CHAPTER 34
All Has Been Repaid

She caught up to them in two days.

As she approached, the Bride turned around to face her. The Bride’s shadow bulged out like a splotch of dye, giving a deeper hue to the ground. It grew till it came to Nasomi’s feet. Nasomi stopped.

Then she took a step forward, stepping onto the shadow. It dissipated from her foot. The Bride, who had grinned at her show of power, frowned.

Nasomi unfastened her cloak, letting it fall as she charged forward, color trailing her, sweeping away the blackness. The Bride also ran toward her.

“Today I will kill you, dreamwitch!”

“Not if I kill you first, witch!”

“Reema, stop!” Tambo shouted.

“Keep quiet, Tambo!”

The Bride jumped at Nasomi, threw her onto the ground, and the staff flew off Nasomi’s hand. She straddled her, administering multiple slaps. Nasomi hurled her off, and where the Bride fell, the blackness returned to the ground, for Nasomi's presence had ebbed it away.

The Bride laughed as she got up, aimed a kick. Nasomi grabbed the foot and threw the Bride down.

Nasomi got up hurriedly and reached for her staff and hit the Bride in the ribs when she was almost upon her. The Bride shrieked and jumped backward. Nasomi was satisfied with the fear in Reema's eyes. She dared Reema to return. She did, wiser now. She ducked Nasomi's swing and threw herself at Nasomi. The staff fell and the Bride kicked it away.

As they tussled and scratched and pulled each other's hair, there was a back and forth splotching of color from Nasomi and shadow from the Bride.

“It wasn’t enough that you destroyed my life!” Reema screamed. “You had to come and take more and more from me!”

Nasomi punched Reema in the jaw. “I can’t believe I felt sorry for you sometimes.”

“You have forgotten this is all your fault, you husband snatcher.” She retorted with a punch, a scratching to the face. “I have been with him. I know him. I protect him from enemies. I’ve been by his side, gone thousands of miles for him. You dream, you come, easy for you. I’ve had nothing, I’ve had to fight. I’ve had to face evil and conquer it.”

She called up her shadow, which surrounded and gripped Nasomi with arms that formed from it. Nasomi felt the hopelessness that she had felt when the Toddler did a similar thing.

But she broke through it. “Then you’re a fool. You can’t force people to love you.”

“Will is nothing without love. He just doesn’t realize he loves me.”

Nasomi had to laugh. “You’re a child in your mind. I don’t care how powerful you have become. You don’t think straight.” She spun the Bride and pinned her to the ground.

The Bride bit into Nasomi's arm and freed herself, pushing Nasomi away.

“Look at me! Do you see my face, my skin? How ugly I look? You have done this to me. I did nothing to you, but you came—”

“Enough of this! You’re a liar, a murderer. You… you… you killed Djina. You killed Wakani.”

“And how many of mine have you killed? My hyenas. My jackal! Do you know how much it cost me to get them to be mine?”

Like a feral beast, Reema jumped at Nasomi with nails, teeth, and madness. She scratched and bit and slapped.

The kick Nasomi gave the Bride emitted a strong unnatural thud, and a wide area under both of them was freed of the blackness. The Bride fell to her knees, weakened, grimacing. “What is this? My power…”

The Bride grunted angrily, and the black returned, thicker than before, almost alive, riding in waves.

The ground bulged under Nasomi, throwing her off balance. She fell backward, but the bulging followed her, faster and harder this time, tossing her in the air, and she fell down hard.

The soil was gnawing at her skin, like a multi-mouthed creature was tasting her before consuming her. The bulging up and down of the ground nauseated her and she was on the verge of unconsciousness. She could hardly move by the time the rocking ceased and the Bride was over her, holding her staff, examining it.

“I thought there was magic in this thing, but it was a trick, wasn't it? It’s all in you, you undeserving wretch. But I’m not afraid.”

Nasomi couldn't reply. She couldn’t get up. “Zje’pi toov, evil Bride!”

“Ha! You think you can deter me with a little insult? I know a bit of the language, dreamwitch. Zje’piwane toov!” The Bride raised the staff to strike Nasomi.

Tambo appeared behind the Bride, and he brought something sharp down at her back. She shrieked and turned about, backhanding him across the chest. He fell to the ground, sprawled. She dropped Nasomi's staff and picked the sharp rock. It was tipped with her blood.

“What are you doing, my love? How did you...? Some will, isn’t it?” Then her voice turned ugly. “You’re just like her! If I can't have you, then she won't either. You have made me do this.” She raised the sharp rock at him.

But she hesitated, threw it away and fell to her knees. She began to cry.

“I can't! I love you. I love you so much. I am such an idiot! Me, the one who conquered the witches of Arwo, leveled Olonge, killed Ituntulu and enslaved his coven. I am weakened by a simple man.” She emitted a self-deprecating laugh.

Nasomi got up and picked her staff. She mustered all her energy through it, and touched Reema with it. Blinding light and rippling colors hummed from the impact, just like with the hyena at Ashge, spreading far and wide and above.

When the light and hum ebbed, the ground was covered in colorful, sweet-smelling flowers and graceful grass. The air was pleasant to breathe. The shadow was nowhere in evidence. Lightning flashed in the horizon, tearing the sky in a dazzling crack.

Reema was still there, where she was kneeling. She studied her hands and touched her face. The wrinkles were gone. Her face was as dark as mahogany, as smooth as it had been many years back. The gold bands on her neck and arms glittered in stark contrast to her skin, and looked as new a fresh from the jeweler.

She was youthful again. She repossessed her intimidating beauty.

Nasomi poked her with the staff, and for a brief moment, Reema looked up at her. Tears were streaming down her face. She averted her eyes, staring in fearful wonder at her hands.

Tambo coughed as he struggled to heave himself up. Nasomi bounded to him and embraced him. She was trembling, unable to contain the bursting joy. She helped him up.

He took off the cloth around his thigh and tossed it. He closed his eyes, as he moved his limbs of his own will, cracking his neck, taking deep breaths.

“I promise I will never be weak again,” he struggled to say.

“You have held on all this while.”

“I missed you so much. I have loved you always.”

“I know.”

“I have meant to return home. On a good day.”

Nasomi laughed. “Today is a good day then.” She brought her lips to his. His lips were soft, beautiful to taste. He returned the kiss with equal passion.

Thick drops of rain fell upon their foreheads.

“What are we going to do with her?” he asked, indicating Reema with a raise of his chin. Reema was still entranced in her regained form.

“I don’t know. I have undone her magic.”

“How?”

“Remember when the mages told us there are two types of magic? Mine is able to undo hers. All has been repaid.”

“Nothing is repaid until she's dead.” He managed to pick up a pebble and toss it at Reema. It hit her on the forehead, making a small cut. But she did not move. She didn't even look in their direction.

“Tambo, enough killing has been done. I wanted nothing but to kill her all this while. But now… I don’t know. I thought she would disappear like the hyena.”

“That’s what she wants. For you to feel sorry for her, then she’ll return with witchery to take revenge.”

“She won’t. I can feel it. All her power is undone.”

“So, she's not dangerous anymore?”

“Not anymore.”

“We can’t leave her to her own devices. We must take her with us, back to Nari. To face the king’s judgment.”

Nasomi’s heart leaped, shattering again over Djina’s death. The dream… Djina, not Reema, was the one who was supposed to return with her and Tambo back to Nari. Had she misremembered the dream?

Tambo, more from his regained freedom than strength, ripped apart Reema’s cloak and bound her hands. “There’s a large hole some way back,” he said to Nasomi. “We must shelter there to let the rains pass.” He pulled Reema up on her feet. “Walk!”

The rain washed down in a wild torrent when they were safely in the hole. It was like a tunnel, with enough room to move through in a stooping position. It sloped downward and then horizontally, and stopped dead. It told no stories of where it was to go, or what it had been for. Nasomi hoped some wild beast wouldn’t come tromping through seeking shelter.

Reema sat when she was told to sit. She leaned against the wall when she was told to. She drew her knees to herself, said not a single word.

With nothing to do but wait, Nasomi stroked Tambo’s hair as he lay on her lap. She had set her staff to her left side on the floor. Throw it away. That was the idea coming into her mind. It had served its purpose. There was no more need for a telling. Everything was as it had been. Tambo was in her arms again. Reema was only threatening through her beauty. Once they got back to Nari, and Reema was judged, life would be complete again.

She fell asleep, hypnotized by the whoosh of the rain, the drip drip of water into the hole, the peace of having finally done it. She dreamed, and it was an ordinary dream. It was a messy dream: an animal with bright red fur, long wistful tail, and long innocent snout jumped from spot to spot, coloring the world. Here some blue, there white. People emerged from the colors. Nasomi was a tall tree, singing a song, bleeding sweet chromatic emotion. But it was an ordinary dream, and she awoke from it with a smile.

Reema was gone. The cloth used to bind her lay on the ground. Nasomi picked up her staff, switched it to her right hand and searched for Reema.

She was under a tree, sheltering from the rain, a few miles east from here. Reema snorted a sad sound.

“You are watching me again, aren't you, Dreamwitch? I can feel you. All my powers are gone, but I can tell you are here. Or perhaps I am imagining it.”

Reema walked out into the rain. “Keep him, peasant girl,” she continued. “He has a small heart, I see that. I have seen that, but my own heart… Well, he loves you, the Mara know why. I don’t care anymore. And to think I loved him so much. But he would never want me.”

She wiped off rain from her forehead. “Isn't it funny, how I have searched hard and killed many for even a hint of beauty? But you, my enemy, you gave it back to me. And I have been running away.”

She forced a laugh. “Go. Go home and be happy in your miserable little lives. The world is not for me. I am too good for it. You will never forgive me, but I forgive you. Yes, I forgive you, dreamwitch. I will die here, I choose to die here. I go the way I want.”

When she returned to herself, Nasomi sighed, a deep inhale and exhale. She was still for a long moment. Tambo awoke.

“Where is she?”

“Gone, Tambo. She freed herself.”

“She must face the king’s justice in Nari!” Tambo said. “She mustn’t be let loose.”

“There is nothing more we must do to her,” Nasomi said. “There’s nothing more we must do for her. She has made her choice.”

If Reema wanted to die here, Nasomi would let her. She was certain Reema would never show up again with more terrible powers and a dozen hyenas to her command. Nasomi had her journey to think about. She had Meron and Ramona to think about.

She looked at her staff. Well, nothing was as it had been. The tellings were now part of her. She also had Djina to think about.

“My love,” she said. “I must look for someone.”

“Who?” asked Tambo.

“A friend, a teacher, a sister. She is a lot of things to me.”

“Where is she?”

“Well, she died.”

He narrowed his eyes. “I don’t understand.”

“I have so much to tell you, so much to make you understand. Right now, I want you to watch over me. I will be as though I am asleep, but I’ll be looking for her. Her body is not yet buried. I want to bring her back.”

“You can do that?”

“I don’t know. I can only try.” She wrapped her right hand over the staff, closed her eyes.