Telesa - The Covenant Keeper (60 page)

“You dared to defy me, to reveal covenant information about my past without my permission. Just what was your intention?”

“The girl deserved to hear the truth. You wanted her to join us and yet she was ignorant about her past, about her mother. How long did you plan on lying to her? There are no secrets in the sisterhood, Nafanua.”

“Oh yes, I forgot how important honesty and trust were to you.” The sarcasm in Nafanua’s voice was a whiplash, but Sarona did not back down.

“This is not about you and I, Nafanua.”

“Oh, isn’t it? You think I don’t realize what it is you are trying to do here? All this? The theatrics and the drama tonight? I know it’s all a play for my position. Don’t deny it. You have felt threatened by Leila’s presence right from the start, from when you realized her gifts made her the most logical choice for the next Covenant Keeper. That’s what this is about. The decision for leadership.”

Finally, Sarona’s composure was jolted and she snarled, “There is no decision making to be entered into. All our sisters know that I will be the next Keeper, that’s the way it has always been and will always be.” She gestured wildly at the other
telesa
, “They all know it. And you know it, Nafanua, this girl cannot be one of us, no matter how much you want her to. Her loyalties lie elsewhere and she cannot be trusted. You are letting your emotions as a mother interfere with your judgment. How ironic, you condemn Leila for allowing her feelings for that boy rule her and yet, here you are, placing your daughter above the will, above the good of the sisterhood.”

The gathering of women shifted uneasily on their feet and looked everywhere else but at Nafanua. The thought came to me idly that none of them wanted to risk getting involved in the showdown between the two most powerful members of their sisterhood. No, they would watch and wait. And then run whichever way the winds took them. Some sisterhood they were turning out to be. I wished they would hurry up and kill me. I didn’t know much about the afterlife but I didn’t want to run the risk of losing Daniel in the crowds over there.

Nafanua scoffed at Sarona’s accusation. “Don’t be ridiculous. All I want is for our Sisterhood to fulfil its mission as protectors of this land and the best way for us to do that is by enlisting Leila and her gifts.”

“And if she won’t use them willingly? What then, huh?” Sarona grabbed a fistful of my hair, roughly pulling my face back to the night sky. “Look at her. Does this look like a
telesa
who feels passionately about protecting the earth? Does it?”

Manuia stepped forward authoritatively. “She’s right, Nafanua. We can all see it. We have kept silent, watched you train her, shared our knowledge with her, but it’s been obvious to all of us. She is not of us and never can be. Maybe if she hadn’t met that boy Daniel, things would have been different.” My eyes flickered a little with recognition at his name.
Daniel, where are you? ‘As long as we’re together, everything will be alright.’ Daniel, how can I still be living, breathing – when you are not with me?

Fouina chimed in, “I agree. The bond between them has been inexplicable. Even you yourself could not break her obsession with him, Nafanua, not with your potions and plants.” She hesitated, a troubled look on her face, “It was so … unbecoming of a
telesa
. And yet, so in-human as well. Almost as if there was something else at work between them. I can’t explain it.”

Sarona rolled her eyes and snapped derisively, “Oh please, Fouina what is this? A Twilight moment? Get real.” She turned back to Nafanua. “The fact is that Leila does not qualify to join the Sisterhood. And she has broken a countless number of our rules. There is only one option available to us. We must kill her. Right here. Now.” She looked around the circle for confirmation and there were unwilling nods from all. Even Netta. The woman I had helped wash dishes with. And baked chocolate chip muffins with. Even she assented to my death sentence. If I’d been capable of emotions, I’m sure I would have felt the slightest bit miffed. At losing the most important popularity contest of my short life. As it was, I only welcomed the announcement with something akin to relief. Yes. I was so very tired of this.

But my death wasn’t going to be as simple and straightforward as Daniel’s.

Nafanua hissed. “NO. You will not assign death to my only gifted daughter, do you hear me?! I am the Covenant Keeper and you cannot do this without my permission. You are all being blinded by this fool’s jealousy of her competition. Don’t be so short sighted. I’ve told you, Leila’s fire is the gift we have been waiting for. Don’t throw it all away.”

She looked around wildly but found no support. In one deft motion, she pushed Sarona away from me and sank to her knees beside me to whisper fiercely in my ear. “You saw what just happened to your boyfriend? We will do the same thing to Matile and Tuala. And that old woman – your boyfriend’s grandmother? We will find her and we will kill her too. Call the volcano, now. This is your life on the line. Do it.”

Sarona was disbelieving. “Nafanua, are you still clinging to your plans? Can’t you see this girl is not capable of what you are asking her to do?”

I gazed at Nafanua from my numb daze. I wondered if she was worried about them killing me? Or just really eager for me to summon a volcano? But then, did the difference really matter? Probably not. I slumped back down and waited for the death strike. Wished for it. Prayed for it. But even so, I wasn’t ready for it when it did come. Sarona stabbed with a lightning bolt, but not enough volts to kill. Just enough to serrate my every nerve with the kind of pain that took on a life of its own. I hadn’t meant to scream, but agony ripped from me anyway and from far away I could hear myself begging. For mercy. For death. But that had never been Sarona’s plan. No, again and again she sent lightning rippling through me, juddering my teeth, yanking me through a meat mincer until I couldn’t tell where light ended and darkness began.

For a moment there was a reprieve as Sarona paused in her attack and I could hear voices.

Nafanua. “Stop it. You’re torturing her. Stop it!”

Sarona taunted. “Oh, what’s the matter Nafanua? Can’t you handle it when someone else is administering the torture? You didn’t seem to mind that time I was on the receiving end of lightning – remember that time when you and the sisters decided I needed some humbling? Hmm? Oh no, you didn’t have a problem with it then. Or how about that time you ordered death for that little upstart
telesa
from Aleipata? The one who didn’t want to leave her mommy and daddy and join our sisterhood? Oh no, you had no trouble with killing wayward
telesa
then.”

Nafanua’s voice was strained. “Those times were different. This is different.”

“No, the only thing that’s different is she’s your daughter. And you want us all to ignore centuries of tradition and sacred rules just so that you can have her be your little pet. Go on Nafanua, do it! You know you want to strike me. Go ahead.”

Nafanua stood with head bowed. Sarona called to the others to join her. “Come on, let’s finish this.” One by one, each of them added their lightning strike to hers so that the entire rocky shore was lit up in startling, blinding light.

This increased attack jerked me to an upright kneeling position. I turned my head and begged Nafanua to end this. “Mother, please. Just kill me. Please. I’m begging you.”

Nafanua turned her head slightly towards me, a soft smile on her face, far gentler than any I had ever seen.

“Leila, I may not have loved your father. But always remember, I loved
you
.”

Before I could register her intention she stepped directly into the path of lightning that seared through me. Sarona and the others were so shocked their onslaught faltered slightly. Nafanua used their momentary pause to her advantage. Eyes closed, hair flowing in the swirling tempest, she raised her arms to the heavens. A jagged flash lit the sky and thunder shook the very ground we stood upon. She turned white eyes towards the line of women, eyes that bled with white fire, uttering words I could not understand. The very air shivered as electricity ripped through it. Searing the nearby trees. Striking the
telesa
straight on. Knocking them all to the ground. All except for Sarona. She stood and laughed, appealing with widespread arms to all around her.

“May the earth and all my sisters bear witness, Nafanua has become the Covenant Breaker and we are no longer bound in sisterhood. What was sealed is now broken. What was done is now irrevocably undone.” She turned to face the woman who had raised her and nurtured her gifts since she was twelve years old. “Is that the best you can do, Nafanua? You are tired and weak, you old woman. I knew I was right to take the lead. You are not strong enough to do what needs to be done any longer.”

My mother did not reply. She was gathering the currents around us, drawing electromagnetism down from the atmosphere for another attack. Again, she sent a charge of lightning blazing towards the women she had spent several lifetimes with. Again the women were knocked back on their knees. Fouina and Manuia screamed as their skin caught fire and they ran blindly towards the trees, beating at the flames. But still Sarona shrugged the attack off easily, blocking with her own lightning charge. With bated breath, I realized what the others had known all along. My mother’s powers were eclipsed by another. Salamasina’s words resounded in my mind,
when a leader ages, her powers weaken. Either she will step down and pass the covenant on to a younger sister or else she will have it taken from her in outright battle …

Nafanua spoke, “We were wrong, Sarona, I was wrong. This plan is not the way. Let us stop this and reconsider.”

Cold dread gripped me. There was a note of pleading in my mother’s voice. She knew she could not win. And so did Sarona. She laughed and then slowly, almost lazily, she beckoned and the heavens obeyed. Before I could think. Move. Or breathe. White light shot from Sarona’s upraised arms. So bright and blinding that I could not see. I heard my mother scream. A scream that was drowned by the thunder. I opened my eyes to see my mother consumed in the white fire. Her every particle seemed electrified in a grotesque beauty. Then there was nothing left where she had stood. Just a smoking pile of ash.

It all happened so fast. I tried to breathe as I lay there on the ground, looking at the remnants of the woman who had borne me. Smothered my brother. Lied to me. Manipulated and used me. And then, at the very end, died for me. Images flashed. Nafanua brushing my hair and putting a scarlet hibiscus behind my ear. Her proud pleasure at watching me dance. Laughing at my attempts to make fire do my bidding. I thought I had wanted death, but now? Now, I wasn’t so sure.

I stumbled to my feet. Sarona still stood across the lava rock expanse, asking her fallen sisters if they were alright. I stared at them. The women who had killed the man I loved. I gazed past them at the crashing ocean that was Daniel’s final resting place and somehow, it spoke to me on a salted wind. It spoke of my father’s love for me.
Would he want me to give up on life so easily
? A white seabird knifed through the air, over and above me it wheeled. I stood and watched it dip and soar. Its plaintive cry resounded through the charred air. It spoke of Daniel’s love for me.
Leila, you need to live. To fight. You need to use your fire to protect Salamasina, Matile and Tuala.
Will you let them do to them what they have done to me?

I listened to the voices of the ocean. And rage came. It simmered and boiled. Like the volcano that long ago had formed this lava field. Closing my eyes, I whispered to earth. To her black soil that pushed up gardenias and other green things. Deeper to bedrock. Granite hard and immovable. Then deeper still, to flowing molten red rivers. That twisted and rushed.
Hear me
, I whispered.
It is I, Pele. Hear me and come.
And far, far below my feet – earth listened.

I opened my eyes to hear Sarona’s mocking cry, “Oh look, it’s the daughter of the traitor. It’s the pathetic fire girl. What are you going to do, little girl? Cry more of your useless tears?” she turned to laugh with her sisters. “Or maybe you will blow smoke at us? And spit steam? Ha! If you did not remind me so much of your mother, I wouldn’t even bother killing you.”

She looked bored as, with a flick of her wrist, she sent a jagged spear of lightning my way. Which I easily deflected with a thought. A fiery thought that wrapped around the spear and choked it to a halt.

I smiled at Sarona’s puzzled furrowing of her brow. I felt the heat coming. Eagerly. And it felt good. I knew I was going to enjoy this. I took several steps forward, gingerly stretching out my bruised legs. Again, Sarona threw her lightning. This time I didn’t even need to look. Fire caught it without even being told. Only this time I threw it back. With an extra measure. Me being generous.

There was a muffled oath as Sarona was jolted back by my unexpected ‘gift.’ Her sisters looked bewildered as she yelled back at me. “What are you doing fire girl? You don’t seriously think you can match us? Your mother couldn’t – what makes you think you can?”

I didn’t answer. Not right away. Because the fire was here. The ground beneath my feet heaved and a jet of orange red lava spurted forth like a geyser. As it caught me, I allowed the fire to consume me, welcoming the now-familiar inferno. The whole mountainside shook.
Mafui’e
. Earthquake. My earthquake. I slowly stood on tiptoe and spun, danced a pirouette. Loving the flames as they danced with me.

Across from me, the
telesa
were struggling to stay on their feet as the earth shook violently.

“Sarona, what’s happening?” they asked her fearfully. But before she could answer, I called to them.

“Tell them, Sarona. Go on. Tell them what’s happening.” I laughed. And the lava laughed with me. I drew patterns in the air with it and slowly started it spinning towards the assembly of spirit women. Lazy circles. Graceful, delightful circles of flame. And molten rock.