Chapter 10: Free by Morning
Chapter 10 · 8 min read
That night, the iron horn blew across the camp.
“Outside, worms!” Guards hit the doors with their sticks.
People hurried out into the cold, foggy yard. Jabari jumped up and almost knocked Kofi over. Lumani caught him by the arm.
In the crowd, Ayo took Kofi’s hand. She held it all the way across the yard.
Mama Leki carried Jojina on her hip. The women from the drying mats stood close together to keep warm.
Captain Mbala stood on a high wooden platform. He held a rolled paper sealed with red wax.
“Listen, worms!” he shouted. “The Shadow Lord’s guests are coming to visit Camp Seven in two weeks.”
Everyone went quiet.
Next to Lumani, an old woman whispered, “No one from the palace has ever come here.”
“For the next two weeks, there will be no heavy work,” Captain Mbala read on. “You will receive new clothes, the camp will be cleaned, and you will look strong and healthy for the Lord’s guests.”
“No work?” Jabari whispered. “I like these guests already.”
Ayo did not smile. “Nothing here is free.”
Lumani looked at Jabari. “A break from work should feel like good news. But it does not.”
Captain Mbala pointed at the prison.
“The Lord says all prisoners must be set free before the visit. They will be free by morning.”
“More good news,” Jabari said.
Lumani’s heart jumped. “Kamau is coming back.”
Kofi squeezed his arm so hard it hurt. Lumani did not mind.
The captain’s voice turned hard.
“This is not kindness. Anyone who breaks a rule while the guests are here will be punished right away. Now go back to your sheds.”
The crowd started to move. Lumani stayed still.
He did not know why the palace guests were coming. He did not know what they would do. But by morning, Kamau would be home.
Before the sun came up, Lumani and his friends waited near the gate. Mama Leki waited with them.
Other people waited too. A woman stood on her toes, looking for her son. An old man held a blanket over his arm.
“What if they changed their minds?” Kofi whispered.
“They did not,” Ayo said.
“How do you know?”
“The guests want a clean camp. Prisoners are not clean.”
The gate opened.
Three men came out. Then two more. The woman on her toes cried out and ran to one of them.
At last, Kamau walked through.
He walked slowly. One cheek was bruised and dark. There was dried blood on his shirt. He held one hand on his side, but he stood straight.
When he saw them, he stopped.
Lumani ran first. Then Kofi. Then Jabari and Ayo, right behind them.
Kamau opened his arms. They crashed into him all at once. He made a sound of pain, but he did not let go.
“You are here,” Lumani cried. “You are really here.”
“I am here.”
“I thought they would never let you go.” Lumani’s voice broke. “I thought I would never see you again.”
Kamau held the back of his head. “You stayed hidden.”
“You told me to.”
Kofi sobbed into Kamau’s shirt.
“We saved your bread,” he sobbed. “Every night. It is very dry now.”
“Then it is perfect,” Kamau said. His voice shook.
Jabari’s face was pressed against Kamau’s arm.
“Next time, take me with you,” he said. “Do you hear me?”
“I hear you.”
“I mean it!”
“I know you do.”
Ayo held on the tightest of all. She said nothing at first. Then, very quietly, she said, “We knew you would come back. We knew it.”
Kamau closed his eyes. For a long moment, he just held them.
Ayo glanced at the guard on the wall. “So much for normal,” she whispered.
Then Jabari pulled back and wiped his face with his sleeve. He looked Kamau up and down.
“You look terrible.”
“Thank you, Jabari.”
“I mean it in a nice way.”
“I know.”
Mama Leki hurried over and hugged him.
“Come inside,” she said. “You need to heal.”
In the shed, she cleaned the cut on his cheek. She put a cool cloth on his bruise. She made him drink water before anyone could ask questions. Kofi held the water cup. Jabari held the cloth. Ayo stood by the door and watched the path.
“Did they hurt you?” Kofi asked.
“A little,” Kamau said.
“A lot,” Mama Leki said.
Lumani sat close. His hand moved to the stone under his shirt. Kamau saw it. He shook his head, just a little.
“Later,” he said softly.
Lumani’s fingers tightened on the stone under his shirt. He wanted to ask about the names — who they were, why Kamau carried them. The question pushed up into his throat. Then he looked at Kamau’s swollen cheek, at the way his hands shook around the cup, and he swallowed it. Not now. Kamau was carrying enough already.
That afternoon, while the children ate, Mama Leki checked Kamau’s hands for broken bones.
“Thank you,” he said.
“Do not thank me,” she said. “Just do not do it again.”
“I cannot promise that.”
“I know,” she said.
She wrapped a clean cloth around his hand. There was nothing else to say.
Two guards stood at the corner of the outside wall, far from the sheds.
“Did you hear the palace order?” the young guard asked.
“I heard it.”
“Two weeks.”
The older guard stared at the wall.
“Do you know what happened at the Kusu border camp? When the palace visitors came?”
“I do not want to know.”
“People say every worker there was gone by morning. All because one man broke a rule.”
The young guard said nothing.
“And the captain there?” the young guard asked at last.
“They found his uniform in the yard. Nobody ever saw him again.”
The young guard looked at the camp.
“I have a wife in Lubunda City. And a little girl. She is seven. If I can keep my head down for two weeks…”
“Then keep it down,” the older guard said. “That is all any of us can do.”
The next morning, the brick frames were gone. Buckets stood in their place.
“Scrub!” a guard shouted. “Every board. Every step.”
Lumani and Jabari scrubbed the guardhouse steps. At the drying mats, the women fixed shirts with gray thread. Jojina sat in a tub of cold water while Mama Leki washed her hair.
“Why do the guests care if I am clean?” the girl asked.
“They care about everything,” Mama Leki said.
Jabari scrubbed the same spot three times. “I have never been this clean, and I do not like it.”
“You are not clean,” Ayo said. “You are wet.”
The older boy from the other crew walked past with a bucket. He stopped, set down his bucket, and looked back at his shed.
“Two of our mats are still empty,” he said quietly. “Nobody sleeps there now.”
“Where did they go?” Kofi asked.
The boy shrugged. “People say the palace likes quiet camps.”
He picked up his bucket.
“Someone else said a quiet camp is an empty one.”
Malanga passed along the rows, his board under his arm. He stopped beside Lumani’s bucket. For a moment, his eyes stayed on Lumani’s face. Then he marked the board and walked on. He did not say a word.
Three days later, Mama Leki and Kamau called the children to a quiet corner of the shed. They sat in a circle.
“We have a break from the brick pits,” Mama Leki said. “Do you know why?”
“So we look nice for the guests,” Jabari said.
“Yes. The guards are busy getting ready. They are not watching every path.”
She looked at each of them.
“This may be our chance to get you outside the walls. But the guards need a reason to let you go.”
Jabari sat up straight.
“Spices.”
Everyone looked at him.
“What about them?” Ayo asked.
“We tell the guards Kamau needs spices to get better before the guests come. They want him to look well, yes?”
“Herbs are for healing,” Mama Leki said. “Spices go in food.”
“I knew that,” Jabari said.
“No, you did not,” Ayo said.
Mama Leki almost smiled. “But the idea is good. The captain wants the camp to look its best.”
She pulled a small cloth bag from her clothes. Inside were dried leaves, bark, and roots, each piece carefully wrapped.
“Take these with you. When you come back, show them to the guards. They will think you went to find herbs.”
“And if they catch us?” Ayo asked.
“Then you were only finding herbs,” Mama Leki said. “That is all.”
Lumani looked at the bag. “But we are not going to the forest, are we?”
“No,” Mama Leki said. “You are going to see the world outside these walls.”
They looked at each other.
“The world?” Kofi whispered. “The whole thing?”
“Some of it,” Mama Leki said.
“There is a market past the camp,” Kamau said. “Stay together. Keep your eyes open. And come back before anyone starts looking for you.”
All four children nodded.
Ayo looked at the others. “Together,” she said.
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