The Lost Tribe: Maliha the Wanderer (Book 1)

Goodbye's

Maliha's eyes lit up as she swung her bag around and rummaged through her supplies. "I have maps," she called proudly. "Look, I made these myself."

Nkechi gripped the animal skins in her hands as began reading over the markers Maliha had made. The words were ineligible to Nkechi but she understood what each picture meant.

"When I first started travelling I kept coming across the same part of the river and so I drew what I had seen so I knew when I was repeating myself "

"Very smart. I would say from your markers that the only places you didn't travel were those separated by water or whatever was south of that mountain."

Maliha's chest puffed out with pride as Enzo oohed over her maps. At their last meal of the night, Enzo sat by the fire drawing over an animal skin with ash from the fire.

"Look, Mama, I have a map too." Maliha and Nkechi cooed at Enzo's work, puffing up the boy's chest with pride until he was drifting off to sleep with a grin on his face.

As morning came around and they continued their journey, Maliha noted that the terrain was becoming a lot drier. The green lush lands were turning in to dry orange and red earth that reminded her of the sandy Der Surjaz land.

"We are nearly there," comforted Nkechi when she noticed Enzo's laboured breathing.

"He won't struggle for much longer. Just over that last hill, the earth begins to flatten out and become moister. Past this hill, we have two days until we reach the Nah Barros border."

Maliha tried to sigh in relief but her mouth was too dry. The sun was too harsh on their skin and there were hardly any signs of life barring tall green prickly plants. Their water ran out after the first day and they had to resort to pealing the prickly plants and sucking the dew from them. The two days travelling through the wasteland nearly sent the travelling party to their deaths. crazy. Their dehydrated minds cried for water as the desert plagued their weary minds with all of their deepest

Fears.

It was to their great relief when the ground began to level and the sound of trickling water filled their ears.

They spent hours frolicking in the water, filling their stomachs and every container or cup they had to the brim. Instead of continuing their journey, they stayed the night by the river, washing their skin and drinking languidly until the early morning light rustled Maliha awake. Maliha restarted the fire and began making flat oat cakes for them to take on their journey. She waited for Nkechi to return from her morning scouting before Maliha left a still sleeping Enzo, to pick up some herbs and plants to cook with. When she returned Enzo was awake and sipping on his water as Nkechi skinned a fish.

"We can have that with some of the oatcakes I made."

Nkechi handed the skinned fish to Maliha and watched as Maliha flaked the fish into tiny pieces and cooked it with onions and some herbs she had found. Maliha used every part of the fish and mushed it down so it formed a paste that they spread over their oatcakes. They finished the fish, rinsed their appliances and then packed up the rest of the oatcakes. They filled up their containers with water before continuing their journey.

As the day progressed, the grass grew longer, and they began to sight more and more animals. Some that no one had names for and others they had all become accustomed to.

"Look umahu, look Nkechi, it's a Rak'haan," Enzo squealed, jerking further into the field.

"Enzo," Maliha snapped, "Get back here."

Enzo huffed in annoyance but halted in his approach of the creature.

"Do you not remember what you have learnt about Rak'haan's? They are territorial creatures and travel in large herds." Maliha reprimanded lightly, conveying how dangerous the situation was.