The Gilded Ones

At Warthu Bera, Karmoko Calderis shows off armor made of cursed blood: impervious to deathshriek claws, cool, and lightweight. Deka is excited to get a new suit of armor because it will help hide the physical changes that occur when she uses magic. The next morning, Deka, Belcalis, Asha, and Adwapa go to the forge. Then, Deka is bled; her armor will be made out of her own blood.

On a randomly hot day, Deka, Britta, Belcalis, and Adwapa hunt deathshrieks in rocky terrain near a village called Yoko, which has requested them specifically. Deka, becoming more curious, has been spending more time observing deathshrieks, and finds them to be more human than the jatu and teachers think. She realizes their clicking noises are a language.

Also, they never find girls among the bodies in deathshriek nests, hinting at the later-revealed fact that alaki are reborn as transmigrated souls in deathshriek bodies. Britta puts on Deka’s gold-blood helmet and discovers that it blocks the commanding nature of Deka’s voice. Then Britta suggests alaki wear helmets made of Deka’s blood to keep her from unintentionally controlling her bloodsisters.

After the raid, back at Warthu Bera, Deka asks Calderis to bleed her for helmets to outfit her closest friends. In less than a week, the champions are able to test them out by the lake after their lesson with White Hands. The helmets are unique, pretty, and keep them from mindlessly obeying Deka. Belcalis compliments Britta’s idea, and Deka decides to make golden circlets for the rest of the Death Strikers.

On another raid, this time in the jungle, Deka rides Ixa into battle while talking with Keita about Gar Fatu and Irfut. They have been holding hands and embracing when no one’s looking. This budding love causes her to consider how he will age differently than her, as well as her love for Britta. When scouting, Deka understands the deathshrieks talking outside a temple to the Gilded Ones; they mention a traitor. This foreshadows how alaki turn into deathshrieks after their supposed final death—Deka is betraying her own kind.

When Deka orders the deathshrieks to stop, she tries to question one, but Belcalis kills it before she can get any answers. Feeling guilty that it cried as it died, Deka wanders into the temple and sits on the feet of the Southern goddess statue. Here, she considers how all deathshriek nests have been near these statues, and still believes White Hands bred her as a half deathshriek (rather than the truth of alaki and deathshrieks being one in the same, essentially).

Back at Warthu Bera, Deka doesn’t tell Britta about understanding the deathshriek language because she is afraid of people who know about her abilities also being persecuted. Britta tries to warn Deka against acting strangely during the campaign in front of the emperor, and Deka says Britta is there to protect her in those strange moments.

In the caverns with Rattle, Deka thinks his expression is one of betrayal and realizes he is drugged (by blue blossom) when she commands him to speak and he cannot. Keita comes in and overhears Deka apologizing to Rattle. Deka and Keita walk to the nystria tree. Keita sits with an arm around Deka, puts his forehead to hers, and says she can trust him. Deka admits to hearing the deathshrieks calling her betrayer but doesn’t reveal her other thoughts. Keita asks her to not talk to the deathshrieks, so she can remain safe for him during the campaign, and she agrees.

When the dry season returns and the campaign begins, Deka is thankful for her lightweight gold armor, and even Ixa has armor made of her blood. White Hands’s armor is bone-white, and she is joined by her horse lords, Braima and Masaima. White Hands rallies the troops with a rousing speech. As they ride off, Deka again feels guilty about killing deathshrieks.

The army heads for the N’Oyo desert, and this terrain is the roughest Deka has faced. They move for two weeks in sand, towards the mountains, where there are supposedly thousands of deathshrieks. Male soldiers unfamiliar with the alaki insult and threaten the women, specially targeting those from Warthu Bera and Ixa. Alaki from other training grounds are weaker, so Deka is glad the men target the stronger women.

When they reach an oasis and Deka starts to fill her waterskin, a big Northern soldier—Baxo—harasses her about jumping an imaginary “line” to the water and tells her to go to the other side of the lake. Ixa bares his teeth at Baxo, who tries to incite other soldiers, calling the alaki “whores” (like the villagers before they started using the nickname Death Strikers). Baxo says he hopes they die quickly, and Deka unsheathes her sword saying she welcomes death and asks if he does. When Keita intervenes, Baxo recognizes him, and Keita defends Deka, invoking the emperor and White Hands. This convinces Baxo to leave with the other men. After they are gone, Keita jokes about saving Deka this time.

As they approach the N’Oyo Mountains, about a week and a half away from the primal nesting grounds, Keita tenses because they are near where his family was massacred. They joke about sand in delicate bits, which leads to Adwapa discussing her lesbian relationship with Mehrut. Deka thinks the couple is lucky because the villagers of Irfut abuse lesbians and force them to serve as temple maidens. Others chime in about sexual experience, pointing out that Acalan is still a virgin. Keita admits he is also a virgin, saying he hasn’t wanted to kiss anyone until now and wants to be bonded with someone before having sex with them. Adwapa teases him about touching breasts. Deka admits to her virginity as well. Britta, Li, and Lamin are also virgins, while Kweku, Adwapa, and Asha are not. Deka quickly changes the topic when they get to Belcalis (who is grateful she doesn’t have to discuss her time in the brothel). This banter is interrupted by a boulder being tossed into their group.

More boulders and spears fall as a deathshriek army marches on them, causing a mist to fall. Captain Kelechi waves a red flag to gather the Death Strikers to the emperor. Their position is too far out for Deka to command the deathshrieks, so White Hands orders Deka to ride closer with a make-shift megaphone, “metal toros horn” (338), and Britta, Belcalis, and Gazal. Keita protests and wants to ride with her as her uruni, but the emperor forbids Keita from going. The alaki ride out without him.

Britta reiterates that she’ll protect Deka as they ride to the foothills, and they hear another volley of spears. Belcalis’s horse is killed, and Britta is impaled through her belly, bleeding the blue blood of final death. Deka pulls off Britta’s gold-blood helmet and commands her to live. Britta repeats “I will...not die” (341), and her bleeding slows. During this powerful magical working, Deka’s face has changed. She orders Gazal—who never wore the circlet Deka had made of her blood for all the alaki—to guard Britta and see that she gets help; Gazal obeys. Deka and Belcalis ride off towards the nest, Deka now determined to avenge Britta.

As Belcalis and Deka ride through more mist, Ixa has learned the noise of incoming spears and warns them when they need to put up their shields. Eventually they are able to see through the mists into rows of deathshrieks with catapults. Deka commands them to lower their weapons and kneel; they obey. Belcalis signals the rest of the army with a firecracker. Deka focuses on the deathshrieks that hurt Britta and finds the chieftain. Commanding him to speak, he—like the other deathshrieks—call Deka “Nuru” (345), and says she betrayed them for the humans. Then Deka passes out.

Deka wakes in a lush red tent with the emperor, Keita, Asha, Adwapa, Gazal, and Belcalis. Britta is also there, barely hanging on, but Gazal got her to a healer in time. The Emperor thanks Deka, and the men leave. Adwapa asks what happened, mentioning Deka’s leathered face. Gazal is still entranced and immobile; Asha lied to the men, saying Gazal was “battle shocked” (347). Deka commands Gazal to wake up, and Gazal does not remember her actions while entranced. Belcalis lies, saying Gazal hit her head.

After Gazal leaves the tent, Deka swears the others to secrecy and tells them she heard the deathshrieks speaking. Belcalis questions what Deka is, and Adwapa asks if she’s some kind of deathshriek. Belcalis warns they need to figure it out before the jatu do and kill her.