by Iram Dana
Rain looked around for his Geeya, trying to adjust to the darkness surrounding him. As his eyes slowly adjusted, he saw that he had landed on top of a sloping mound which was more like a small hill, covered with grass. A street lamp some distance off was casting a dull glow, and he could see many trees surrounding the area.
Where was he? The compression in his chest had stopped but he was not able to breathe freely because of the stale smell pervading the air. There was something unnaturally eerie about this place. Was it the almost pitch-black darkness? The horrible stench? Or maybe the tomblike silence? He couldn’t put a finger on it.
“Geeya …” he called softly, “Geeya!”
No response.
He eyes searched the place. She should be easy to spot, glowing like a scarlet beacon as she was, but he could see her nowhere.
“Geeya …” he called again, starting to get panicky. He didn’t want to be alone. Not here. He remembered his Geeya mark then, and touched the spot on his right wrist.
She floated into existence and Rain almost sagged with relief.
“Where were you?! And where am I?” he demanded from her as soon as she made her appearance.
She looked at him with wide, almost fearful eyes. She was not wearing her usual serene smile. These two things combined made fear pound through Rain’s nerves.
“You are at the lair of Miti.” informed his Geeya.
He started to walk forward, his senses alert for any sign of life anywhere.
“Who’s that?” he asked, and was not surprised to find himself whispering.
His question was answered a second later, but not by his Geeya.
“Whooo goes there?” said a soft voice from somewhere in the darkness, but it was not a pleasant voice. It was grating on the skin, like being dragged over a rough, pebbled surface.
Rain peered into the empty void ahead of him, searching for the source of the voice. And then he saw it.
His hair stood on end as he watched a pale figure advancing madly towards him, crawling through the air like a spider would through its web.
“What is that?!” he asked his Geeya frantically.
“That is Miti, the spider girl. She is walking on her web. You disturbed it when you walked through it. That is how she knows you are here.”
“Walked through her web? Disturbed her?” Rain repeated, trying-and failing- to assimilate the information his Geeya was throwing at him while the hideous creature that his eyes were riveted to, advanced quickly upon him. “What the hell are you talking about?! And what am I supposed to do?” he cried, speaking fast.
“You are supposed to collect a wisdom from her.”
“How?”
“I am sorry, Rain. You will have to figure that out on your own. I cannot solve your Quest for you.”
No.effin.way. Rain swore softly under his breath.
Miti stopped a foot away from him, dangling in the air on invisible strings. He could see her quite clearly, even though the light was dim.
She had pale, almost translucent skin with a deathly pallor. Straggly black hair was pasted on her forehead and continued in long clumped strings up to her elbows. She was dressed in rags with thin, spindly hands and legs which were so impossibly long, Rain wondered how they were able to support the weight of her body without snapping into two.
“What is this? A human?” she cooed softly.
Rain said nothing. He was frozen to his spot, terrified.
“You have come at an opportune time. It is the mating season. First I will mate with you … and then … I will kill you.” she crowed delightedly, revealing rows of razor sharp teeth. “Nothing against yooo, it’s just the way of things with … spiderssss.”
If she was trying to reassure him, she was failing miserably. It was only then, when he finally looked into her face that he noticed her pale face had no eyes; just skin pulled tightly over hollowed sockets. Rain recoiled mentally from every inch of her, but at the same time, his mind was also racing for possible solutions. Did this mean she couldn’t see him?
Rain finally found his quivering voice.
“You … you cannot mate with me …” he stammered.
“Why is that, human?”
“I … er … because I am a girl!” he said, improvising madly and raising the pitch of his voice to sound feminine. “Human girls have long hair. And so do I, see?” he said, snapping the thin band holding his pony in place.
In three lunges, she was behind him, running her bony fingers through his hair. He shivered with disgust at her touch, his hands and feet cold with fear. She came back to face him after finishing examining his hair.
“Hmm … you are right … you do have long hair. I cannot mate with you. I guess I’ll just have to kill yooou ssstraightaway, then.” she cooed, her thin smile filled with malice.
“What?! No, no! Wait…” exclaimed Rain.
Bad move, bad move. Think of something else, he chastised himself.
“Actually, I am a male. I guess I was just scared.” he said, normalizing his voice. “You may mate with me and kill me. But before you do that, would you please grant me one wish?”
Miti smiled in approval and silvery saliva fell from the corners of her mouth.
Great, she’s drooling already, thought Rain.
“What is your wish, little human?”
Little? He wasn’t little! What part of him seemed … he stopped his angry flow of thoughts as the fact registered that Miti really could not see him. There was some hope after all. He scanned the area quickly, searching for an escape route while keeping Miti engaged in conversation.
“Could you please part with a wisdom? I would be very grateful if you would grant me this before killing me.” said Rain, while working out the plan in his mind.
First, he would have to find a way to expose her web. Otherwise, he would give his position away when he touched it. Rain looked up at the sky, and it began to drizzle lightly.
“Aah … rain! What a good omen! It means our mating will result in children!” she gushed, while Rain tried desperately not to throw up the bile rising in his throat at that thought. Miti was oblivious to the disgust on his face as she continued, “Very well. You have made me happy, so I shall grant your wish, for you have shown exceptional bravery. Now, do you know what real courage is?” she asked, letting out a small gust of foul breath.
“Er … no … please tell me, oh great Miti.” replied Rain.
But he wasn’t really looking at her. He was looking at the drops of rain settling on her web, like tiny dots glistening in the dim light, revealing the structure of her web. Perfect.
He began to edge away from her slowly, testing her blindness. She did not notice. Gaining confidence with every step, Rain began to move away from her steadily, ducking, bending and twisting wherever necessary in order to avoid touching the web that he could now vaguely make out, as she continued speaking.
“Real courage,” she continued, “does not mean that you are not afraid… it means that you are really scared, but you go ahead and face the situation anyway.”
The minute she finished speaking, the claw at the centre of his chain began to glow. He had got it! He had a wisdom!
He started to move faster.
“You have shown great courage by admitting what you are and not pretending to be something you are not and bravely facing your imminent death. But before that, there will be time for some pleasure, mmm? And now … I shall mate with you …” she purred. By now, Rain was neither looking at nor listening to her. He was concentrating solely on getting away as quickly as possible. When he heard several popping sounds, Rain glanced back at her to see what was happening and instantly regretted his move. Two appendages had popped out from each of her sides and were now extending into full arms. She now had three pairs of hands on each side of her body along with her two legs.
Rain gasped and jumped with fright at the terrifying sight that she made now - and accidentally pulled on a string of her web as a result.
Instantly, Miti’s smile died and she whipped around to face him.
“You! You liieed!” she screeched, pointing three accusing fingers at him from each of the hands on her right side. For a split second, Rain froze and went blank, then he turned and tore through the web, throwing all caution to the wind and running for his life. She bounded after him with a shrill, keening cry, deftly scuttling through the leaves and trees, her spindly white limbs climbing over one another in their hurry to reach him.
She was coming at him madly, catching up really fast. In what seemed only seconds later, she took a giant leap and landed on Rain’s back and dug her teeth into his skin. Her fingers caught him in a vise-like grip, trying to tear him up. He tried to pull her arms away, but there were too many. How much was she like a spider? He wondered, desperately pulling at the hands and legs trying to strangle him.
“Gah!” he yelled, when a spindly arm came off its socket and in his hands. Rain flung the still-moving arm away and grabbed at another which nearly took his eye out.
Praying that she was more spider than human, he jumped off the ground and heaved his body down with a grunt, landing hard on his back.
There was a sickening squelch and then the hands and legs tearing at his skin fell to the side limply.
“Ugh!” groaned Rain, lurching off the ground. He looked behind to see Miti lying in a pool of black blood, flattened like a swatted spider.
His body gave a shudder at the same time as the air whooshed past him and the scene around him began to change rapidly, zooming by in a blur. A few seconds later, he was lying on the floor of the forest, face down. His backpack was next to him, exactly where he had left it.
*****
CHAPTER 3
Rain lay there, face half buried in the grass and breathing heavily for what seemed like an eternity, trying to get over the shock of the experience. He groaned again with disgust as the final image of Miti’s squished body flashed before his eyes.
“Rain.” There was a soft touch on his back. “Rain, you did it. You collected your first wisdom!”
Rain looked up at the smiling face of his Geeya.
“Get up Rain. You did it!” she urged gently.
He looked down at his chain where a single claw was still glowing. It crumbled into dust and vanished the minute he touched it, leaving ten claws behind.
Had he really done it? Been successful in collecting his first wisdom?
Yes. He had.
He slowly rose to his feet and pulled up his backpack. Removing a pair of scissors and a mirror from his bag, Rain proceeded to snip off his long hair. He had to, he simply had to erase the memory of Miti’s fingers going through them. He cut it in layers, keeping it short at the top and longer below, to end just above his shoulders. He then began to strip off. He removed the shirt stained with Miti’s black blood first, and threw it on the forest floor. The rest of his clothes followed, joining the shirt. He piled some dry wood and then set the whole lot on fire using a small lighter he had kept with him. He watched in silence as the clothes burned, remembering belatedly that he wasn’t alone.
“I … I’m sorry…” he fumbled in embarrassment at his Geeya, who was watching him unabashedly.
“No worries,” she said, smiling mischievously, “a human’s naked body does nothing for a Geeya. We are beyond your primal instincts.”
“Like that helps …” mumbled Rain as he touched his Geeya mark, retiring her.
She vanished in a puff of scarlet smoke and Rain closed his eyes, willing the water to pour over him from the heavens. Clouds gathered above instantly at his command and it began to rain. He stood there for almost an hour, letting the rain wash away the dirt, the blood, and the memories of Miti. Finally, he stopped the rain and dressed up again. He was done now. He had let go and was ready to move on. He touched his Geeya mark, summoning his Geeya. He had just collected his first wisdom and it was time to celebrate.
*****
That night, he feasted on a roasted deer that he had hunted down and later, he fell into a deep and exhausted sleep. When he awoke the next morning, he could barely open his eyes because of the tough encrustation on his eyelids. And his head … man, it was pounding so badly.
“Aaah …” groaned Rain, raising his leaden arms to hold his head between his hands and wincing because even this small movement caused too much pain. In fact, every muscle in every part of his body was screaming in agony.
“What’sh wrong wimme?” he mumbled, looking at his Geeya through bleary, red eyes. His tongue felt odd in his mouth. Why couldn’t he speak clearly? What was wrong with his tongue? Somewhere in the recesses of his mind, panic began to take root.
“You should do something about those.” she said softly.
“Abou’ whah?”
speaking made his head explode with pain. Prying his eyes open somehow, Rain looked down at his body and only then did he notice that his arms and upper body were covered in purpling welts. Miti had made deep lacerations on his shoulders and the wounds were beginning to fester. The skin around the wounds had turned yellow and was frothing lightly, as though dissolving slowly. Miti obviously had some sort of powerful digestive enzymes in her saliva which had not washed away with water.
Rain tried to get up, but felt too weak to support his own weight and slumped back onto the ground. He instantly regretted his actions as his head exploded, making him cry out in agony.
“I … can nah move…” he gasped weakly.
His Geeya was floating about agitatedly, going around him in circles with a worried frown on her face, all the while muttering in helpless frustration about the fever raging through his body. Fever? Thought Rain, touching his neck and forehead. Yes, he did have fever. But it didn’t stop there. As time wore on, his temperature kept rising and his condition kept deteriorating. Thirty minutes later, he had lost consciousness.
*****
Rain drifted into consciousness a long while later. He could hear the constant sound of waves rushing to the shore and then receding. Where was he? At a beach?
He was still groggy and it took him some time to recall the sequence of events that took place before he had lost consciousness. He tried to open his eyes but they were still shut tight. He could feel the encrustations on his lashes, holding his lids closed. He tried to wipe them away but his hand still felt too heavy for him to lift.
A swab of warm wet cotton touched his eyes, gently wiping away the dirt stuck on his lashes and Rain opened his eyes, adjusting to the brightness of what was clearly early afternoon.
When his eyes finally focused, the first thought that came to his mind was the affirmation that he wasn’t dead. Because had he been dead, Rain was sure he would make it to heaven since that’s where all the beautiful laydeez were. And whatever he was looking at right now, it was not a beautiful laydee.
Peering down at him were two large black eyes set deep in a sun browned face, below a large forehead which continued upwards without interruption from a hairline. The lips on the thin, weathered face were curved into a huge smile - displaying several gaps where teeth should have been- and thick, stubby fingers were playing with a salt and pepper beard, spreading out like a fan from the old man’s chin.
“Finally, you awaken!” said the man in a wheezy, gravelly voice. He got up and walked over to a stove, over which a large pot was bubbling and gurgling. Rain’s gaze followed the malnourished looking man, whose upper body was bare, exposing ribs that were shielded only by a thin layer of browned skin. A white loin-cloth covered his lower body and he walked with a slight limp using the aid of a walking stick.
“Who are you?” asked Rain. He had some difficulty moving his stiff lips, but at least he could speak now. His voice sounded different, though. It was thick and alien to his own ears.
“Never mind that now, boy.” said the old man, carrying a bowl filled with a brown colored broth over to him. He helped Rain sit up slowly.
“Your body needs nutrition. Have this,” he said, thr
usting a copper bowl towards Rain.
“What’s … that?” asked Rain, speaking slowly. The memory of the pounding headache was still fresh in his mind.
As he sat up, Rain noticed that his upper body and hands were covered fully with white gauze that was stained with some green colored paste and had a strong, bitter smell. It made his mouth taste bitter.
“This is soup. Drink up, my boy, drink up.” said the old man, placing the bowl at Rain’s lips.
Rain tried to hold the bowl but his fingers showed no sign of life. He looked helplessly at the old man, who came at once to Rain’s rescue. Taking the bowl from Rain’s hands he tilted his head back and dumped all the contents of the bowl into Rain’s parched mouth in a single go.
“There… now doesn’t that make you feel better already?” he rasped.
Rain coughed and spluttered, but before he could say anything, the old man was pushing another bowl towards his limp hands.
“Drink up, my boy, drink up.” he urged merrily. “Would you like me to feed you this bowl as well?”
Rain shook his head vigorously. The old man smiled encouragingly and placed the bowl in Rain’s numb hands. Rain curved his fingers around the warm bowl carefully and slowly lifted the bowl to his lips. He drank the second bowl in tiny sips, not wanting to choke on his meal again and not really being able to taste anything through his bitter mouth.
When he had finished his bowl of soup he was both, looking and feeling, much better. Looking up, Rain extended his hand for the bowl to be refilled again, but the old man was nowhere in sight. Instead, his Geeya floated into view.
“How are you feeling now, Rain?” she inquired softly.
“Much better, thank-you.” said Rain, smiling a wobbly smile. “Where am I? What happened to me? How did I get here? Tell me everything.” demanded Rain.
She smiled and sat down beside him.
“Your wounds were terrible, and your condition was only worsening. I was wondering if our journey was going to end before it even had the chance to begin when suddenly, he appeared out of nowhere…” said his Geeya, indicating the spot where the old man had just been.