High Priestess- No Man's Servant

by A A Lee

  “The town has almost everything. Why do you want to get what little we have?”

  “Listen, if you are their leader, just let your people know that we will not touch anyone as long as you let us pass.” The man put his hands on his slim waist. “However, if you harm us, we will have no choice but to use our weapons.”

  Another shot was fired in Kenda’s direction, and the tall man shouted at whoever fired the shot to stop.

  “I am not their leader. I am just a normal villager. I am warning you to stop now, or there will be bloodshed here.”

  “We are not afraid to fight,” the man replied without an ounce of fear. “And wouldn’t you like it if this waterfall no longer existed? Your trips to town will be easier. You will be able to build roads, too.”

  “But that will also mean that it will be easier for you to invade us.”

  “I guess there is no point in talking to you, then.” The man raised his hand toward Kenda. Guns pointed toward her. Before they could shoot, water shot up into the sky and the bullets failed to reach her.

  Kenda raised her right hand. The water acted as an extension of her hand as she started to slap the guns from the people’s hands. But there were too many of them, and many continued to shoot at her as she tried to disarm them.

  The villagers saw what was happening, and they started to shoot arrows at the townspeople. Because they were on higher ground, they had the advantage of gravity, and some of the townspeople fell as arrows pierced their body. The townspeople retaliated by shooting their guns.

  A loud boom made her freeze. She turned and saw that a part of the fall had collapsed. Judging from the big hole, Kenda concluded that they must have used a powerful explosive. She decided that she had to stop it first. If they used several explosives, the fall might collapse. The part of the fall that had collapsed had formed a small hill and people had begun to step on it.

  A man wearing a yellow hat carried a round explosive to the fall. The people nearby backed off and concentrated on shooting the villagers above, even though Kenda knew that they would not hit anyone due to the trees covering parts of the fall at the top. Most likely, they just wanted to scare the villagers away, but the villagers were not backing off.

  The man ran away after putting the explosive down. Kenda swooped down to pick it up. Townspeople shot at her, and she did a zigzag dive to avoid getting hit. Upon getting near, she realized that there was a timer on the explosive and it showed 10 seconds.

  She picked it up quickly and flew high into the sky. The counter read 6, 5, 4, 3… She threw it at 2 seconds and dived down with blistering speed to avoid the blast. The loud explosion shocked her because the distance she had covered wasn’t big enough. She saw villagers clapping and smiling at her, but she couldn’t hear them due to the ringing in her ears.

  Caught unaware, a bullet hit her right leg. The water supporting her weight zigzagged, as if confused about what to do. She blinked the tears from her eyes and willed the water to move up to the villagers, using the trees to hide from the townspeople’s vision.

  She collapsed on a rock, realizing with horror that the wound she had suffered was severe and meant that she might not be able to fight the townspeople. Gritting her teeth, she tried to ignore the pain, but it was too much and tears continued falling from her eyes. Villagers surrounded her, but she could not hear what they were saying. The ringing in her ears was still too loud.

  Goni ran toward her. She looked at his mouth and read his lips. He was calling her name. Kenda frowned because she did not understand the rest of what he was saying. He said something about healing. Goni helped her to move to a more comfortable rock, the pain increasing with each step. She looked at the villagers, but no one was cheering. Most of them showed concern on their faces, and some were afraid.

  Goni’s mouth moved, and the veins on his neck bulged as he looked at the trees beside the river. A few minutes later, Idja and the other magicians appeared from their hiding place. She smiled in gratitude. She had never imagined that the two villages would be on friendly terms after the fight regarding the marriage.

  Goni poured a clear liquid on her wound from one of his bottles. He and the magicians started chanting. She wished that she could hear it. Her eyes couldn’t believe it when the bullet slowly fell from her right leg. There was no pain. It was as if she was watching someone else’s leg. She looked up and saw the magicians holding hands, walking in a circle around her, still chanting. She looked down at her leg, and the wound had started to heal. In a few seconds, the injury was gone. She stroked the skin where the wound had been, and it felt smooth to the touch, like the wound had never existed in the first place. Gunshots filed her ears in an instant as she realized that her hearing was back. She looked up to say thank you to the magicians after they had stopped chanting.

  Goni squatted and looked her straight in the eye. “You should be all better now.” Sweat beaded on his forehead and his shoulders sagged, as if healing her had taken all his energy. She looked at the other magicians, and they, too, looked exhausted. She remembered her experience of healing Lucy, and she realized that these men must have experienced her pain.

  “I… I’m sorry.” She bowed her head. “You should be getting ready to fight, but I took your energy.”

  “It is our pleasure to help you.” Idja spoke as he sat down on a rock. “You took those explosives and disarmed some of the townspeople. That was a big help. Besides, we owe you big time …” But he did not continue what he was planning to say. All the other magicians nodded in agreement, looking as though they each shared the same thoughts.

  Kenda looked at the plains below the fall, recollecting her escape when she had been chased by both Daa and Taa villagers. Her anger toward them was now replaced with understanding and compassion. How she wished that the falls would be gone to let her people find a different life, but she could not allow the townspeople to exploit their village in fulfilling her dream.

  Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw a big bird flying toward her. She frowned as it got closer, because it looked different to any bird she had ever seen. The sound it produced became louder as it came closer. There was a rotating thing on its top, and she ducked upon seeing people riding inside it. It was no bird. It was another weapon of the townspeople.

  The flying thing flew closer to the villagers. Kenda flung her arms out to hit it with water, but the people riding in it were fast in firing their guns. The gunshots erupted in very close succession, and Kenda watched in horror as the villagers started to fall in big numbers. The water turned red.

  Kenda clutched the high priestess’ staff tightly. Hair rising up, she gritted her teeth and then cried in a voice that was alien to her. Water and soil rose from the ground, surrounding her like a ball, rotating with speed. The villagers ran back and abandoned their formation in terror. Kenda flew close to the flying thing. Bullets aimed at her ricocheted, and Kenda pointed her staff to the flying thing. It fell like a dead bird to the ground.

  “I have warned you,” Kenda said in an angry voice. The fall echoed her voice. Every part of nature repeated her words, and all that were present heard what she was saying. There was no part of the fall that was silent. “You have sought death because of your greed. I will give it to you.”

  The townspeople stopped shooting and looked at her in fear. “I will leave some survivors.” Some people started running away, but Kenda blocked the way by making a big wall of stones. Now, not only water followed her, but all aspects of nature were hers to command.

  “You have a mission. Take your fancy photos and videos of what will happen. Let it be known to the world that whoever comes here because of their greed will suffer the same fate.”

  Kenda raised her hand and stopped the water from cascading down the fall. She waited until a colossal body of water hung suspended in midair before releasing it, wiping the townspeople downriver. As she had promised, she spared a few people by resting them on higher ground. After the water subsided, no weapons we
re left under the fall.

  She faced the silent villagers who had witnessed this new kind of violence. Staying in the air, she addressed the villagers. “You might think that I was too harsh, but imagine what would have happened if they had taken over! Would have they been merciful? No. Now, they will not return here ever again to exploit our land.”

  The villagers nodded in agreement. Some clapped.

  “Now, there is one thing that still needs to be done. We need to bring down the waterfall.”

  Many of the people frowned. “But didn’t you just stop them from destroying the waterfall?” Hula asked.

  “No, I stopped them from exploiting our village. I have made sure that no one will come back here for the sole purpose of their greed. We need to bring down the waterfall to give opportunities for women to find other ways to survive besides getting married.”

  “Yes! She is right!” It was Eva, her wedding attendant.

  “Yes!” shouted other women. “We want other options, too!”

  “The waterfall makes it harder for us to go to town. If the waterfall is not here, we can learn the town’s language, and it will be easier to work there.” It was Eva who spoke again. Kenda noticed that most of the vocal women were those who were already married. Perhaps, it was because they had experienced a lot of hardships. The men remained silent.

  “But if our women go to town, we will run out of women to marry,” Hula said. “That will create a bigger problem.”

  Out of the corner of Kenda’s eye, she saw the warriors of Taa gathering the dead from the water and carefully placing them on the grass.

  “Men, who among you have been to town?” she asked. Almost all of them raised their hands. “How about women? How many of you have been to town?” Less than half raised their hands. “Can’t you see the opportunity? Men have a higher chance of getting wives in town.”

  This time, the men agreed, and most of them nodded. “This is not just for women, but also for the men. Do not be afraid of changes in your life.” People clapped in agreement.

  “Bring down the waterfall!” Eva shouted. Women followed what she said, and they started chanting to bring down the waterfall. Men also started chanting. And Kenda smiled.

  “I will!” she said with resolution. “Move back!” As people began to move away, fear was long gone from their expressions.

  Kenda flew to the front of the waterfall. She bowed with respect. “You did well in protecting the village, but it is time for you to disappear. I release you of your duties in protecting us. You must go now in peace.”

  With that, she commanded the rocks and soil to align, covering the lower part of the water. The mountainside shifted, adding volume to the lower part of the river. The Great Fall had turned into a serene part of river.

  “Nooooo!” a man shouted. “Why? Why did you free me?”

  Kenda’s eyes went wide as a face came out of the water. “Now you have unleashed the curse upon the world.”

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