by AA Lee
Goni offered Nora the bamboo receptacle filled with water from within his cell. “High Priestess, I need you to make a trail from here to the water source. Just sprinkle enough to wet the soil, and it should make a connection. Please be careful as it is far and the water they gave me is supposed to last for a week. It is already midweek, so I will have to make do with what will be left.”
Nora immediately made a line with droplets from the container, using the water sparingly. “Don’t you worry, boy. We will bring you water after this.”
“Father, do you have anything to carry the water?” Goni was conscious that he could not use his drinking container without running the risk of the magic consuming his weekly ration.
“No, but…” Cesar looked around. “We can use leaves for that.”
“Yes, that will do.”
Cesar cut a big taro leaf. He fashioned it into a crude bowl by sewing the edges with twigs.
“Thank you, Father.” Goni accepted the leaf. He dug into the soil with his fingers and made a hole as big as the taro leaf to support it. Cesar went off to collect the water from the base of the tree, and once he had returned with the leaf brimming with fresh water, Goni placed it into the ground, making it look like a small well.
They waited for a while for Nora to confirm she had finished making a line to the water source. Once confirmed, Goni connected the tip of the line to the water in the taro leaf.
He murmured a few words and closed his eyes in what seemed like a prayer. Smoke came billowing out of the leaf, and Cesar did not move his eyes away from it, eager for his granddaughter’s face to show among the smoke.
Chapter 23
Kenda
Kenda picked up one more straw and put it into her basket. Each day, she was able to find fewer and fewer straws, which on the one hand meant that she would soon need to think of other materials to use when making her Christmas lanterns, while on the other it represented that the river was becoming progressively cleaner. She lifted her basket up and estimated that she could maybe make two Christmas lanterns from what she had collected.
With the sun burning her skin, she had decided to walk home when the water suddenly seemed to glitter in her peripheral vision. She faced the river to make sure that she wasn’t imagining things and, sure enough, the water was indeed glistening. But how could it be? She had not asked the river for gold.
She ran to the river but jumped back when she saw a spectral face forming on its surface.
“Kenda! It’s your uncle.” The voice was quiet but clear.
Kenda stopped herself from bolting.
“It’s Goni.”
“Uncle Goni?” she said, almost to herself. “You are alive!”
“Yes. Come closer to the water, Kenda. I am using it to communicate with you.”
Kenda walked back and squatted on a stone near to the water’s edge. She realized that the face was not solid, moving with the water as if it was traced in oil upon its surface.
“Kenda!” Nora exclaimed. Kenda was thrilled to see her grandparents together. She was surprised that her grandmother had convinced Goni to use his gift. She didn’t think that her grandmother believed in him.
“Grandma? You look thinner. Grandpa! I missed you so much. I’m sorry that I made such a mess by running away.” Kenda felt like she was back to just being a kid again, with just her grandma and grandpa taking care of her.
“Don’t say that, child.” Tears fell from Nora’s eyes. It was the first time that Kenda had seen her grandmother crying, and she struggled to keep herself from crying, too. Goni and Cesar sat back, giving Nora the time to communicate with her granddaughter. “I was wrong, and I was foolish. I have always thought that I make the best decisions, but this one has got to be the worst one I’ve ever made.”
“You were only trying to keep me alive, Grandma, but I never wanted that option. That’s why I ran away.”
“Good, child. Good job for being braver than I ever was. I didn’t think that you could ever survive far from our village, so I thought the only choice for you was to get married. Now I know how foolish I was. Thanks to the spirits, you have escaped life with that bastard, Jinja. And thanks to your Uncle Goni, we saw his true colors when he told his men to attack your uncle at the Great Fall. Believe it or not, he tried to pretend that he was kind when he collected our payment!” Nora spat to the side. Nora would spit every time she had something horrible to say, but she only ever did it when no one outside the family was watching.
“You paid them back?” Kenda exclaimed.
“Yes, but that’s not important right now.” Nora waved her hand as if it was nothing.
“But…”
“Listen, child. There is something urgent that I have to tell you.”
Kenda listened.
“Where are you?”
Kenda hesitated. She trusted her grandmother with her life, but after she had promised to marry her off without her knowledge, a seed of doubt had started to grow inside her.
“It’s okay, Kenda.” Goni slowly came forward into view. “You can tell them where you are. We are trying to keep you safe from Jinja and his family.”
Kenda let out the breath that she was holding. “I am in town.”
“Thanks to all the good souls that kept you safe,” Nora said.
“Grandma, no soul kept me safe.”
Nora shot her a look that even the distance and the distortion in the water was not able to hide; the look that would always be followed by a pinch on her leg when she was a kid.
“Okay, okay,” Kenda laughed. “Maybe they did. I just didn’t know it. How would I know? I can’t communicate with them. My cat, Lucy, is better at talking to me than them.”
Lucy came closer to the river at the mention of its name.
“Cats only meow, you silly girl.”
“No, Grandma. This cat and I can communicate. It helped me to understand the townspeople. I don’t know how I would have survived otherwise.”
“That is fascinating!” Cesar gently pulled Nora back. “The prophecy only said that you command nature. It didn’t mention animals specifically, but I guess they are a part of nature, too.”
“Hold on, Grandpa. Did you say… prophecy?”
“Yes, that’s why we needed to contact you in this way. You need to stay where you are and not return here. Jinja’s family is not giving up on the marriage. Jinja looks like a poisonous snake waiting to attack.”
“I would have thought he might have taken the hint,” Kenda said, grimacing. “Fortunately, I am safe here. A kind lady offered me shelter in exchange of work, even though she’s not rich herself.”
“That is fantastic news. I hope that we can pay her back someday.”
“I’m trying to right now, Grandpa. I’ve been making Christmas lanterns and sell them. You know, those things that people hang in their houses at Christmas. People love it! I’m proud to say that I’m famous now!” Kenda grinned.
“Well, I think we can forget our worries after hearing that. Keep doing what you’re doing. It seems as though you are doing better than we are here,” Cesar looked at Nora and Goni.
“Grandma, if that snake, Jinja, bothers you again, contact me. I will try to keep a bowl of water next to me when I’m not near the river so I can contact you. I will make him regret it if he does. Did Uncle Goni tell you that I can tell the water what to do?”
“Yes, I did,” Goni answered on their behalf. “And you can do more. So much more. I wish I was there to help you discover more about your talent, but I can’t be. In the meantime, try to hone your gift. Try to communicate with as much of nature as you can to practice and discover yourself. When the time comes that you can return to us without Nayon intervening, I will try my best to help—”
Kenda raised her hand to stop him. A loud, blaring sound demanded her attention. “Something bad must have happened. This kind of sound comes from a car carrying sick people or a big truck carrying water for when there is a fire.” Her heart started bea
ting fast as she looked over at the market. Thick smoke rose into the sky, and angry orange flames filled her vision.
“Fire!” Kenda shouted. “I have to go and check on Lita. Her store is near the fire!”
Kenda scrambled to her feet without waiting for their response. The crowd became thicker the closer she got to the market. She pushed people aside without saying sorry, not bothering to see if they got angry. Her heart sank when she finally saw that Lita’s store was on fire. People were carrying buckets of water, trying to put out the flames, but the fire was too strong. The narrow dirt road was too small for the fire truck to drive down. Kenda’s feet moved back and forth, torn between going back to the river to get water and moving forward to save Lita’s fruit.
She closed her eyes, calling forth the water. Please, she thought. I need you right now. Help me put out the fire. But the water was deaf to her call.
She opened her eyes, only to see Lita’s store had almost burned to the ground. Her heart ached for Lita, and she fell on her knees, feeling helpless. Something cold touched her hand. When she looked up, she saw a man carrying a bucket of water. She ran after him and, to the man’s bewilderment, snatched the bucket. She put her hand in the bucket, closed her eyes, and in deep concentration, she summoned the water.
Screaming voices filled her ears. People panicked, and she heard footsteps running away from her. When she opened her hand, the water was arcing in the air, cascading down into the fire like a waterfall.
People backed away from her with fear in their eyes. Some mustered enough courage to take her picture. When there was nothing left but smoke in Lita’s store, she ran toward it, screaming Lita’s name.
“Over here!” a man shouted in the town’s language.
Lita was lying down in the dirt, her eyes closed. Her clothes were ruined from where the fire had scorched them, and angry red splotches of skin were visible on her arms and legs.
“Lita, no!” she screamed and dashed toward her. A body collided with hers, stopping her from reaching Lita. The man who had stopped her shook his head and pointed toward a wailing car that had just arrived. She slowly calmed down, hoping that Lita was alive. Lita was carried toward the car on what looked like a bed. Not wanting to tear her eyes away from Lita, she struggled against the arms that stopped her and fought until she was allowed to ride in the vehicle with her.
Chapter 24
Nora
“Nora!” Cesar’s voice echoed amid the mountains. Nora rolled her eyes in disbelief. The old man could have chosen to look for her, but instead he decided to shout. Sometimes, she got annoyed when Cesar couldn’t see things that were right in front of him. It was no different when he was looking for someone.
“Right here, old man. Use your eyes for once, for God’s sake! I’m only a few feet away from you.” Nora stood up and stopped pulling the weeds that came up to her shoulders. The corns were being outgrown by them, and they were stubborn when pulled. She was afraid that the corn would stop growing if they remained under the shade of the weeds.
“Yeah, I think the gods did not give me good eyesight.” Cesar walked closer to her, stepping on weeds to make a path.
“Who are you to blame the gods? You’re the one who’s not using them properly.” She straightened her back and heard some of her bones crack. “And don’t you just step on those weeds! Pull them out! They will just spring back up tomorrow if you step on them like that.”
“Forget about the weeds. You told me that you were going to eat lunch at home. Can’t you see that the sun has almost gone?” Cesar pointed at the sunset.
“I ate some raw sweet potato here. What’s the fuss? You could’ve come earlier and helped me.”
“Do you want your stomach to get worse? Don’t you go and complain again about your stomach pain when it comes.”
“Yeah, yeah. I will just finish weeding this line of corn. I’ll be less than an hour.”
“Here, eat this boiled sweet potato first.” He smiled. “No matter what’s going on, one thing never changes. You’re really stubborn.”
“Then stop arguing. You already know that I’m stubborn.” Nora pulled a handful of weeds and walked to the edge of the mountain. From the top of the mountain, they could see the whole village laid out before them. On the right side was the prison where Goni was being held and, beyond that, the desert. On the left was the river and the waterfall. Behind their farm, a few kilometers farther away, was the land of leeches where no one dared to go.
Nora sat down and opened the sweet potatoes wrapped in taro leaves. They were still hot, causing the taro leaves to wilt. Her stomach grumbled and she realized just how hungry she actually was. She was thankful that her husband had brought food, but she did not express it. She hurriedly peeled the biggest potato and ate it.
“Don’t tell me that you forgot to bring water?” Nora raised her right eyebrow.
“I forgot. Just go to the well down the mountain after eating.”
“My goodness! You know that eating sweet potato makes me thirsty. Go and fetch me some water.”
“I didn’t bring a cup. Just go there and drink.”
“What have you been doing all day to make you this lazy? Go. Use a leaf or bamboo or something. Just fetch water.”
“I can’t believe you can pull all those weeds, but you’re too lazy to walk to get yourself a drink.” Cesar started walking down.
Nora smiled in victory. She was happy whenever she won an argument with her husband. She peeled another sweet potato while waiting for Cesar. She sighed and thought to herself that she would not be able to finish pulling the weeds in the last row because of the rest she had taken. She would have to come back the next day.
With all the concerns over Kenda, she had taken her farm for granted. After paying all their debts, Nora’s worries had lessened and she was finally able to return to tending her crops.
If Kenda were here, it would be much faster pulling out the weeds, she wished. She put her head on her hand with the thought of her granddaughter and sighed. Kenda had been under their care ever since she was a baby, and the house felt empty without her. She looked at the river flowing down to town. She wished she could go into town and meet her granddaughter, but that would risk other people finding out that Kenda was alive.
Her thoughts were interrupted by distant movement beside the river. She rubbed her eyes to clear her vision, annoyed by the fact that her eyes were getting too old to see well. She thought that her imagination was playing tricks on her again, but when she opened her eyes, her vision showed her the same thing. It was far, but she could see that there were hundreds of people moving toward their village. The way in which they moved told her that they were no visitors. They moved in unison.
Nora’s heart skipped a beat. It couldn’t be Datu Hula. They had paid him in full. Then it dawned on her that perhaps the show of force was in response to the magic that Goni had used. But why would they attack because of it? she pondered.
Whatever the reason, she had no time to spare. She had been young when the last war between the villages had taken place. Chaos ran through her mind, and, for a second, she wanted to stay seated and calm herself, but time was a luxury that she could not afford.
She ran down the mountain as though she was being chased by demons. Gravity helped speed up her descent, and she didn’t hesitate to step on her plants.
Cesar looked at her like she had gone mad. “Slow down, woman! Are you trying to kill yourself?”
“Go and warn the villagers! We are under attack!”
Cesar’s face showed disbelief. “What on earth are you talking about?”
“Go! We don’t have time. They will be here in an hour.”
“What? How do you know that there are attackers?”
“Go now, please. Ask questions later. We need to warn the villagers, and I have to go and help Goni. We need him if we are to fend off these attackers. The village of Nayon has several gifted men and, no doubt, they will march among them.”
Cesar stood motionless for a moment, but seeing the terror in Nora’s eyes, he ran like he was ten years younger.
Even though she was dying for a drink, Nora ignored the well and ran toward the right side of the farm, wishing that she could be faster. She also prayed that Cesar would be fast enough to warn the villagers before the attackers arrived. Her lungs strained and her legs ached, begging her to take a rest, but she ignored them.
Upon entering the prison, she shouted to catch Goni’s attention, but all she heard was a croak from her throat. Her mouth was too dry, and she was still a good distance from the entrance to his cell. She put her hands on her knees and tried to steady her breathing. Goni saw her before she was able to speak again, and he stood up.
“Goni!” Her voice was louder this time.
“What is it, High Priestess?” Goni’s voice was a mixture of concern and fear. He tried the door to his cell, and it opened without magic harming him. Nora knew that the real spell was cast on the gate.
“You need to get out of here. We are under attack! The attackers will reach the village in a few minutes. There is no time.” Nora swayed and Goni held her shoulders to steady her.
“I think I have figured out how to get out of here, but I just don’t have enough power to do it. If I had my tools here, I would be able to do it easily.”
“I can’t go and get your tools. You have to get out before they reach the village, or all will be lost.”
“The magic here is designed to kill me if I try to break out. Idja and the other magicians from Nayon cast a powerful spell, and if I fail, I will probably lose my life. I tried subtly breaking it, and it was strong. I can’t do it alone.”
Nora paced back and forth, her brows furrowed in concentration. “I can’t help you to break the barrier, as I have never dealt with such magic before. I am only a bridge between souls.”