The Ancient Lands: Warrior Quest, Search for the Ifa Scepter (17 page)

“Hey!” he shouted. “Where you going wit dat
meat?”

Pupa did not look back, he took off running,
dragging the large slab of meat along side of him.

“My food. My food is running away,” the ogre
shouted, awaking the other ogres around him. Farra and Bomani heard
the noise and turned to see Pupa running toward them with the slab
of meat in his mouth.

“Pupa, no!” Farra shouted. “What did you
do?”

“Look.” They heard an ogre shout, “After
dem!”

“Not good Pupa! Not good at all,” Farra
scolded him as they began to make their way off. As ogre after ogre
awoke, they started after the children, picking up their crude
weapons along the way. One of the ogres recognized them.

“Hey!” He said, while running along with his
companions. “Dem da children dat drowneded.”

“I thought you say dem drowneded,” another
replied.

“Me thought dem drowneded. Dem drowneded in
water, never come up.”

“Dem running,” said the baffled creature,
“Dem don’t look drowneded to me.”

“Look, we gonna catch dem children, or we
gonna spend all night talking bout how me always wrong?” asked the
first ogre.

“Me vote catch dem children,” said a gruff
imbecile.

“Yea, dat good idea,” said another.

The ogres pursued Farra and Bomani
relentlessly. Their stubborn stamina worked well to their
advantage, for even though the children were faster, they could not
keep up the speed for long. The ogres did not tire as easily. They
almost caught up to Farra and Bomani and they began to close the
gap between them, getting closer and closer.

Farra was getting tired. She couldn’t keep
up much longer. Every second she ran was slower than the one before
it. Her muscles begged for oxygen, and her lungs pleaded for more
air. Her lungs obliged her as well as they could, heaving in and
out, painfully, as she choked on dry air. Suddenly her whole body
gave out at once and she collapsed.

Pupa yelped loudly to catch Bomani’s
attention, and when Bomani turned around he saw Farra lying
motionless on the ground. He understood how she felt; his body was
approaching the same fate. He stopped and looked up at the fretful
ogres that were not far behind. He grabbed her by the arm and tried
to pull her up but Farra was too exhausted to move.

“Come on, Farra. Get up,” he encouraged her.
“We have to run.”

Bomani looked up again, and it was
undeniable: the ogres were gaining speed on them. Farra looked at
him and nodded, and was finally able to rise to her feet. She took
a deep breath and ran. Bomani knew that soon he would have to
confront them and fight — he only hoped he had the strength for
it.

The ogres seemed to be tireless, and they
continued to pick up speed, getting closer and closer to the
children. Suddenly a strange, tingling feeling came over Farra and
she came to a halt.
Something new
she thought.

“What are you doing?” Bomani exclaimed.
“Keep running!”

“Something new,” she said.

“What does that mean?” Bomani said, trying
to come to a full stop in order to understand her.

“I’m not sure,” she said.

The wind seemed to blow harder at that
moment.

Farra pointed her staff at the oncoming
ogres and yelled, “Moon glow!”

A bright light emitted from the crystal over
her staff, with such brilliance that it was blinding to the ogres.
They stopped. The ogres grunted and cried out trying to rub the
sharp pain from their eyes, as they stumbled and fell over each
other into a pile of agony. Farra and Bomani seized the opportunity
to escape, and they ran as far as they could.

The ogres fumbled about trying to get their
bearings. Hatari’s image appeared in one of the crystals on an
ogre’s neck.

“Ogre! What are you doing? What’s going on?”
Commotion was the only thing that Hatari could see through the
diamond. Hatari tried to get a better view of what was going on
amongst the pack, but no matter which view of the ogre’s diamonds,
the picture was the same — chaos. The confusing images he mustered
made him wonder, “
Why do I deal with these pea-brained
idiots
?” Then he remembered, disparagingly, that his goals and
his status left him no choice. He had to deal with these brutes to
do his dirty work, at least for the time being.

“Can’t see, Master, children made us can’t
see.”

“Stand still for a moment so that I can see
where you
are
, you numskull!” Hatari hissed, angrily.

The ogre stood still and held his crystal up
so that Hatari could get a clear view of the area. The children had
not gotten that far. Hatari could see them running through a
parched field of high, brown grass.

“I thought you killed those children!”
Hatari bellowed.

“Me thought so too, Master, but they here
now — and me can’t
see
.” The dim-witted ogre reported, still
blinking and rubbing his eyes.

Hatari picked up his skulled staff and waved
it at his crystal-viewing screen. The ogre’s vision instantly
returned. “There. Now, did
that
bring your vision back?”

“Oh yes, Master. Me can see now. Can you see
now?” he said, pointing to a fellow ogre. The other ogres followed
suit, rubbing their eyes and questioning each other. “Can you see
now?”

“Yes, yes, Master, we can see good now.
Thank you, Master.”

“Oh yes, me see good, too. Can you…”

“Enough!” Hatari yelled. “They are headed
for the
pitfall fields.
They’ll have to be mindful of their
footing to keep from falling in. I will conjure a spell to aid you,
bringing in the fog. All you have to do is push them into the
holes.”

“Uh, but master, If you bring fog, then we
can’t see either. Won’t we fall in too?”

“No, you brute, that is why I am telling you
now.”

XX PITTFALL
FIELDS

“What is this place?” Bomani asked. He
looked across the large clearing beyond the high grasses in the
field. There were deep hallowed areas in the ground, big enough
that a medium sized animal, a human or even an ogre could fall
into.

“I’ve heard of this place. It is called the
Pitfall Fields
,” said Farra.

Bomani bent down at the opening of one of
the deep holes to look down as far as he could.

“How deep are they?” Bomani asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t know anyone who has
actually seen them. Not to mention anyone who has fallen down into
one. They could go on forever,” said Farra.

“It couldn’t possibly go on forever,” Bomani
said. His brow furrowed at the absurdity of such an idea.

“Well, do you
really
want to find
out?” Farra sensed his mockery.

“Yeah! I mean, no! I just want to know how
deep the holes are, I have no plans of falling in.”

“Me either.”

“But we have to cross it. The ogres are
close. Next time, we should make sure Pupa isn’t hungry before we
go raiding any more camps.”

“Agreed,” Farra nodded and smiled.

He sprung back up to his feet and rubbed his
hands together to remove the dust and dirt from them. He looked
down at Pupa. “You ready little guy?”

They cautiously made their way across the
pitfall fields, watchful not to fall into any holes. There were so
many cavities in the ground it was like walking through a loaded
minefield. They walked closely together and examined the ground,
carefully as they waded through.

“I’ve never even heard of this place,” said
Bomani.

“There is a legend about Pitfall Fields,”
Farra said. She wobbled a bit almost loosing her balance. She kept
talking, trying to keep the mood lighter than it was. Bomani was
learning that this was Farra’s way. She always talked a lot when
she was nervous, and this time it didn’t bother him so much.

“Legend has it that there was a man who
stole a jewel from an evil wizard. When the wizard chased after
him, the man fell and lost it somewhere in this field. The wizard
cursed the man and said that he would have to look for that jewel
until he found it. That was over two hundred years ago. Even after
his death, he continues digging, and can’t stop until he finds it.
That’s why there are so many holes here, and that’s why it is
called Pitfall Field, and
that
is why it is rumored that the
holes are bottomless.”

“I don’t believe it. A man dug all these
holes?” Bomani said.

“That’s the story,” said Farra.

“Well, if he dug all these holes, then how
could they go on for ever? That’s a lot of digging.”

“Do you have to take the fun out of
everything?”

“What? I’m just saying, even if it was for a
thousand years, a man couldn’t dig holes that were that deep;
forever deep. That’s all I’m saying,” Bomani debated.

“Hey, I’m just telling you what I—” Farra
began.

“Ogres!” Bomani interrupted. He looked back
and saw the ogres entering the clearance in the field from a
distance. “We have to hurry!” said Bomani.

They sped up their pace as much as they
could; still being careful not to fall into the holes. They didn’t
realize it at first, because they had been looking down at the
ground most of the time, but a heavy, white mist slowly made its
way into the field. It was the fog created by Hatari. The heavy fog
began to rush toward them covering everything until they couldn’t
see more than a foot in front of themselves.

It wasn’t long before they heard the hoofing
and snarling of ogres, seemingly coming from every direction. They
were close enough to smell, still the fog made it impossible to
see. They kept quiet in efforts to keep the ogres from following
the sound of their voices, but it happened to be to their own
disadvantage.

Quickly, in the thick of the fog, they
strayed from each other. “Bomani,” Farra whispered to no avail. She
felt Pupa rubbing against her leg and picked him up; at least he
was still here, but she felt alone.

Then the sound of an ogre yelling made her
quiver. He had fallen into one of the holes. She listened to his
screaming fade as it continued to get further and further away,
just as Farra had suspected, the holes were endless.

Bomani heard it too. His heart beat heavily
in his chest as he whipped his body around, turning one way and
then the other trying to get a bearing on where these ogres were.
“Farra,” he whispered, looking for her. “Farra, can you hear me?”
The reply brought him to a halt, for it wasn’t Farra voice he heard
at all.

“I hear you Bomani,” came the whispering
treacherous voice of Hatari. “I hear you loud and clear.” Hatari’s
voice echoed all around him, he must have been right on top of him
and yet he saw nothing.

“Show yourself." Bomani demanded.

“I am here, in the diamond you hold.”

Bomani raised the stolen rope necklace he
had in his hand to his face. There, in the diamond, was the image
of Hatari.

“There, face to face is so much more
natural, don’t you think?” said Hatari. “I don’t know what Hagga
told you, but it is my power that you hold. And I can use it at my
will.”

“What is it you want?” Bomani insisted.

“While you hold it, I am already learning so
much about you. I can feel your needs, your wants…your desires. It
is a battle that you seek, but I assure you, that a battle isn’t
necessary.”

“You know what I’ve come for, the Ifa
Scepter. It rightfully belongs to Ufalme.”

“Yes, and I am willing to give it to you.
You are a warrior, strong and stern. I can feel your desire to
rule, to stand strong amongst the world.”

“From what I know of you, you only wish to
conquer and destroy the world,” Bomani protested.

“Not true. It is my siblings that you speak
of. They have turned Madunia into a world of chaos. Your kingdom,
Ufalme is the last of the great kingdoms still standing. Yet it is
also the kingdom that stands in my way, keeping me trapped in the
Forbidden Expanse. Join me, and I will give you the Ifa Scepter,
you can return home a hero, and then allow me and my troops passage
into Madunia.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Your father was never interested in an
alliance. I am sure that you think of him as a great man, but his
narrow view of the world will be your kingdom’s undoing. With you
as king, you can join me in returning order to Madunia, to undo
what my brothers and sister have done. You will have the gratitude
of all of Madunia, not just your kingdom. I know that is what you
want, as you hold my diamond of power, your desires are pouring
into it.”

Hatari is right,
Bomani thought to
himself. It was what he wanted, and what if what his father and
grandfather knew of Hatari was wrong. What if he could help to
protect all of Madunia? He could be a hero throughout the world.
That is more than any king before him had done.

“What is it that you will have me do?”
Bomani asked.

“The young sorceress that you travel with
carries a staff, bring it to me. The Ifa Scepter has given me much
power but there is not much more it will do for me. Yet, to harness
the power of an Anifem’s staff to add to my own, that’s a different
story. For me, it is a fair trade. For you, you can gain all, and
lose nothing.”

“But what of Farra?” Bomani asked,
concerned. “What will happen to her?”

“She will not be harmed.”

“But will she be alright, separated from her
staff?”

“I cannot sit here and explain to you the
logistics of magic and power boy, but yes, she will be just
fine.”

e
arth