by Thandi Ryan
Li laughed softly in disbelief but then he paused and looked at the young boy and then at the others, and he knew by the look in their eyes and the expression on their faces that they had.
‘But how?’ he asked incredulously.
‘With great difficulty and near loss of life,’ Rufus said.
Li looked at them all again and then began to ask of Qomolangma and their journey to it. All of them had something to say and he wanted to hear everything that they all said; like Gangay before him he was transfixed by the story that the six were telling him and only when his helper came to tell him that their food had been prepared, did he move from the spot that he had been rooted to for the last hour and a half. Throughout dinner the six talked of their journeys and Li asked them questions and when they had finished telling the story of their travels Li sat back from the table clearly amazed.
‘Incredible,’ he said slowly. ‘Incredible,’ he said again.
‘So young and yet so strong and brave and clever,’ he said approvingly to his six guests. ‘In Tschin a challenge such as yours can only be rewarded and thought highly of and it is my honour to have met you. I offer you my house to live in, as a token of respect and if it pleases you; I would be honoured if I could show you the rest of Tschin, I will guide you, show you around and introduce you to the people.’
‘We would gladly accept,’ Ellora said smiling at Li.
‘I am glad,’ Li said, happy that the six young people would remain in his company.
And so it was, that Li guided the six through Tschin; he showed them around the towns and the cities and introduced them to the people. He told the friends all about Tschin’s history; about the dynasty’s that had ruled them in the past and the Xhou dynasty that ruled them now. He told them about Tschin society, how they lived and how they worked and what they believed in. He told them of the disputes between the Hans and the Huns, despite the presence of the Empresses Guard, who were too small in number to make any real difference.
Li showed them how to write in the Kanji characters that they used, unlike the words and letters they used in Amalah; or the symbols they had seen in Mesopotamia and Persia. The six were enthralled by Tschin, as they experienced the life, the clothes, the culture and the food.
Ah the food; steamed dumplings in rich sauces, dishes made up of vegetables and noodles or rice, and meat or fish and the chopsticks that they used to eat them with, while everything was served in bamboo baskets or leaves or on beautiful porcelain dishes.
As they ventured along the Silk Road, they watched as the trade went on in and around the towns and cities; they sat in the tea centres and watched as the men played chess or cards which were then made out of wood and they saw that although Tschin had its own life, so did each town and city.
The six came across a town in the north that was having a festival and they watched the acrobats and marital artists with awe as they performed. As they ventured further into the country, they observed and completed in sports and games. Ellora always entered into the archery competitions, and – for the most part – won.
The six travelled with Li letting him guide them and tell them of Tschin, he continued to teach them about their myths, legends, magic and their belief in gods, demons and spirits. By now, the seven had spent much time with each other and had now become firm friends.
The friends had seen most of Tschin by now and so they returned to the south to Li’s house and prepared to leave the nation altogether. On the eve of their departure they had one last evening meal with Li, during which they exchanged presents and engaged in pleasant conversation before they retired to bed. In the morning they rose early but Li and his helper had risen even earlier. The seven ate breakfast and then made their way to their horses, and Li and his helper followed them, carefully carrying a tray with seven bags.
‘We know you have a long journey ahead of you, so we prepared meals for you,’ Li said kindly.
‘That is wonderfully kind of you,’ Ellora said. ‘Thank you.’
‘It was my honour to have met you Ellora and everyone else. You came as guests and leave as friends,’ Li said sincerely.
‘Thank you my friend,’ Kenaz said heartily. ‘We hope that one day we will see you in Amalah,’ he finished.
‘You will,’ Li promised.
When they had said their goodbyes the six headed south once again, heading through the lands of Tschin. They travelled on through the southern land and then entered Laos; from there they rode through Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia. Each place was a whole new world to them and a new experience.
They ventured, roamed and travelled; they hunted by day and slept by night, or spent time among the locals. As they continued on their journey, they entered into Aradene. This was the place they called paradise: much has changed in Aradene since then, now you call it Australia but then, it was Aradene. It was a paradise land inhabited by the aborigine people who were at one with the land and all of nature.
When the six reached the south they spent weeks lazing and relaxing on the beaches and having fun, they slept in hammocks and tents whenever the weather allowed – which was most nights. They loved the sandy white beaches and clear blue seas and skies, and they explored the lands and swam in the lagoons and waterfalls nearly everyday. They climbed trees, played sport and ran around on the beach laughing and screaming for fun.
They had enjoyed their travels so far but it had been hard work, for they had been riding, hunting, climbing and just plain surviving but at that moment; all of that disappeared and it was just pure unadulterated fun: pure relaxing and soothing fun and they enjoyed every minute of it. Sometimes the six would swim into the sea and occasionally swim to one of the small islands or take one of the canoes that had been left and venture out further a field and fall asleep on the gentle seas.
Weeks later, the holiday in paradise came to an end and the six intrepid travellers headed west to Mantor going straight through Madagascar, not wanting to get lost in the dead lands, and eventually, they arrived in Mantor, the mighty Mantor.
When the six arrived in Mantor, they felt a new lease of life course through their veins and although Ellora had been born in Amalah, she, like her sister felt a sense of home and belonging when she arrived, for this was where her father had come from.
They arrived at the southern most point of Africa – yes its Africa now but it was Mantor then – and they basked in the glorious sunshine that was a gift to the south. They travelled through the lands and lived among the Zulu’s, who were her father’s people and they welcomed the six warmly. Ellora had never told anyone who she was or where she had come from but some of those among the Zulu’s knew that she was a child of their village leader and sister of the Empress; and from then on, the six were treated like royalty.
They ventured through the lands of southern Mantor by day, being guided by the locals; and while they were being guided, they saw the big five, in their prime and in great number and when they were not being guided; they were treated to the Zulu way of life. Trim Zulu women and muscular Zulu men in full Zulu dress – who sang songs which were soulful, rhythmic, melodic and harmonious which went along with dancing: which was passionate and full of fire and heat and intensity.
The Zulu’s danced and sung under the dark skies stamping their feet and jumping about in the dry mud. The six clapped with joy as they watched the dancing and they loved the way the women and men moved, in fact they loved everything about Mantor, including the warmth of the people.
When they left southern Mantor, each and everyone had vowed to return and each and every one of them knew, that in their hearts of hearts that they would. The six were now venturing north alone and as they ventured, they slept out in the open and played and joked under the night sky.
There in the forests they had taken shelter and were sleeping under the night sky as they loved to do. That was when the animals that were too bothered by the heat in the day came out to bask in the cooler nights and it was then, that the six let
their guard down; they laughed and giggled and ran and chased each other.
It was by an ordinary tree, that Waldon was stood prancing around; telling jokes and teasing the others, not noticing the deadly black Mamba that was slithering down from its resting place, looking for something to eat, and in true snake fashion, looking for something to bite!
The deadly mamba continued to slither down watching the flailing arms of Waldon and decided that he would be edible or biteable but only Kalon saw the deadly Mamba slither down and get ready to attack; he stood up and shouted to Waldon who was slower in reacting than Kalon would have liked and when Kalon realised this, he ran towards Waldon and pushed him hard out of the way making the mamba miss Waldon but biting Kalon firmly on the shoulder.
Kalon fell to the floor in agony with the snake still firmly attached to his shoulder. Kenaz took out his dagger and with one throw, hurled it at the unsuspecting mamba pinning it to the ground from the neck up, its tail whipping frantically about as it entered the throes of death. Rakan threw his dagger finishing the snake off and all five friends rushed to Kalon’s side who, was now on the floor convulsing, as his eyes were going up to his eyelids. Rakan steadied his brother by grabbing hold of him.
‘Kalon! Kalon!’ he shouted desperately. ‘Kalon, Kalon, can you hear me?’
But the young boy continued to convulse and his eyelids wrenched upwards as the others watched helplessly.
‘What do we do?’ Rakan cried.
The others remained silent as they watched their friend deteriorate before their very eyes.
‘Kalon, can you hear me, stay with us,’ Rakan said desperately and loudly. ‘STAY! Stay with me,’ he begged.
But Kalon could not hear anyone or anything; the poison had worked fast and was flooding into his blood and his body, seizing it and breaking it down, until his brain could take no more. His body shut down in descending order, that which it did not need to survive, and so, the first to cease under great protest were his muscles, then his hearing and then his sight.
‘What do we do?’ Rakan screamed, cradling his brother as Kalon lost consciousness. ‘Kalon!’ he cried. ‘Kalon, don’t leave me, don’t leave our father and our friends,’ he begged, as Kalon slipped further into unconsciousness.
‘Rakan,’ Waldon began.
‘Kalon, wake up,’ Rakan cried. ‘Wake up, wake up, no,’ he cried, as he felt his brother become motionless. ‘Kalon, no.’
Waldon and the others knelt down beside Kalon and it was Rufus who spoke next.
‘He is not dead yet! His body has lost consciousness; he is beyond life, but not dead – he is in the lost lands,’ Rufus said.
‘How do we bring him back?’ Rakan asked.
‘I do not know,’ Rufus said, feeling utterly helpless. ‘All I know is that his body and mind are not in life but have not yet reached death.’
‘Freeze him!’ Ellora said decisively. ‘Rufus freeze him,’ she said commanding him.
Rufus froze Kalon and the five looked at each other slightly unsure of what to do next.
‘We take him back to the village; they must know the snake and its poison and more importantly – what to do.’
So there in the dead of night, the five of them rode back with the dead snake, an unconscious Kalon and his horse; to the village of the Zulu people and woke Dagwa; the village leader. They explained what had happened to Kalon and the village leader looked grim as he stared at Kalon. He kept his grim expression as he turned and looked at the others, nodding his head all the while.
‘People rarely survive the bite of the mamba, and no one survives after this amount of time has passed,’ he said ruefully.
‘Kalon will,’ Rakan said defiantly.
Dagwa looked at the boy with sorrow in his eyes and shook his head.
‘He still lives,’ Rufus said, coming in between the two men.
Dagwa knelt down beside Kalon, and Rufus slowly unfroze him as he did so.
‘He is beyond us in the middle realm,’ Dagwa said.
‘Can you bring him back?’ Ellora asked.
‘We can try,’ Dagwa said, quickly rising to his feet and beginning to shout to raise those asleep in their nearby huts.
‘Emergency! Emergency!’ he shouted in Zulu. ‘The boy has been bitten by a Mamba.’
The people began to wake and rise and rush to where Dagwa was, and an old woman came and pushed through the crowd that had already gathered and rushed to Kalon’s side.
‘He is torn between this world and the spirit world of those from which he came and the call is strong,’ she said in a low voice.
She rose again and hurried back to her hut and returned to Kalon a short while later. She knelt beside Kalon and stuck a strong smelling substance in the bite mark and then gave orders to those around her. The men picked Kalon up and carried him to a nearby hut where the woman tended to him again and then she spoke to Dagwa quickly and urgently and Dagwa translated back to them.
‘Now we wait,’ he said sternly, after the old woman had finished.
The six waited for six days and six nights as the woman tended to Kalon who was extremely close to death in all of that time. At first he stayed in his coma but then he drifted from the coma to unconsciousness and then to delirious murmurings, coupled with a high fever that alarmed them all.
By day the five stayed by his side refusing to leave him until the people brought food to them and coaxed them away, promising to watch over him; at night, there were always two people by his side, keeping a vigil and praying for him and talking to him. They asked and begged him to stay with them and on the seventh day their prayers were answered and Kalon awoke.
Kalon could barely see and he was disorientated but he called out for his brother who was already by his side. Rakan grabbed hold of his brother’s hand and then hugged him.
‘Kalon,’ he said crying for joy. ‘Kalon you’re back,’ Rakan said, clearly overcome by his brother’s recovery.
‘Rakan,’ Kalon said in a croaky voice.
‘Shh brother, don’t speak, you are going to be alright,’ Rakan said, touching his brothers forehead partly to reassure him and partly to check that his fever had been reduced.
‘Welcome back,’ Waldon said warmly.
‘Welcome back,’ Kenaz repeated.
Ellora and Rufus hugged and kissed Kalon and then, the old woman who had remained in the hut, threw them all out as she tended to Kalon once again. News broke that Kalon had survived the bite of the mamba and the people of the village flocked to see him; they wished him well and left gifts and they talked among themselves about the blessed boy who had been saved by a miracle.
‘Ibutho!’ That is what the people now called him and it meant “The Little Warrior.”
It took nearly week before Kalon showed any real signs of recovery and another week before he was strong enough to get out of bed. That evening, the Zulus of the village donned their full warrior dress and performed their warrior dance for Ibutho – who had survived the bite of the mamba against all odds.
When they had finished, they presented him with the full warrior dress and a spear, which Kalon took with great pride. Now they had the love and respect of the people, not just from the village but the surrounding villages where word had soon spread and when the time came, they came in drones to say goodbye to the six as they prepared to leave south Mantor, which to them now felt like home from home.
The people of southern Mantor loved all six friends but now, Kalon and Ellora held a special place in their hearts, for he had survived the bite of the mamba and she was the daughter of Kai.
They travelled northwards through south Mantor meeting the Xhosa and other tribes that lived in the region and when they left, they felt as though they had left a part of themselves behind. They travelled in a zigzag direction northwards. They made their way along the unforgiving desert coast of Namibia through to Botswana and then Zimbabwe where they walked along the top of the Victoria falls and then climbed down to wade their way thro
ugh the Zambezi river.
On they went, experiencing everything that nature and the people had to offer: Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia and Sudan. In Egypt they roamed through the great pyramids and felt the presence and magic of the pharaoh’s long gone – good and bad. From Egypt they travelled the North of Africa going through: Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco and onto the Sahara desert and when they were there, the sun became brighter and hotter and the heat almost unbearable, but it was no deterrent to the six friends and so they continued.
As the weeks went by they travelled through Gambia, Guinea, the Ivory Coast, Ghana and eventually the Congo. There was not much that these children had not seen, but by now they were no longer children; they had travelled half the world surviving off the land and their own wits – now they were young adults.
From the Congo they made an untroubled journey onto Filine, which is now South America. In Filine they travelled through the great rain forests, and trekked along the Andes and the Inca trails and made their way to the spectacular Angel Falls. They travelled to Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and while in Filine they came across the Aztec people and the notorious Inca’s and Hittites who seemed to be scattered throughout the nation.
From Filine they entered Basimine which is now America; while there they met many of the native Indians, who settled in places according to their tribe – of which there were many. They travelled across most of Basimine and the prairies and came across the Mohawks, the Cherokees, the Navajo’s, the Sioux’s and many, many more.
The six were welcomed by all of the tribes and as they spent time to get to know them, they found them to a very spiritual and graceful race of people as well as physically striking with beautiful thick black long hair that was a common feature.
From Basimine, the six filed into Equer which reminded them slightly of Qomolangma. The terrain felt safer but the weather was bitter and it was there that they met the mountain people, who were Eskimo’s or Aleut’s. There in the snow and ice and mountains, the Eskimo and Aleut people had made caves to live in within the stone mountains; they had built an intricate web of cave homes that formed communities. Each cave was warmed by a fire and each cave contributed to warming the whole mountain through a clever and complex ventilation system.