A Song of Wraiths and Ruin (A Song of Wraiths and Ruin #1)(10)

A familiar head bobbed through the masses gathered around the baobab tree, cutting off Malik’s morbid thoughts. With a strength he hadn’t known he possessed, Malik shoved his way past the crowd and grabbed his younger sister by the arm.

“Don’t run off like that,” he cried, checking her over for injury. Nadia twisted in his grasp.

“But the griot!” Nadia exclaimed as Leila finally caught up to them. “She said if you solve her riddle, she’ll grant your wish!”

Malik exchanged a sad look with his older sister. Nadia had handled their journey so well, never crying or complaining even once, that they had almost forgotten she was only six years old, still young enough to believe in magic and other lies.

Leila crouched down to cup Nadia’s face in her hands. “That is one wish even a griot can’t grant for us.”

Malik’s heart broke in two as he watched the joy seep from Nadia’s eyes. He forced aside his own fear and panic, even the thoughts of the grim folk slithering around him, and racked his brain for something, anything that could help them out of their situation.

“My siblings, the hour of the comet’s arrival approaches!” cried the griot. “As the old era draws its last breaths and the new era lurks on the horizon, please allow me, the humble Nyeni, to entertain you for a little while longer. Our next tale is the story of the first Solstasia, and it begins on a night not unlike tonight when Bahia Alahari stood on these very sands dreaming of a world free of the pharaoh’s rule . . .”

The yearning was back with a vengeance, pulling at Malik to sit at Nyeni’s feet and drink in her tale. This wasn’t even his people’s history, and yet Malik could have recited by heart the tale of how Bahia Alahari had destroyed the Kennouan Empire, full of all the romance, action, and heartbreak all the best epics had.

However, Malik had never heard the Solstasia tale the way Nyeni told it. The story was her tapestry, and each word added a new thread to the image. When this griot spoke, it was almost as if magic had truly existed, curling through the centuries to gather in their outstretched hands.

“. . . And so, Bahia went to Hyena for aid, for it is known that Hyena always keeps her promises.”

Nyeni curled her hands into claws and stretched her mouth wide to mimic the famed trickster.

“Hyena told Bahia, ‘If you wish to receive my aid, you must first answer this riddle: “My wife and I live in the same house. She visits my room whenever she wishes, but when I enter hers, she is never there. Who am I, and who is my wife?”’ . . . What’s the answer, my siblings? Hyena won’t help you without it.”

The trick to this story was that the riddle changed with each telling. The crowd yelled out a flurry of answers, each more ridiculous than the last.

“A horse and a mule!”

“A mortar and a pestle!”

“Me and my husband!”

Nyeni cackled. “Is there no one among you who can solve this puzzle?”

“It’s the sun and the moon,” Malik muttered absentmindedly, most of his attention still on finding a way into Ziran. He’d always had a particular skill for riddles, and this was one of the easier ones he’d heard. “You can see the moon during the day, but the sun is never visible at night.”

Nadia’s hand shot into the air, and Malik was too slow to stop her from shouting out, “The sun and the moon!”

Malik clapped a hand over Nadia’s mouth just as Nyeni said, “Correct!”

Every muscle in Malik’s body tensed. The griot continued on with her tale, and Malik sighed, his pulse still racing.

“You stole my answer, you little cheat!” Nadia stuck her tongue out at him, and he shook his head. Malik looked over at Leila, who gave him a tired smile.

“We’re going to be all right,” she said, and for the first time in a long time, Malik believed her.

“We always are.”

“. . . and that, my siblings, is the tale of the first Solstasia!”

Shouts and applause rang through the air. Disappointed that the story had ended so soon, Malik rose to his feet, dusting sand off him and Nadia. Leila stood as well with a stretch. Just as the siblings turned toward the small cluster of caravans leaving Ziran, Nyeni yelled, “But wait! Before we disperse, I would like to call forward the young woman who solved today’s riddle. Child, come!”

Nadia’s eyes glinted brighter than stars. She twisted out of Malik’s grasp and charged to the front of the crowd, where the griot welcomed her with a wide grin. The beads woven through Nyeni’s braids clicked together as she knelt down to Nadia’s eye level.

“To thank you for helping with my story today, I will grant you one wish—anything you want.”

“Anything?” asked Nadia, her mouth falling open.

“No, thank you—I mean, thank you, but we’re fine,” interjected Leila, running to Nadia’s side. Malik followed and tried to ignore the shivers crawling over his skin as the crowd stared at him and his sisters. There was something odd about this griot, as though he were looking at her through a piece of colored glass. Now they were close enough to see the woman’s hair was pulled into a multitude of micro braids that had been threaded through with strands of rainbow color, and throughout her tattoos were recurring motifs of the seven patron deities.

“Anything at all,” promised Nyeni.