by Coral Walker
Swiftly, she thrashed the unfortunate bokwa in her hand against the metal bars like a woman possessed, until blood, flesh and various body parts of the bokwa went flying and splattered all over the place.
She didn’t stop until Dad called out. “Enough, Brianna. The bokwa’s dead.”
Panting hoarsely, she stopped and stared blankly at the bokwa in her hand — headless, with part of its remaining body turned into squashed meat. With a look of horror and a guttural cry of disgust, she tossed it away and rubbed her hands on her blood stained clothes.
The miserable death of the bokwa must have cast an unspeakable terror in the minds of its peers, and for a moment, the area surrounding the cage was cleared.
Jack chuckled and made a face, and so did Dad, who had pried open the lock and was now lifting the lid.
Brianna pouted. “What are you laughing at?” she said, looking at Jack accusingly behind the bars.
Jack shrugged.
“Dad, Jack was laughing at me,” her voice was raised.
Lifting Bo out of the cage, Dad grinned, “Don’t start squabbling now, you two.”
“I’m not squabbling, Dad. I just don’t like Jack jeering at me like that,” Brianna muttered and started scaling the metal cage.
Jack looked away, keeping his face out of sight of Brianna. Not that he was still grinning, but the peculiar feelings, the odd kind of ripples in his heart — they made him behave weirdly and made his eyes sting.
+++
“This way.”
“No, that way.”
“Do you have to do this every time, Jack? I am not the sort of person you can just order around!”
“I am not ordering you around. I am only saying ‘that way’.”
“We don’t have time for this — the bokwas are coming back,” Dad interrupted and gave each of them a hard stare. “We go Jack’s way.”
“Dad!” Brianna cried, pulling a face.
“That way there’s a hole on the higher ground, big enough for us to crawl into. Maybe it will lead to a way out,” said Jack.
“Mine way’s got a hole too.”
“But it’s almost on the ground. Bokwas would be all over us.”
“But your hole is too far away.”
Before Brianna could say more, Dad cut in with a firm voice, “We’ll take the way along the ridge. Jack, since it’s your idea, you lead the way. Brianna, you stay in the middle taking care of Bo, and I’ll be behind you.”
Jack set out and jumped onto a rock nearby, while Brianna, with a glum face, took Bo’s hand in hers and followed in his wake. Several ragged rocks of varied sizes and shapes served as convenient stepping stones, allowing them to avoid the bokwas that swarmed on the floor of the cavern. It was no trouble to get onto the first few stepping stones, but when it came to the next rock, it got trickier. The rock was large and tall, standing a couple of yards away, with part of its surface sloping sharply downwards and looking unusually smooth.
Crouching down slightly, Jack lurched forward and sprang. He landed on the slanting surface and slipped, but reacted quickly, and on his hands and knees managed to shuffle to the flat, rough part of the rock.
That was a close call, he gasped. Putting down the sword in a safe spot, he turned to Brianna and called, “Throw Bo to me.”
Brianna’s face bore clear signs of reluctance. But the risk of jumping with Bo in her arms and falling into the heap of bokwas beneath must have been too great for her to disregard, so with conspicuous hesitation, she took Bo in her arms, and hesitated again as she gazed down at the bokwas.
She raised her eyes and looked hard at Jack. “Catch!” she shouted, and the next instant Bo was in the air.
Though he anticipated the impact and braced himself for it, the force of Bo’s body thudding into his chest took him by surprise. His body rocked backwards, leaving him wobbling dangerously with Bo at the very edge of the rock. It took him a while to steady his feet and another while for his heart to stop racing. Exhaling with relief, he left Bo standing on a safe part of the rock before turning back to face Brianna.
“Get out of the way, Jack,” shouted Brianna curtly, shifting her feet and preparing for the big jump.
Quietly, Jack stepped aside.
Brianna took her leap.
Her jump was long and faultless. But the angle of the slippery surface she landed on took her by surprise. She struggled but slid relentlessly backwards. Without a second thought, Jack reached out and seized one of her arms, dragged her up with might and main, and then let her go just as quickly. Before she had a chance to throw him a glance, he bounded off to the next rock.
+++
The round opening Jack climbed through led to a deep, rocky hole that joined a web of gloomy, cramped tunnels. The light from the cavern behind him was the only source he could rely on, but before long the luxury of seeing became a thing of the past. The tunnels they stumbled along became dismayingly dark — he couldn’t see his hand right in front of his face. Without being able to tell one way from another, he had serious doubts that he was leading them on the right path, but any path appeared as good as any other.
He could hardly tell how long they had been roaming like earthworms in the labyrinth of tunnels. When, after a sharp bend, a feeble light ahead caught his eye, his heart leapt into his throat. He pushed ahead harder on his elbows and knees, and the tunnel became brighter but narrower. At the narrowest point, he had to squeeze through, and his back scraped painfully on the craggy surface above. But soon after that, to his utter delight, he could see an opening at the end of the tunnel.
Soon he reached the opening and stuck out his head to find himself overlooking an enormous chamber crowded with colossal boulders and crags. Although the chamber was still poorly illuminated, with some light coming from a far corner behind some rocks, it was brighter than the tunnels they had just come through. There must be some kind of opening that lets in the light, Jack inferred, and was duly encouraged.
He leaned his head out further to gauge the height of the chamber and caught sight of a massive rock formation that was right below him and sloped steeply down to the chamber floor below. Swiftly, he rolled to a sitting position before sliding down. Now the sole of his foot was firmly on the rocky surface, but before swinging down the other foot, he felt something cold and soft rubbing his ankle and froze on the spot. Chills ran down his spine.
A bokwa! He swallowed hard as he cast down his eyes.
The bokwa, camouflaged by the same brick colour as the rock below and as thick as his thigh, was coiling around his ankle in a painstakingly slow motion, as if it were half asleep. Before long it stopped moving all together and dozed off. Jack, to his utter dismay, found himself trapped in a most awkward position — one foot caught beneath the heavy body of a sleeping serpent while the other was suspended in mid-air. To make matters worse, he could now see sleeping bokwas in every crack and crevice of the rock formations in the chamber.
“Jack, what are you doing standing there?” Brianna’s voice came from behind him.
“Hush ... be quiet,” he said in a low whisper without moving his head, “I’m stuck.”
“How?”
“My foot — it’s trapped by a bokwa.”
He heard the gasps behind him, “It’s big.” Then she added, “Kill it. You have the sword.”
“There’s not just one. They are everywhere in the chamber. Can’t you see them?”
There was a pause, a deep inhalation, and then she spoke. “What shall we do?”
Staying as rigid as he could, Jack turned his head slightly. “Do you see the far end of the chamber where it’s brighter? There must be a way out there. You get down quietly, take Bo with you, and cross the chamber while the bokwas are asleep, and follow the light.”
Brianna went quiet.
“You have to hurry, Brianna. My leg’s getting numb.”
“I’m not sure if I can get down without waking up the bokwa,” Brianna’s voice sounded unsure.
; Extending his left arm backwards, he twisted his torso a little more to seize the edge of the tunnel opening with a tight grip.
“Hold on to my arm, if that helps,” he called, frowning at the uncomfortable position he had got himself into.
“All right, Jack.”
Before long Brianna’s weight was hanging onto his arm. Every muscle and bone of his sole standing leg was strained to sustain the weight and keep his body still. By a stroke of luck, he didn’t move, and Brianna was agile enough to release his arm quickly.
He breathed out with relief and let his arm go limp. There was a funny look on Brianna’s face as she glanced at him.
He kept his face as straight as he could — standing with one leg over a bokwa was, of course, not an enviable situation.
A tiny hand patted his head softly. “Jack, can you get me down?” Bo’s small voice sounded like he was tired from all the crawling.
“Be quiet as a mouse Bo. There are bokwas sleeping.”
Bo’s voice turned into a quiet whisper, “I can see one by your foot, Jack. Is it hurting you?”
“Not yet, if only you can keep quiet. Climb onto my shoulder Bo. Nice and steady.”
Grasping Jack’s neck with one hand, Bo crawled onto his shoulder. Quickly Jack wrapped an arm round, tilted slightly and passed him into Brianna’s open arms.
“Go now, as quiet as you can.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll wait here for Dad,” Jack answered. Looking into Brianna’s face, he added, “I’ll be fine.”
Brianna smiled, a restrained one to begin with that soon turned into a bright and impish one.
“I won’t tell anyone you were standing like a flamingo,” she said with a wink.
There was a moment of silence.
“I won’t tell anyone you were dancing on a pillar like a mechanical doll,” said Jack.
Brianna’s cheeks flushed red. She turned swiftly away, holding Bo in her arms.
20
Blue Light
“I thought I was the one that always got stuck,” Dad chuckled behind his ear.
“Dad,” Jack grinned.
“How can I help you get out of here, son?”
“You need to get yourself out of the tunnel first.”
“There’s no way I can get out without disturbing the beast.”
“It’s worse than a beast Dad. It is a serpent,” Jack said, and felt the changing pressure on his buried foot — the bokwa had started moving.
“It’s waking up, Dad. I can’t hold still much longer. You must hurry.” With that, valiantly he raised his sword and aimed it at the bokwa’s head, which was sliding along its coiled body.
“I’m coming down now,” Jack heard Dad saying, and immediately he felt Dad’s weight on his left shoulder, rocking his body.
Scarcely had the alarmed bokwa raised its head before Jack plunged the sword down. There was a whoosh and then a clang. The sword pierced the bokwa’s head and struck the rock beneath. An unexpected hair-raising whistle emanated from the wounded bokwa and resonated in the vast chamber.
“Jack, run! All the bokwas are waking up,” Dad beckoned urgently and dashed down the sloping surface of the rock.
“I’m coming,” he shouted back, hoping to sprint after Dad once he had retrieved his sword. But the bokwa was tough and, in spite of its wound, still wiggled and squirmed ferociously with its last strength. Eager to follow after Dad, he gave the sword another thrust, and pulled the sword with all his might.
What happened next wasn’t clear to him. At the very instant he withdrew the sword from the bokwa, something large and heavy thrashed across his chest and sent him flying backwards. The dying bokwa had struck him in its death throes. He crashed down onto the path below, sliding along for half a yard before slamming his head against a craggy rock. Shudders coursed through his body.
“Jack, are you all right?” Dad’s voice came from behind some rocks.
“Da....”
The rest of his words were cut short. Near his foot, a fern green bokwa was creeping towards him. The sword, he realised, must be somewhere. Hastily he looked for it and soon spotted its silver hilt. It lay an arm’s distance away, next to a jutting rock. With painstaking slowness, he tilted sideways and stretched out his arm.
A hissing sound froze him rigid. From behind the jutting rock near the sword, an ash-grey bokwa with dark rings around its neck wriggled out.
All right, two against one.
He grimaced and watched helplessly as the green bokwa slithered into the space between his sprawling legs and the dark-ringed one wormed its way over the blade of the sword.
Something perturbed them. Both bokwas stretched their claws and lifted their heads.
A faint shadow rose up along the rocky walls — Dad was coming.
Looking anxious, the dark-ringed bokwa bent its neck backwards and stared in Dad’s direction with its lidless eyes. The instant it sprang into the air Jack rolled to one side, grasped the sword and swung it in the same breath. It whooshed through the open space above him and struck the green bokwa as it leaped into the air to attack. The impact of the sword hurled it sideways. Off it flew and vanished behind hulking rock pillars.
Triumphantly, he sprang to his feet and swivelled to see if Dad needed any help. He gasped and jumped back as without warning the head of a bokwa bounced onto the path in front of him.
Dad was standing there smiling, with a bloodstain on his white shirt and the headless body of a bokwa at his feet.
+++
Dad led the way, and Jack followed behind. The chamber was quiet as the grave. Jack couldn’t help but wonder where the bokwas seen in every crack and corner a minute ago had disappeared to.
Dad was near the passageway ahead, promisingly illuminated. Jack sped up.
A few yards later, he was gripped by an eerie feeling of the ceiling moving above him and slackened his pace to check it out. No sooner had he glanced up at the ceiling than his body stiffened and his blood ran cold. Overhead on the rough rocks that formed the roof of the chamber, a bokwa was worming its way along. It took him a couple of heartbeats to take in its monstrous size and another couple to locate its head. Wending its way between hanging rocks, it was heading towards Dad. Supple and swift, in a fraction of a second, it was already above Dad, who was oblivious of the impending peril as he strode eagerly forward,
There was no time to think. Jack banged the floor with his sword, scraping its rocky surface with its tip. The rasping metal-against-rock clash set his teeth on edge, and the rocks reverberated with the terrible sound. The enormous serpent on the ceiling became agitated, and with a strange jerk of its triangular head and an odd wriggle of its body, it suddenly turned with lightning speed. In terror, Jack found himself staring eye to eye with the massive, monstrous creature.
Sandwiched between rocks, he was in a hopelessly tight spot. Steeling himself, he heaved the sword and held it upright. The next moment the bokwa sprang upon him. He leaped forward, thrusting the sword to meet the assault. The bokwa, as nimble as it was guileful, slipped out of the sword’s arc just in time. With nothing to slow his forward motion, he stumbled forward.
Desperate to ward off the bokwa that was now coming back at him, he spun round wielding the sword before he had regained his footing fully. A rock, that in the rush of his attack he had failed to notice, caught the tip of his whirling sword and clanged loudly. The next moment, he felt the foul breath of the bokwa upon him before a hefty thwack threw him backwards, his back scraping the uneven ground. Before he could recover the bokwa was upon him, its sharp claws sinking into his chest and its viscous saliva, dribbling down from its razor-fanged mouth, dripping onto his face.
If his eyes, dazzled by the shimmer of the approaching fangs, could still be trusted, he seemed to see a streak of blue light dash down from a tall rock and strike the bokwa that was attacking him. An ear-splitting screech sounded right in front of his face, piercing the stifling air and splitting it apart like
it was canvas. At the same time the bokwa released its grip on him, and the weight on his torso was lifted.
Panting from the pain in his chest, he trembled at what he saw — two bokwas, one blue and one brown, were tangling and twisting with each other like a giant ball of yarn, rolling and buffeting, whipping up a cloud of dust and dislodging chunks of rock.
The fight halted just as quickly as it began. Jack, his heart still pounding from the ferocious battle he had observed, watched in bewilderment as the fleshy tail of the giant brown bokwa shrank away into a cavity beneath a broad rock. The blue one stayed behind. It gave a vague impression of being young and inexperienced, and there were wounds and scratches over its head and body, some of which oozed blood. Looking hesitant, it slithered uncertainly first in one direction and then another. Then it seemed to make up its mind and slithered slowly but steadily towards him.
“Jack ...” Dad rushed to his side and froze on the spot as he caught sight of the blue bokwa.
The bokwa was as stunned as Dad was, and jolted to a standstill. Its raised head looked alert and mindful, and its blue-scaled body glimmered faintly.
A name slipped from Jack’s lips, quiet as the wind blows. Yet the blue bokwa sensed it and tilted its head in alarm. The next instant it slid away.
“That was a close one,” Dad said and let his shoulders droop slightly. “Are you alright, Jack?”
“Yea ... h,” Jack blurted out and glanced sidelong at the rocks where the blue bokwa had disappeared.
“Did you just say Cici?”
Jack flushed.
Throwing him a peculiar glance, Dad said no more. He offered a hand, and Jack took it. For a while, he stood on his feet, swaying like a long-legged balloon-man.
+++
After an abrupt turn, they found themselves at the entrance to a well-lit chamber. Opposite them in the middle of a dark, jagged wall was a large fissure in the shape of an eye, wide in the middle and thinner at both ends. Beams of lights flooded in through its sizeable aperture and blinded them for a fleeting moment.
“The exit!” Dad exclaimed and marched at once towards it.