Ekewane - The Sorceress Page 12

  Chapter Twelve.

  Return to the Lake.

  One morning not long after the arrival of the canoe, Emanear came to them and said; “Get ready you are leaving with some of the men.”

  The girls understood what Emanear meant. They looked at each other and walked slowly to the group of men standing together talking. They were carrying their weapons. Ekewane looked quickly around to see where Emarr was. He stood a little apart from the group and nodded to her, Bagonoun stood near him excited and anxious to leave. Ekewane wondered why the men let the girls come along, but did not ask.

  Her father seemed to give some unspoken signal to move. She felt tension amongst the men, but nobody spoke out, and the small group started walking back around the coastline, from where she and her friends had come from some weeks before.

  The small group continued walking for most of the day. It was late in the afternoon when Emarr pointed to the men where they had come out from the undergrowth. The men decided to stop there the night and continue next morning. The sky was clear so they did not expect it to rain that night.

  Some of the men went to the edge of the reef and dived in. They soon came back up holding different kinds of fish; the reef around the entire island was rich with fish. Other men climbed up the tall coconut trees and cut down coconuts.

  Ekewane and Eiru gathered leaves from the surrounding bushes and laid them on the ground; they would sleep on the soft fresh leaves. They then went along the reef collecting periwinkles and other shellfish. Once they had gathered sufficient they returned to where the men had lit a fire, and put some of the dried coconut leaves on the ground nearby, then placed the shells on top, and covered them with another layer of leaves and set it alight.

  The girls watched the flames leaping high into the sky. Ekewane turned away quickly; she had become afraid of looking into the flames. So while Eiru sat waiting for the flames to go out, she went into the nearby undergrowth where she had seen smaller coconut trees, cut a long stem and carried it back. She sat down and slit the stem in half, she then gave half to Eiru and the other half she kept herself. The girls then wove the leaves to form moon shaped plates.

  It was still daylight and they watched Emarr and Bagonoun come out of the water, both boys were holding two large eels. They walked over to the girls, cut the eels into pieces and placed them in one of the large coconut leaf plates. The girls ate the raw eel with relish, they had not eaten since they had left that morning, and were hungry.

  Other men were now also sitting around the fire eating fish and drinking coconut water. Ekewane picked out some of the shellfish from the ashes and placed them in the other coconut leaf plate, together with a hand full of small sticks, which would be used to pick out the flesh from the shells, carried them over to her father.

  Ekewane’s father was as usual at the centre of the group; he looked over at her and smiled to reassure her. The island still held many mysteries, so people were still preoccupied with imminent dangers that could be around.

  Ekewane did not feel afraid, she looked at the men of her tribe and her eyes fell on Emarr talking amongst them; no, she thought, I am not in danger.

  Emarr sensed her gaze and quickly glanced at her whilst continuing explaining to the men about the route they would be taking.

  Bagonoun happily left the men and came to sit beside the girls. He and Eiru started talking and laughing together.

  Ekewane sat silently, and although she did not want to look into the flames, the flickering kept drawing her attention until they held her prisoner.

  She heard her heart beat faster and faster, as she became more and more terrified of those magnetic flames. Then as before, a haze started forming within the flames. The haze swirled around until the image of a man appeared and looked at her from the flames. This time however, he was white like the clouds in the sky, his eyes were pieces of sky and his hair was golden like the sand of their island. He wore a fine weave that covered his body; it too was white. The man looked at her sadly, she gazed at him and thought once again how familiar he looked. But then he turned away and slowly disintegrated into the flames.

  For a moment she felt sad, the spirit had smiled and then left her feeling empty. She could not understand why these spirits were so different and yet so familiar. She became aware of a hand gently squeezing hers, and the flames let her go.

  Emarr was now sitting beside her looking at her. Eiru and Bagonoun were still laughing at something he had said, the men were still engrossed in their conversations, and she felt relieved that nobody besides Emarr had noticed her strange withdrawal from the world around her.

  The following morning the small group headed up the mountain towards the lake. Emarr was in front with Bagonoun, and the girls were at the back.

  Ekewane could not remember any of the trees along the way, as they all looked the same. Later on that morning she did notice that the trees were becoming taller and taller, and the undergrowth was not as impenetrable.

  They did not stop until they had come to the tall mango trees. The trees were very big and on the ground there were many ripe mangoes, fallen from the branches high above them.

  The small group stopped and ate the sweet juicy fruit. When they were all satisfied they happily stood up and continued to follow Emarr.

  Only a little way further they could hear the wind blowing through the canopy above them and the faint sound of water splashing against the limestone pinnacles that surrounded the lake. Everyone started walking faster. They stopped in unison in front of the large lake, too surprised to speak. Then the men started talking all at once. Ekewane could not understand what they were saying, everyone was excited!

  They walked to the edge of the lake and, as Ekewane and her friends had done a few weeks earlier, cupped their hands and drank the sweet water.

  The men were excited as they could see the large milkfish swimming in the lake. It was the largest fresh water supply they had seen so far on the island. Now they knew that even in times of drought they would have water.

  The girls walked over to Emarr and Bagonoun, and Ekewane asked: “Did you tell the men about the large bone we found?”

  “I did but I couldn’t find it again to show them,” replied Emarr seriously.

  Ekewane and Eiru looked at each other and walked away from the men. They wanted to bathe again in the cool clear water and started walking away from the group.

  The girls walked further around the lake. They could still hear the men’s excited voices; they were catching milkfish to take back to the main camp. They walked around a small bend; the branches of trees were hanging over the water. Eiru was the first to take off her grass skirt and was happily entering the water.

  “NO!” Ekewane yelled.

  Eiru froze and looked startled. She quickly turned around at Ekewane.

  “W-what?”

  “You must not go in there, look! The water is not smooth like the rest of the lake. It is swirling and it is breathing! Look Eiru, look how black it is!”

  Eiru screamed and jumped out of the water.

  “Do you think that large bone was from the animal that lives in this deep hole?” she asked frightened.

  “I don’t know, but that hole is dangerous I can feel it . . . an evil spirit lives in there.”

  The two girls walked back closer to where the men were fishing and bathed at the edge of the lake. They then sat down near where some of the men were fishing and Ekewane again cut some of stems from the nearby small coconut trees. The girls wove two large baskets; they would carry back mangoes for the members of the tribe that stayed behind.

  The men did not take very long to catch many large milkfish. They threaded them through long sticks so that two men on either side could carry them.

  “We will leave now,” said Erangue

  “Who gives you always the right to make decisions?” replied the angry voice from one of the men. It was Ramanmada.

  “ I am the head chief on this island!
” replied angrily Erangue.

  “There has not been a vote to see who will be the head chief. Just because you have the armband, and your father was the head chief. Your family does not have the power here as you did back on our old island!” Ramanmada yelled back angrily.

  “You are right, but until we do vote, I was the first to land, and I DO have the armband. We will leave now so we can return to our camp before the fish cannot be eaten. They will rot in this heat. If we go down this mountain before dark we can follow the shoreline until we reach our camp. We will be home tonight. I am leaving now if you want to remain; stay, Ekewane, Eiru, Emarr, come. ”

  Ekewane got up, followed by Eiru. Emarr, Bagonoun and his father also stood up to leave. The remaining two men did not want to remain there alone, so they followed Erangue and his group.

  Soon they came to the mango trees. Eiru and Ekewane ran under the trees to collect the fallen mangoes. They did not take long as Emarr and Bagonoun lay their fish on the ground and helped them fill the baskets. Soon they were off again.

  As the sun was setting over the horizon they could hear the crashing of the waves against the rocks. There was a full moon that night, so they had no difficulties finding their way along the shoreline. The cool breeze blowing from the sea was refreshing after the hot humid undergrowth. The tide was out so they walked at a quick pace, later that night they could see the campfires ahead.

  The tribe was looking for them and a great cry of joy went out when they were spotted. The tribe ran towards them, happy to see them return safely, and were excited at seeing the milkfish and mangoes.

  That night there would be a celebration. They helped distribute the fish and fruit amongst the tribe. Ekewane and Eiru were tired and felt dirty after their long walk. Their hair was tangled and where the branches and pinnacles scratched their bodies, was burning. Ekewane looked down at her grass skirt; it was torn and limp, many of the leaves were torn or missing. The excitement of the day had vanished and now she felt depressed.

  She sat down near her mother and small brothers. Her mother wrapped her arm around her to comfort her. She looked around and saw Emarr and Bagonoun surrounded by Emet, Iud and some of the other girls of the village, they were laughing and joking as the boys told them of their adventure.

  Ekewane felt the anger escalate; she wanted to scream at them not knowing why she felt this angry. “ Emarr was hers! He was the big brother that had died before she was born! He was her friend! What is happening to me? Why do I cry now for any little thing? And always feel so angry?” Ekewane lowered her head sadly and let her hair fall around her face, she felt her eyes stinging, but would not allow herself to cry in front of her tribe.

  Then the singing and dancing began. Emet and Iudi, together with the small group of girls started dancing. Ekewane looked at Emet, she swayed to the rhythm of their music, and her body that had been rubbed with scented coconut oil was glittering in the moonlight, her beautiful long black hair was swaying like waves on a calm sea. On her head was a wreath of frangipani and hibiscus, and around her neck she wore a necklace of pretty shells and feathers. Ekewane looked down at herself and for the first time compared herself to Emet, and felt miserable.

  The singing finally ended. Emet and Iud sat next to Emarr and Bagonoun. She watched them laugh together, and felt a deep sense of confusion and sadness within her; and again she asked herself what was happening to her? She could no longer stop the tears from flowing down her face as she got up and went to the small rock pool to bathe, and then slowly walked to her hut. She had not eaten that night; she had not been hungry, even though she had not eaten since they had left the lake.

  Emarr had never felt prouder, he had been asked to lead the men back to the lake. Erangue trusted him and had talked to him as an equal.

  At the lake he fished with the men. And then when they returned to their village the people treated him like a hero. His parents he knew were proud of him, and the girls wanted his attention. That night he felt important, the girls, Emet, Iudi and others danced and kept looking at him; he could not believe it! Back on their island these girls would never have noticed him -he was from the Sitio class and they were from the superior classes.

  Emarr and Bagonoun did not want the celebrations to end, as they were the centres of attention of the pretty girls! At one point however, Emarr lifted his gaze as if someone had called his name and watched Ekewane walk slowly to her hut, once she reached her hut he returned his attention to the happy group surrounding him.