Three spies sat in three separate prison cells—cold, chained, and silent. The walls were thick, the air thicker still. Each tick of passing ti grew heavier, slower, more unbearable.
They had been captured during the raids that bled through Shewa like a righteous storm. The sweep had been brutal, decisive. Now, all the three traitors could do was wait for their fate.
But silence is a cruel thing.
The longer Commander Tesfaye delayed the interrogation, the deeper the panic set in.
One paced in tight, jerky steps, whispering to himself.
Another chewed his fingernails raw, glancing at shadows as if expecting death to pour from the corners.
The last sat perfectly still—but his eyes were wild, darting every ti boots echoed in the hallway.
They were separated, isolated, yet united by one thought: they would not leave this place alive.
Tesfaye stood at the edge of the compound that night, watching the city breathe. His expression was carved from stone. He turned to the captain of the guard.
"Double the watch," he said. "I don’t want a rat slipping through these walls without our blessing. Nothing goes in. Nothing cos out."
The guards, fresh from their victory, stood taller. For the first ti in months, they had tasted purpose. Blood. Justice.
Tesfaye’s voice grew firr. "We’ve flushed the devils from the shadows. Let’s keep it that way."
Back in the command room, Khisa and Tesfaye sat by candlelight. Maps lay stretched before them, dotted with markings—so crossed out, so circled in red. Both n looked worn, but alive.
"We need to interrogate the prisoners," Tesfaye said, his voice low.
"We will," Khisa replied. "Tomorrow. Tonight, we recover."
Tesfaye arched an eyebrow. "Ti is our enemy."
"And fatigue is its ally," Khisa said. "If we falter, even a little, they’ll slip past us again. We need clarity. Sleep sharpens the blade."
He leaned back, gazing at the map.
"When do you think word will reach the King?" Khisa asks.
"Soon. It will be a few more days. Before word reaches the king, it will go through various channels." Tesfaye explains.
Khisa said. "We can’t afford to wait for the throne to act. For now, only Shewa is clean. If we want to defend the kingdom, we must black out all lines of enemy information. No ssages in, no signals out. We need people combing every valley, every hill, every forest—everything in between."
"Ti is of the essence Tesfaye, you have to be prepared for the possibility of traitors in your own ranks. Nobles, chieftains even army officers. Doubt everyone and everything until we prove otherwise. The lives of the innocent depend on it."
Tesfaye studied him. The boy’s voice held a steady fire, calm and burning.
"You speak like you’ve lived a hundred lives," he muttered.
Khisa smirked faintly. "Maybe I have."
In another corner of Shewa, Faizah sat with Musimbi in their shared quarters, wrapped in silence. Faizah’s hands trembled as she unwrapped the cloth around her sword. A thin stain of dried blood darkened the tal.
"That was the second ti I’ve taken a life," she whispered. "And it doesn’t feel any easier."
Musimbi didn’t flinch. She wrapped an arm around her.
"Good," she said. "It ans you haven’t lost your soul."
"But what if I do?" Faizah asked, eyes brimming.
"Then I’ll find it and drag it back to you," Musimbi said firmly. "The n you killed tonight—how many mothers have they left grieving? How many children did they orphan?"
Faizah swallowed hard. "Still... I need to pray. For them. For ."
She closed her eyes and offered a quiet prayer, her voice barely a breath.
The next morning
Khisa and Tesfaye descended into the prison block. The temperature dropped like a knife, the walls sweating with cold.
The three prisoners stared wide-eyed as the two n entered. Khisa’s expression was unreadable. Tesfaye looked like vengeance incarnate.
"Let’s begin," Tesfaye said.
The first man was dragged into the stone chamber. He refused to speak—until Tesfaye broke two of his fingers and poured salt on the wounds.
"You know what I’ve done to traitors?" he whispered. "This is being kind."
The man cracked within minutes.
"There’s a shipnt," he gasped, "heading to Massawa. In three weeks. Gunpowder, guns, cannons. A full stockpile. Enough to tear cities apart."
Khisa’s jaw tightened. "Why Massawa?"
"The port... They’re moving everything through there before marching west. It’s ant to fuel a full blown invasion. Massawa is easier to control, its a den of pirates and smugglers. We received word and we were supposed to head to the port to receive it. The Adal soldiers present are just as bad as the pirates."
The second prisoner spilled more under the heat of iron rods.
"They operate in cells," he stamred. "Each unit reports to a different commander. The Sultan gives them full autonomy—he only cares about the end result."
Tesfaye turned to Khisa. "If they don’t coordinate, we can break them one piece at a ti."
The third spy spoke last, but he gave the nas of three hidden Adal camps still active within Abyssinian borders. Massive groups equivalent to an entire battalion. Almost a thousand soldiers each.
The mont the interrogations ended, Tesfaye nodded once.
The guards slit their throats. The bodies were burned, the ashes scattered in silence.
Khisa stared into the flas. "No more roots in our soil," he muttered.
Later, as the sun dipped behind Shewa’s ridges, Khisa stood before Tesfaye once more.
"We need to flush out every last Adal camp. One ember can burn a forest. How did it get this bad? Thousands of enemies in your own lands." Khisa sighed shaking his head.
Tesfaye could barely et his eyes. "Our failure to protect our kingdom led to this. I need to make it right. What should we do about the shipnt? We need ships at sea to even attempt to take the weapons."
"We build our own," Khisa said. "Gather every shipwright and carpenter. Repair the old vessels. Reinforce them. We need all hands on deck."
"We don’t have weapons," Tesfaye reminded him.
"Yet," Khisa said, eyes sharp. "We’ll make explosives. It will take a bit of experintation but leave it to ."
He looked to the east, toward the unseen sea.
"And get the best sailors in the kingdom. We’re going to wait at sea. That shipnt... it’s ours now."
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