by Julia North
I had never seen men move so fast and beat the drums so strong. Their bodies shone with sweat in the firelight. Their eyes were wide and white. I could see that their spirits were one with the drums. I couldn’t stop staring at them.
“You must not talk when the Great Leopard comes from his hut,” Mobuto said. “You must keep your eyes to the floor. He will not be happy if you look in his eyes. The great doctor will give you strong medicine and make you like the powerful bull elephant where the bullets cannot pass. You are lucky soldier boys tonight, hey?”
“Yes, sah. We are very lucky,” we all said. We watched Mobuto with big eyes. We did not want to do anything wrong.
He smiled at us and said, “We’re the God Army. We have the special magic that will make you invisible to the bullets of the enemy. You’re lucky that you’re in the God Army and not that of the enemy. Now follow me and don’t make a sound.”
We crept behind Mobuto with our eyes on the ground. I did not want to look at the hut for I was afraid I would make the great doctor angry if I looked at his house. The fire spat blue and red flames high into the air as we came near. The flaming tongues licked out at us and the fire cackled like a great fire witch. I felt the hot hand on my face and my heart jumped. We sat cross-legged on the side next to the boys of Nkunda. The General lifted his eyes at us and we saluted. He stared and said nothing.
The drums beat harder and harder, louder and louder, “Be- dum, Be-dum, Be-be-dum.” Two wizards came from the huts on the sides of the big hut. They wore the skirt of lion tails and beat shields of the springbok. I couldn’t see their faces because they had the big wooden masks with the slant eyes and big scowling mouths on. I could see the quills of the porcupine on their heads and there were many dried gall bladders around their waist. I knew these had powerful juju inside. Maybe it was this that would give us the magic.
They danced round and round the fire and the colored beads and brown dried seeds on their ankles and their wrists shook to the rhythm.
Faster and faster they went while the big drums called, “Dum-de-dum, Dum-de-dum.” The fire grew bigger and bigger. The wizards went round the fire, faster and faster. They were so fast that my eyes were swimming. They screamed “Aieee, aieee,” at the fire. My heart beat like the drums. My head whirred round and round like the dancing wizards. I was scared that just now I would fall backwards from the spinning.
The soldiers clapped with the drums. I looked at Mobuto and he showed for us to clap. We clapped, clapped, clapped with the rhythm of the drums. My spirit sang with the drums. I felt like I was flying around the fire with the wizards.
Then the women came out.
“Ulololo, ulololo, ulololo,” they screamed.
Their voices were high and clear above the beat of the drums. They had skirts of red and black and their big bare breasts, covered with many beads, jangled in time to their dance. They wore bracelets of red dried seeds around their feet and wrists which made music as they moved.
They danced with the wizards. Faster and faster. All of them danced and screamed while the drums shouted louder and louder. We joined in by clapping. The noise was so big that I thought it would break the sky and then the big drum shouted, “KABOOM!”
Suddenly there was silence. I held my breath and waited. We all waited. A big shadow came in the entrance of the middle hut. It moved away and then the great doctor himself came out.
He stood in front of the hut. All I could do was stare at him with my mouth open. His spirit was so strong that it took over the whole place. He was very tall. I’d never seen such a potent man before. He was much greater than the General. Everyone was afraid, even Mobuto.
“Aiee, he’s very powerful, Modetse,” whispered David.
“Yes, David. His spirit will eat us.”
“We must be careful, Modetse. We must make sure he likes us.”
I nodded. “Whisper to the others.”
I could see Sipho from the corner of my eye. He sat still next to David with wide eyes and an open mouth. Jabu and Richard too were frozen. David whispered in Sipho‘s ear and he nodded.
The great witchdoctor had moved to the fire. He held a tall baubled stick with many beads on it. He had fat legs and a big belly like the hippo. He had a crown of tall black and white quills of the porcupine on his head and the band of the leopard across his forehead. His skirt was made of the tails of many leopards. It shone gold in the firelight. Around his ankles was the skin of the lion and I saw that his wrists had shining colored beads that jangled as he walked.
The drums waited. We stayed still. The night too was silent. The moon hid this night for fear and only the fire dared to speak as the great doctor paced around it. He looked at all of us soldier boys. His steps were heavy and the red ground vibrated as his fat feet hit into it. The air was thick around me. My heart had jumped inside my mouth. I think it was stopped beating from the fear.
“Aeeiou,” screamed the witchdoctor suddenly. His voice was shrill and hard and tore the silence of the night in two.
“Aeeiou,” he screamed again and held his beaded stick high into the air. He had many gall bladders around his waist. He took one and threw it in the fire. The flames caught it and laughed. The magic made them jump up high in the air and scream and scream. The light was bright now so that the great doctor could see us like in the daylight.
My breath was trapped inside my body. My mind was numb with fear.
“David, I am very afraid of this man,” I whispered.
“Don’t look at him, Modetse,” whispered David.
His eyes were big and wide and his body was stiff. We were all filled with terror. I was excited to come but now I wished that we’d not come. It was too dangerous to talk. I clenched my jaw and kept my eyes on the fire.
The drums started up again. “Dum-de-dum, Dum-de-dum. Dum-de-dum. De-de-da. De-de-da, Deda, Dada, Dada.” They were louder and faster now. I let my mind dance with the drums. Round and round; faster and faster. The drums shouted to the forest and the sky about the power of the witchdoctor.
Then the doctor stopped and looked at us boys and I could see his yellow eyes and his big toad nose with its wide nostrils, sniffing, sniffing.
He moved around the circle, “sniff, sniff.” I knew that he was smelling out the rotten boys. My body shook. What if he thought I was rotten and threw me on the fire? What if he did not like David because his heart was too soft? Or Sipho or Jabu or Richard? What he if threw all of us on the fire like we were the evil witches? I’d heard that the great witchdoctor called the rotten boys witches and burned them on the fire.
My eyes were big and my heart was in my mouth. The witch- doctor came closer and closer. I could see the fat on his belly. It jeered at me. He bent down and I could smell his horrible breath that stank like the dead chicken. His yellow eyes came towards me and I looked down. I kept my breath stiff, inside so he could not see my fear. I had to stay strong. “I’m a big soldier now. I’m Mr. Hotshot. I can shoot the magic bullet. He will not smell me for a witch,” I told myself over and over in my head.
I felt his fat face come closer and saw the leopard tails swing in front of my face. He was breathing hard into my face but I held it firm with my eyes looking to the ground even though my stomach had come into my mouth. My nose twitched. I held my hands tight and kept my face firm. I could not let him see that I could smell his stink. I looked at his fat feet with their seedpods.
He pushed under my chin and made me look up. I kept my eyelids down so that my eyes were not wide open. I could see his fat body, which was wet with sweat and shone in the fire.
I felt his eyes on me like they were looking right into my spirit and inside I screamed in fear. The other wizards stood behind the witchdoctor.
Suddenly he shouted, “Juju!”
The wizards jumped and took out a pouch and gave it to the great doctor. He squatted down and opened the pouch. I could see a brown powder in the pouch.
“Howwaath,” he shouted. “You are a lucky soldier boy. Make sure
that you are a good killer for the L.R.A. The magic juju will make you invisible but if you do not kill well for us the juju will eat your flesh.”
My body shook and I bowed my head to the great doctor to thank him. I had been careful not to look straight in his eyes. I’d done everything Mobuto told us to do.
The witchdoctor took out a small sharp knife with strong silver teeth from under his skirt of leopard’s tails. He pushed the knife onto my forehead and cut it in deep. I felt a sharp pain shoot through my head and felt the hot blood come down into my eyes. I locked my jaw to stop my scream.
“Good blood,” he shouted. “Good clean cut for the magic juju.”
He pulled both my arms apart and made two deep gashes into their soft upper flesh just below my L.R.A. scar. The wizard gave some more magic juju to the great doctor and he rubbed it deep into the wounds. It pained me but it also felt good. My mind started to smile. It reminded me of the glue. My head got light but my legs were heavy. I felt strong now. I could do anything. The magic medicine had made me too strong for the bullets of the enemy pigs. My ears were buzzing.
“Ha, ha. Now you’re strong with the magic medicine, hey, Mr. Hotshot,” said Mobuto. “You’re lucky that the doctor did not smell you for the witch.”
I was very feeling lucky but I hoped that my friends would also be lucky. The witchdoctor moved to David and my skin prickled. I did not want him to kill my friend.
“Please don’t be scared, David,” I prayed in my head. I saw the wizard give the powder and my heart sung again. David was safe. The great doctor cut deep into David so that the blood of my brother flowed out thick and red. I saw him put in the magic powder and rub it deep into the wound. David smiled and my heart was glad. The doctor moved to the next and the next. Jabu also got the juju and so did Richard.
Then the doctor suddenly stopped and screamed. He pulled a boy out by the hair. I saw a big forehead sticking out in front and my heart sank.
“Aeeiah. A witch. A witch. He will bring bad luck. He will talk to the enemy. Burn him. Burn him,” he screamed in a high- pitched whine.
Sipho had shown too much fear and the doctor had smelled him. Sipho screamed and his white eyes met mine. I stared back in horror but there was nothing I could do. My heart hurt my ears and my breath stuck in my throat. I looked away.
I heard David catch his breath. All the soldiers started shouting, “Burn him. Burn him.”
They were on their feet and stamping them as the drums started up again. “Dum-de-dum,” they shouted as if they too wanted Sipho to burn. “Burn Him, Burn Him. Burn Him,” everyone was shouting now.
I joined in, hitting my crossed legs with my fists as I shouted but inside my heart was crying for my friend. My eyes were fixed on the fire. Why was it Sipho and not Jabu? Why Sipho? Bitter water flowed into my mouth and I quietly retched and swallowed it down.
The soldiers and the drums beat loudly calling for his death. Commander Mobuto and Nkunda pulled Sipho screaming to the cackling red fire. He was shaking all over and squirmed and screamed and dragged his feet against the red soil as if somehow it would swallow him up and save him.
His voice was so high and shrieking that my ears hurt. I closed my eyes tight so I could not see him but my ears couldn’t close. His screams stabbed through my head like the steel of the AK bayonet.
Then my nose drew back from his burning flesh and my stomach somersaulted. I turned to the side and vomited into the red sand. I tried to take my mind away but the smell and the screams were too strong. I don’t know how much time had passed when the screams stopped.
Sipho was dead and the great doctor was moving again. I watched as his big shadow moved to the end of the circle and I held my breath as he smelt the last boy. My body was numb and my chest heaved up and down with short breaths while my mind whirled with horror. My spirit felt like it had come out of my body. Everything was dizzy.
The great doctor finished and the drums started to beat again but this time they were not so loud. I saw the women come from the huts on the side with big boards of food. There were two springbuck on a spit at the side of the left hut and other women cut the big pieces of sweet smelling meat from the bones. The great doctor was hungry. He moved to a big wooden seat near his hut. The women ran and put down grass mats for his feet. I could see one of them preparing a big plate of meat for the doctor and I could smell the oily flesh.
“You’ll not stay for the feast,” said Mobuto. “It is only for the General and the officers. But don’t worry, little soldier boys, you have the magic juju which will keep you safe from the bullets. Bilole take them back. You can give them beer to celebrate.”
“Yes, sah. Up and get in a line. You’ll follow me.”
We saluted the General and Mobuto and followed Bilole back into the dark forest. I felt like it had been a horrible dream. I could not believe Sipho was not with us. I walked in silence beside David. My nose could still smell the burning and my ears rang from his screams. I think we were all confused what to think of this night.
I turned to David and whispered, “I feel sick.” I couldn’t bring myself to say Sipho’s name but my heart cried hard for him.
David gave me a sad look and shook his head. “It’s bad, Modetse. My heart’s heavy.”
“Mine too,” I said. “I don’t know why the doctor smelled him.”
David shrugged his shoulders. “It was his fear.”
Jabu and Richard ran up behind us and Jabu poked his head over my shoulder. “The juju is good, hey.” He didn’t seem worried by what had happened to Sipho and I glared at him.
“It helps me forget,” said David, but he also glared at Jabu.
Bilole had also had the juju and began lift up his knees and arms and chant,
“Mungu ni Mani,
Mungu yu pamoja nasi
Mungu yu pamoja nasi.
God is with us.
God is with us.”
The others joined in, holding their fists high into the air and lifting their knees as they danced behind Bilole through the bush. I walked faster but could not bring myself to sing. My head spun from the juju and my steps felt light, but the stink of Sipho still burned in my nose.
“We’ve the magic of the God Army in our blood.
We’re the chosen ones of the L.R.A.” chanted everyone.
I tried to chase Sipho from my mind as they chanted. I was a soldier. I must only think of that otherwise I too would be a dead boy. I stomped onto the soft ground. Then the juju buzzed in my mind. The chanting carried me away. I was a magic soldier now. I had the magic juju in my blood. The bullets could never kill me.
Chapter 22
Early the next morning, still strong with the magic juju, we followed Mobuto through the dark green jungle with its many breadfruit, fig and wattle trees full of the damp smell of the morning. The waking sun had painted its dark pink rays across the sky the sharp karook-a-rook of the turtledove rose among the trees. My body felt strong from the juju but the smell of Sipho’s roasting flesh had come back to my mind and caught at the back of my throat. I retched.
“You okay?” asked David.
“It’s just Sipho,” I said, spitting the bitter water onto the red ground.
David nodded. “Try not to think.”
I looked at the ground, said nothing and then retched again. “My nose can still smell the burning,” I said, and my voice croaked. My eyes went red and I gave a sob. David squeezed my arm.
“The smoke would have made his mind sleep,” he whispered. “He won’t have felt the fire.”
I swallowed the sob and looked up at David with a frown.
“My mother, she told me of the burning tires the people use to kill others –those who are burning don’t feel the fire.”
“You sure?”
David nodded and my stomach relaxed. I hoped he was right and Sipho’s spirit was gone already before the fierce flames ate his flesh. I shook the smell from my brain. I must try and be strong. My mind jumped from one side to
the other. I hated what they had done to Sipho but if the great doctor had smelled him out then maybe he was bad and could jinx the L.R.A. I could not question the great doctor and his magic. I must only think about killing the enemy pig. Sipho was gone and I must try and forget. I could not help him now. But my heart stayed heavy and my mind went round and round as we marched through the thick jungle.
“Look, I’m a flying boy,” said Jabu, pushing past us. He held his arms out wide to the sides and started to zigzag through the forest like an airplane and Richard coming up behind him laughed.
“Shut up you fools,” hissed Badboy from behind. “Mobuto said no talking.”
I pulled a face at Jabu and Richard who shrugged and pulled faces back but they obeyed and fell in behind Badboy who had joined us from Nkunda’s squadron for our first raid. I stared at Badboy. His hair still had the braids with red and green beads on each side, but now he wore his Lieutenant’s beret with his two bars and had put stripes of green paint on his cheeks. He marched very straight and when he turned to look back at us I flinched. His eyes had the same cold look like the General. He would feel nothing to kill us. I looked down quick and fell behind Jabu with David behind me. I saw him sneer at me and narrow his shark eyes.
Bloodneverdry and Trigger were also with us. Bloodneverdry was marching by Badboy and they shared a joke and laughed. Then Bloodneverdry looked back at me. I met his eyes. I would not let them think I was weak. I could be just as bad as them. Bloodneverdry gave a sideways laugh and turned back to talk to Badboy. Trigger was just behind me. He came alongside and lifted his eyebrows at me as we crept forward through the bush. I gave him a small smile back. At least he was not a bad one. I felt sorry for him to be with those two in a squadron. Many of us had nicknames now and it was better. I did not feel like Modetse anymore. I did not want that name again until I could be back on the dump with Thandi. My mind jumped back to the dump with its stink and its rubbish. The time was so long ago it did not seem real anymore. I felt my stomach jump and I pushed the thoughts away. I could not remember too much. It made me weak, and if I let myself be weak, I would die. I was Hotshot now. I was the soldier and I liked to be Hotshot. My muscles tightened. I was such a number one shot that Mobuto gave me that name. I must be proud of myself and I knew that Richard and Jabu had green eyes because I was so good. David was called Cleverboy and Jabu was Grenadelauncher because he was good with the RPG. His back and shoulders went straight when they called him that. He thought he was such a big deal with that name. But Richard was called Scarecrow because of his hair and he hated it. It was a good name and made me laugh because me and Sipho we always said he looked like the scarecrow. I was glad he didn’t have a name to puff him up. The thought made me remember Sipho again and I shook my head to chase it away. I must not think of him; all I must think of is this mission.