The Ancient Lands: Warrior Quest, Search for the Ifa Scepter (29 page)

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Authors: Jason McCammon

Tags: #adventure, #afircanamerican fantasy, #african, #anansi, #best, #black fantasy, #bomani, #epic fantasy, #farra, #favorite, #friendship, #hagga, #hatari, #jason mccammon, #madunia, #magic, #new genre, #ogres, #potter, #pupa, #shaaman, #shango, #shape shifter, #sprite, #swahili, #the ancient lands, #twilka, #ufalme, #warrior quest, #witchdoctor, #wolves

BOOK: The Ancient Lands: Warrior Quest, Search for the Ifa Scepter
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“Boonda, What you got in net?”

“Me got prisoner.” Boonda answered.

“You bringing prisoner to master?”

Boonda turned his face up as if he was just
asked a stupid question. “Uh, course me bring prisoner to master.
Where you think me bringing prisoner, to you?”

“Ummm, me don’t need prisoner,” said the
guard. “Me guard door.”

“Me not bringing YOU prisoner. Me bringing
to master!” Boonda was now getting agitated.

“Master inside. You go inside. We guard
door.”

“Yeah, you guard door real good,” said
Boonda under his breath as they went inside.

 

 

When night came, the two ogres, Plute and
Dimboo still stood at their posts, except now, the torches just
outside the entrance to the cave were lit. Suddenly, they heard
what sounded like a rock hitting the ground not too far from
them.

“What dat?” asked Dimboo?

“Don’t know,” Plute replied. “Me think maybe
it rock or something.”

“Rock no move by demselves,” Dimboo
added.

“Nope,” said Plute. “Day sure doesn’t.”

“Maybe someone throw it?

“Hmm, but why?”

“It old trick.” Dimboo began to explain this
tactical strategy to Plute. “Throw rock to distract guard see, then
when guard move to check it out, move inside door.”

“Ah I see,” Plute responded. “Then what
should we do?”

“Hmm, I’ll have to think.”

Then Plute had a magnificent thought as he
stroked his chin in ponder. “Why don’t we find who threw da rock,
then hit him with it!” He smiled at his own genius, punching his
hand.

“Heh heh. Dat good idea.” Then Dimboo paused
for a second trying to out-think the rock-thrower. “What if he
throw rock over dere, but he really over here?”

“Ha ha, you smart. How bout you go dat way,
and me go dis way.”

They both nodded and walked in opposite
directions, away from the entrance. Meanwhile, Bomani, the
rock-thrower had positioned himself behind them on the mountain,
just above the entrance. With the guards gone, it was easy for him
to slip inside.

****

 

 

The cave was dark and damp. A draft from
inside brought the terrible stench of ogres. It was horrible to
have to smell this soup of beastly bodies as they sweat from their
work in the mine. Bomani screwed up his face in response, but he
would just have to bear it until his senses got used to it enough
to filter it from his brain. His hand caught the feeling of wet
moss as he ran his fingers across the wall, carefully looking in
front and behind him. A thin coat of water on the dark, almost
black rocks ran down it into the soil at his feet.

Although he was mindful not to make noise,
it didn’t matter much because there was so much noise coming from
ahead. He heard the echoes of chiseling, grinding, and clanking. He
only needed to make sure that he wasn’t seen, and to take extra
care of where his shadow was. As he walked further, he began to see
sparkles in the walls from small bits of diamonds. They easily
reflected the light from torches sporadically placed about.

The diamonds were beautiful standing out
from the dark rock they were embedded in. They were quite
breathtaking for a place that felt so dismal. He remembered the
Manga village, and how the air was filled with a sense of welcoming
and tranquility – this place was the opposite.

He followed the corner down until it came to
a fork. The sound of ogres’ talk was getting closer to him. There
wasn’t any place to hide except for a curve in the wall just before
the fork. His only hope of staying unnoticed was to hide in it, and
hope that they walked down the other tunnel and not his. The voices
got closer, and now he could see their shadows against the wall
from the torches behind. He pulled his shield from his back and
grabbed his spear in hand. Part of him wanted to fight, but another
part knew that staying undetected was his best bet if he was going
to save Farra and retrieve the scepter.

Now nearing his position, he tightened his
grip on the shaft of the spear. He pulled himself back against the
wall as flat as he could and waited. To his fortune, the ogres took
the other route. He watched their shadows move off, and then the
ogres themselves came into view as he watched them walk away down
the tunnel. After they were out of sight, he took the tunnel they
came from keeping his shield and spear ready for anything that
might come his way.

After a short while, he found that he was
walking on a ledge, and below him was a large hole from which the
clanging noises of tools loudly emanated. He peeked his head over
to see the many ogres below banging away at the rock and sifting
through their findings. His curiosity beckoned him to watch on
longer. He had to take a second to remind himself why he had
come.

Just then, an ogre grabbed him from behind.
His arms were pinned down and he could barely move. Another ogre
stood ready to assist, and just beyond him, Hatari. With an
instinct to retaliate, he managed to poke the spear into the ogre’s
thigh offsetting him enough to loosen his grasp. The ogre dropped
him to his feet and with one quick turn Bomani slashed his throat.
He kept his forward motion going from his turn and instantly ran
shield first, hitting the next ogre. He followed up with a stab to
the
chest;
all in one swift motion. Now he
had only Hatari to deal with. He stood a few feet in front of
him.

“I’ll give you some advice,” said Hatari.
“Next time you sneak into someone’s home, you should literally
cover your tracks. The footprint of a young boy is easy to
distinguish from an ogre’s.”

“No need to sneak, it’s you that I have come
for.”

Bomani rushed him. Hatari reacted with a
white energy bolt knocking Bomani against the wall, behind and
pinned him there. The diamonds in the wall pulsated in brightness
in tune with his bolt of energy. Bomani struggled, but could not
free himself.

“Struggle all you want,” said Hatari in a
sinister tone. “The more you struggle the more strength and life I
take from you, yet I get stronger. It’s an excellent design. I call
it the
light of death
. You should have taken my offer. Now I
have you, the staff, the girl and I still get to keep the Ifa
Scepter.”

Bomani struggled the best that he could. His
words left his lips accompanied by grunts and moans. “What have you
done with Farra?”

“I’ve put her to work. She’s good at
chiseling stone, but I imagine that a boy like you could work all
day without a break.”

“I won’t work for you.”

“It’s not a choice BOY, and there is no
union here. You will work because your only other option will be
death.”

“I will break free. I will defeat you, I
will save Farra, and I will retrieve the Ifa Scepter for my
kingdom.”

“I could just kill you and the girl now, but
I have to admit, I like to see people suffer. Unfortunately,
eventually I will have to kill her; it is the only way that I can
release the power from her staff. With any luck, more of her kind
will come looking for her and I will drain their staves of power as
well. I will grow even more powerful; then I will destroy your
famine stricken Ufalme and take control of my share of Madunia. Now
what makes you think that I would let a little boy disrupt all of
that?”

“It’s my destiny.”

“You have your destiny, and I have mine.
Unfortunately, only one of ours can come to pass. My bet is on the
one who isn’t dead.”

The diamonds in the room became brighter as
Hatari intensified his energy beam. Bomani was pinned to the wall
struggling and screaming. Each movement sucked more and more
strength from him. When Hatari stopped his beam, Bomani fell to the
ground, his warrior's vitality diminished.

 

 

 

XXXII CAGES

 

 

 

It was the careless way the ogres threw
Bomani into the cage that woke him. These prisons were cut into the
side of the granite walls with each cell separated by columns of
thick, strong wood; the front gates of the cells also were made
from the same material. The cages didn’t have locks on them, just a
metal pen through the latch connected on the side of the wall, but
it was too far away to be reached.

The gate shut, and as the ogres left him, he
sprung to the bars to see if he could break them, yanking, pulling,
and kicking them with all of his might. He wasted that little bit
of energy in vain, for the bars would not give, although hours
would pass before he truly gave up.

Sinking back, he wrapped his arms around his
knees as feelings of loneliness and failure arose inside of him.
The darkness and hard surface of the cell only amplified this
feeling – he shut his eyes to shield himself from the sight.

“I shouldn’t have come,” he thought to
himself. “Why am I so selfish, so arrogant? I shouldn’t have pushed
Farra away. Maybe if we had done this together, it would have
worked. Maybe I should not have gone off by myself in the first
place. Some destiny, some hero I am. Hatari could have killed me,
and he just may, if I’m not careful.” His thoughts became focused
on his family. Sure, he was a warrior, and a hero, but he missed
his mother, he missed his father, and he even missed Mongo. He
thought hard about his father and was sorry that he had deceived
him. He was proud of his father. He was a good king and the people
loved him. Bomani doubted that he would ever have the ability to
measure up.

His saddened mind was so focused on his
family, that his temples began to ache. Then the thought rune began
to glow inside of his pouch. Stupid ogres, they took his spear and
shield, and left him his bag. His vision of his father became
intense and suddenly his brain was locked on it. More than that, he
sensed his father’s worry as if his mind was locked on his father’s
thoughts. Then he heard a voice.

“Bomani?” his father called out to him in
question. He had felt the same thing from his end. They both had
the sensation that they were standing right next to the other.

“Father?” Bomani replied.

“Bomani? Where are you? What is this?”

Bomani saw the glowing of the rune peaking
through the gaps of his bag. He pulled it out and held it in his
hand. “It’s the thought rune father, given to me by a Shaman.”

“Bomani, Anan has told me what you have
done. It was foolish of you.”

“I know, and I’m sorry, and now father, I’ve
been captured by Hatari and I don’t know what has happened to
Farra.”

The King felt his worry. Bomani didn’t need
to tell him Farra was a friend. The King could feel it coming from
him.

“Where are you?”

“In Hatari’s Diamond mines.”

“I know Hatari well, he and I have our
history and I have kept him at bay in the Forbidden Expanse.”

The light from the rune began to fade. They
could feel each other slipping away. It was as if each of them was
being pulled down a tunnel to opposite ends. They called to each
other hearing their voices growing further apart until one last
thought was heard from his father, “I’m coming for you!”

The rune turned to dust in Bomani’s hand.
His eyes widened and teared with disappointment, again he was
alone.

After sometime, he heard footsteps coming
his way. He had no intention of digging in Hatari’s mines as Hatari
had suggested before. When the ogres come for him he would escape,
and then tell his father of the location of the Ifa Scepter.
Surely, the king would send troops to retrieve it, and take Hatari
down.

The ogres came nearer and Bomani gathered
his strength. Then, he noticed that they were carrying something,
or someone. It was Farra. He reached through the cave as far as he
could and cried out to her. She was dirty and obviously exhausted.
She just slightly lifted her head enough to see Bomani, and then
dropped it back down without giving him any recognition. They
dropped her limp body off two cells down from his.

Bomani reached out to her. One of the ogres
jabbed at him with a piece of metal. “Back,” he said. Bomani pulled
his hand back and glared at the ogre
. (
If
only he was out of this cage, he’d take care of him
.)
The ogre chuckled, which sounded more like a series
of grunts, and then left with his companion.

Farra’s condition brought Bomani’s sadness
to a new low. Looking at her tired and bruised body; he couldn’t
help the feelings of regret and guilt that engulfed him. It was his
fault, and he knew it. He let his anger get to him and pushed her
away. He had never been this close to anyone before. Everyone else
he knew was just something to conquer; someone to prove himself to,
but not Farra. He found that he had slowly become himself around
her. He let his guard down and she had touched a part of him that,
until that point, remained isolated.

“Farra,” he quietly called to her.

She didn’t move. Her face was a blank slate.
She hadn’t been beaten, but Hatari had forced her to work. He did
it because he enjoyed breaking people’s spirits; he had done a good
job at breaking hers. If seeing people in misery didn’t give him
pleasure, he would have simply killed her. He didn’t need any extra
hands to mine diamonds for him. He had the obedient ogres for that.
What he wanted was to suck the life right out of a person. Leave
them with no hope, no spirit, and no will, breaking them down from
a person, to a being void of solace.

“Farra,” he called her again, and again, she
didn’t respond. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry about what I said to you. I
didn’t mean it. I was angry. No, I was afraid and I didn’t want to
admit it.” He looked for some sort of response from her and then
continued.

“I know I said that I didn’t need you, but
it wasn’t true. I never would have made it this far without you. I
shouldn’t have left you. We didn’t get caught until we separated,
because we work so well together. We are a team, a good team, a
strong team. The truth is, you are my best friend. The best I’ve
ever had.”

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