south and regroup.

"No. You are not doing this. I as your sand shade forbid it!" N’varu said, not caring anymore.

"If I don’t do it, then there are going to be more like me out there! I cannot NOT do this. They have my parents and know my friends. The faster I finish and go south, the better!" Sagiri snapped too. He did believe his own words, but something had to give at the moment.

Silence stretched in the high arena, mixed reactions and emotions flying around. Most of all, hurt and anger.

"So, Kiuga, will you help me?"