CHAPTER 29
Shapes in the Dark
She followed Reema and Tambo in her dreams. They moved in more or less silence, their days uneventful after the Bride’s triumph over the sorcerer horde.
Tambo was irritable, and in his dreams, of which Nasomi stepped in every few days, he said he had had enough of this and he wanted to go home. He was willing to kill the Bride if he had the chance.
The Bride, on the other hand, seemed anxious about finding what she desired. She said it as much: “If the Ndinge Mfundae cannot give me what I seek, I don’t know what I will do next.”
Tambo had replied to that with a grunt.
They soon came into a forest of verdant jacaranda trees. Each tree was spaced about eight paces from the other, as though deliberately planted thus. Given the sparse undergrowth, one would think it was so. Sunlight striking through the purple crowns gave the whole forest a dazzling dreamy view, as if walking into a dreamy world. The little flowers rained from the trees in the soft wind, laying thick violet carpets on the ground. Even Tambo enjoyed kicking his way through the flower blankets.
Nasomi was hiding in Tambo to keep Reema from detecting her, even though Reema gave a subtle gesture as if she suspected. She said nothing about it. Maybe she was sure Nasomi could do nothing but suffer as she watched the Bride control her husband.
“Sometimes I am grateful I’ve been through all these trials,” the Bride said. She breathed in the scent of the flowers, closing her eyes for a moment. “The places we’ve seen, the different cultures… the world is so vast. Let’s not forget the power I have amassed. I would have still been a sad little housewife in Nari, married to your insufferable brother. But I was brave enough to step out.”
“You mean wicked enough,” Tambo said.
She gave a mirthless laugh. “Tambo, my love, I’m not in the mood for that.”
“Well, I am.” He smirked. “I’ll never get tired of insulting you.”
“I guess I have to get used to it.” She turned around to face him, walking backward. “But you have to revert to what you used to call me when all this is over.”
“I don’t remember,” he pretended.
“‘My Radiant Beauty’ was my favorite.” She turned back around. “I really do promise you that I will give up all this. Then you and I can settle anywhere we like, and have lots of children… a happy family.”
He sighed. “You’d have killed me by then because of my stubbornness.”
She chortled. So did the hyena. Gweuka slunk back, a predatory look on him.
“Why would I kill the man I love? I know you love me, Tambo. If not still then anew. I can see it in your face. You’re warming up to me.”
“Don’t flatter yourself.” But there was no anger in his voice as before, only tiredness.
“I have a gift for you, my love.”
“Gift?” He looked about. The hyena was not in sight. “Where is Gweuka?”
“Don’t worry about him. This is a sweet moment between us.”
He stopped walking, gave her a suspicious eye.
She sashayed to him. “You have been with me through these years, Tambo. By my side, through much trouble. I make your legs move when you don’t want to, but you have still been by my side. And you even saved me. You know what they say about people who experience hardships together.”
He shook his head.
“They develop a deep fondness. I have always like this coyness of yours. It’s one of your attractive elements, did I tell you that? Now, as to my gift, I am giving you freedom.” She knelt, untied the cloth on his leg, stood up and showed it to him.
His eyes were so wide they would have popped out. “What is this? What have you done to me?”
“Nothing, my love. I want you to trust me. I also want to trust you.”
“You have set me free? I am no longer bound to you?”
“Only through your heart.”
“Why?” He still looked about like there was something bad about to happen.
“As I said, nothing can compare to the bond we’ve shared since I got you back.” She was smiling at him.
He slunk back from her and she made no move, only smiled wider. He backed away further from her, she still did not move. He watched her for a moment, and then sprung for his life.
“I see your folly!” the Bride yelled.
The cloth magically floated from her hand and flew toward him like an angry bee.
Strangely, Nasomi’s perception followed after the cloth as it hunted Tambo among the trees. It was close by, matching his running speed, teasing him.
She became him again. He was determined to get as far from the Bride as he could. He was not going to let his freedom be taken away again. He was going through his options: Hide? No, the Bride would sniff him out. Fight? He heard the giggle of the hyena. He knew how strong Gweuka was, how quick. No wonder he’d hidden. Both he and the Bride were playing this game on Tambo.
He had nothing else to do but run.
Gweuka appeared beside him, and he veered away. The hyena jumped in front of him. He dashed another way. He kept his direction till Gweuka was almost upon him, then he banked aside, and the hyena hit into a tree. “Ha!” he yelled in triumph.
The dead flowers and leaves underneath thickened, making his running cumbersome. He didn’t notice the creek until his foot didn’t step upon ground but dipped into water, and he sprawled into it. He didn’t take the time to check himself. He was up immediately and running again. He didn’t mind that he lost both his sandals.
He dodged an aimed bite from the hyena, feinted and dashed another direction. He ran toward a fallen tree; it had space underneath enough for him to crawl under. He dove, but he hardly started crawling when a hyena bit into his leg and dragged him back.
He kicked with his free leg. When Gweuka let him go, he scrambled under the trunk. When he stood up on the other side, he was facing the Bride. Her black shadow was writhing beneath her.
“Come now, enough of this,” she said, as the cloth floated from under the trunk and wrapped itself on his right thigh. His will was gone from him, and he fell to his knees.
“Swallow you, Reema! And you too, stupid Gweuka. May the depths swallow you both.”
“No need for curses,” the Bride said. “It is clear to me you still want to return to the dreamwitch.” She offered her hand and he took it. She helped him up. “You need to forget about her, my love. I know you will when I am all you will have. I think she must die.”
“Reema, no!”
“I have been good to you. But you keep despising me. She doesn't know you as I do. She must die, my love. I will help you through the grieving. I will cry with you. When it is over, you will have no one in your heart but me. I am so sorry.”
“I will kill you if you touch her. I swear—”
She touched his lips. “Shhhh. I know, I understand. But you must understand me, too.” She beckoned Gweuka. “Whom can we send?”
The hyena giggled. “Ooh, the Toddler, send the Toddler!”
“And the jackal, too, to make sure it is done.”
Nasomi jerked awake, found Wakani the only one awake by the fire of the little camp the made for the night. Buyechi and the girl were asleep.
There was a crack behind her. She jerked her head and saw the Toddler, silhouetted among some bushes, watching her. But it turned out to be a tree stump. A shadow flitted in the trees. An animal. Or a conjuring of her imagination.
She stood and went to sit next to Wakani on the fire. “Keep an eye out,” she said, her heart fluttering at shapes in the dark being that were not being what she perceived them to be. As the fire warmed her face, she faced her fear. And then being afraid didn’t make sense anymore.
“I am the Heart of Mohale,” she said, more to herself.
“Yes, you are, My Lady,” Wakani replied.
How would the Bride send the Toddler and jackal after her when she didn’t know where Nasomi was? It’s a gimmick, Nasomi realized. To break Tambo’s heart. When he grieves, she would be there for him. Also, to scare me into not coming after her. Cunning witch.
“She doesn’t know me,” Nasomi said. “I am the Dreamer, the Seer. I will find her anywhere she goes, and I will get to her no matter how long, how far it takes me.”
“And I will be there to fight with you,” Wakani said.
“Wakani…”
“I know what you want to say, My Lady. Let me take you to the Bride, then I will go back.”
“I don’t know what’s ahead, what danger it is to you. I will not forgive myself if something bad happens to you. Think of your daughter Khuya.”
“I always do. But I will not say to her, ‘And then I abandoned My Lady to go face the witch by herself.’ She will want to know the end of this.”
As the dawn chased away the darkness, the posse was riding out again on the road to Zjala. Nasomi and Djina rode on Nhema, and the two men took turns riding the other horse and running.
“You thought to steal my bananas,” Nasomi said to Djina, when they slowed to a walk as a new night encroached.
Djina laughed. “I was hungry. Sorry. I didn’t know you would be the one to save me.”
“I do hope you won’t try to steal any more from me.”
The girl sighed. “I am ashamed this is the image of me you have. I need to reintroduce myself properly.”
“So, who are you, Djina, if you’re not a thief?”
“I am the daughter of a priest and priestess in Kedjaki. The man you got me from, who wanted to see me come to justice—that’s my father.”
“Eh? Your father? And he was quick to condemn you thus?”
“According to him, it was after many warnings. I gave him much trouble, unlike my brothers and sisters.”
“You don’t sound contrite.”
“Believe me, I am. But it’s just so hard. Sometimes I think there’s something wrong with me, or maybe I don’t belong here. I see things, shiny things, and I just want to take them. Also when I feel happy inside, I can’t help it but sing and dance in places I am not supposed to.”
“Is that what they wanted to punish you for? Singing and dancing?”
Djina laughed. “At ‘inappropriate times’. And there’s plenty of those. Foreigners like you get to do what they want, and your ways are just beautiful. Full of freedom. I have always wanted the freedom to do what I want.”
“And the stealing?”
“There are few things which are not sacred in Kedjaki. It’s all confusing: you can’t take this on the first day, you can’t touch that when the moon is out. My people can be such stiffs. Good thing I am leaving, with my hands intact. Why did you take me after hearing my name?”
“That’s a long story. Your name, is it common here?”
“Common enough. Why do you ask? You rescued the wrong girl?”
“That shall be seen.” Djina squirmed. “Stop that, Djina. You’ll fall off the horse.”
Djina did it twice more. “Nasomi! I’ve seen something! It looks like… like a child riding a dog.”
Wakani gave a cry, and Buyechi shouted, “What in the name of Mohale is that?”
Nasomi whipped her head to see the Toddler and jackal catching up to their side, going past the astounded warriors. She just kicked the horse into a gallop when the Toddler stretched out its tiny hand. An unseen heavy hand threw her off the horse. She was rolling on the ground, spinning in dizzying disorientation, hearing the horse bray and the girl scream.
They found me! The Bride had indeed sent them!
Her head hit into something, and the world continued spinning even when she stopped. She didn’t know whether she was whole; she was too panicked to feel her own body. She didn’t even know whether she tried to get up or just lay there.
Someone was screaming. Was it her? No, one of the men. “Let me go, you stupid witch!” Wakani screamed. Nasomi heard him grunt and then there was a sickly fft, and he made one more scream and went silent.
What have you done to Wakani? Nasomi shouted but wasn’t even sure her voice came out of her mouth.
Invisible arms took hold of Nasomi, clasping her hands and feet. She could feel a burning all the way inside her.
“Is she the one?” the jackal asked. His muzzle blocked the moonlight. He was looking down at her with fiery red eyes.
“She smelled right,” the Toddler said in his toddler’s voice. He came into view on her other side, and for a moment she remembered the days when baby Meron would frolic all about her when she lay in bed.
“We have to be right, I am tired,” the jackal said. “We’ve come too far to waste time.”
The Toddler put a hand on her forehead. It was soft, but far from endearing. It was like a stone weighing on her head.
“She said she was one of them, with some magic inside. I don’t feel anything.”
Nasomi’s heart, already a wild drum, spiked. Djina, the warriors. What was happening to them? She jerked up into a sitting position, her motion pushing the sorcerers away like a storm.
“She’s the one!” the jackal shouted excitedly. “And a fighter, too. Do your thing quick, Kamo.”
The Toddler faced the other way, flopped down onto its buttocks, started writing on the ground. Nasomi could feel her soul inside begin to fade. The unseen hand pushed her head back down. The jackal placed his paw on her chest, grinning.
“I am hungry, Kamo. I may start before you’re done.”
“Remember to leave the head for the Bride to see.”
Another figure came into view over the jackal. Buyechi, with his spear raised in both hands. Blood streamed from his forehead, covering one of his eyes. He hit the jackal, who yelped and sprinted away.
“Buyechi, you must run!” Nasomi was able to sit up again. When she stood, her left ankle burned with pain.
But the warrior was adamant. He charged the jackal with the spear as it turned back around. The spear was yanked off his hands magically and the jackal came for a bite.
Nasomi threw herself at the jackal, bringing it down with her body. It threw her off.
“My Heart!” The warrior couldn’t move, held by an invisible web. He shook and fought, broke free and lunged onto the jackal once again. It jumped at him, bit into his thigh.
A stone flew and hit the jackal. Djina picked another one, threw it. Chonse let go of the screaming warrior and turned toward the girl. Djina stood where she was, perhaps petrified, perhaps out of stubbornness.
A mighty force pushed Nasomi back to the ground. Djina! she screamed, unsure whether her voice actually came out or not. Don’t die here with me!
Her vision caught the Toddler standing up and turning around. With that motion came a palpable darkness, a dark oily column that spread and encompassed her, and she was lost in it. She could not move, could not fight, could not access the power of her tellings. She was like a helpless child, while the Toddler seemed like a giant coming to crush her with his legs.
She saw Djina backing away, the jackal stalking her. She saw Buyechi dive onto the jackal, saving Djina from a nasty bite. A spear flew, lodged into the jackal’s hide.
The darkness closed in, the madness came. Pain, grief, tormenting memories. All of Nasomi’s soul was being taken away, stripped, broken apart. What pended was physical death.
But she wasn’t all gone, was she? She could feel a finger, her right pinky. And that was sufficient to recall herself. She was Nasomi, Seer, Oracle. She was “one of them”, the ones with magic inside. She was the Dreamwalker, the ghost that could travel the world, Heart of a goddess.
She clenched her pinky, and all fingers followed. She raised her fist in the air, in the enveloping darkness.
“I have you conquered, dreamwitch,” the Toddler said. “You cannot fight this.” He was still coming toward her, his baby steps rocking the ground.
Nasomi tried to speak, and it came out as a strained whisper: “I am not afraid.”
Thud thud thud. He was next to her now.
“I am not afraid of you.” She raised another fist. “I am not afraid of you!” Her voice was stronger, louder. She could shout, she could yell for all the world to hear. “I am not afraid of you!”
The darkness broke, flaking off into pieces of light and color. Nasomi raised herself from the pulling shadow. She faced the Toddler. He blinked, surprised. She pushed him away, and his power dissipated.
Wakani was – Wakani! He was alive, but bleeding heavily. He was stabbing the jackal repeatedly with his spear, grunting in disgust. It just wasn’t dying. No blood but puffs of dark smoke poured out from its wounds. The spear was magically yanked from his hand. It spun in the air. It stabbed into his heart.
Nasomi screamed. She stood up. “I am not afraid of you,” Nasomi said to the Toddler. She stood up, as a wind from inside her blew away all the nasty witchery the two had wrought. She swung her hand, she gave him a mighty slap. He fell away, and he lay unconscious.
The jackal was whimpering now, trying to get up. Without knowing what she was doing, Nasomi went to get the spear from Buyechi. When she stabbed the jackal, it shriveled up, like a scorched plant. It coughed, fell limp and lifeless.
“Arrrgh!” the Toddler cried, and Nasomi turned to find him awake and upstanding. “Look what you’ve done!”
“Go away, you beast!” Nasomi shouted. “Or I will do you like I have done the jackal.”
The Toddler crawled away into some bushes.