African Pursuit

by David Alric

  ‘We’ve got to sort out this “Special One” as soon as possible,’ said Clive. ‘We’re causing havoc!’ The others nodded.

  Lucy got out of the Land Rover and stood looking into the impenetrable forest. Clive and Clare watched as she obviously called in vain. It was the first time they had ever seen animals fail to respond to her call and it brought home to them just how alien this world of the junglekin was in terms of what they now knew about animal behaviour and legend. Lucy knew from her conversations with the baboon that the only animals that regarded themselves as belonging to both the Greater World and Lesser World were the leopards and she surmised that they would be her best chance of establishing the truth about the “Special One”. She asked an eagle to locate the nearest leopard and they waited impatiently for it to return.

  In less than ten minutes it swooped down to the Land Rover and informed Lucy that a leopard was on its way. Soon a lithe dark shape appeared in the trees. The black panther* sprang to the ground beside them and they all gasped at its beauty. Lucy was reminded vividly of Melanie the black jaguar which had assisted her in the Amazon.

  ‘Greetings, O darkfang,’ said Lucy.

  ‘Greetings,’ replied the panther in the common tongue. ‘Thou art The Promised One of the Lesser World.’ It was a simple statement of fact but it told Lucy that she was on the right track.

  ‘That is so,’ she said, ‘and it is told that there is a “Special One” of the Greater World. Know thou of such a one?’

  ‘The junglekin speak of a Tailless One – with eyes of magic light such as thine – but she is guarded by the bonobokin and ventures not from their realm.’ Lucy gasped in astonishment.

  ‘And whither is their land?’ she asked, to see if the answer matched up with what Clare had thought earlier.

  ‘They live where the Brilliant One sinks beneath the trees. I have never hunted there but my kin speak of wondrous beasts that also live in those hidden places.’ Lucy’s mind was in turmoil. She thanked the panther and asked him to stay within calling distance. Then she shared her news with the others, including the astonishing fact that the Special One seemed to wear glasses.

  ‘She,’ exclaimed Clive. ‘Huh, women seem to have bagged all the top jobs in the animal world. It’s obviously not just human beings they like bossing about!’ Clare and Lucy ignored him.

  ‘It sounds as if there really is another one,’ said Clare. ‘I wonder who on earth she is – and how old she is.’

  ‘And can she speak to animals?’ Lucy wondered aloud. She called back the black leopard. ‘Canst thou speak to a fledgiquill of the forest? One who can seek out the Special One of the junglekin?’

  ‘I can,’ replied the panther. He paused and glanced scornfully at Lucy’s eagles, perched on the back of the truck, before continuing, ‘But fledgiquills cannot understand the matters of which we speak. Their minds are not like mine and thine.’

  ‘That is true,’ said Lucy suppressing a smile, ‘but they can at least tell us if another Special One approaches.’

  ‘It shall be done.’ The panther padded off to the nearest tree and leapt effortlessly into the branches. Soon a bird flew up through the canopy and headed off into the western sky. Lucy explained what was happening to Clare and Clive. They all agreed that if the Special One existed she would easily be able to locate them using the junglekin and that their own next priority was to find Sarah and Ben as soon as possible. Clive started up and they drove off as quickly as the appalling road permitted. Three hours later, their eagles, who had been shuttling backwards and forwards, informed them that they were now very close to their objective. Clive slowed down and as they rounded a bend in the road they saw the burnt-out truck by the roadside ahead of them.

  ‘Let’s stop here,’ said Lucy. ‘If Sarah and Ben hear the car they may get frightened and run away and hide.’ Clare agreed so she pulled in close to the bush and stopped. They all got out and walked towards the blackened hulk of the lorry.

  ‘I can hear voices,’ said Clare excitedly, ‘It’s them!’ She and Clive broke into a run. As they did so Lucy had an amazing feeling. It was as though an animal were calling her but it was different and stronger than an animal, and it wasn’t calling her, it was just …just there like a brilliant beacon in her mind. She shook her head and hurried to catch up with the others.

  * Leopards, cougars and jaguars may have black fur, a melanistic variation, and are known as black panthers.

  15

  Chatting with Chimps

  Neema sat in the fork of a tree eating a banana and listening to the excited bonobos chattering around her. Something was going on. First a bird had flown into their group from the east, then several bonobos from different family groups had joined them from various directions, finally a crocodile (a species the bonobos normally stayed well clear of) had emerged from a nearby river and clambered up the bank to speak to the chimps sitting in the trees above. Soon Jambo swung over to speak to Neema.

  ‘There are mysterious tidings from near and far,’ she started. ‘First, my kin who remained near the place we usually dwell say that two Tailless Ones come every day to thy little house and call for thee. They carry no thundersticks. Then others of my kin come whence the Brilliant One rises. They tell of two small Tailless Ones who sit alone in a house that moves. They are guarded by spotfangs who threaten any of the junglekin who approach.’

  ‘Are those of whom you speak not the Little Tailless Ones?’ asked Neema, wondering if Jambo was referring to the forest pygymies.

  ‘Nay, O Special One. They are young ones – younger than thee. Their skin is pale –paler indeed than thine own, and the head of one is as corn when the Brilliant One shines.’

  ‘How far are they from here?’ asked Neema in astonishment.

  ‘They are many leagues hence,’ was the reply, ‘close to the great river of those parts. But there are other matters of great import that I must impart to thee. A Dreadful One comes from where the river leaves the forest and flows to the Great Salt. He tells of a mighty gathering of the creatures of the Lesser World. They threaten to enter our kingdom. We are cleverer than they but many of them are mighty creatures and we shall suffer grievously should they enter here.’ Jambo paused. She looked distinctly uncomfortable and Neema immediately sensed she was withholding something.

  ‘Is there aught else to tell?’ asked Neema?

  ‘It is said …,’ the chimp hesitated again.

  ‘It is said …?’ prompted Neema.

  ‘It is said that the creatures of the Lesser World also have a Special One – with eyes such as thine from which the Brilliant One can shine. The fledgiquill who came hither,’ she pointed to the messenger bird sitting nearby, ‘tells that even now she travels hither from afar.’

  Neema was utterly bewildered. What on earth was going on? Animals invading the rainforest. Strangers at her cabin in Salonga – did that mean the police now knew about her? Children lost in the jungle and, most mysterious of all, another “Special One” who wore glasses. Who on earth was she and why was she coming? Suddenly Neema realised that this other Special One might be in pursuit of the young children she had just heard about, in which case she should be helped or stopped, depending on her motives. Finding them should be her own first priority. She thought for a while then spoke to Jambo.

  ‘I would like thee to take me to the young Tailless Ones. Is it a journey suitable for me?’ Jambo consulted with her cousins.

  ‘We can take thee there in safety. Most of the rivers have places we can cross in the trees; where we cannot, others will assist us.’

  ‘What of the spotfang?’ asked Neema nervously. ‘Whom do they serve?’

  ‘The spotfang believe they belong to both the Greater and the Lesser Worlds. They fear none, but if we tell them thou art special to us they will not harm thee.’ Relieved by this, Neema then spoke to the crocodile.

  ‘Return to the edge of the Greater World, O Mighty One, and ask none to attack the creatures of the Lesser World un
til I give word.’

  The great reptile grunted in assent and slid soundlessly into the black depths of the river. Neema saw the water swirling in his wake as he began his long journey to the edge of the great forest. The bonobos set off with Neema through the jungle. Until now she had seen them merely foraging or cavorting in the trees and bushes but now they had a mission she was astonished at the speed and agility with which they could move through the densest forest, helping her to follow by smoothing out branches and assisting her across gaps. When she began to fall behind they enlisted the help of others. She rode on an okapi for several miles and was amazed at its ability to slip through the thickest undergrowth. On another part of the journey she clutched on to a bongo as it gave giant leaps across water-filled pools and clumps of tangled undergrowth. They crossed innumerable rivers and ponds and swamps by climbing across the overhanging and interlacing branches of trees but eventually they came to a wide river which the trees did not overreach. Jambo stopped and sniffed the air in different directions, then spoke to a youngster who swung off effortlessly upstream while the group waited patiently. Within ten minutes the bushes parted and a forest elephant pushed her way through.

  ‘Sit thou on the tuskikin, O Special One,’ said Jambo. Neema swung down onto the elephant’s back and clutched on nervously as the creature waded into the river. Soon Neema realised that the river was wide at this point because it was relatively shallow, and though the brown waters swirled up to her knees they came no higher as her massive steed took her safely to the other side. She thanked the elephant.

  ‘Farewell,’ said the gentle giant, ‘From this day on I shall be honoured among all my kin for, alone among them, I have borne the Special One upon my back.’ Later in the journey they came to some swampy ground and Jambo once again gave instructions to a youngster.

  ‘The jungle snortikin will come,’ she assured Neema, ‘and carry thee over this perilous place.’ Soon the giant forest hog appeared and knelt for Neema to mount. She clutched its coarse black hair as it plunged through the swampy terrain, the bonobos leaping nimbly from one reedy tussock to the next. The giant hog continued to carry her through the undergrowth after leaving the swamp, until Jambo indicated that she should return to the trees.

  ‘We draw nigh to the young ones,’ she said. ‘Even now my kin speak to the spotfangs who guard them.’

  16

  Reunions, Revelations and Reconciliations

  After thanking the hog Neema clambered silently to a spot next to Jambo and saw that they were above a road. By the side of the road was a burnt-out lorry and for one sickening moment she thought the children had been burnt. Then she followed Jambo along a broad branch stretching right across the road and linking with the trees on the other side. There, a few yards into the forest on the far side, was a small clearing in which a second lorry was parked. Around the clearing she could see leopards in the trees. They looked at her, but made no move either to threaten her or to pay homage to her. Then she heard voices and there in the clearing, sitting on a log and eating bananas, she saw a boy and a girl. As she inched nearer she realised they were speaking in English. She had no idea that she was gazing at her own sister and cousin. She called down:

  ‘Hello there!’

  The children, startled, looked up and Sarah squealed in delight.

  ‘It’s Lucy!’ she shouted. ‘How did her hair get so long!’ And she and Ben jumped up and ran under the tree in which Neema was sitting. As they did so she felt something emanating from beyond them that she had never experienced before. It was similar to communication with the animals but much stronger and somehow pleasant and joyous and lovely. She shook her head and focused back on the children, smiling down at their upturned, joyful faces.

  ‘Who’s Lucy?’ she asked. The children laughed, and then their mirth turned to puzzlement as they realised from the girl’s expression that the question was genuine.

  ‘What do you mean?’ asked Sarah.

  ‘I’m Neema,’ said the girl in the tree. ‘Who are you? And who’s Lucy?’

  ‘I’m Lucy!’ The voice came from the other side of the clearing behind the children who spun round and then ran squealing with shrieks of delight into Lucy’s arms. Even as she hugged them she looked up into the tree and her mouth fell open. The girl in the tree was a mirror image of herself. As Ben and Sarah detached themselves and rushed to greet Clare and Clive, Lucy realised that the intense sensation she was experiencing had its source in the other girl who was now clambering down to the ground. Soon they stood looking at each other and an awed silence fell upon the scene as the bonobos stopped chattering and the birds paused in their song. Clive and Clare, their arms around the younger children, stood and gazed at the two girls, identical in height and shape, as they faced one another. Both turned down the “beacons” in their brains as the prodigious energy they felt radiating from the other threatened to overwhelm them. ‘Hi, I’m Lucy,’ repeated the Promised One. ‘Lucy Bonaventure.’

  ‘Bonaventure!’ gasped the Special One. The contents of her grandfather’s desk came flooding back to her. ‘You were born here – near here – in Salonga?’ she stammered. Lucy nodded, utterly bewildered. How on earth did this girl know where she had been born? ‘I am Neema – Neema… Bonaventure,’ said the other. ‘And I think… I think I’m your twin sister!’

  Lucy felt faint. She sat down on the log where Sarah and Ben had been sitting and patted the space next to her.

  ‘You’d better tell us everything,’ she said, her voice barely louder than a whisper. The others, speechless, came over and sat round the pair in a circle. Neema told them about her childhood and the discovery one day of her “grandpa’s” file. She could remember the letter almost word for word. She then told them of her discovery that she could speak to animals.

  ‘I’ve never told anyone about it before,’ she said, ‘but I can see that you’ve all been through this already.’ Lucy, Clare and Clive all nodded. Sarah and Ben looked puzzled and Clare leant over and whispered that she would tell them everything later. Neema then told them about the arrest of her family, her escape into the jungle with the bonobos and the story of how she had come to find the children. When she had finished Clare got up, gave her a long hug and kissed her.

  ‘You really must be our sister.’ she said. ‘This is a wonderful day for us all.’ There was much hugging and weeping and kissing as they explained to Neema who they all were, then Lucy said she would tell Neema her story.

  ‘First,’ she said turning to Ben and Sarah with a kindly and somewhat regretful smile, ‘I must tell you that some of this story will be a surprise for you. We were going to tell you the family secret when you were a bit older, but you now know so much already it would be unfair not to tell you the whole story.’ So then, as Lucy told Neema her tale, Sarah and Ben heard everything about Lucy and the animals and all kinds of things that had puzzled them over the last two years suddenly became clear. When Lucy had finished Clare then told Neema and the children all that had happened in the last few days. Suddenly Neema gasped.

  ‘Your parents! …my parents…our parents.! They must be the people the bonobos told me about. I didn’t tell you that bit as I didn’t realise it was important.’ She then told them of the couple who went to her cabin every day in Salonga and called her name.

  ‘But why would they be looking for you?’ asked Clive, with puzzled frown. ‘They don’t know about you.’

  ‘Of course they know about her!’ interrupted Clare with a laugh. ‘She’s their daughter! We’re the ones who didn’t know about her. For some reason they must have decided to come here to look for her. Our African holiday was obviously just an excuse for the trip, but they didn’t tell us the whole story in case they couldn’t find her.’ They all fell silent as they thought about what she had said, then nodded in turn. It made perfect sense. Neema was the first to break the silence:

  ‘I must send them a note and tell them I’m OK.’ She paused. ‘Oh, sorry,’ she said, ‘I’d
better explain. I’ve found I can send notes using the animals.’

  Clare, Clive and Lucy looked at each other and smiled.

  ‘Been there, done that,’ said Clare with a grin, and then explained to Neema how their lives had been saved by Lucy’s animal notes on more than one occasion.

  ‘Now,’ said Neema, ‘about this note to…,’ she hesitated, ‘…Mum and Dad.’ She smiled. ‘Funny – that’s the first time I’ve ever been able to say that. Or…,’ she frowned and looked at the others, ‘…or should it be “Mummy and Daddy” – or “Mother and Father”?’ They all laughed and Clare said,

  ‘Whatever. They’ll be so pleased to hear from you, you could call them anything.’ Neema pulled a pencil and paper from the belt round her waist.

  “Dear Mum and Dad,

  I’ve met up with Lucy and the others. Everyone is OK. Stay in Salonga. Keep visiting the cabin every day and we’ll all come and join you.

  Lots of Love

  Neema (Grace in English).

  X X X X”

  She showed the note to the others. ‘Do you want to add anything? Oh, and by the way I’ve decided to call myself Grace from now on. It means the same as Neema, and if I’m going to rejoin my family I think I should have an English name.’

  They all scrawled their initials with a kiss and then Grace folded the note, tucked it into a palm husk and gave it to a bonobo. She adopted the expression Clive and Clare had seen so often on Lucy’s face when talking to animals and they exchanged a smile. For Lucy the experience was even more fascinating for she could actually hear Grace giving her instructions to the ape. She told Grace after the ape had swung off and they both giggled.