They drifted down river for the remainder of the night. The journey was seemingly uneventful, but they found it hard to relax. Bomani unwrapped the bandages on his leg and checked his wounds, impressed by how quickly they were healing. Then he wrapped them again.
The waxing moon, just days from being full, was covered in cloud, leaving barely a soft glow to light the way. They slept in only spans of an hour or so, awakened from time to time by the many sounds of animals and insects that were unfamiliar to them.
The animals were watching. Both curious and afraid of these newcomers to their world, the baboons followed them for a good hour by land and by the thin rows of dry tress that lined the riverbank. Their eyes glowed red and their heinous calls to one another echoed throughout the dark, until finally they became uninterested.
In the morning, Bomani continued to perfect his fishing technique. They docked just long enough for them to build a fire and eat, but they did not waste any time lounging around. Bomani felt that it was necessary to get back on the river as soon as possible.
Bomani kept watch at the front of the boat, looking back at Farra and Pupa who had finally fallen into a comfortable sleep as the daylight helped to wash away their fears. He looked around the sides of the boat at few huge dark figures in the water that began to swarm around them. He was not quite sure if the danger was important enough to wake Farra from her sleep.
Then a sudden spray of water hitting her face accompanied by the sound of rushing air woke her and she sat up. Bomani put his finger to his lips to quiet her and pointed into the water.
“What is it?” she asked, startled.
“Hippo-whales,” Bomani said quietly.
A herd of hippo-whales sat almost entirely submerged in the water, only their eyes and their blowholes peeked over the top. With walrus–like feet, these animals were slow on land, but no doubt swift and agile in the water. They cautiously glared at the strange boat that passed by them.
The largest one submerged entirely, and thirty seconds later butted its head against the boat from underneath. The boat shook violently as Farra and Bomani rocked with it, trying to keep their balance.
The boat settled, and then once again they were hit. Bomani caught Farra as she nearly fell over the side.
“This is no good!” Farra shouted. “No good at all! We have to paddle away from here.”
“Sshhh,” Bomani said. “I know animals. He’s just testing us. We don’t want to provoke any more of them. I’ll paddle, slowly. Just try to keep your balance if we get hit again. You don’t want to fall in there, with them!”
Bomani guided the small boat, cautiously and precisely through the herd; tip-toeing through the lion’s den. It seemed that just when he had them all counted, another would emerge, clearing its blowhole with a violent sound —meant to scare. The eyes of twenty hippo-whales were locked firmly on them, and Bomani feared that they were just waiting for the slightest reason to all attack at once. Farra looked on cautiously, rubbing Pupa gently behind his ears to keep him calm.
After they passed the herd, Farra kept watch, making sure that none of the hippo-whales were following, while Bomani stayed at the bow of the boat, looking ahead attentively for other dangers. He wanted to be ready for anything that might come their way.
“We’ve been on this river almost a whole day. How much further do you think we have to go?” Farra asked.
It had become his practice during this journey to ignore her.
“I said, how much further do you think we should go?” Farra repeated.
“I don’t know,” Bomani replied. “Hagga wasn’t too specific.”
Another ten minutes of silence passed until Farra spoke again. “So, what does your name mean?”
“Why?” he replied.
“I don’t know. I was just making conversation.”
“Does it really matter?”
“No, but if I had to guess, I’d say it meant, mean little boy.”
“And if I had to guess, yours means, girl who talks too much.”
“Well, if you would speak sometimes, I wouldn’t have to do all the talking. You just sit there not saying anything, like I’m not even here. Like you’re alone. Well, you are not alone, you have company.”
“I told you before, I’m paying attention to where we are going. Keeping an eye out.”
“Cheerful one.”
“What?”
“My name, it means cheerful one.”
Bomani rolled his eyes and then refocused ahead. “It figures. Why are you so happy all the time anyway?”
“It feels better to be cheerful than to be sad or mad all the time. If I had my pick, I’d rather be happy.”
“Humph”
“I mean what’s the point of being angry and tough all the time?”
“Warrior.”
“Huh?”
“You asked what my name meant. It means, warrior. My father gave it to me. He too is a great warrior.”
“My father gave me this trinket around my head. But I haven’t…
The arrow that missed her by inches pierced into the side of the boat, cutting her sentence short. She fell back, and screamed. Bomani looked behind them to see two boats carrying five ogres in each, aggressively pursuing them. He quickly grabbed his shield and spear. “Ogres!” he yelled to Farra, “Get down!”
Bomani blocked arrow after arrow with his shield, as he stepped over Farra and Pupa toward the rear of the boat.
“Row the boat. Hurry!” he yelled.
Farra grabbed the oars and thrust them in position to push through the water as fast as she could. The ogres’ boats began to close in on them.
“Faster!” Bomani yelled. “Paddle faster!”
“I’m paddling as hard as I can!” Farra shouted.
Arrows came at them again and Bomani blocked them, but despite Farra’s efforts, she could not out row the ogres. The first ogre that tried to board their boat was greeted unfavorably by Bomani’s spear. The sharp instrument tore into the ogre’s belly with ease. Bomani pulled it out uncaringly, and pierced the ogre again.
The defeated beast fell into the river, and to Bomani’s dismay, another ogre immediately replaced him, and charged Bomani, angrily. They fell to the bottom of the boat with a hard thump and the rickety boat swayed roughly as Bomani used all his strength to move the strong, stocky ogre off of him. The angry ogre snarled and swiped at Bomani, but Bomani’s shield lay between them.
As they struggled, two of his runes fell from his pouch. The runes caught Pupa’s attention, and the cowering pup cautiously picked up one of them with his teeth and took it to Bomani.
“Pupa, I’m kind of busy right now,” Bomani said. He smashed his shield into another ogre’s face and sent him into the water. Pupa took the rune to Farra, who was still at the bow of the boat, paddling as fast as she could.
“What is it Pupa? I told you to hide in my pouch!” Pupa dropped the rune next to her, and it immediately caught her attention. Farra looked back at Bomani and saw that the hideous ogres now outnumbered him in the boat. She picked up the rune immediately. “How do we use them?” she said, looking at the rune curiously.
“I don’t know!” Bomani shouted back, “I don’t even know what they do!”
“Oh, why don’t you just do something,” she said to the water rune as she shook it desperately.
Bomani fought with all of his strength to overcome another ogre, who was doubtlessly stronger than he. This was unlike anything he had ever experienced. Wrestling with his brother Mongo or Anan or one of the other boys in his village could not compare with the strength of an ogre.
“Bomani, I can’t figure out how to use these things,” Farra shouted over her shoulder, still trying to row and examine the rune simultaneously.”
Just then, Bomani noticed the crystal dangling from the ogre’s neck as it twinkled in the light. “I got this under control,” Bomani said.
He suddenly felt a surge of confidence.
Farra grabbed her staff and hit the ogre in the back of the head as hard as she could. The stunned ogre tried to get up. The blow had clearly shocked him, but before he could get his bearings, Bomani kicked him so hard that he fell back into one of the other boats. The ogres’ boats swerved into each other, giving Bomani and Farra a chance to get away.
“What, no thanks from you?” Farra asked.
“I had it under control,” Bomani insisted.
“Sure you did,” she said.
“Did you figure out how the runes work?” he asked.
“No, I didn’t.”
“Why would she give us these things? We don’t even know how to use them. How are they supposed to help us if we don’t know how to use them?”
“She just said we would know how when we needed them and….” Farra paused for a moment and then she took the water rune and tossed it into the water far ahead of them.
“What did you do that for?” Bomani asked.
“I don’t know,” she replied. “I really didn’t think about it.”
A flash of light could be seen under the water where the rune fell, and then it disappeared. They looked at each other with disappointment.
“That was it? That’s all it does?” asked Bomani. Suddenly an arrow tore through the air, passing closely by.
“Get down!” he exclaimed.
They quickly lay down in the boat, and Farra instinctively scooped Pupa close. Bomani held Farra and Pupa close to him and put his shield over them for protection. Farra looked up, peeking from beneath the shield, and immediately noticed that the current was getting stronger and that the river ahead of them began to twist and turn.
“Bomani!”
“Keep your head down!” Bomani instructed her.
“But, Bomani, there’s a whirlpool up ahead,” Farra yelled over the sound of the noisy rapids that moved nearby. Suddenly the water stirred them into a full-fledged whirlpool. They both grabbed an oar and desperately tried to turn the boat away from the powerful current that pulled them closer to the forceful vortex.
“If we can manage to stay clear of its pull, maybe the ogres will fall into it,” Bomani said, fighting against the water with his oar.
The ogres took up oars at the site of the whirlpool. At first they panicked and toppled over one another in their boats, too clumsily to manage it; but they quickly fell into sync, and barely guided their boats away before the current over took them.
Bomani and Farra, however, did not have the strength to steer their boat clear of the angry waters. They looked at the whirlpool desperately. It looked fierce and hungry. As the current of the whirlpool picked up speed, they realized that there was no way to escape its grasp.
Not seeing any way to avoid the whirlpool, Bomani began to worry. He looked at Farra, who had a deep apologetic look on her face.
“I’m sorry!” she said. I don’t know why I did that. It was like it wanted me too.”
Bomani grimaced.
The whirlpool showed no sign of slowing down, and in spite of their efforts, they could not change their direction, or change their fate. And so the three of them, Bomani, Farra, and Pupa, along with the boat, were swallowed by the center of the whirlpool, and they all disappeared beneath the water.
The Ancient Lands: Warrior Quest, Search for the Ifa Scepter Page 13