The Ancient Lands: Warrior Quest, Search for the Ifa Scepter (20 page)

One of the panthers mounted the tree, but
Bomani reached down with his long spear and pierced it. Another
panther tried to climb up immediately, but he met the same end.

“This is not good. Not good at all,” Farra
cried out, “Moon Glow!”

She poked out her staff as she yelled out
the short incantation, hoping to blind the cats, but this time the
light from her staff failed.

“I guess it works much better during the
night,” she concluded.

Pupa jumped out of Farra’s pouch, onto a
higher branch and continued to climb toward the top of the tree. He
climbed as high as he could, and when he reached the treetop, he
began to howl with all the strength that he could muster. The
children looked at him curiously.

“What’s he doing?” Bomani asked.

“I don’t know. Pupa!” Farra called to him,
but Pupa ignored her. He howled toward the sky like a wolf to the
moon.

Below, panthers surrounded them and snarled
as they threatened to attack. The children used their staff and
spear to keep them at bay, and then suddenly Farra’s branch went
limp. She fell and landed in the middle of the pack. Instinctively,
Bomani jumped down to protect the young sorceress, practically
landing on top of her. He moved so quickly, his shield got caught
on a branch and it came off of his arm. He stood before the angry
pack with nothing between them and the panthers to protect
them.

“I am Bomani, son of King Jumbe of Ulfame,
you will have to defeat me to get to her!” He cried out.

“That is exactly what we plan to do,” their
poised leader agreed.

Bomani reached into his pouch to grab a
rune. Just as he felt it in his hand, another panther lunged at
him. He dropped the rune and raised his spear in time to jab the
panther, mortally, straight through his chest. The skewered animal
hit the ground and now Bomani, was without weapon or shield.

He quickly reached down to grab the rune
from the ground, but before he could get to it, another panther
lunged toward him, his sharp claws leading the way and ferocious
teeth not far behind. Bomani could have swiftly jumped out of the
way, but Farra was just behind him and he stood his ground to
protect her. He threw up his arms to shield himself, as he was
certain to be ravaged by the panther’s sharp teeth and claws. He
closed his eyes and braced himself for the worse. When he realized
that he was still alive, he opened his eyes and saw more than a
dozen large wolves combating the panthers in an urgent frenzy of
snarls, fur and growls.

Bomani helped Farra up, recovered his
shield, and backed into Farra, pressing her against the tree so
that he could cover her, as they watched the flurry of teeth and
claws. Before them seemed to be a heaven sent confusion of beast
against beast leaving them safe. The wolves outnumbered the
panthers, and when the bloody battle was over, the few panthers
that remained scampered off, back into hiding.

“Pupa called the wolves!” Farra shouted, as
she came to the realization. “And you said that he wouldn’t be able
to help us in our journey,” Farra reminded Bomani.

“Well—”

“You said that he was just a baby,”

“But—”

“To think that you didn’t even
like
Pupa,” she continued.

“I never said that I didn’t like him,”
Bomani said as he pulled out his spear from the wounded panther.
Farra felt a familiar sensation, as the mark on her face radiated
as it lengthened and deepened. She looked at Pupa’s mark for
confirmation.

“Good job Pupa, I didn’t know you could do
that,” Farra said. She scratched the pup behind his ears,
affectionately.

The wolves walked over to Pupa and greeted
him by nuzzling their heads against him and licking. Farra was
grateful. She thanked them with warm hugs and Bomani looked on in
amazement. Farra sensed his astonishment, “I’m an Anifem. We have a
kinship with wolves. Come on. Don’t be afraid.” The mood had now
shifted to a warm joyous occasion.

“Thank you,” Bomani said to the uncommonly
perceptive and loyal pack. “Do you talk too?” He was only answered
by a short wolves call. “No matter.” He said and joined in on the
animal praise, rubbing and patting the wolves in gratitude.

Farra gasped, “That’s the first time I’ve
heard you thank anyone for anything. Are you sure you are
alright?”

“Hey, don’t make a big deal out of it.
Okay?” He looked at her playfully, but then he surveyed the glade,
always trying to stay two steps ahead. There were no panthers in
sight, and he decided promptly that it was time for them to move
on.

“We should get out of here. We need to leave
this place,” he said.

They moved on cautiously with the wolves by
their sides. They only walked with them so far until they too had
their own path to follow. Once out of the glade, the full strength
of the sun’s heat returned. It would be easy for them to remember
this place on their return home and circumvent it all together.

Onoc and the remaining panthers hid in the
shadows and watched as the children and the wolves left. The
panthers were disappointed. Their stomachs growled angrily as they
watched their meal slip away from them. They had no idea when
another feast would happen in their realm. It could be weeks —
years! Until then, they would just have to endure the hunger pains
from which there seemed to be no relief in this lifeless desert.
They sat quietly, nursing the pains of their wounds and looking at
their dead, fallen comrades. By morning their wounds would be
healed, and those that were dead would be living again. They would
continue living to suffer the hell to which they were banished.
Their grief was for themselves, and the rest of the damned who
lived eternally in the Soulless Glade.

XXIII THE BONE
YARD

Traveling by foot was taking its toll on the
children, and the little blue pup that followed. Bomani was a
warrior; the hard leather-like bottoms of his feet were supposed to
be tough enough to endure hard conditions. Warriors in Ufalme
trained barefoot most of the time. At fifteen, this was his first
year of any official training. Although, for years that didn’t keep
him from noticing what the big boys did and he did his best to
follow in their footsteps. So taking this long trek in a nice pair
of sandals should have been a piece of cake for him. On the
contrary, part of him was so annoyed by the pounding pain of each
step that he wanted to complain out about it.

Of course, he couldn’t do so. Especially
since poor Farra had not yet broken down and complained herself.
The Animen people did not do the rigorous walking in their bare
feet like the warriors from Ufalme. They seldom went on long
journeys. Farra’s feet were hurting so much that they began to
blister, but she still intended to prove herself to Bomani. She
didn’t want to break.

It had been two days since they encountered
Onoc and the Panthers. The terrain flattened and they found
themselves in a dry wilderness of nothing but dirt and sun for
miles on end. Finding water was proving to be difficult. Bomani had
found a few pulu plants along the way. He showed Farra how to
carefully rip them out of the ground so that they could suck the
water out of the swollen sacks of the roots.

There weren’t many pulu plants around, nor
did they feel as if they had the time to search for them. Bomani
insisted on keeping a brisk pace to stay ahead of the Ogres.
Something inside him told him that they were still being followed
and that time was not on their side.

They walked with a quick pace, breathing
heavily through their nostrils trying to let their hearts and lungs
keep up with their bodies. Their shoulder straps bothered them from
time to time so they would switch the strap from one shoulder to
the other trying to give each one a break.

Their brown skin, many shades darker now,
only gave them so much protection from the sun’s continuous rays
drawing a very fine line between toughening and damaging their
skin.

What bothered them most of all where the
mosquitoes that picked at them mile after mile. Smacking themselves
and swatting became as regular as putting one foot in from of the
other.

Bomani looked at Farra and smiled, but she
was so focused on moving forward that she didn’t notice. He knew
that these conditions were eating away at her. She had been silent
for quite some time; it wasn’t like her at all. She must have been
absolutely miserable.

“She’s a warrior,” he said to himself. And
then noticed little Pupa trotting right along side them. “Pupa
too.”

Then just as he thought that to himself, she
said something that he didn’t expect.

“My feet hurt!” She said sternly.

Bomani chuckled in a sigh of relief. This
wasn’t a, ‘getting pleasure from the suffering of others’ syndrome.
He was glad that he could finally say something about his own
aching feet.

“Heh, mine too, Farra, and they have been
for some time. I don’t know how much more of these mosquitoes I can
take.”

They proceeded until they made their way to
a cliff and began to negotiate their way down it. It was slow going
for both of them, but they were managing to make their way down the
side. Farra could feel a stinging pain in her fingertips putting as
much weight on them as she could. Bomani had started the decent
before her, and she glanced down to see how he was fairing. He
carefully and constantly searched the rocky wall for footholds and
little crevices to stick his hands and feet into for leverage. He
grunted and gasped shifting between strength and agility, moving
his weight to his feet and then betting all of his life on the
strength of his arms. He was strong, a good climber, good at
descending as well. Farra did her best to mimic his movements,
trying to remember where he placed his hands and feet.

“You doing alright?” he asked her. He was
continually worried about the little sorceress, and at the same
time continually impressed by the tasks that she could achieve.
What she didn’t have in size and strength, she made up for in
heart, and that part of her reminded him of himself.

“Fine,” she grunted, moving her hand into a
small crack and then checking on Pupa who stayed nestled in her
pouch.

They were close to the bottom now. Bomani
paused on the rocks at the sound of a low buzzing, and then he felt
something brush across his back. He shifted his shoulders at the
odd tingle and discomfort, almost losing his balance. The buzzing
came around again, this time circling the side of him enough to be
seen.

Bomani let out a loud shriek at a large
insect buzzing around him.

“It’s a
bui bui fly
,” Farra shouted.
“Don’t let it bite you, it will hurt!”

“I wasn’t planning on it,” he shouted back,
now swatting it. The bui bui flies were big, about two inches wide.
They had eight legs like a spider, and to accompany that
characteristic, multiple eyes and fangs. Their poison was nothing
but a mild sedative to humans, so there was no danger there, but it
did hurt when they bit, and scaling down the side of a cliff wasn’t
easy with them buzzing about. The bui bui flies have a larva stage,
as normal flies do. The adults like to place their eggs deep inside
of meat so that the larvae have plenty of food when they hatch.
Only problem was, they didn’t care whether that meat was live or
dead.

Now there were more of them, and Farra too
was at risk. The two moved as fast as their skills would allow them
until Farra was bitten and lost her footing on the wall. She would
have fallen right past Bomani had he not reached out and grabbed
her. “I got you,” he shouted. “Try to grab on to the wall.”

But, she was too heavy. His grip slipped
from the wall and down they went the remaining yards to the ground.
They didn’t have much time to ponder their pain. The bui bui flies
were back at them buzzing, allured by their warm-blooded flesh.

Bomani and Farra spent the next minute or so
on the ground swatting at more flies. They smashed some of them
against their skin when they landed- killing a bui bui fly like
that leaves an awful gooey mess on the skin.

Farra was up first.

“Are you alright?” Bomani asked. Farra was
too tired, too hurt, and too aggravated to answer. Just as he
spoke, a bui bui fly landed on his bandaged leg and took a bite.
Bomani hardy felt a thing. Suddenly a light came from his bandage.
Some weird glyphic shined brightly as if someone had written all
over his bandages with the sun. The light only lasted a second, and
then faded. And the bug, well, it fell to the ground dead.

Both Farra and Bomani looked at the bandages
confused at what they saw, while at the same time swatting at more
of the flies.

“There is something very different about
these bandages.” He said.

They had no time to discuss it. They had to
keep moving if they were to get away from them.

The problem was that they were on open dry,
flat land. Behind them, the wall that they came down. In front of
them, an ocean of red dirt that stretched its way to the horizon.
Then Farra noticed a rock pillar of some sort far ahead of them to
the South West.

A cool breeze met them. It was the most
refreshing thing they had felt in days. Even better, the wind was
powerful enough to overcome the flapping of those pesky flies. In
one swift moment, they were rid of the flies and rid of the heat.
They both stopped in their tracks and bathed in its relief.

“That feels wonderful,” Farra thought to
herself, although she kept quite, then bent down to tend to
Pupa.

“Doesn’t that feel great?” Bomani said. “I
don’t know if I’ve ever felt a breeze this good before. C’mon
Farra, you have to admit, this feels pretty fantastic. It’s like
something my mother used to say, ‘sometimes it’s the simple
things.’ She must have been talking about breezes like this.”
Bomani dropped to his knees and closed his eyes. His mind drifted
into nothing but the nurturing wind against his skin.