Ekewane - The Sorceress Page 8

  Chapter Eight.

  The Appearance

  Emarr turned quickly and left. With the disappearance of Emarr she felt abandoned.

  “Eiru has probably fallen down another hole, and is dead,” she thought to herself. And with that thought she felt even more wretched, it was her fault, Eiru did not want to come, but she was her friend and did not want her to go alone.

  She fought back the tears. Her body was aching and the skin that had been scraped off, burnt. She kept her eyes fixed on the opening above her head, hoping to see one of her friends soon, before she gave way to the tears that were welling up inside her. And then finally Eiru peeked over the edge. Ekewane felt so grateful that she was still alive, now she thought if she were to die, at least Eiru was safe.

  Then she saw Emarr standing beside her friend and was concentrating very hard. She could make out the expression in his face. Then he threw down a vine; but it did not reach the bottom.

  “I’ll try to climb a little way up, and maybe reach the vine,” she reasoned courageously.

  She painfully stood up and looked at the steep embankment. The scratches burned, and her body was already showing the dark marks of her bruises. “At least I have not broken any bones.” She tried to climb but kept slipping, it was too steep and was unable to find a footing on the sides.

  “I can’t climb up that high!”

  Emarr looked down and then turned to Eiru, said something that Ekewane could not hear, then disappeared again. She knew that he would come back for her, so she sat down on the ground again and waited.

  Emarr returned before very long, this time holding onto a trunk of an old coconut tree.

  “Move as far away as you can from the edge!” he called down.

  So she went to the other side of the hole and leaned against the side. Emarr pulled up the vine, tied it around the trunk and carefully lowered it down the hole. Once it had almost reached the bottom, he gave a sharp tug and the trunk dislodged itself from the vine. Ekewane looked incredulous, how did he do that?

  “Put the trunk against the side and climb up to the vine!” shouted Emarr.

  She tried a few times, but kept slipping off the trunk that was covered in a slippery green moss, the more times she failed the more she felt frustrated and each time adding to the already badly bruised body.

  “Take your time, go slow!” called down Emarr.

  So she tried again. After a few more attempts she started to slowly climb further up.

  “I have to put one foot up, then test it, then lift up the other foot, test it and continue this way until I reach the top of the log,” she kept telling herself. But when she had reached the end of the precarious trunk, she still could not reach the vine.

  “Now, try and balance yourself on your feet, so you can free your hands!” called down Emarr.

  At first she felt afraid that if she let her hands go she would slip again. She looked up at Emarr and could see that he was smiling encouraging her and felt more confident, so she slowly let go and reached as high as she could. She closed her eyes anticipating the fall instead felt the vine in her hands and grasped it with all her strength, as her feet lost their balance. She knew her arms would not hold her for long as she dangled on the vine; she was not that strong.

  “Hold on!” yelled Emarr and with this last encouragement she felt herself been hoisted up, using her feet against the sides she tried to climb and balance herself.

  She looked up and saw Emarr and Eiru’s faces strained as they pulled and pulled. She could see them come closer and closer; her eyes locked onto Emarr, and felt the strength flowing within him. One last pull and she felt her body coming over the edge.

  The three of them sat down exhausted.

  They sat there for some time without speaking, and then Emarr stood up.

  He gathered some dry grass and small sticks, and then took out two saltwater-bush sticks from the pouch around his waist. He put the larger of the two sticks on the ground; it had a small hole in the middle. Then placed the smaller stick in the hole and started rubbing it faster and faster. Soon smoke could be seen from the dry leaves under the sticks. He carefully blew onto the leaves and small flames appeared.

  “Stay here,” he said and slowly walked into the dense forest.

  The girls sat there and watched him disappear into the undergrowth. Although it was very hot the fire felt reassuring.

  Ekewane had not noticed before, but they were in a small clearing. She could see patches of blue sky through the tall trees, and the black noddy birds flying above. Seeing the sun made the girls feel better, they had spent a day surrounded by the shadowy green light of leaves from the tall trees and thick bushes. They felt hot and exhausted so lay down to wait for Emarr.

  They had fallen asleep and were awakened by the mouth-watering smell of meat cooking. They sat up and looked around confused. The sizzling sound and delicious smell was coming from the fire.

  Emarr had three noddy birds speared through the middle with a stick. He was slowly turning them over the fire. The girls had not eaten since they had left their camp and the smell was intoxicating. Emarr did not look at them, he knew they were awake and watching him, so he slowly nodded towards a small pile of coconuts by his side. The girls quickly went over and picked up one each. They pierced the holes and drank thirstily; once they had finished they quickly picked up a second.

  Ekewane thought she could see Emarr smile, it was the first time she had seen him smile. She picked up her empty coconuts found a sharp rock and expertly broke the coconut in half, then got a stick and scraped the soft flesh from the nut, but instead of eating it, handed it to Emarr. He was taken aback by her gesture, but quickly took the coconut flesh from her, and embarrassed continued concentrating on the roasting birds.

  Eiru had also scooped out the sweet flesh and was eating it; she was so hungry and did not notice Ekewane’s gesture. Their thirst quenched, the two girls sat beside Emarr and watched the fire flicker.

  Ekewane was staring at the flickering flames when she saw the strange image of a man. The image was translucent, but she could make out his strange pale yellow skin, short straight black hair and strange brown almond shaped eyes. His body was clothed in a delicately woven material. He did not say anything, just smiled at her; there was something vaguely familiar about this spirit image, but she had never seen such a strange man before, so could not understand this familiar sensation. Then the image disappeared just as quickly as it came.

  Ekewane became aware that Emarr and Eiru were gazing at her. “Had they also seen the strange man-spirit in the fire?” she thought.

  “Ekewane are you all right?” asked Eiru’s soft voice.

  “Why?”

  “You were looking into the fire and started chanting like your mother,” replied the frightened Eiru.

  Ekewane looked at Emarr he was also gazing at her.

  “I don’t know,” she replied and did not tell them what she had seen; she did not understand herself, so how could she explain this strange apparition.

  Emarr pulled the noddy birds from the stick, and handed them to girls. He then did the same with the other small bird and began to eat. The meat was hot and delicious, they had not eaten meat since before they left their island home, and it felt strange and wonderful in their mouths.

  “How did you catch the birds?” asked Eiru.

  Emarr pulled out from his pouch a long twisted string that had a stone tied to the end. The girls had seen the men of their village catch birds that way, they would throw the tied stone into the air and if they were skilful enough, the stone would wrap around the flying bird’s legs, and then they would pull it down. It took a lot of ability and practice to catch birds this way, and the girls were impressed the second time today by Emarr’s skills.

  High in the sky a frigate bird circled and cried out. They looked at each other frightened.

  “This way,” Ekewane said getting up and started walking determinately i
nto the undergrowth again. The other two followed without asking questions.

  Ekewane had lost her axe, so they took longer to make their way through the tangled vines and bushes. They smelt the flowers of the tomano trees, but could only see their large trunks, the top branches towered high above the canopy, and still they kept walking. They noticed that they were walking slightly downhill and the trees became sparser. Every now and again they came across a small clearing and the rays of the sun would shine down on them.

  Then all of a sudden, they stopped. They could hear the sound of water! but it was not the sound of waves but soft and flowing. The men from their tribe had not come this far, so they continued to walk cautiously – aware that there could be another tribe living there.

  They eventually came out onto a larger clearing and there in front of them was a sheet of shimmering water. It was much larger than the brackish pools found around the island. This was very big. Emarr walked ahead of the girls and looked around carefully, he could not see any signs of danger so he motioned them to follow him. He went to the side of the lake, knelt down, dipped his cupped hands into the water and tasted it.

  “Drink,” he smiled. It was the second time they had seen him smile.

  The two girls imitated him; the water was sweet, almost like the water from their village. It tasted sweeter than the water they had found in the pools along the beach.

  After drinking their fill, they splashed their bodies with the cool clear water, it felt wonderful and refreshing, and although it burnt where the bushes had scratched them, they felt invigorated. Satisfied they sat down, happier than they had been in the past two days.

  Emarr looked at the sky and said, “We need to build a hut, it will rain tonight.”

  They gathered the branches and leaves around the lake. He then put them expertly together and when they had finished he looked satisfied.

  The girls were happy that only one hut was built, because they were secretly afraid of sleeping alone; Emarr’s presence made them feel safe.

  Emarr climbed the tall coconut tree nearby and cut down some coconuts and fresh leaves. The leaves would be laid on the ground inside their hut and make soft beds for the night.

  “I will be back soon,” he said, when he climbed down.

  The girls lay the leaves inside their hut and waited. Not long after he had left Emarr returned holding his arms full of mangoes. He had spotted the tall trees when he was cutting down the coconuts. The girls jumped up and ran happily towards him, this would be a feast! Sweet mangoes. Emarr laid the fruit carefully down and then left again towards the lake.

  They watched him as he sharpened the end of a long stick with his stone knife, and then looked into the water. He concentrated for only a few minutes, and then threw the spear. He gave a cry of joy and pulled up a large milkfish. The girls could not believe it! Milkfish was a rare delicacy in their village.

  Ekewane thought maybe they had died and this was the after-world.

  “Isn’t he wonderful,” whispered Eiru.

  Ekewane looked at Emarr and felt an overpowering feeling stir deep within her. For a moment she sat silently trying to understand this sensation. It somehow frightened her to go any further trying to understand, so she just shuddered and erased it from her mind.