Book 1: Chapter 4 – I’ll Always Love You

As soon as he left the shop, Jabari's expression automatically returned to one of vigilance as he kept to the shadows in the back alleys while evading being seen.

Fifteen minutes later, as Jabari neared his residence, his attention was caught by two men arguing on the street.

It appeared that, like Jabari, one of the men had been ambushed by the other man and his hunting party, resulting in his food being stolen.

The argument was becoming more heated and intense by the second, but just before coming to blows, both men stilled as they caught sight of something out of the corners of their eyes.

Following their line of vision, Jabari saw a tall, domineering, dark-skinned man donning armour.

The armour was somewhat similar to the warriors that guarded the Umeme Tribe's main gates, only rustier and a bit too closely fitted. However, that did nothing to lessen the overall impact of the man's presence.

There was also a crowd that had gathered to enjoy the show, but now they quickly turned and hurried away with heads lowered, not wanting to breathe too loudly in case it drew the ire of the armoured man.

He was one of the enforcers of the slums. It was their job to ensure all residents followed the very few laws of the slums: no fighting, no stealing, and most importantly, no killing!

There were only twenty enforcers, and none were actually from the tribe's main settlement; in fact, each and every one of them was a slum resident, just like Jabari.

They were chosen by the nobles because they had proven themselves to be the twenty strongest combatants of the slums. They enforced the laws and, as a reward, were given rusty armour and weapons to protect themselves, as well as clean water and fresh food for themselves and their families.

It was the only job wanted by anyone with no way out of the hell hole that was the slums, Jabari included. Unfortunately, the only way to become an enforcer was to defeat one of the twenty in a fair battle to the death, supervised by the other enforcers and a noble from the tribe.

It was rare for an enforcer to be replaced, though. Unlike virtually everyone else in the slums, they never went hungry and had a lot of spare time to train. As a result, they were physically superior to the rest of the hungry residents in the slums who greedily eyed their positions.

Jabari's eyes would usually turn fiery at the thought of taking the place of any of the twenty, believing that it may well be the only position available to him that would allow him to ensure the safety of him and Inayah. But today, though his eyes were ablaze as he looked at the domineering enforcer, it was almost as though he was looking past him at something else...

No, someone else!

Either way, that was a matter for another day. For now, with the conflict having come to a forced early conclusion, Jabari turned to make his way back to his own accommodation.

…

"I'm home," Jabari announced upon returning to his dilapidated hut.

"Shhh." Luna hurried out of Inayah's room with her index finger over her mouth, her voice quiet enough that Jabari could only just about hear her despite standing so close to her. "Your sister's only just fallen back to sleep," Luna whispered.

"Ahh, ok, thanks," Jabari whispered back, automatically glancing worriedly at the closed door of Inayah's bedroom.

Looking down at Jabari's sack, Luna noticed drops of blood leaking onto the floor. "Successful hunt, I take it?"

Following her line of sight, Jabari saw the drops of blood on the creaky wooden floorboards. With the sole of his shabby brown sandals, he rubbed the blood into the floor as he replied, "Yeah, fortunately!"

"Did you go and scam Mr. Lethabo for water again?" Luna asked playfully, noticing how full his sack was.

"Scam? I'll have you know, I'm a respectable young man who wouldn't dream of doing anything as shameless as scamming the elderly!" Jabari snorted as if he'd taken great offence to her question.

"Whatever you say!" Luna replied, too lazy to argue with someone so shameless. "I still don't understand how you actually manage to get anything from him in the first place. His prices are exorbitant, and he doesn't negotiate with anyone. He doesn't even give a discount to the enforcers when they try to barter with him."

"How is he able to get away with that anyway? Everyone knows the enforcers tend to take whatever they want, from whoever they want, whenever they want!" Jabari asked, always very interested in any information about the old man.

"I have no idea; some people say it's because he was a former enforcer himself. Others say he's backed directly by the nobles of the main settlement, which is how he's able to obtain a constant supply of fresh water despite nobody ever seeing him leave the shop. Some even believe that he may be an undercover noble here to keep an eye on us and prevent us from going against the tribe's will."

"A noble?" Jabari asked. "Don't be stupid!"

"I never said it was true; I'm just telling you what I've heard. Either way, all that anyone knows for sure is that the old man is the only person that even the guards don't dare to annoy," Luna explained as she made her way to the door. "Anyway, I have to go; my mom told me to be back as early as possible."

"Thanks again for today," Jabari said sincerely.

"It's fine," she said, opening the door before turning back around. "Are you taking Inayah to the aptitude test tomorrow?"

Jabari nodded firmly as he answered. "We wouldn't miss it. This is Yah-Yah's best chance of escaping this hell hole."

"Is it bad that I'm jealous of Inayah for having such a great big brother?" Luna asked, her question catching Jabari off guard. "Anyway, I'll see you there," Luna replied as she quickly took her leave, not giving him a chance to respond.

Thinking about Luna's words, Jabari couldn't help but glance at Inayah's door. If it weren't for Inayah's presence in his life, Jabari would have long been driven insane by his constant nightmares. It was his love for her and his need to protect her that gave him the strength to carry on each day.

'She's the one saving me,' Jabari thought to himself before heading back outside to prepare dinner.

Outside, Jabari began to skin one of the rabbits using his rusty throwing knife before cooking it over a self-made fire.

Whilst it was cooking, he quietly entered Inayah's room and found her still sleeping peacefully on her bed. A warm and gentle smile touched his lips as he looked at his sister's sleeping figure before quietly leaving her room.

In the hallway, he reached under his "bedding" and picked up three more rusty yet surprisingly sharp knives and headed back outside, where he began to diligently practice his knife throwing, only stopping to check that the food wasn't burning.

Whilst practising, he heard the door to his "home" open, and the indignant voice of his sister reached his ears. "Why didn't you wake me when you got back?"

Turning around, Jabari breathed a sigh of relief as he saw how much stronger Inayah appeared compared to this morning before he left.

As a slum resident, Jabari had no access to healers or medicine of any kind, so he was frantic with worry, not knowing what was wrong with her. All he knew was that she'd continuously go through extended but sporadic periods of severe weakness that made it difficult for her to walk around like a normal child her age.

Unfortunately, those weak periods became longer and more frequent as time passed, making him increasingly worried and scared. All he could do was try his best to hide his worries from her so she could rest easier.

It was moments like these, seeing her able to walk around without support, that temporarily eased his mind – albeit only slightly.

"Babies need their sleep," Jabari teased as he softly flicked her ear.

"I'm not a baby!" Inayah pouted.

Jabari merely stroked her head lovingly, which seemed to appease and relax her as she closed her eyes and smiled.

"Go take a seat whilst I share out dinner," Jabari said gently, pointing to the logs by the front of their home.

After putting out the fire, Jabari shared out two portions made up of one of the rabbits using banana leaves as plates.

He handed the first to his sister before placing the water he got from old man Lethabo in front of them and sitting down beside her with his own portion.

"Why have I got the bigger portion? You're bigger and need your energy to hunt every day," Inayah said, noticing the difference in portion size.

"I had already finished most of mine, as I didn't know when you were going to wake from your little nap," Jabari said between mouthfuls, not even bothering to look up from his food. "You didn't want me to die of starvation, did you?"

Inayah merely rolled her eyes. She knew full well he wasn't being honest, but she didn't expose his lies as she knew he was just looking out for her.

"Mmh, that was good, but I'm stuffed," Inayah said a few minutes later.

"Just finish it; I can't eat anymore," Jabari remarked after seeing that she'd only eaten half of what was on her leaf.

"Neither can I, so let's just throw it away," Inayah said back as she chucked her leftovers in the air.

Jabari's movement was like that of a cheetah as he caught the remaining rabbit leg in mid-air and, near enough, devoured it whole.

"I thought you weren't hungry?" Inayah chuckled.

"You know the rules: don't waste food!" Jabari said begrudgingly as he gently flicked her on the forehead.

"It's not wasting food when I knew the dustbin would catch it!" Inayah argued back.

"Who are you calling a bin? You goof!" Jabari snorted before leading her back inside. "C'mon, let's get you back inside so you can rest."

"Fine," Inayah said whilst yawning. "But you have to stay with me until I fall back to sleep."

"Where else am I gonna go?" Jabari asked back.

"You ready for the big day tomorrow?" Jabari asked after helping her back into bed and covering her up.

Inayah nodded as she turned over, hiding her brief look of sadness. "Will you still love me if I fail tomorrow?" Inayah asked softly, as if she feared the answer.

She didn't get a response immediately, which led to the deepening of her frown, her face crumpling, and her eyes welling with tears.

Immediately, her chest filled with warmth as she felt his scrawny arms wrap around her from behind, giving rise to feelings of safety and comfort.

"There's nothing you or anyone else can say or do that could stop me from loving you, my baby sister!" Jabari said emotionally.