บท 44: The swords
Zaelia led her men back to the tribe with success. They entered the encampment gloriously with the new resources from the town outside the desert.
There was a lot of noise, between roars, yelling, and screaming. They were jumping and raising their fists to the sky in a victorious stance. They did it! Zaelia had an arrogant smile on her face when she saw the elders watching them. It was obvious that they didn't expect her to succeed and they were even more shocked to see that so many of them returned unharmed.
Zaelia led the first expedition outside the desert and she lost only eight men in a group of fifty when they expected them to be wiped out totally. The elders didn't seem pleased at all as they knew she would become an ever worse troublemaker after that. Zaelia was a problem to them, their solution was to send her on an impossible journey to prove to her that she should listen to them and instead of that, she came back even more proud and haughty than before.
The group was covered with blood and sand. They were exhausted and only the excitement kept them still standing, shouting loudly and happily. The members of the tribe took care of them, bringing food and drinks for them as fast as possible. They took the heavy bags of resources into the elders' tent while the forty-two were treated like kings and queens. Zaelia didn't take the time to enjoy the warm alcohol or the water they were given her to clean a bit from the dirt.
She went straight to the elders' tent and dropped the bundle of swords on the floor with a victorious glare. She was standing straight and proud in front of them, even if she was young, anyone could see how much ambition she had now. She was convinced that one day, the world would kneel in front of her.
Then she noticed that Zephira was not there to admire her, she wanted to show her more than anyone the success of this pillage, she wanted to show the swords to her more than anything else.
"Where is the elder Zephira?"
As she spoke, she heard her broken voice. The time in the desert without water, and yelling had damaged her throat. The elders were feeling very uncomfortable with her. Between her voice, aspect, and mostly her shiny eyes full of bloodthirst, she was truly terrifying. They were afraid, even if they had known her since childhood, or maybe that was especially because they had known her since she was a child that they were so terrified at this moment.
An elder cleared his voice, they didn't feel confident at this point and he had chosen carefully his words to pass the information.
"Zephira died in her sleep the day of your departure. We are sorry for your loss Zaelia. We know you had a particular bond with her."
Zaelia felt her jaw drop, did she hear correctly? Did Zephira die? Her blood turned cold, she felt so many emotions at this moment that she didn't know which one to pick. She was angry at Zephira for trying to stop her but on the other hand, she felt suddenly broken to understand that their last discussion was this one. Zaelia planned to apologize after her return. How could she apologize to the one who was like a mother to her now? She felt struck with a knife in the heart.
She didn't say goodbye.
She felt stabbed by the news, an incredible pain invaded her and she gritted her teeth. She could only lower her head. Her legs were trembling, she felt all the weight of the tiredness from the journey and that was way too heavy for her shoulders.
She heard the elders speaking to her but she couldn't clearly understand their words. They were talking about the expedition. A rage was burning into her, her blood was boiling. The remaining elders were not worthy. To her, they were old parasites forcing them to stay what they always were and refused progress. She hated them, and now that Zephira was not there anymore, there were no chances for the tribe to be glorious again. Zephira didn't approve but she was listening and Zaelia always had the feeling that, at some point, it would lead to something.
She watched the swords on the floor, she felt the loss of the eight Men who died in the desert and she raised her head to the elders. She refused the fact that her men died in vain, it must have been for some greater good for the tribe, and she would make sure of it.
She closed her eyes and she saw a smile. The smile Zephira had for Zaelia when she was sharing her ideas. The kindness she had to be there for her and even if she disagreed, she always respected her. These fools respected only themselves.
Their voices sounded distant in her mind. Her hand was trembling, she listened to what they said.
"We don't need swords, what for? The villages around have no soldiers."
"You should have brought resources we can use, such as fabrics."
"Other men thought about bringing spices."
"Can you believe it, they brought metal. How useless."
Her rage grew more and more with every second. She had a dark glare toward them as her voice was the powerful roar of the enraged beast.
"You, pathetic insects. We have a new road to lead us to glory and you don't want to take it?!"
They stopped themselves, and one of them stood up angrily.
"Watch your mouth, little girl! We gave you this mission only because we wanted you to fail and realize how stupid you are!"
"Nobody would imagine you could succeed."
"We thought you would not even leave for real!"
She whispered as she felt a tear dropping along her cheek.
"Zephira believed it. She believed I would succeed, and she was afraid of it."
One of the elders heard her.
"Is that so? This grandma was not sane in the end, she was saying nonsense and she had dementia. As a reward for your success, you can take her tent. We haven't cleaned it yet, you can take her stuff and this bigger tent. Now go away and be happy... We will call you tomorrow for the official report."
Zaelia left the tent, she was in such a rage that nobody dared to breathe in her presence. Her men saw her and stepped away from her path. Xzander tried to come to her to ask questions but he changed his mind after seeing her murderous eyes.
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