Ekewane - The Sorceress Page 17

Chapter Seventeen.

  The Abduction

  Sacred rock pool

  Over the next few weeks the tribes went their separate ways. Nobody was in a hurry to leave and a sense of sadness and loss covered the village. Although they would be on the same island, everybody knew that things were changing. They felt anxious; they would have been safer together because of their large number - now they would be more vulnerable.

  At last Ekewane’s tribe was left on their own. She looked around and saw that there were only 20 people remaining. She had never thought about who was her family, because she had always felt that the tribe was one big family. But at least Eiru did not leave, and Emarr and Bagonoun were close by.

  Ekewane remembered the day when Ramanmada’s tribe left; she was watching Emet and Iud feeling that at least there was one good thing about the tribes leaving. When Emet ran back to her and said in a smug voice:

  “He will marry me, my parents have already decided; Emarr will be my husband. No man wants to marry you!” She laughed as she ran back to join the rest of her tribe.

  Ekewane felt as if Emet had hit her. “What do I care what they think!” she thought angrily to herself. She turned away and hastily walked to the place she knew she would find peace.

  A few weeks later as Ekewane was sitting with the other women of her tribe weaving their tribal mats and baskets, she was watching a white tern flying in circles over their small settlement.

  “We are going to have a birth within our tribe,” said her mother and smiled at the other women, who laughed aloud.

  Ekewane shivered, but wondered how her mother knew this.

  “The white tern has been sent by the spirit world with joyous news. They are messages of happiness and birth,” explained Emanear. “It will be a time of great celebration for all of the island. The first born on this island will be known to all those that are to be born in time to come.”

  One evening some days later as the four friends met at their usual place, the boys were describing their day.

  “We were diving off the reef, fishing the large eels, and looking at the holes in the reef where the eels hide and we came across a large underwater open cave: it was dark and gloomy. The cave was very big and we could swim in it. As it was dark, we decided to leave that place and fish further along the reef,” explained Bagonoun thoughtfully. He did not know why, but the cave frightened him.

  “You have seen part of the spirit world. There are tunnels under the island that lead to different holes. You must stay away from these holes. If you enter the spirit world you will not be allowed to return,” whispered Ekewane. In her mind she could see these dark tunnels, one of the holes that lead from the tunnel was at the lake, she had seen it and felt the force within.

  The other friends listened and shuddered: they did not doubt her. And from a distance they heard those shrieking piercing screams – as if to confirm her words.

  The four friends did not speak any more about the caves. They sat there watching the gentle waves over the reef, and the flames from the torches of the fishermen catching flying fish with their nets beyond the reef.

  The next morning fierce angry shouting woke Ekewane and Eiru up. Their hearts were beating loudly - were they being attacked? Their tribe was now small and the other tribes may not reach them in time? The girls thought as they ran out of their hut.

  Ekewane also remembered the large bones found by the lake. “Maybe these large monsters had been hiding and now saw that their tribe was weak had come to kill them?”

  They have taken it! Ramanmada has always been jealous of my armband! He has always been jealous of my power!”

  Ekewane had never seen her father so angry. All the clan surrounded their angry chief.

  “We will attack him and kill him for stealing my shell armband!”

  She stood there petrified. The image of the blood from the people lying on the ground was still vivid.

  “NO!” she screamed.

  The tribe turned around and looked at her curiously. Her father was stunned, and for a moment forgot his angry outburst. His daughter had dared raise her voice over his, the chief! He looked at her unable to find the words to say to her.

  Ekewane’s mother also looked at her and then her husband and understood that she had to intervene. Her daughter had put herself in a dangerous position; she had humiliated her father.

  “Ekewane has great powers! She has the gift given to her by my grandmother. She has seen the blood lost between our people.”

  Everyone was silent and even though Emanear spoke quietly, the people were in awe as they looked at Ekewane.

  “Had her mother also seen the blood?”

  Ekewane felt uncomfortable all her eyes were looking at her, waiting to see what else she would say. She felt the blood rush to her face as she lowered it, and let her long hair hide as much of it as she could.

  It was Emanear’s voice that spoke again as she turned to her husband.

  “We do not know who has taken the armband. We have not seen any strangers amidst our family. If any of Ramanmada’s tribe were nearby, we would have seen them. It may have been the spirits that took it. In this our new home . . . you have no need to show your power. There are no traders from other islands that visit us,” she said sadly. “The shell armband belonged to another place. It is not needed here and at this time of our people. It will return again when it is needed.”

  Erangue was silent for a very long time.

  “So it shall be,” he announced.

  He had never questioned the powers of his wife, but now another feeling flooded through him. He was angry with Ekewane for interrupting him whilst he was speaking, but he was proud that she would one day be a powerful sorceress for his tribe – even more powerful than Emanear? He thought proudly. In the future our tribe will need all of the powers from the spirit world.

  Ekewane will own this land as is the custom of our tribe, and we need to find her a strong husband to help her lead this tribe when our ancestors come to take me.

  A few days had passed when her parents asked her to join them. They were sitting in front of their hut waiting. Ekewane felt nervous, she did not know what they had planned to talk to her about, but she felt uncomfortable.

  “Ekewane, there comes a time in our lives when we must find a partner, it is the way of our people,” said her mother softly.

  Ekewane felt the anger rise up inside her. She did not want to hear anything about marriage, but she knew not to speak.

  “Your tribe is very powerful. There are many men on this island, so the girls have many strong men to choose from,” continued her mother.

  Ekewane felt her face burn. “So much for Emet’s prediction!” she thought to herself.

  “We will find you a suitable husband,” continued her father.

  “No!” she whispered “I do not wish to marry!” the tears were now running down her face. “Could her parents not understand, she did not want to marry, it was too soon!”

  “It is too early for a husband,” murmured Ekewane too afraid to look at her parents. “Please!” she lifted her head and looked pleadingly at her parents.

  Erangue looked at his wife, he felt confused and uncomfortable. Ekewane was his oldest child and he loved her and did not want to see her this distressed.

  “Ekewane, it is the way of life, we must marry and continue our tribe.”

  Emanear looked again at her daughter. She did not understand her; other girls were excited when their parents told them they would find them a husband.

  “This island will bring many changes to our tribes and our traditions. Ekewane has seen the future and she does not want to marry. What has she seen? What will the future bring to our people?” Emanear thought sadly. She looked at her husband and then turned to Ekewane.

  “We will speak again Ekewane, but you must marry.”

  Erangue looked confused at his wife but did not say a word. He watched his daughter stand up and sadly walk
away.

  “Why does she not want a husband?” he asked his wife confused.

  Emanear answered quietly, “The times of the past are changing.”

  Emanear and Erangue sat there silently watching their daughter walk away towards the sea.

  Ekewane did not say anything to her friends that night. She sat there listening to the boys laughing and talking about their day, and she thought angrily. “They can go out on their canoes and fish the large fish; we can only fish from the reef. They can dive deep under the sea beyond the reef –it is forbidden for us to go there! Why is this so?”

  Emarr must have known that she felt disturbed, and although he did not ask her what was wrong, he just wove his fingers through hers. Ekewane felt the warmth of Emarr’s hand, she felt Eiru quietly sitting next to her and Bagonoun happily describe their day, and cast a heavy sigh.

  “I do not want things to change, I want to stay with my friends,” she thought sadly.

  That night as she lay in her hut listening to the wind howling as if warning her, she felt apprehensive. She shivered and felt her body cold with fear. “This is silly!” she thought, but huddled closer to Eiru who was fast asleep.

  She must have fallen asleep because she was brutally awoken. She could not breathe, strong rough hands were over her mouth and her arms and legs were held firmly so she could not move. It was dark and she could only make out the shadows of two men.

  Ekewane thought that someone had come to kill her, her last thought was for Eiru. “Please don’t kill her!” she screamed in her mind, then felt herself fall deeper and deeper into a black void; she could not fight so she let the darkness overwhelm her.

  She felt as if she was swimming in a sea. At times she could feel and hear the world around her, and at times she returned to the blackness.

  When she was conscious, she felt a sharp pain around her wrists and feet; something was cutting into them. Her body was being carried. Her lungs struggled to breathe; she felt an acute pain in her chest when she tried.

  All night long her body swayed with the movement of her captors as they walked silently up a steep track, at times almost dropping her, as they lost their footing. On and on they walked.

  At times when she was awake, she would try to escape the pain and concentrate on happier memories. But could not, fear overwhelmed her. She tried not to remember the strange frightening stories, of how girls were sacrificed to the spirit world, and felt even more terrified, and then she would drift off again in the black world of her mind, where there were no feelings of pain or fear.

  When she finally awoke from her dreamlike state, she found herself tied to a pole in the middle of a small hut. She looked around and saw that the tiny hut had no openings and wondered where she was.

  She tried to stop her heart from beating so loudly, so could hear the noises outside. She listened carefully between the deafening beat her heart was making, and could hear the murmur of water, and the hushed voices of people speaking quietly.

  Ekewane struggled to break loose, but the ropes cut even deeper into her arms and legs.

  The sun was up, the faint rays were filtering through the leaves of her hut, then there was an opening to her side and a shadow crawled in.

  Ekewane looked horrified at the shadow which entered her hut. At first could not recognise them, but as her eyes adjusted to the light she recognised the person leaning over her holding a drink to her mouth.

  She was so stunned that she did not scream and let the cool water flow down her scorched throat.

  ”Don’t be afraid Ekewane, nobody will harm you,” quietly whispered Eyouwit, Emet’s mother.

  Ekewane tried to ask “Why?” but when she opened her mouth no sound came out.

  Eyouwit did not say anything else to her and then turned around and left her alone again.

  Ekewane tried to think why Ramanmada was holding her hostage, surely if they wanted to attack her father’s tribe they would have, why was she been held captive?

  She lay there waiting, trying to ignore the throbbing pain, hoping that someone would come and explain why she was there. For how long she waited she could not tell.

  The hut was gloomy, only a few rays of surreal light streaking through, which cast ghostly shadows around her.

  Then finally she heard a rustle from where Eyouwit had entered. The thatched door was lifted and two men crawled in. For a moment she wondered how two large men could fit into this small hut?

  “You will marry my son Ioopu,” said Ramanmada.

  Ekewane looked horrified, she was captured so she would marry! She felt like laughing did they not know she would not marry anyone! Especially Emet’s brother!

  “I- will -marry -no - one,” she said in a hoarse voice. “My father will find you and he will kill you!” she tried to sound forceful, but her throat hurt and the only sound that came out was a frightened whisper.

  “Your tribe will think you have run away! They will not look for you. You have run away before and they will not look for you for many days. You are reckless and unpredictable, but marriage will change you!” Ramanmada laughed at her.

  “By the time your tribe will find you, you will be married to Ioopu, and they will accept your marriage.” With this final sentence he crawled out of the hut.

  Ioopu looked at Ekewane, he wished it could have been done another way, but his parents had approached her parents and they had refused. She was the great chief’s daughter and one day she would own most of Erangue’s tribal land, as well as being a powerful sorceress and she had to be his wife.

  Ekewane was angry, she was so angry she wanted to scream and scream, but her throat hurt and she could barely move her hurt broken body. Her legs felt numb except for the burning sensation the rope cutting into her ankles made. She had struggled hard to loosen the ropes; she could make out thick black drops of blood coming from the tight ropes.

  “I will not eat and die, that is better than marrying Ioopu! And Emet will be my sister? And then she will marry Emarr! And Bagonoun will probably marry Iud! Uggh!” she spoke hoarsely to herself.

  During the day Eyouwit brought her milkfish and mangoes and placed then in front of her mouth, but Ekewane just turned her head stubbornly and refused to eat.

  The next day she also refused to eat. Ekewane felt wet with perspiration, the heat within the hut was stifling, a cool breeze could not enter the small slits between the leaves. She had not bathed in two days and felt even more desolate.

  Ekewane kept drifting in an out of her uneasy muddled dreams. She dreamt that she was in one of the rock pools and felt the warm water flowing over her body as she went into the water, but instead of remaining above the surface of the water, she kept going deeper and deeper. She wondered how she got there and why did she not have to breathe?

  She looked around at the numerous coloured fish swimming near her; they were not startled and she smiled at them. She joined in their games swimming in and out of the corals and felt free and happy: “This is where I belong, here there is peace, I feel at peace,” she thought and felt the warm water caress her. She played with the fish, first joining one group and then another.

  She kept swimming happily, but then she saw a dark hole in one of the corals. At first she thought that she would ignore it like the other small fish around her. But she was attracted to it, so she slowly, cautiously, swam near the entrance. It was so dark in there, she felt afraid, but an unknown force kept pulling her in. Something dangerous lived in the shadows, but she kept swimming towards it ignoring the warnings.

  A dark shape started coming towards her, it had tentacles like the octopus she fished on the reef. She screamed for help, but no sound came from her mouth. She tried to swim away, but knew she was helpless; the current was drawing her closer and closer to the ominous enemy. She was getting weaker and weaker, until she had no more strength to fight the force, so closed her eyes and let the cold current take her. She felt the black tentacle over her mouth and . . . it w
as warm and familiar!

  Ekewane open her eyes startled, she recognised these hands, Emarr! She wanted to scream out his name.

  “Hush Ekewane,” he whispered.

  She nodded and he took his hand from her mouth and felt his shell knife cut through the ropes that were binding her hands, once he had freed her hand he cut through the ones cutting into her ankles.

  Emarr gently caressed the side of her face until he reached her lips, and slowly lifted a sweet drink; it was coconut water and she swallowed it greedily.

  She could almost feel Emarr’s face turn into a smile as she splashed the water over her face as she tried to swallow it too quickly.

  “Ssh, don’t be afraid,” he whispered. He held her close for a moment, and then pulled her towards the small opening he had cut at the back of the hut. When she felt the cool night air, he lifted her without any effort and walked silently away from the camp. When they had reached the undergrowth she heard another familiar voice.

  “Is she all right?” asked Bagonoun concerned.

  “Yes,” whispered back Emarr, “We must hurry and get far away from the encampment, for they will look for her in the morning.”

  There was only a small moon that night. The shadows of the trees were frightening, they had walked for several hours and she could feel Emarr getting tired.

  “Please let me walk,” she whispered faintly.

  “You are still weak, I can carry you.”

  “No, please let me down,’ she pleaded.

  So Emarr gently placed her on the ground. At first her legs could not hold her up and she fell to the ground. Emarr caught her.

  “I told you that you are still too weak,” he said impatiently.

  “No, let me try again.”

  “We are a long way from their encampment,” said Bagonoun. ”Let her try and walk, we can go slower now.”

  She tried to stand again. It took all her strength. The cuts around her ankles burnt, but she was determined to walk on her own.

  Ekewane walked very slowly, but the boys were no longer in a hurry. Every now again they would let her sit and rest.

  Ekewane noticed that they kept walking higher into the mountainside and wondered where they were going. “It would have been easier to follow the track down from the lake to the sea and then the shoreline,” she thought.

  “We have taken the long way back, because they will not think you will go this way. It is longer and more difficult, but less dangerous,” said Emarr knowing that Ekewane would ask herself why they had taken such a long way back to her village.

  All night they walked, often tripping over pinnacles and fallen branches. Emarr was first cutting and shifting branches so that Ekewane would find it less difficult; he was concerned for her, but she was stubborn and so let her walk.

  Ekewane struggled behind Emarr although he was walking very slowly. Bagonoun walked behind her, listening for any sound that would tell them they were being followed, even though they doubted Ramanmada would follow them here.

  Ekewane felt dizzy, her body ached but still she kept dragging her legs one in front of the other, just as she had done when they had first arrived, and she had helped pull in the canoe from the sea.

  In her head she kept chanting the notes her mother had taught her, they helped her withdraw from some of the pain she felt. The sun was now coming up over the horizon, she could see the light of the undergrowth change from a dark green to a sickly yellow green, and then . . . her legs could not hold her any longer and she fell. She felt the cool earth on her face and wanted to remain there, maybe it would be easier if she just let herself go and not open her eyes again. She felt the familiar black world overwhelm her; she sighed and let go.

  Emarr looked down at the sleeping girl. Every now and again he would see her trembling.

  “I have found her, she is now safe. Ramanmada will not find her here, and will not dare to go near Erangue’s village again.”

  His mind drifted back to the night she had gone missing. He had been asleep when was awoken by what he thought was Ekewane crying. He remembered opening his eyes and seeing her on the other side of the hut; her head between her knees sobbing. Her image a silver misty light, but he knew it was her.

  He had jumped up startled, but when he rubbed his eyes to see more clearly all he could see were the silver rays of light from the moon outside. He should have felt foolish, but could not shake the feeling of pain -Ekewane’s pain. He had lay down again and listened to the sad murmur of the mountain spirits; they were not screaming tonight, it was a lament.

  The next morning he had awoken feeling still tired- the image of the night still fazed him. Bagonoun wanted to go out in their canoe, but he had persuaded him to dive for fish off the reef instead.

  The morning had only begun, he had dived only a few times, and when coming up for air he looked across the reef and saw a young girl hurrying towards them.

  He remembered feeling a sense of panic. Eiru looked distressed and he hurriedly walked towards her. Her face told him the story before she explained; something bad had happened to Ekewane.

  “She has gone!” whispered Eiru.

  Emarr’s heart sank, “G-gone?”

  “Yes, this morning when I awoke she was gone. I looked everywhere, but I am unable to find her.”

  Emarr sighed, “She is not dead. The spirits have not taken,” he thought.

  They did not hear Bagonoun join them. “Maybe she has gone up to the mountazin by herself?”

  “No! She would not go up there again without us,” replied Eiru anxiously.

  The three walked towards Eiru’s village. When they reached their spot they sat down silently.

  “Maybe the spirit world has taken her?” asked Eiru frightened.

  “No, the spirits will take the person’s spirit not their body. The body is too heavy,” replied Bagonoun confidently.

  “But who would want to hurt her? Whoever took her knew which hut she slept . . . there must have been more than one man . . . otherwise, she would have woken you up,” Emarr looked at his two other friends. “But who?”

  “The only tribe that is hostile to Erangue is Ramanmada,” said Bagonoun thinking out aloud.

  “We will go to Ramanmada’s village!” said Emarr angrily.

  “But we are not sure it was him.” Bagonoun looked frightened.

  “We will go across the mountain and hide near the village and see if we can see Ekewane.”

  Eiru listened to the two boys make plans. She had wanted to go with them, but they had convinced her that it could become dangerous and they would travel faster without her. And so they had left Eiru sitting there sadly watching them disappear through the undergrowth.

  They had travelled all day and when the sun went down the first night, they lay down and slept. The next morning they hurried again cutting their way through the dense forest. The sun was high in the sky when they could smell the smoke from the village. Shortly after they could see the huts, so they lay there quietly hiding in the thick bushes watching the huts that surrounded the still smoking embers of the fire from the night.

  They had waited all morning and watched the villagers go about their daily routines. There seemed nothing suspicious about the village, except for a small hut that had no openings. For a moment Emarr thought that it must have been an initiation hut for the girls of the village, but it must be stifling hot in there!

  They kept watching closely in case someone would come towards their hiding place. Emarr’s eyes kept returning to the strange hut. At one stage he saw Ramanmada’s wife enter with food and then come out soon after.

  “It must be the initiation hut for girls,” he thought.

  But later on that day Ramanmada and his son Ioopu entered the same hut. His body was sore from lying down all day in the same spot, but when he saw the two men enter the hut, he was filled with anger. He knew that Ekewane was in there, and he wanted to jump out and kill the two men.

  Bagonoun mus
t have come to the same conclusion and sensed Emarr’s anger; he had laid his hand on his arm and whispered “Later.”

  They had crawled away from the site. They had to make plans.

  That night Emarr would cut through the back of the cut and rescue Ekewane. They would then go back the way they had come, up the mountain.

  So late that night when all the tribe were sleeping, he circled the village keeping close to the bushes. He then crawled towards the back of the hut. His heart was heavy as he cut silently through the side of the hut and made a small opening. He looked inside, and when he saw the dark outline of Ekewane lying there, he felt dizzy.

  His head was spinning; Ekewane looked so small and helpless with her feet and hands tied. He had to fight to control his temper and act quietly. When he put his hand over her mouth, she was startled, but then must have recognised him, and nodded.

  He had to cut the ropes that were binding her and could feel where the blood had crusted. The ropes had cut deep into her flesh.

  “Why did they tie her so tightly?” he thought angrily.

  He knew he was hurting her, causing fresh blood to come from the wounds, but still she did not utter a sound, just tensed every now and again when he had to pull the ropes loose.

  Hatred filled him, he had never felt such a strong emotion, but for Ekewane’s sake he did not react to his hatred and kept calm.

  When he had cut her loose he pulled her gently from the hut and lifted her into his arms. She was awake because she curled her thin arms around his neck and held him close.

  When he reached the undergrowth Bagonoun was waiting and outstretched his arms to take her, but Emarr did not want to let go of her, so Bagonoun went first and led the way through the side of the thick forest.

  As they travelled Emarr’s arms ached, but still he would not give her to Bagonoun. Then a small voice had asked him to walk, at first he refused, but then he knew how stubborn she could be, so he gently put her on the ground. They were far from Ramanmada’s camp, so they could go slow. They had walked slowly because of Ekewane, every now and again stopping to rest. But as the light was coming into the sky, she had used up all of her strength and collapsed.

  Ekewane could see coloured lights flickering in front of her eyelids and thought that she was once again under water swimming with the different multicoloured fish.

  She felt something cold and wet against her lips and she drank.

  z“Ekewane?” asked Emarr gently.

  She opened her eyes and looked at Emarr. He was smiling at her, then she turned towards the flickering light; it was a small fire burning.

  “D-don’t,” she panicked thinking that Ramanmada’s tribe would see it.

  “Don’t be concerned, we are in a cave and they will not look for us here. We are a long way from their camp,” said Bagonoun confidently.

  Ekewane looked around and noticed that they were in a large cave cut within the pinnacles. She could hear water and looked around confused.

  Emarr smiled and said: “We have found an underground well. The water is sweet like our pools back home.”

  They were sitting at the entrance of the cave that led down to a small pond. The cave then continued into the mountain. Ekewane thought that this was another entry into the spirit world, but did not feel afraid. She felt that the spirits had brought them here. So she lay there listening to the trickle of water, the sound was soothing and the cave was cool and she felt safe, only Eiru was missing she thought.

  Ekewane felt like she had slept for a long time, she woke up to the smell of meat cooking in the fire and smiled to herself.

  Bagonoun was looking at her and asked: “Why are you smiling?”

  She did not answer but remembered the last time she woke up with Emarr cooking noddy birds in the fire.

  Ekewane tried to eat the meat, but could not; all she could do was sip water. After a while the boys decided they must leave and return her home; they knew that Ekewane was not well and needed her mother’s help.

  “Can you walk?” asked Emarr worriedly as she insisted in getting up.

  “Yes,” Ekewane answered more confidently than she felt.

  So they helped her up and slowly continued their walk home. However, they had only walked a little way when she collapsed again. Emarr tried to wake her but Ekewane was lost in her dark world.

  The boys took it in turns in carrying her, Her body was limp, and although she was only small, was difficult to carry down the steep mountainside.

  They finally heard the crashing of the waves and knew that they were almost there. When they came out of the undergrowth they saw people running towards them.

  Ekewane parents were there and Emarr handed her over to her father’s arms. Emarr was worried that they had taken too long to get her home, and now it was too late, the spirit world had already taken her.

  “Take her to the healing pool,” whispered Emanear.

  Nobody questioned Emanear as she was the only one that could now save Ekewane.

  Erangue carried his daughter to a small rock pool not far from their huts. The pool had pinkish water from the algae that grew on the surrounding pinnacles. He gently placed her in the pool, looked as his wife and walked away sadly.

  “I need to speak to Emarr and Bagonoun. I must find out what happened . . . and then . . . the anger rose within him . . . I will kill whoever has done this to my daughter,” he thought angrily to himself.

  Ekewane again drifted in and out of a strange world. She could hear people’s voices but could not speak or open her eyes. She had been able to distinguish the different warmth of the boys that carried her, she knew when Bagonoun or Emarr was carrying her.

  She had tried to open her eyes, but every time she felt she was floating towards a far away light; the darkness would pull her back again.

  She had also felt her father’s arms as he carried her to the water. Her body felt warm and safe wrapped in the warm water. She did not know for how long she lay there, but felt the cold air on her body as she was gently lifted up and wrapped in a mat.

  The days that followed were very strange for her. She could not feel her body; it was dead. But she watched from above as her mother and other women put coconut milk to her lips and tried patiently to let the drops trickle down her throat.

  She saw her mother apply a green paste onto her wounds, but she did not flinch, the body she was watching was a lifeless object not her own. She watched her mother gently massage her body with coconut oil and heard her soothing chant.

  She watched as the women carefully carried her body again, and again to the sacred rock pool with the pink water. And still she floated above them watching and wondering why they were so sad. She did not need this body she was content watching her people.

  At times she felt a strong pull back to that listless body, but a much stronger force was pulling her away. She did not want to go back, here, she felt free to watch her people from above.

  She listened to the endless chant her mother sang to her as she sat beside her, and wanted to ask her mother to let her go. Time and pain did not exist here where she was.

  That light became fainter as she drifted,” I don’t want to return, I am happy here,” she thought to herself, as she soared high above in the sky with only the birds around her. But then she looked down at her friends! They were at their place. Eiru was crying and she wanted to go down and comfort her and tell her she was happy and not to be sad.

  Then one night she saw someone crawling into her hut. “They have come back to take my body,” she thought to herself, but did not feel afraid; the body did not belong to her anymore. She looked more intently; there was something familiar about the person who now sat beside her body holding her hand. She looked closely and saw tears running down his face.

  “Emarr,” whispered a small voice from the lifeless body.

  Chapter Eighteen.

  Ioopu