Black Shield Maiden

1

Yafeu

The antelope calf strays too far from his mother.

I crouch behind a boulder, tracking his movements as he combs the parched riverbank for sparse clumps of hippo grass. My ankles are strained, my thighs tight as bowstrings. From the moment I spotted the small herd trotting toward the White River, I haven t moved a muscle. After years of practice, I can ignore the discomfort, keeping my breath steady, even stopping my joints from creaking as I slow my nyama ­the energy that flows through all things ­until I m as motionless as the boulder.

You must be as still as death itself.

Papa s rich, deep voice booms in my mind, as though he had just spoken aloud. As though he were here beside me.

Focus, he says.

I ride the breath as it leaves my body. Soon I can feel the nyama of the herd as clearly as my own. It flows between the calf and his mother, her presence always mindful of his, and his of hers. He s old enough to have weaned, but young enough that his sense for danger is dull. A new blade in need of grinding.

The White River is shallow and murky, its bank naked without the grasses that once speckled the red-­brown mud like spots on a giraffe. All around me, the land is dry and brittle and nearly empty of life; it will be a full moon cycle or more before Sogbo blesses us with rains and we can sow the loam with seed. But pink light softens the barrenness of the earth as Lisa peeks above the horizon. He blankets my dark skin in a welcome warmth, lights up the scattered acacia trees, and rouses the firefinches to their morning song. Even the birds were asleep when I rose, stirred in the middle of Mawu s reign by the restlessness that seizes me when the hour is ripe for a hunt.

The calf ambles closer still, his shadow creeping up the boulder in the dawn s half-­light. I can already picture his tiny horns joining the teeth and claws on my hunter s tunic. Tokens of the animals I ve given to the long night.

Trust your

Willow Smith & Jess Hendel

Intimate, tender, and fiercely epic . . . With Black Shield Maiden, Willow Smith and Jess Hendel pull the reader into a rich adventure filled with detailed prose and poignant symbolism. You quickly become endeared with the character of Yafeu and her plight as a young woman in a vicious world. With her first foray into literature, Smith proves there is no limit to her boundless imagination and explosive creativity. Tomi Adeyemi, author of Children of Blood and Bone