by AA Lee
Datu Hula nodded in agreement with Nora. “If you can give us a few moments, my family and I would like to discuss this alone. We understand that you do not have the time to wait, and we certainly don’t want your granddaughter to marry into another family.”
“Take your time. The day is still long.”
Datu Hula and his advisors stood up, and the crowd parted to give them space to pass. It was common for the groom’s family to do this in the middle of the discussion. The families always chose to talk amongst themselves and then later announce what they had decided, as opposed to allowing the other party to hear their discussion.
“Grandma, I don’t want to get married yet,” Kenda whispered when Datu Hula was out of earshot. She did not show her anger. She just stated what she wanted.
Her grandmother pinched her right leg. She bit her lower lip and rubbed her leg to ease the lingering pain. Kenda knew better than to speak again.
After what seemed like seconds, Jinja’s family came back inside the house in a line, the people once again giving them space to enter. She could not read Datu Hula’s expression, but Kenda prayed they would back out of the agreement and she wouldn’t need to get married.
Datu Hula took his seat lazily. “We have come to a decision. As Jinja really likes Kenda, we’ve decided to meet all of your terms. Please allow us two months to prepare, and then you can choose the date of the ceremony.” It was a short announcement, and there were no objections at all. It’s almost as if Jinja’s family had been able to afford all the demands all along and their discussion amongst themselves had simply been a matter of theatrics.
“Very well, then. Let’s hold the ceremony on the first day of the third month from now.” Nora smiled and bowed a little.
Kenda thought her grandmother must be happy that she no longer had to worry about her granddaughter’s wedding.
It immediately dawned on Kenda that, in two months’ time, she would be married. Actually, it felt as though she was already a married woman. Once the families set the date for the wedding, preparations would start immediately. Following the traditions of Kenda’s people, she would start wearing a red scarf across her chest, wrapped from her left shoulder to the right-hand side of her waist. In this way, people would come to know that she was no longer eligible for their sons as a potential bride, and the likelihood of her being raped would be reduced.
Tears fell down her cheeks, reddening with anger. If she didn’t speak out, she would never get the chance. Without thinking about her grandmother’s reaction, she stood abruptly and spoke in a loud voice that brought horror to the faces of each of the guests.
“I’m not getting married. I am not your property, and I can think for myself. If death is the penalty for not getting married, then so be it. I choose death.”
Chapter 2
Kenda
The waterfall facing Daa village rumbled as Kenda rushed out of the house. She had to get away from this place, no matter what. She had said that she would choose death over marriage, but she had actually meant that as a last resort. She would flee, just as she had trained herself to do. She had practiced running, should the need for escape ever arise, and she had also fought with her Uncle Goni several times in the forest to practice her fighting skills.
The trail which led to town sloped down from the village to the river. Out here, there were no roads like the ones she knew of in town. There were only trails where the constant trampling underfoot stopped the wild vegetation from growing. Because there were no roads, it was hard for the townsfolk to reach their village, on a journey that would take days of walking from the end of the road to get to Daa.
The downward force of the waterfall caused the current of the river to be strong. Kenda knew she needed to cross the river to quickly reach the town. As it sat on the bank of the river, she knew that she would get there by following its course. One thing was certain; Kenda couldn't stay on the trail because to do so would allow the villagers to catch her.
She had barely escaped from the house by using the element of surprise and stepping on people. She had kicked and punched those who had grabbed her, and since most of the people were sitting, she had had the advantage of knocking them over as they tried. People had not expected her to flee. Nobody had ever tried to do so before.
While running, she looked at her target path; the river below. On her left were the bushes. Kenda knew that it would be easy for her to run there as the bushes were low and she could clearly see the river below. On her right were dense trees. It would be a little difficult for her to stay on course, but that also meant that it would be difficult for those running after her to track her.
She chose to go right. She ran faster, but a protruding root caught her leg. She stumbled and rolled down. She put her hand on the ground to break the momentum, but it was hard to control her body due to the steep slope. A sudden sharp pain hit her left abdomen, and she bit her lip to stop herself from screaming. Her hand was doing no good in stopping her fall, and she was afraid she would hit her head on a rock and die, when her eye caught sight of a fallen tree. She put both hands out and braced for the impact. Her body hit the tree with a jolt. The impact was so strong that she became disoriented for a few seconds.
Checking her abdomen, she quickly got up. A bamboo stick was embedded in her left side. Judging on how it looked, it did not seem deep, and although blood was beginning to ooze out, it looked worse than she felt. She’d never been hurt like this before. She closed her eyes, held her breath, gritted her teeth, and pulled out the bamboo. More blood oozed out. She quickly put her hand over it and picked up dried leaves to cover her tracks. Then, she started running again.
She couldn’t see the river, and so she just ran toward the lower part of the mountain, the slope accelerating her speed. She had to put her feet down several times to break her run to avoid hitting trees and rocks. After a few minutes, she could hear the rumble of the water. She knew it was not the waterfall’s rumble as it was a little gentler than the loud and exploding sound the waterfall made when the water hits the rocks below.
Just a few more minutes, and she could let herself be carried by the water.
Just a few more minutes, and she could find her way to town.
Just then, she heard the dogs barking. She had not seen them before, and she hadn’t known that Datu Hula’s entourage used dogs for tracking. Her only choice was to run as fast as she could in the hope of reaching the water. She ran non-stop until the river came into sight ahead of her. The water will hide my scent, she thought. She called upon all her strength to push herself forward.
Suddenly, a net covered her, so heavy that she fell beneath the weight of it. She stood and pulled on the net, but try as she might, it wouldn’t budge.
She followed the links of the net until she found its edge, feeling the stones and sharpened wood buried in the ground that held it in place. She was trapped. She could see the villagers and Jinja’s family running toward her. The net was made of dried vines, and if she had carried a knife, she could easily have broken free. She wanted to use her teeth, but judging from the looks of the vines, she knew that she couldn’t bite through them in time for her to get away. She recognized that the net was used to hunt big animals.
She stood up and pulled the net up with all her strength. The stones moved, but the wood buried in the ground wouldn’t. She tried to pull out the staves, but she was not strong enough to remove them. She kept trying, refusing to give up.
Even when she saw Jinja’s feet in front of her, she continued to pull.
Chapter 3
Nora
Fuming with anger, Nora rose to her full height. Her knees were red from kneeling in the dirt as she had tried to meet Kenda’s eyes. Holding the bars made from Narra logs, the elderly woman had knelt outside the prison cell until she had grown weary of trying to convince the girl to listen.
Kenda sat cross-legged inside the cell, pretending not to hear her. Covered in spots of dirt from the chase, the gir
l’s fresh, yellow shirt sharply contrasted with her small, dirty face. Upon catching her, the men from Nayon had returned Kenda to the house, where the severity of her wound was assessed before the village officials declared she was to be detained. They had claimed it was for her own safety, but Kenda knew it was to prevent her from running away.
Nora had almost fainted upon seeing the blood staining the clothes that Kenda had worn to the meeting, but Sim, the village healer, had told her not to worry, as the wound was not fatal. The healer had assured the high priestess that she would tend to the injury until it got better, but Nora couldn’t help but worry about the stubborn girl. Sim had boiled water with guava leaves and disinfected Kenda’s wound with the brownish water after it cooled down. The healer had also wrapped the girl’s waist with a clean cloth, tightly compressing her abdomen to help with the healing.
“Look, Kenda,” the high priestess said. “I know you’re not a kid anymore, so I’ll stop trying to convince you like a little child.”
Kenda continued to stare at nothing.
“Stop being selfish. You’re giving us a hard time. I’m tired of saying this is in your best interest, even though you feel like it isn’t.”
Kenda straightened her long legs and winced as she moved her body.
Nora breathed with relief. It looked like Kenda would finally talk to her. She waited. To her dismay, Kenda just moved back to lean on the wooden bars. “I am so—” Nora stopped as a child’s voice repeatedly called her name. She squinted to see the boy running toward the prison cell. Her vision failed to identify the boy, not only because of the distance but primarily due to her old age. When the boy was finally a few meters away from them, she recognized that he was Boboy, Pilly’s seventh child.
Boboy put his hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. “High Priestess, Grandfather is asking for you to hurry. He said that you need to help Rosa.”
“I think she already gave birth. I can’t do anything for her. They should’ve asked for Sim.”
“They did, but Sim could not help her. They also said you have to hurry, or Rosa will die!” The boy’s big eyes, known for constantly making him look shocked, widened further. “There’s no one at your house, so Grandpa asked me to run here. Rosa’s father went to your house, and he was also very slow.”
“All right, all right! Their house is quite far, so we’ll need to hurry.”
As much as she knew she was needed here to talk some sense into her granddaughter, Nora’s duties as the high priestess took precedence. She turned her back on the holding cell and walked away, but not before she thought she saw Kenda’s eyes glistening with tears.
Nora retrieved the red bamboo cup from her ceremonial bag. Slowly, she removed the cover and scooped the red powder within, careful not to spill any as she scattered it over the burning charcoal. She painted all her cups and bottles according to the color of their contents so it would be easier for her to choose the right ingredients.
The woman lying on the bamboo floor writhed in pain. Nora quickened her pace and ignored her back pain. The woman had given birth three days ago, but her stomach still looked like it had when she was pregnant.
“High Priestess, I asked her father to go and get you because I was afraid of leaving her alone, but there was nothing I could do to ease her pain.” Sim paced back and forth, looking like she didn’t know what to do with her hands. “It’s agonizing to see her like this. I’m beyond frustrated.”
“You did what you could, Sim. Now, let me try and help her, if I can.”
Smoke started to cloud the room. Candlelight gave the room a warm ambience but did nothing to ease Rosa’s pain.
Nora sat cross-legged beside Rosa. She was ready.
She put on her priestess’s hat, from which a long, black cloth, stitched into the lining, descended to cover her face. The priestesses of old believed that the cover prevented the wearer from seeing that which was in front of their eyes, enabling them to focus instead on that which was beyond.
Nora took a deep breath in an attempt to forget her worries. Only when she was thinking of nothing else other than entering the spirit world, could she enter the world unique to priestesses. She tried to dismiss her concern for Kenda, but it simply wouldn’t go away. Nora wished the healing song was passed down to her, but the ancient tongue was forever buried along with other magic as the number of priestesses dwindled in the last centuries. Without the song to help them, the priestesses had to leave the healing to the village healer unless it involved a spirit whom they could talk to and appease.
“Ahhh!” Rosa screamed.
Nora scolded herself. The woman in front of her had been suffering for a long time and could die if she didn’t hurry. The high priestess tried again, opening her eyes and looking directly at the black cloth covering her face, forcing herself to do the task she was born to do. Inhaling deeply, she closed her eyes.
She felt herself spinning, like spiraling into an endless tunnel. The all-too-familiar feeling of being sucked into a world she knew well brought her relief. She had trained for decades to enter the world of the priestesses. It had also taken countless ceremonies for the spirits of the dead to accept her. Aside from those, the spirits of the rivers, the mountains, and any other known spirits who communicated with previous priestesses all had a say on her worth as a priestess.
Her eyes opened, but this time, the act was not just physical. Beside Rosa appeared the soul of an old man. His transparent body was glowing green, and his hair and beard were white. The soul looked at Rosa with contempt.
“I’m Nora, messenger of the village of Daa,” she said confidently, bowing her head toward the spirit.
The soul moved his head toward Nora, as if noticing her for the first time, anger in his eyes. He just stared at her without opening his mouth.
“This woman has been suffering for a long time.”
“The baby suffered more!” the soul shouted. “The baby would have died without me. It is right to make the mother suffer for her sin.”
“What did she do?” Nora wanted to ask the soul to stop Rosa’s suffering, but she knew that she needed to know what had happened first. It was the only way to know how to remedy the situation.
Instead of answering, the soul lifted his left hand. Smoke swirled across his open palms. Then, in what seemed like a dream, Rosa showed up in the smoke. Crying, she rolled a long cloth. She then wrapped the cloth around her belly and pulled it tighter. Gritting her teeth, she pulled even tighter, making her waist look twice as small. Nora’s mouth opened in shock. Rosa was trying to kill her baby.
“You’ve seen enough!” The voice of the old soul halted the vision. The smoke dissipated, and the old man waved his hand to shoo her away.
“I know that she did wrong, but there must be a reason why she did it. The baby is alive.”
In an instant, the spirit world closed with such force that sent Nora flying across the room. She opened her eyes and resumed her sitting position, ignoring the pain at her waist. Nora wanted to continue the conversation. She needed more information on how to appease the soul.
Bracing for the resistance, she tried to enter the spirit world again, but a powerful force made her double over in pain.
Nora tried again, slower this time. Her head exploded with pain so potent that it felt like she was going to lose her sight. She removed her hat and cradled her head in both hands.
Even though she had suffered for days, Rosa still had her voice, pleading for an end to her agony, but when the pain subsided, Nora heard Rosa’s moans getting weaker.
She couldn’t let her suffering continue. Although what Rosa had attempted was clearly wrong and she needed to be punished in accordance with the laws of the village, Nora could not stand aside and watch the woman die. But she also couldn’t return to the spirit world and petition for Rosa’s life without great risk to her own.
There was only one thing left that could help Rosa. Nora looked at Sim, still standing near the door. “I need
you to close that door and make sure no one comes this way. This process is dangerous. I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”
“Are you going to be okay, High Priestess?” Sim asked, wringing her hands. Blood and broken bones were nothing new for the healer—she had been healing injured villagers for about twenty years. There had been times when she had been unable to do anything other than watch helplessly as people in her care had died, but spirits and souls were beyond her capabilities.
“Don’t worry about me. It is an honor of being High Priestess that allows me to talk to the spirits. I’m going to be fine.”
Sim looked at the priestess again, hesitation clear to see all over her face.
“Go.” Nora’s stern voice prompted the healer to move. After making sure that Sim was out of earshot, Nora moved closer to Rosa’s ear. “Rosa, can you hear me?”
Rosa nodded her head.
“Listen, this is very important. It is the only way to save your life. You must speak the truth.”
Rosa moved her head in what seemed like a nod.
“Do you know an old man with white hair and a beard? His hair hangs just above his shoulders, and his beard is about five inches long. He has a mole on his left cheek.”
“My… husband’s grand... fa... ther.” Out of breath, Rosa struggled to put her words together.
Nora nodded her head, not surprised that the soul was related to Rosa’s husband. Rosa had married a man from Nayon, another village about a day from their village. Normally, people from either village would not see each other after the wedding. Only on special occasions would the bride and her family travel to the other village.
Nora wanted to ask Rosa why she had wanted to kill the baby, but she suspected that the young woman might not answer. She needed to be less accusatory. “You did not want to have a baby, did you, Rosa?”