Enzo's arms swung wide as he sung a happy tune. His feet crunching down on the forest floor as he skipped ahead of Maliha and Nkechi. Every so often, he became too loud or travelled too far out of Maliha's eyesight and she had to call him back or tell him to be quiet.
Enzo was oblivious to the dangers that surrounded them now that they had a predator at their side. His childish innocence was both a gift and a curse and yet Maliha would never wish him to be any different. Enzo was slowly morphing into a carefree child and though now wasn't the time to be careless, Maliha couldn't begrudge him that pleasure.
"Enzo is a special child, isn't he?"
"Yes," Maliha smiled softly, taking in Enzo's giggling form.
When Maliha had first met Enzo, she had seen something in Enzo, but she hadn't known what it was. As she had gotten to know him, Maliha realised that it was the look in his eyes that had drawn her to him. Enzo had the look of a child who craved love and acceptance. She had glimpsed that same hungry look in her eyes when she had been growing up.
Enzo reminded Maliha of her younger self. The only difference was that Enzo would not have the same hang-ups that she did as an adult. He would be so much more. With the gentle handling of Makula, Maliha and Darsan, Enzo had begun to speak up and bask in the female new familial relationships of a mother, grandmother and sister. Under the masculine influence of Ray'et, Kamir and Ujarak, Enzo had begun to find self-value. But what was most important to Maliha, was that amongst his new formed friends he had learnt how to be a child. Enzo had learnt how to play and fall without the fear that his new family would withdraw their love.
"I know you feel that you have stolen something from him, but Enzo has a mind of his own that often conflicts with your own wishes."
"I know that, but I didn't want this for him," Maliha groused, plucking at a leaf.
"Sometimes it is not our choice to make. Sometimes we have to trust the powers that be, to guide us to our true destinations. Enzo was meant to be here with you and that is a fact."
Maliha bit her tongue to hold back her rebuke. It was hard to trust in a deity who had only ever seen Maliha suffer.
"I know it is hard to trust in a being who has never gifted you with an easy path, but we are often tested to only make our souls stronger. We must-"
Nkechi's words cut off mid-sentence as her ears perked up. Her head whipped around erratically as she trod carefully through the forest.
Maliha picked up on her cautiousness and bounded after Enzo. Maliha's feet thudded into the earth as lightly as she could make them, but the sound was not her main thought. No, Maliha's focus was getting to an oblivious Enzo who had started whistling a new tune.
As Maliha approached him, she wrapped her arms around his waist and clapped her hand over his mouth. His body went rigid and his arms splayed wide as if he would fight her but a signal from Nkechi had him relaxing.
"Shh," Maliha whispered as she dragged him towards a thick tree that was shrouded in bushes.
Her back thudded against the tree as she slowly released her hold over Enzo's mouth. Maliha spun him to face her and gestured for him to be quiet and remain still. Maliha peered over her shoulder and spotted the noise that had Nkechi worried. There was a small convoy of men.
Maliha squinted to get a better look and the moment she did she felt her heart dropping to her stomach.
"Up the tree."
Enzo read the urgency in her tone and followed suit, crawling on his knees to the tree that Nkechi hid behind.
Maliha peered over the tree again and noticed that the convoy was slowly approaching the area in which they were standing. Her hands shook as she waited until Enzo was obscured by the large leaves of the tree before following his actions and slowly climbing into the thick foliage of the tree. Nkechi was the last to follow suit and had just disappeared into the large leaves when the convoy of men broke through the forest.
Maliha motioned for Enzo to be calm as the men cloaked in black tranced through the forest. The air was stifled with darkness, an icy coldness pin-pricking over Maliha's flesh. Black pulses of energy twined around their forms like living beings, floating in a cloak of obsidian.
A silent gasp wisped from Nkechi's lips as the cloak of one of the hooded figures fell away from their head. Black veins bled from his eyes and rippled throughout his face, turning their tanned skin into something out of nightmares.
Maliha snapped away from the frightening sight and locked eyes with Enzo. She tried to convey positive thoughts through her eyes. Holding his gaze with her own loving stare until the chill that has clung to the air began to melt away.
They stayed inside the tree for what felt like hours, only climbing back down to the earth once the sound of wildlife had returned.
"Who were they?" Sniffled Enzo, his grey eyes milky with tears.
"That was the Svolik, Enzo and the reason I left you behind. I didn't want to expose you to the possibility of seeing them."
Enzo buried his head into Maliha's side as they waited for Nkechi to reach the earth.
"They are gone now but we must make haste in case they double back. The Der Surjaz claim does not extend this far out."
Maliha gripped Enzo's hand in hers and followed after Nkechi.
They barely stopped for the rest of the day, only halting a few moments to take care of their basic needs. It wasn't until nightfall that they finally stopped.
"I came through here on my way. Just up there is a cave that I have marked and so it will be safe from both animal and man."
"How did you mark it?"
Both women were surprised by Enzo's question as he had remained subdued after witnessing some of the dangers that waited for them throughout this journey.
"I marked it with majic." Nkechi grinned, climbing up the rocky terrain. "Majic and piss."
"Piss?" Maliha spluttered, almost stumbling down the rocks in shock.
"Yes," laughed Nkechi, "I made a territorial claim, so no animal could step into my cave and I warded it with some rosemary that grows nearby. Sage would be better, but the rosemary will hold for the night."
Enzo laughed at Maliha's flabbergasted face before bounding up to the cave and stepping inside.
"It doesn't smell like piss. It smells nice"
Maliha's mouth hung wide before she burst into laughter. She knew she should reprimand Enzo for using that word, but she couldn't, not when he looked so happy standing inside the small dark cave that smelled sweet and pure as if lightness dwelled there.
"If the cave has Enzo's approval then it has mine," agreed Maliha.
"Good, now let's build a fire so we can eat."
She slung the dead animal from her back and dropped its carcass to the floor before pointing Maliha in the direction of the pile of wood she had previously gathered. The tent was sparse and small with nothing in it but the few pieces of log, but it would do. Maliha started the fire and then stepped out into the cool night to gather a large handful of leaves. She placed them in the far corner of the cave and then pulled out a small shall from her bag and placed it over the leaves to form a bed.
Nkechi placed the dead animal over the fire and began cooking it slowly. Once it was cooked she handed the pieces out to each person before
"I don't think we will last long out here. Nah Barros land is at the least a two-week journey on feet and we have no resources."
"We can't go back."
Nkechi shot Maliha a telling glance over the fire before handing Enzo the remainder of her meat.
"We could go back. I think you will find that you are both missed but I know that is not what you want. Instead, I will suggest we stop over at my tribe. It is a few days west of here. It will add a few days to our overall journey, but we will be better for it."
Maliha looked to Enzo's grazed knee and had to agree that stopping over at Nkechi's tribe would be a smart decision. Enzo was already looking weak and drawn out and their true journey hadn't even begun.
"I agree. Enzo won't make a two-week journey as is."
At his name, Enzo's head popped up. "Are we not going home?"
"No, I have finally found my family and I have to meet them. I have to know who I am."
"I know who you are. You're the mother of my heart," whispered Enzo, his head curling into Maliha's lap.
Maliha's throat became thick with the urge to cry. Enzo's words meant everything to her and yet she doubted that she would make a good mother, especially if she still harboured negative emotions about her abandonment. She feared that all of the pessimism she held about her origin, would tarnish the bond she was building with Enzo.
"I'll always be your mother Enzo, no matter where we go. Whether we are together or apart. You will always be my son."
His cloudy grey eyes peered up at her with nothing but love before he buried his head deeper and drifted off to sleep. Maliha's hands ran through his hair in a steady rhythm. The cave was encompassed in a comfortable silence as Maliha listened to the night's noise and reassured herself that as long as she had Enzo, everything would be fine.
"I can see how much he means to you."
Nkechi sunk onto the floor by Maliha, her hands running across Enzo's warm cheek.
"He does."
"I know, which is why I can't understand why you left him behind. Did you not think how that would affect him?"
Maliha flinched as if Nkechi had her struck and in a sense, she had. Nkechi's words were a blow to Maliha because she had been conscious of how her actions would negatively impact Enzo as she had made them.
"Why are you so far from home? I want the real reason and not the cryptic one full of nothing."
Nkechi's lips tilted up in a hidden smile, her eyes shooting skywards as she tried to suppress her laughter.
"You go first, my story is long and boring."
Maliha doubted that Nkechi's story was truly boring but she would go first if only lessen her crippling guilt.
"I left him behind because I wanted to protect him from the world outside of the tribe. It sounds silly, but I have travelled since the age of fifteen, I know how hard and dangerous it is. It's too hazardous and I knew that my journey wasn't going to be easy. I also didn't want to be selfish. In the past few months, Enzo has found a home. It didn't seem right or fair to take him when I was so uncertain of what I would bring him into."
Nkechi nuzzled Enzo's neck in a sign of affection before slinking back to her seat around the fire.
There was no denying that Maliha's fears were real. Today they had been confronted with two of the many perils that they would come across during this long journey and having a child would only make the journey even more arduous.
"I didn't lie when I said that The Night Lady whispered in my dreams and set me on this path. I was dreaming lucidly and when I awoke I had the urge to leave, I dreamt of you before I physically saw you. "
Nkechi looked down at her folded arms and poked at one of her white knees, the pale skin extending up her thigh in jagged lines that resembled a bolt of lightning.
"Do you know what these white marks mean to my tribe?"
"No," Maliha shook her head, "but I know your mother had them as well."
"Yes, all Funai have them, it marks them apart."
Nkechi rubbed at the cluster of pale splotches of skin that glimmered in the flickering firelight.
"You know us as Shamans, but amongst the Daja, we are Funai. Every tribe has one. A Funai is a spiritual leader who is typically mated with the strongest warrior. They provide harmony and balance. Strength and wisdom. My mother and father are a pair and these white splotches of skin mark me as a Funai. But I can't be one."
"Why not?"
"The Funai are warriors of the spirit. They see into the astral plane and have a bond so strong with the goddess and ancestors, that to kill or harm anything is abhorrent to them. The Funai are healers, a tie to the pure ways and practices of ancient Majic. They do not fight but the Dahara, my animal form, is a warrior form first given to our ancestor, Osemi. She was the first daughter of Pathikyo, the only child he had before Solayka
We have many scriptures about Osemi and how she came into her power but none of that matters. What matters is that The Night Lady, or Savuriya as you may know her, strictly forbade those who carry the warrior form from being a Funai. I cannot be both, yet I cannot forsake my nature, nor can I forsake my tribe."
Nkechi stared into the fire listlessly, seemingly plucking her strength and courage from the flickering flames.
"All my life I have been told I was Funai, I was born with these marks and over the years they have grown in number. My skin is almost completely covered with these ancient white marks. I have been told I was Funai, that I must unite with Kofi, the strongest warrior apart from my brother. I knew this, but when I was awoken from slumber by this primal urge to be free, to be me, I knew I had been fed a lie. A convenient lie. I was no more a Funai than Kofi was the strongest warrior."
"So, when you shifted you ran, and you were guided to me?"
"Yes, our paths were always meant to cross, and the discovery of my gift was the trigger. I had to be free and so I ran. I ran Just like you did Maliha. Like you have for years."
Maliha's lips pursed together. She had never viewed her wandering ways as anything more than her learning who she was and yet it seemed that she had been afraid to learn the most important thing about herself. She had been scared to learn who she was and why her parents hadn't loved her enough to keep her.
Maliha had been terrified and so she had kept running. She ran the moment her heart was compromised. She always had.
But this time was different.
For the first time in Maliha's three years of wandering, she had fled a tribe with a direction.
She had a purpose, an end place.
Maliha had a compass.
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AN///
Hey all, so as promised I have posted chapter 48 on Wattpad. Chapter 49: "Heart of the Jungle" has been posted on Inkitt and the Link is below. Head over to read it if you want to stay up to date.
https://www.inkitt.com/stories/fantasy/239614/chapters/49
Don't worry if you don't have an account on Inkitt. I will post chapter 49 to WP next week Sunday.