The Angkhora Warriors

Part 7: Mother

Nangna had vowed to stay alive until Boran returned.

She wanted to see her husband again. She wanted to see Boran's eyes when he met his daughter. But she had to stay alive so that she could give birth to Dinda first.

"Please, it hurts!" she cried.

The woman she was talking to wore a long black robe with a hood that covered her face. Long, stringy red hair hung out the side of the hood. The figure had feeble, wrinkled hands with long dirty fingernails that frightened Nangna. As she continued to moan and cry in pain, the witch, who cast no shadow, stirred a mix of herbs, crushed centipedes, and worms. Lots of worms. When she was done, she brought the bowl over to Nangna and signaled for her to sit up on the bed. Nangna struggled to do so but eventually was able to rise. The witch slowly put the bowl to her lips and allowed her to sip from it. After the first taste, Nangna spit out the concoction and vomited.

"What is that?!" she asked. "I can't drink that!"

"Drink it you must if you wish to survive this scourge," the witch mumbled in a creepy, low voice. Nangna looked at her, terrified and pitiful. After a moment, the witch shrugged her shoulders and turned to walk away.

"Wait! Please don't leave. I will drink it. I must. For me and my baby." Nangna sighed. The old witch smiled beneath the hood, showing the few, raggedy teeth she had remaining in her mouth. She turned and handed the bowl to Nangna, who took the bowl in her hands and slowly raised it to her lips and began to sip. The Witch watched and smiled with glee, pleased with herself and Nangna.

Once she had drank the entire concoction, Nangna dropped the bowl, shattering it onto the floor. She fell back onto her bed, convulsing "Aaaarrrghhhh!" The unborn child in her stomach began pressing on her insides like it wanted to free itself. The Witch watched as small hands and feet pressed against Nangna's stomach until suddenly it stopped.

"Arrrrhaahh! This is so painfuull" Nangna continued screaming.

The Red Witch started chanting.

O Servants of the Flesh

Burrowers of the Dead

Come fill this body

Heal this sick body

O Servants of the Dark Lord

Eaters of Rot

Come, come, come

Fill this body

Heal the sickness

After a while, Nangna stopped convulsing and breathed heavily, sweating profusely.

Yes!

Come, come, come

O Servants of Shadows

Servants of the Shadowless

Come, come, come

Protect the Baby

Heal the Mother!

"Ahh, you are well now." The Red Witch leaned in and gently gave Nangna's stomach a peck before smiling, showing all of her crooked, filthy teeth. She stood up and gathered her belongings before walking out the door. As she disappeared into the woods, the sound of her eerie laugh echoed throughout the forest.

Many days later in the hut, Nangna was mashing berries into a paste in a bowl. She looked healthier and moved around easier without pain. From time to time, she would be hampered by a cough, but it was nothing that she thought she should worry about.

Once she was done mashing the berries into paste, she carried the bowl over to a wooden crib made from the trees right outside her hut. There in the crib lay baby Dinda with pale skin and black lips, quietly looking up at Nangna with her big, curious eyes. She cooed and made noise that sounded similar to a cat's purr when she saw her mother leaned over the crib. Nangna carefully reached down and picked baby Dinda up and sat on the bed with her on her lap.

"My beautiful baby girl. Are you ready to eat? Mommy made dinner right here," Nangna sang. She slowly fed Dinda with a wooden spoon and Dinda seemed to love the berry paste, swallowing each spoonful before licking her lips in anticipation for more. The routine made Nangna laugh.

"You're a hungry little thing, aren't you?" she smiled before slowly sliding another spoonful into Dinda's mouth. Then, before she could get more out of the bowl, she broke out into another mild coughing fit. She covered her mouth to protect her daughter. When it was over, she looked and saw a small red speck in the palm of her hand. Thinking nothing of it, she rubbed it off on her apron.

As years went by, the hut lost some of its vitality. The plants that once gave the home a sense of life turned into vines that started to strangle the structure.

The door swung open and a young three-year-old Dinda rushed into the hut, carrying an armful of flowers and laughing hysterically. Several steps behind her, Nangna walked inside with flowers sticking straight up out of her hair like antennae on an insect. She also had two flower petals stuck to her closed eyelids as she marched inside, making cute sounds, pretending to be some slow-moving, smiling flower creature.

Dinda dropped her flowers, turned toward her mother, and couldn't stop laughing. She laughed so hard that she lost her balance and fell back onto the floor on top of a piece of firewood. Her laughs instantly turned into tears of pain as she tried her best to grab the spot on her rear end that hurt. Nangna knocked the petals from her eyes and yanked the flowers out of her hair.

"Oh no, mommy's angel. Are you okay?"

Dinda cried in response to her mother's question. Nangna quickly picked Dinda off the floor and held her in her arms tightly, swaying side to side in an attempt to soothe her daughter. While she rocked her in her arms, she began to softly sing a lullaby. The longer she sang, the less Dinda cried, until finally only Nangna's singing could be heard. Eventually she realized that Dinda had fallen asleep in her arms. She walked over to the bed and carefully laid her down. Dinda immediately rolled over onto her stomach and made herself even more comfortable.

Nangna backed away from the bed, careful not to make any noise that would wake her up. She bent down to collect the flowers Dinda had dropped onto the floor and suddenly a pain shot through her abdomen. It took all of her strength to muffle her own reaction to the agony. She looked over to make sure Dinda was still asleep before rushing out of the hut and into the forest where she released a piercing shriek that was so loud it scared away a flock of birds that had been resting in the tree above her. She dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around as much of her body as she could before falling to the ground in a fetal position.

As years went by, Dinda grew up and Nangna deteriorated. "Mom," Dinda said before softly nudging her mother. When Nangna turned around, her skin looked clammy and pale and she had lost a lot of weight, leaving her looking very fragile.

"Yes, honey," she answered.

"What are we going to eat?" Dinda asked.

"Oh... dinner already?" Nangna turned and painfully sat up with her feet on the floor. "I'll see what I can find," she continued. But when Nangna attempted to stand, she swayed back and forth, a sign of the dizziness that quickly came over her. Before she could fall, Dinda grabbed her and helped her stay on her feet.

"No, mommy, you should lay back down." Nangna looked down at Dinda.

"But you need dinner. I have to..."

"Don't worry, mommy. I'll find something for us to eat. Don't worry," Dinda said.

Nangna looked into Dinda's eyes. "Are you sure.... honey?" she asked. Dinda nodded her head and helped her mother lay back down on the bed. She pulled the blanket over her mother and walked toward the door and opened it. She looked outside, nervous about going out alone. She looked back at her mother, who was coughing again. She could see her mother's body trembling under the blanket. She looked back out the door and gathered her confidence.

"Don't worry, Mom," she said. "I'll take care of you."

Nangna turned and stared at the wall. "He has a scar on his left eye."

"Who?" Dinda asked.

"Your father," Nangna replied.