The Legend of Lumani

Chapter 4: The Painted World

Holding On

Captain Masonga said the prisoners would be released by morning. Lumani and his friends arrived at the gate before the sun rose. Mama Leki stood at the other end, her eyes fixed on the gate.

Soon, the gate opened. Three men came out, then two more, and finally Kamau. He walked slowly. He had a dark bruise on his face and dried blood on his shirt. He was holding his side with one hand, but he stood up straight and proud, just like always. He saw Lumani and stopped.

Lumani ran to him. He didn’t think about it; his feet moved before his mind did. Then Kamau’s arms were around him. All the fear and worry Lumani had carried through the night poured out at once. He stayed quiet, his breath shaky, surprised by his own tears. Kamau just held him and said nothing.

“You held on,” Kamau said quietly.

“You told me to,” Lumani answered, his voice shaking.

Kamau made a low sound, almost like a laugh. Then he stood up straight and looked at the others. Jabari had his hands in the pockets and stared at the ground. Kofi’s eyes were red from crying. Ayo looked at Kamau and gave a short nod; he nodded back. Mama Leki ran across the yard and hugged him.

She looked into his eyes. “I can’t imagine what you have been through,” she said softly. “Come inside, you need to heal.”

Whispers at the Wall

Two guards stood at the corner of the outer wall. It was early morning, and no one else was close enough to hear them talk.

“You heard the order from the palace?” the first guard asked.

“I heard it.” The second guard stared at the fence. “In two weeks.”

“Two weeks,” the first guard repeated. His voice went quiet. “You know what happened to the camp near the Kusu border when they visited last year?”

“I don’t want to know,” the second guard said.

“Every Pillar in that camp was killed,” the first guard said anyway. “Every single one. Because one man didn’t follow an order.”

The second guard stayed silent.

“And that wasn’t even the worst part.” He paused. “Three guards were found lying on the ground. They were breathing, but empty inside.” He took a breath. “That’s how it works with the Four. One person steps out of line, and everyone pays.”

Then silence.

“The captain — “ the first guard began.

“They found his uniform,” the second guard said quietly. “Folded in the middle of the yard.”

A heavy silence settled between them. He said he didn’t want to know, but he had known all along.

“I’ve got a wife in Lubunda City,” the first guard whispered. “A little girl. Seven years old. If I can just keep my head down for two weeks — “

“Then keep it down,” the second guard said. “That’s all any of us can do.”

The first guard nodded.

A Door to the World

Three days later, Mama Leki and Kamau called them in. They sat in a loose circle on the floor.

“We have a break from work,” Mama Leki started. “Do you know why Kimba gave us this break?”

“To make us look good for the visitors,” Jabari answered.

“Yes. That means the guards are busy getting ready for the visitors. They are not watching us as closely,” she said, looking at each person. “This is a chance. But chances like this do not last long.”

“You have spent your whole life inside these walls,” Kamau said. “But Alkebulan is much bigger than what you see here. Every child has the right to know that.”

“We want to help you go outside,” Mama Leki said. “Even if it is just for one morning.” She looked at Kamau. “But the guards will need a reason.”

There was a short silence.

Jabari looked around. “Spices,” he said.

Kofi, Lumani, and Kamau looked at him, confused. Ayo said nothing. She looked at Jabari the way someone looks at a door they’re not sure will hold.

“We can tell them we need spices to heal Kamau so that he can look good in front of the visitors.” He paused. “All they want is to impress them anyway.”

Mama Leki looked at him for a moment, then gave a small smile. “Spices are for food, Jabari. Not for healing.” She paused. “But your idea is genius.”

She reached into her skirt and pulled out a small cloth purse. She put it on the floor and opened it, showing dried leaves, bark, and roots, each one carefully wrapped.

She touched each one. “You will carry these with you. When you come back, you will show them to the guards. Proof that you went into the forest to find them.”

Lumani looked at the herbs, then at her. “But we’re not going to the forest, are we?”

“No,” Mama Leki said. “You’re not.”

“The guards will not question it,” she continued. “They do not believe you know what a market is. They will not think to look for you there.” She looked at all four of them. “I am sending you to see the world.”

Nobody spoke for a moment. Then Kamau put his hand on Lumani’s shoulder.

“Stay together,” he said. “All four of you, and keep your eyes open.”

Lumani looked at him and nodded.

At the gate, Mama Leki spoke quietly to Captain Masonga. She told him Kamau needed healing. The children had to find herbs to help him look better before the visitors arrived. The captain didn’t want a sick man to ruin the impression he intended to show. He looked at the four children, then nodded and let them pass.

The Colors of the Enemy

The new clothes were stiff and rough, smelling of cheap dye. They were dark blue with a dark red stripe at the bottom. Lumani pulled at his collar.

“Stop pulling it,” Jabari said.

“It’s tight,” Lumani replied.

“Everything about this is tight. Just walk as if you belong somewhere,” Jabari insisted.

“We don’t belong anywhere,” Kofi said softly, looking at his small hands in their red-striped cuffs.

Nobody answered him, but Lumani’s face showed that Kofi’s words hurt him.

The road to the border market widened as they walked. There was silence for a moment. Then Jabari cleared his throat.

“First rule of the market,” he said, as if he had been waiting to say this for a long time. “Let me do the talking.”

“You don’t know where to find anything there,” Lumani said.

“Watch me. I have a sense for these things.”

“What things?”

“You know — markets, people, directions, and more.”

“Have you ever been to a market?” Kofi asked.

“I’ve heard descriptions,” Jabari said, “but don’t let that discourage you.”

Ayo kept walking.

“Second rule,” Jabari continued, undeterred. “Don’t look lost. If you look lost, people will target you. Walk with purpose. Pick a direction and commit to it.”

“What if the direction is wrong?” Kofi asked.

“You commit to it confidently,” Jabari replied, “and then you quietly change direction when no one is watching.”

Lumani asked no one in particular. “What does the market smell like?”

“Food,” Jabari replied. “A lot of it. Meat, grain, spices — all mixed, and people. The crowd can be too much if you’re not ready.” He paused. “Not for me personally, but for some people.”

“We are all first-timers,” Ayo said.

“Some of us will handle it better than others.”

Kofi looked up at the sky above the road. It was beautiful and went on and on in every direction. He had not expected the sky to be this beautiful on the other side of the gate.

“It’s beautiful,” he said quietly.

Jabari opened his mouth, then closed it. Even he had nothing to say about the sky.

The Market

The market hit them before they were ready. Jabari froze for a moment. His eyes were wider than he wanted them to be. Then he remembered he was supposed to look like he had done this before, and started walking quickly again.

At the side of the road, an older woman sat on a wooden crate. She held a long drum between her knees and played a slow, steady beat, like footsteps or breathing. Around her, people walked, argued, and shouted prices. Kofi stopped walking, staring at the woman as if he were daydreaming.

“Kofi,” Lumani called.

Kofi opened his eyes slowly. “It’s real,” he said. “I always thought maybe I was imagining it. The way music makes people move.”

“Makes who now?” Jabari asked. “I have been moving on my own the whole time.”

“Can’t you feel it?” Kofi asked.

Jabari looked at his feet. He stayed quiet for a moment. “Yes,” he said finally. “I feel so hungry”

Kofi gave him a patient look and kept walking. Jabari glanced back once at the woman and her drum and kept walking.

In the center of the market stood a statue made of black stone. Everyone who walked past bowed to it. They did it so often that they didn’t even notice they were bowing anymore.

Lumani stopped. “They’re bowing without even looking at it?!” He said.

“I know, just keep moving,” Jabari replied.

Lumani’s jaw was tight, and he walked past the statue. Behind him, Jabari exhaled very slowly.

Ayo had already walked ahead. She moved through the stalls at the edge of the market the way she moves through everything: watching, measuring, taking quiet notes in her mind. Her eyes moved quickly from place to place. Most people would never notice what her hands were doing. But Lumani did.

He saw her stop at a cart that sold papers. There were printed sheets on the cart, stacked in small piles and held down with flat rocks. The seller was busy talking to another customer. Ayo’s hand moved, and she walked away. She was three steps from the cart before Lumani understood that something was missing. He caught up with her between two cloth stalls, where the noise of the square dropped just enough for a private conversation.

“Ayo,” he said under his breath. “What’s wrong with you? So you are a thief now?”

She didn’t look at him. “I did not steal it. I borrowed it.”

Lumani stared at her. “Borrowed?”

“Yes.”

“When are you planning to return it then?”

“The next time we come back to the market.”

Lumani made a small, disbelieving sound. “What’s the purpose of stealing — “ He stopped himself. “Borrowing. I mean borrowing.”

Ayo’s face changed just a little, almost like a smile but not quite.

“Papers have information,” Ayo said. “Information matters, Lumani. Maybe whatever is in this will matter more to us than it does to him.”

“What is it exactly?” “We’ll find out when we get back.”

Lumani frowned at her. “So you don’t even know what you took. You just took it anyway.”

Ayo finally looked at him. That look made it very clear that if he planned to keep talking, he should think carefully about it. Lumani held his gaze for a second longer, then looked away.

“This is wrong,” he muttered. “This is so wrong”

“Maybe,” Ayo said. “Just keep walking.”

Lumani said in a quiet voice. “I am not comfortable walking with thie — “ he cleared his throat, “borrowers”

Ayo heard him but said nothing.

The Last Meal

Ayo heard two men near a bread stall. They weren’t talking to anyone in particular. One of them glanced at the red stripe on Ayo’s sleeve.

“Pillars,” he said under his breath. “They don’t normally come out here.”

“I heard they’ve been given some leave and sort of freedom,” the other said. “Before the visit.”

“What visit?”

A pause. “The Bloodbond Four are coming to the southern camps in about a week and a half.”

The first man went still.

Then, said quietly: “Last meal before they all get wiped out, then.”

A short silence.

“That’s a hard way to say it.”

“It’s the true way.”

They moved on.

Ayo stood quietly as if she didn’t hear anything. She picked up a cloth pretending to look at the price, then put it back. She turned and walked toward Jabari.

The Gamble

Jabari was easy to find. He was the one with the crowd. He had found a corner where men played a game with shells and flat stones. If you call the right one, you double your money. Jabari had been calling correctly for several rounds, and a small audience had gathered.

“That one,” Jabari said pleasantly. “Second from the left.”

The dealer turned them over and pushed coins toward him. Jabari added them to his palm and set most of them back on the mat.

“Again,” he said.

That was when Ayo appeared at his shoulder.

“We’re leaving.”

Jabari didn’t look at her. “One moment.”

“Now.” Ayo changed the tone!

Jabari recognized the tone, and this gave him complicated feelings.

“One more round,” he said.

Ayo took his arm and walked.

The problem was the coins on the mat. When Jabari moved, his elbow hit the edge, and two coins rolled away. A man next to the dealer stepped on one and acted like it was his now.

Jabari saw this.

“Sir,” he said carefully. “That’s not how that works.”

The man looked at the red stripe on Jabari’s collar. Something shifted in his face. “Pillar boy spending money out here. Interesting.”

“We’re leaving,” Ayo said.

“I just want the one coin,” Jabari said, very reasonably.

The man pushed him. Jabari stumbled back into Lumani, who caught him. The dealer stood up, and the small crowd that had been watching the game quickly ran away into the nearby stalls. In a market this big, ordinary people knew when it was time to run. The man with the coin was not just a normal thief. He was a bully, part of a gang in the lower square. Lumani stepped forward and moved between Ayo and the man. He heard Ayo make a short, quiet sound. It told him she wanted to say something, but she stayed silent for now.

The man gave a loud whistle.

“Hey! Over here!” a voice shouted from across the lane.

Three more men pushed out of the crowd and kicked over a basket of dried peppers. They were big and carried heavy wooden sticks. Their faces were hard and mean from many fights. When they saw the red stripes on the teenagers’ sleeves, they moved in, grinning.

“Looks like some palace property strayed too far from the cage,” the largest one sneered, weighing his wooden club in his palm. “Let’s teach these clay-diggers some respect before we send them back.”

The first bully lunged straight at Lumani.

Lumani planted his feet, ducked under the swing, and hit the man hard with his shoulder. The bully gasped and fell back into a stack of ceramic pots. The pots crashed to the ground and broke. Then, everything erupted into pure violence.

The largest gang member swung his club at Jabari. Jabari grabbed a heavy wooden stool from the stall and threw it hard at the man’s shins. A second gang member ran at Ayo from the left. She moved like she had all the time in the world, which somehow made her faster than his attack. She caught his arm, twisted it in a small, sharp movement, and kicked the back of his knee with her heel. The man fell with a choked cry of pain, and the coins rolled on the ground.

“Coins!” Jabari shouted as he grabbed his money from the mat.

But the chaos grew too fast. People shouted, and everything went wild. Scared sellers pulled down their canopies. Chickens ran out of a broken crate, and a big crowd of people pushed into the narrow lane to escape the fight.

“Run!” Ayo commanded.

Lumani punched the last gang member who was coming toward them, blocking a hit that was meant for Kofi. But then the crowd pushed into them like a solid wall — a huge wave of bodies shoved between them. Lumani was pushed to the left, his shoulder slamming into a cloth stall, while a rush of people trying to escape filled the space between him and his friends.

Through the dust and the screams of the market, Lumani saw Jabari grab Kofi’s tunic and run down a dark alley on the right to get away from two gang members who were chasing them again. At the same time, Ayo grabbed Lumani’s wrist and pulled him into a different passage on the left, just as the other bullies crashed through the crowd.

Lost and Found

They ran until the street narrowed and the crowd swallowed the noise behind them. Then Lumani looked left and realized Jabari wasn’t there.

Ayo was already scanning. “They went right.” She said.

“We went left,” Lumani replied.

“Yes.”

They stopped at a corner. The market stretched in every direction — dozens of streets, and hundreds of people.

“They’ll find their way,” Lumani said.

Ayo looked at him. He didn’t say it again.

The first time Jabari chose left, they ended up at a wall.

“Wrong left,” he said. “That left.” He pointed.

The second time, they ended up at a canal.

“This is good,” Jabari said, with the tone of a man finding an opportunity. “The canal means we’re on one side of the market, or the other. Depending on which canal.”

“Which canal is this?” Kofi asked.

Jabari looked at the water. “This could be the other canal.”

They went north.

Twenty minutes later, they walked into a private courtyard. A man was eating lunch inside. He looked up, saw Jabari and Kofi standing, breathing hard.

“Sorry,” Jabari said pleasantly, and they backed out.

Kofi said nothing.

They had been in this courtyard before.

Ayo and Lumani found a narrow passage between two buildings where the market noise faded to a low hum. She leaned against the wall and looked at him.

“Use it,” she said.

Lumani blinked. “Use what?”

“Whatever you carry inside you. Use it to find Jabari and Kofi.”

“I don’t know what you’re — “

“I’ve been observing you, Lumani,” she interrupted, “every time you sneak out with Kamau and train secretly. I know you are different from all of us, and you have a connection with the land. You can use that to find our family”

Lumani’s mouth opened. Nothing came out.

“I will keep the watch,” Ayo said. “You find them”

Lumani pressed his hand to the ground, connecting with the land to track Jabari and Kofi.

Kofi was still, and Jabari was the opposite. Lumani reached and felt the market above him. Then he could see something restless, warm, and familiar.

He opened his eyes.

“East,” he said. “Past the grain stalls.”

Ayo pushed off the wall. “How do you know which is which?”

Lumani thought for a moment. “Jabari feels like fire,” he said. “Kofi feels like the space around the fire.”

Ayo looked at him for a moment. “Can you feel me?” She asked

“Yes,” Lumani said. “I can feel every living and non-living thing.”

Something moved in her face. Brief and unreadable. She didn’t explain it.

“Let’s go,” she said.

They found them near the grain stalls, exactly where Lumani said they would be.

Jabari was mid-explanation. His hands were moving. He appeared to be describing a route involving landmarks that Kofi had clearly stopped believing in some time ago.

Kofi saw them first. He stood completely still and looked at Lumani with an expression of a man who had crossed a very long desert and could now see water.

Then Jabari saw them too. “Lumani,” he shouted, “I knew you guys would find your way back”

“Way back?” Ayo asked

“Yes,” Jabari replied. “You guys were sort of — lost.”

Kofi said nothing for a moment. Then he opened up. “We went to a courtyard.”

“I know,” Lumani replied.

“Three times,” Kofi continued. “The same courtyard. A man was eating.”

“Technically,” Jabari said, “the second time was — “

“The same man,” Kofi interrupted. He said it without looking at Jabari. Flat and certain, the way you state a thing you have given up arguing about.

Jabari pressed his lips together. Lumani looked at Kofi; he looked back at him. There was a whole conversation in that look, and none of it needed to be said out loud.

Ayo reached into her tunic and pulled out the folded map she had taken from another vendor. She held it out to Kofi. He looked at it and held it carefully.

Lumani looked disappointed. “Ayo, you sto — I mean, you borrowed that one as well?”

“Then how are we supposed to find our way back?” Ayo asked.

“You’re right, sorry.” Lumani understood.

“East,” Kofi said, finding the direction. “The gate is south-southwest from here.”

“Lead,” Ayo said.

Kofi walked. Nobody argued.

The Long Walk Back

The dust from the market lingered in their throats as the square’s loud noise slowly fell quiet. For a long time, nobody spoke, and the silence felt heavy and tense.

Jabari was the first to talk. His eyes still looked wild and excited. “Did you see how big it was!” he said. “The energy out there was amazing! I told you I’m good in dangerous places. If Ayo hadn’t pulled me away, I would have — “

“You would be lying flat in the market dirt,” Lumani said, finally looking up. He stared at Ayo, his eyes wide with shock. “Actually, forget Jabari. Ayo… what was that? Where did you learn to fight?”

“You knocked down a grown man with one move,” Jabari said, his excitement fading as his mouth fell open in the same shock. “A huge, scarred market man. You didn’t even blink! We’ve slept in the same shed for years, Ayo. Since when do you know how to hurt people like that?”

“You look for weaknesses when you have nothing else,” Ayo replied. “He was off-balance. It wasn’t a big deal.”

“He was twice your size!” Kofi added, looking over at Jabari, and his voice suddenly went flat. “This is why I am never trusting your leadership again, Jabari. Never. If we follow you, we either get beaten by a gang or end up stuck in a courtyard watching a stranger eat lunch forever.”

“I was leading us out of danger!” Jabari protested, waving his hands. “It was a tactical retreat!”

“Going to the same dead end three times is not a tactic,” Kofi muttered. “From now on, I will read the map and make the choices. You just walk behind me and carry things.”

Jabari opened his mouth to argue, but the sheer finality in Kofi’s face silenced him.

Lumani’s shock of Ayo’s hidden skills and Jabari’s antics faded quickly, replaced by the heavy, bitter disappointment that had been clawing at his chest since they left the square.

“How can any of you argue right now?” Lumani said, his voice low and heavy. “It was horrible out there. I spent my whole life dreaming about what was on the other side of that gate. I thought going outside would feel like breaking a chain. But did you see them? They bowed to that black stone statue without even looking at it. Their bodies just knew how to bend. The King didn’t only build walls around Camp Seven. He built them inside their minds. The world is just a bigger cage.”

Jabari’s shoulders fell. Lumani’s words stopped his excitement. He looked away and stayed quiet.

“But the drum — “ Kofi whispered. His voice was full of soft wonder. “The way the music moved — the people didn’t feel like Camp Seven. And the sky doesn’t have watchtowers out here. I always thought I was just imagining the beauty of the outside world so that I wouldn’t cry on my mat. But it’s real. It’s very real.”

Ayo glanced at Kofi. “Don’t get comfortable, Kofi.” She said. “The watchtowers out here are just invisible. Lumani is right to be disappointed. The fear out there is a habit. The people wear the King’s blue and red because it’s easier than bleeding. But hiding from the truth won’t help us.”

She tightened her grip on her sleeve. “Now we know what the world looks like. We have an idea of the size of the monster. That’s what matters.”

They went silent for a moment. Jabari cleared his throat

“I want to be clear about something,” he said. “Scientifically speaking.”

Nobody responded. This did not stop him.

“When two groups are separated in an unknown place,” he continued, “the group that remains in motion is, definitively, the group that is lost. The group that holds a position and conducts a thorough search of the surrounding area is not lost. Is searching by definition.”

A short silence.

“We were not lost,” Jabari said. “We were searching for you.”

Lumani looked at him. “You went to the same courtyard three times.”

“We were conducting a thorough search of that area.”

“There was a man eating lunch,” Kofi said, looking at the map.

“The third time,” Jabari said, “that was a different man.”

“He recognized us,” Kofi said.

“People recognize confident faces,” Jabari replied.

Ayo glanced at Jabari. “So you’re a scientist now.”

“There are a lot of things you guys don’t know about me.”

She said nothing.

“I have many areas of study,” Jabari said. “Navigation, probability, the behavioral patterns of market crowds.” He paused. “I would have found you eventually.”

“Lumani found you,” Ayo said.

“Lumani has his methods. I have mine. Between the two of us, it was only a matter of time.”

Kofi made a sound that carried a great deal of information about the last two hours of his life.

Jabari looked at him. “You can say something.”

“I’m fine,” Kofi said.

A Name They Don’t Speak

They were a street from Camp Seven when Ayo asked. “Has any of you heard of the Bloodbond Four?”

Jabari frowned. “The what?”

“I heard two men in the market talking. They said the Bloodbond Four are coming to the southern camps in a week and a half.” She paused. “They said it like it meant something.” She paused, then finished the line “something really bad.”

“How bad can it be?” Jabari responded.

Ayo looked at him and said nothing.

“Coming here?” Kofi said.

“That’s what I heard,” Ayo said.

“Could it be the visitors we are expecting? Captain Masonga said they are coming in two weeks, and it has been four days since then.” Jabari said.

“I’m afraid so,” Ayo replied.

Lumani turned the name over in his mind. Bloodbond Four. He had never heard it before. Even Kamau had never mentioned it.

“Sounds like something Kimba would name a group for bad reasons,” Jabari said.

“Or it could simply be an inspection team from the palace,” Lumani said.

“Could be,” Ayo said. But her voice had something flat in it that she wasn’t explaining.

“Why do they call it bloodbond?” Kofi asked.

“Maybe because they didn’t have me to give them a better name,” Jabari responded.

The camp wall appeared ahead. They joined a line of workers returning from the outer fields and moved through the checkpoint.

Inside, Jabari was still talking. “Probably just inspectors. Palace people love dramatic names. Remember when they renamed the water ration ‘the King’s gift’? Same amount of water.”

“Less, actually,” Kofi corrected.

“Exactly. Very dramatic, very little water.”

Ayo kept on thinking about the name and the way those two men had gone quiet, like they needed a moment after the name left their mouths.

Kamau was standing outside, leaning against the wooden frame of the door. He looked exhausted, his face still heavily bruised, but when he saw the kids, his eyes lit up. A wide, genuine smile spread across his face, full of pure joy. Beside him, Mama Leki wiped her hands on her apron, her face bright with anticipation. She couldn’t wait to hear about the world they hadn’t seen in decades.

“You’re back!” Mama Leki called out, her voice warm and eager. “Tell us everything. What did you see? How was the market? Was it as big as you imagined?”

But as they walked closer, the adults’ smiles began to falter. The heavy, haunted expressions on their faces told a completely different story. Lumani walked his head down, the weight of a broken world pressing on his shoulders. Ayo was silent, her eyes cold and analytical. And Kofi looked utterly depleted, casting a sharp, unforgiving glare at Jabari that spoke volumes about the absolute nightmare of being lost under his “leadership.”

Only Jabari was still floating on a cloud of adrenaline.

“Oh, it was amazing!” Jabari shouted, waving his hands, not noticing how worried everyone was. “It was so big, Mama Leki! All the colors, all the people buying and selling! A bad street gang tried to trap us, but I grabbed a wooden stool to block them, and Ayo practically dismantled a man twice her size! It was an absolute triumph of survival!”

Mama Leki looked at Kofi’s furious glare and Lumani’s hollow eyes, realizing Jabari’s excitement was a desperate mask. “A gang? Oh, my children… sit down. Let me serve you dinner. You must be starved and exhausted.”

She picked up the clay plates, filling them with hot, steaming food, ready to serve.

But Lumani didn’t sit. He looked at Ayo, whose jaw was set tightly, then looked directly at Kamau.

“Kamau,” Lumani said, “Have you ever heard of The Bloodbond Four?”

Kamau’s whole body went stiff. His legs suddenly felt weak. His knees gave out, and he fell hard onto a low wooden stool behind him. At the same moment, a loud, crashing smash echoed through the shed. Mama Leki’s hands went numb. The clay plates slipped from her fingers and smashed on the floor, breaking into many pieces. Hot food spilled on the ground and steamed in the cold air, completely forgotten. She stood very still, breathing hard, and stared at the children with wide, scared eyes.

The silence that followed was terrifying.

“What…” Kamau whispered, his voice raw, breathless, and trembling so hard his teeth were clicking. “What did you just say?”

Frightened by the fear in his mentor’s face, Lumani tried to say it again. “Th-the men in the market… they said the Blood — “

“Don’t!” Kamau interrupted, “Never mention that name again.”

Mama Leki stepped over the spilled food. Her voice shook with worry. “Where did you hear that? Lumani, Ayo… who said that name?”

Ayo stepped forward, “Two men in the market. They didn’t know we were listening. They said the Bloodbond Four are coming to the southern camps in a week and a half. They said… they said it was our last meal before we all get wiped out.”

Lumani stepped closer to Kamau. He had seen Kamau stand up to cruel guards, take hard beatings without falling apart, and stand tall in the muddy pits of Camp Seven, but never scared.

“Kamau,” Lumani whispered, his voice cracking with fear and confusion. “I have never seen you afraid of anything. Who are they? And why are they coming here?”