The War in My Blood

My Sacrifice

"EKON!" I roared. I stormed into the government building. Someone inside had decided to mess with the wrong family.

A guard grabbed my arms. "Not so fast." I recognized him to be Desta. He would do whatever Ekon told him. Out of all the guards in the whole place, why him?

"What's the rush, sonny?" He asked. If I wanted to see Ekon, I needed to wise up.

"I seek a private audience with Magistrate Ekon." I said, my voice shaking with rage. It was torture to say this in a formal manner, as I felt a closer truth would be, "Take me to Ekon so I can strangle that filthy little murderer and spit on his bloodstained corpse. "

Desta looked over me. Then he motioned for me to follow. Inside my head, words began to replay themselves. This man murdered one of your brothers. This man is the reason another lies dying. This man knows I can save my brother and protect my family if I join him. This man knows too much.

Hot tears of pure rage began to stream down my face. Desta glanced at me, but said nothing. He led me down a hall and swung open a door. I panicked. How could I face him?

Ekon looked up at me. "Hello there. Terynn, was it? Please have a seat." His cordial tone was torture. I sat, unable to speak.

"Now, son, you seem a little... distressed. Is there anything I can do?"

"You killed my brother." I said in a voice so soft and shaky I could barely hear myself. "Don't deny it."

Needless to say, he denied it. "I'm sorry, son. You don't seem to comprehend which side I'm on. I'm with you."

"Don't. Call. Me. Son." I spat. Ekon shrugged it off. "I know what you have been doing. I know what you did to my family. You knew I loved them more than anything in the world. So... you attacked them. What better cover than during a rebel attack? Did you think I would come to you in tears so you could comfort me and tell me everything would be alright?"

I swear to the Lord Almighty, if I didn't have proof Ekon was behind my brother's death, I would have believed what he said next. "Terynn." He said softly. "I know what it is like to lose a loved one. Can you please calm down and listen to reason?"

So much hate had filled my heart. I was ready to murder him, but something stopped me.

Out of all your siblings you love Torynnë the most. There is yet a chance he may live if he gets the proper care. Ekon can give me that.

I wanted to join him. This was my family on the line. I could see Jabari's deep eyes looking into mine. In life they were so beautiful, always sparkling with anticipation. Now they would never shine like that again. All of this was gone.

I looked Ekon in the eyes. "I want to help you. You need someone like me as much as I need you. I want the rebels to pay."

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Torynnë looked out the window. The sky was so blue, and it made him wish he had wings. He would soar off toward the late afternoon sun and never come back. It's funny how the simple things stick out to you when survival is no longer top priority.

"Tory! Tory! Look at the sky! It's so big!" Ashanti said excitedly, bouncing onto Torynnë's lap. Torynnë flinched from the pain, then smiled encouragingly at his sister.

"Be gentle, sweetie." His mother called from the next room. Ashanti looked downcast.

"It's fine, Mother. I'm feeling a lot stronger." Torynnë called. He allowed Ashanti to curl up against his chest. Torynnë ignored the sharp stinging pain he felt in his ribs whenever Ashanti twitched. He didn't mind it so much anymore. Besides, he had more important things to think about.

Primarily: What will become of me now? Now he had a future that did not involve picking scraps out of an alleyway. It had all come as a shock. One day Terynn was sitting on his chest rubbing dirt in his face, the young boy he loved and cared for. The next he comes home with a group of soldiers in tow, telling us everything would be alright. That was always Torynnë's line. Of course, he didn't mind so much.

The soldiers had taken them to a much larger house. They finally had money of their own. Everything was perfect except...

Terynn.

He didn't know how to have fun anymore. Whenever Torynnë would ask, Terynn would say, "You'll know as soon as you are better. Then I'll tell you."

Something was up.

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"Of course, Terynn. I promise you won't have any assignments until your brother is fully healed." Ekon promised.

"He suspects." I noted. "He's too smart not to suspect."

"And what's wrong with him knowing?" Ekon said.

"He won't like it. He'll say something about me selling my freedom and how his life wasn't worth pledging myself to you."

Ekon frowned. Maybe it wasn't worth it, but I heard Torynnë laugh yesterday. Life was better for him. All my family for that matter. Torynnë would have done the same for me, so why couldn't I help him? I had also taken the target off of all of our backs. Wasn't that worth it?

The next day when I went to see Ekon, I could sense something was different. He looked a me and said.

"Well sonny, it seems your brother is fully recovered. Are you ready to make those rebels pay for what they did to him?"

I bit back a nasty response and nodded.

"Desta, come here," Ekon called. He looked me straight in the eye. "Ready, Terynn?"

We had gone over the details of the mission weeks ago, before we made the deal about Torynnë. Doubt crept into my mind. What if this is the end?

"Yes, sir." I said. We were safe as long as I kept Ekon pleased by acting as his puppet. The first mission couldn't be that bad, could it? I couldn't have been more wrong.