The Ancient Lands: Warrior Quest, Search for the Ifa Scepter (32 page)

“Torik!” Again, Farra screamed and peeked
over the side of the cliff, waiting for him to rise again. But this
time he wouldn’t and it didn’t take long for her to come to those
terms. She looked at Bomani.

“Grab my hand!” Farra yelled to him.

She tried her best to pull him up. She put
her staff down and struggled with both hands. Then she felt it. As
the mark on her face became complete, her eyes lit up. She turned
to Pupa who was on the other side backing away from a group of
ogres, and his eyes too lit up. For a moment, she felt herself in
Pupa’s place, and he in hers. Their sacred union was complete.
Pupa’s body changed. What was once a lovable cute animal now looked
fierce, as his fangs and claws grew longer. He tore into the ogres’
flesh with ease.

The chamber shook more with every second
that passed. Farra desperately tried to keep her balance. “Farra!
Behind you.” Bomani shouted. The rocks broke from the ceiling
directly above her and fell downward. Quickly, she let go of one
hand, grabbed her staff, and raised it above her head, holding it
horizontal.

The rocks stopped in mid-air, just above
her. Both she and Bomani were amazed. This was a new trick, and her
instinct carried it out perfectly. With one wave of her staff, the
rocks fell to the side and she looked back at Bomani and
smiled.

Then she lost her balance all together and
he pulled her over the cliff. They both fell downward through the
air into the dark below them, a floor of jagged rocks.

Without a thought Pupa jumped after them,
over the edge of the peak. It was a long way down. Too far down for
any mortal to survive. The sharp rocks below would easily pierce
through them like a sword, through linen. Then, something compelled
Farra to act quickly. She reached into her pouch and grabbed the
last remaining rune, the
space rune
. “Please work, send us
back.” She thought to herself and tossed the rune ahead of them as
they fell.

The rune glimmered and a thin
two-dimensional pool of shiny waving purple water appeared ahead of
them, just above the ground. It was a rift in space. The rune had
created a doorway for them to fall through instead of smashing into
the rocks at the bottom of the cave. They fell through this
space rift
; Bomani, then Farra, then Pupa, and a second
later, it disappeared.

Hagga had just come into her hut from the
river, not too far from where she lived. She had brought with her
five fish that she and the griot would eat for dinner. As she
walked in, he smiled at her. “What are you smiling at?” she asked
in a spiteful tone. “I would have been back sooner had I had some
help.” He was getting old, becoming less and less active. Still,
she taunted him anyway just to make sure that it was only his body
that had been giving out, and he wasn’t just becoming outright
lazy. He knew that she would fend for him if he couldn’t and he
loved her for it.

He didn’t pay her cynical behavior much
mind. He was happy she had brought him food. He slowly walked over
to help her with her catch and she snapped at him. “Oh, now you
want to help me, now that the food is here. I figured you would
just wait for me to cook it and shove the pieces into your mouth!”
Although he rarely spoke, he was going to answer her, but when the
rift appeared, they were both taken out of their moment. “It’s the
children!” She said, while pushing him aside. “Make some room!”

Bomani and Farra fell through the rift and
found themselves in a jumbled pile on the ground of Hagga’s hut.
“Well, I see you didn’t come back empty handed,” Hagga said eyeing
the Ifa scepter.

Bomani was out of breath, and slightly
moaning as he wiped droplets of purple water off himself. “Yeah,”
replied Bomani. “Piece of cake.”

“Piece of cake?” Farra exclaimed. “Are you
kidding? Hagga, this was no doubt the hardest thing I have ever
been through. I mean there was a panther that tried to eat us and a
big volcano. And oh, we met your sister but I would swear it was
you. And Pupa died, well I thought he was dead but he wasn’t but I
thought he was. And the ogres kept coming. Every time we turned
around there were the ogres, again and again. And poor Torik, poor
poor Torik tried to help us and he did but then I think he’s dead
Hagga can you do something, I think he is dead!”

“I cannot bring the dead back child. I’m
sorry, that is not within my power.”

“Maybe he’s okay, Farra. Maybe we will see
him again.” Bomani tried to console her.

“I’m afraid you children have no time to
rest.” Hagga started.

“Why not?” asked Bomani.

“Hatari knows that you got that space rune
from me. It’s a Shaman thing. I fear that even as we speak, he is
sending his ogre armies from the north of the Forbidden Lands on
his way to find you. You must get the scepter back to your Kingdom.
You are not safe yet.”

“Then you must come with us
Hagga
.
” Bomani said with a hint of
concern. “That means that you are not safe here either.”

“Oh, I’m safe enough. I have had my own
battles with Hatari; this is not one of them. His ogres would not
dare try to harm me, but I can’t protect you. You must go!”

“Don’t you have anything to give us? We sure
could use one of the magical runes. We used them all up,” said
Farra.

“Not this time young one. You will have all
the power you need within you, when you need it.”

. . .

They ran as fast as they could across the
fields of the Forbidden Lands toward the northern border. It wasn’t
long before they could hear the ogres coming up behind them. They
reached the base of a hill and as they climbed, they knew they were
close. After reaching the top, they would only have a mile or so
before the guard towers would be in view. If they could just make
it that far, they would be safe. Unfortunately, the ogres’ great
stamina always worked on their behalf pushing them ever closer to
the children. At the pace the ogres were going, it didn’t seem as
if the children would make it.

Even so, they didn’t give up. They climbed
the hill, tackling it as if their very lives depended on it; which
they did. When they got to the top, they both fell to the ground in
amazement. Before them, an army had spread itself across the field.
It was impenetrable and it was theirs! It was Bomani’s father the
King, and his brother Mongo. They sat atop battle elephants, and
war rhinos with their shields and spears. On the ground, there were
hundreds of warriors all ready for battle. Not only that, but they
were joined by the Animen. Bomani had never seen such a sight. The
Animen stood firmly along; the humans with their wolves by their
sides. These wolves were not small like Pupa; they were huge,
almost matching the height of their masters.

Mongo dismounted from his monstrous battle
elephant and ran to his brother scooping him up and carrying him
from the forefront of the battlefield, as did one of the Animen to
help Farra and Pupa. Their exhaustion was apparent. They had no
need to fight anymore, not with this colossal army there to protect
them.

The skirmish was short. When the ogres saw
them, they should have turned back right then, but they didn’t.
They attempted a meaningless battle against the army, but they soon
gave up and retreated into the Forbidden Lands.

The next morning Bomani awoke in his own bed
for the first time in what felt like years. Usually he was up an
hour or so after sunrise, but it seemed that his tired body had
begged him to sleep well into mid-day. He walked outside his
chamber, past the guard that stood there regularly. Their eyes met,
and when the guard nodded his head, there was an added tightening
of his lips and squinting of his eye. Bomani read this as an extra
sign of respect that he had never seen before. He nodded back.

“Bomani has awakened!” the guard shouted and
then another voice from another guard could be heard in the
distance, “Bomani has awakened,” and then another even further, and
then another, until it was obvious that the voices came from
outside the main palace and well into the fairgrounds. This was
new. He rounded the corner into the hallway of the great castle and
was met by his brother.

“Heh, the day is half over. Perhaps you
should just wait until tomorrow to rise out of bed.” Mongo
teased.

“How long have I slept?” Bomani asked
him.

“Oh, the sun has already crossed its height,
little brother.”

“Really?” Bomani asked, a bit confused. “I’m
surprised mother didn’t wake me.”

“Oh, she is waiting for you, and so is
father. We really didn’t get a chance to discuss you stealing the
map, and sneaking off alone.”

“Drat! I was hoping father would forget all
about that. Everything happened so fast last night that I don’t
even remember climbing into bed.”

“Ha ha, that’s because you didn’t. You fell
sound asleep on the way back from fighting the ogres. You lay on
the back of my battle elephant the whole way. I put you into bed
when we got back.”

“You did?” Bomani asked.

“Me and mother.” Mongo replied with a smile.
“You must have had quite a journey. I’m sure every griot in the
kingdom will await your story to add to their collection. But I
want to hear it first.”

“Do you think mother will scold me?”

“I think she is waiting for you. Come!”

Mongo made a gesture with his hand and
Bomani followed behind him.

“Where are we going?” Bomani asked as they
passed the entrance to the main hall. “Aren’t they in the
hall.”

“Nope.” Mongo replied and then gave a smirk.
“Outside.”

They exited the entrance of the large
circular structure and for a moment Bomani squinted from the
sunlight. As his vision returned to normal, he looked out across
the grounds and saw that they were filled with people, he guessed
hundreds, or even thousands of them. All of them couldn’t have been
from Ufalme alone, he thought, people must have come from other
villages as well.

They all began to kneel as he walked
forward, just as they had done many times for the King. He was
paralyzed with confusion. Mongo took a few steps in front of him
and then turned to face him; then he bowed his head and knelt
before him. It wasn’t until that moment that he realized that all
of this was for him, that all of these people were kneeling before
him.

Lastly, his father and mother walked into
his view from the side and placed themselves in front of him
turning their backs to the crowd, and they too knelt. King Jumbe
proudly looked Bomani into his eyes. His choice for the heir to his
throne had just become that much more difficult.

A lump of anxiety built inside Bomani’s
chest. There hadn’t been this big of a ceremony for him since he
was a newborn, and he certainly didn’t remember that. To see not
just his brother, but his mother, and even his father — the king—
kneeling before him made Bomani feel humbled.

“We, the kingdom of Ufalme thank you.” King
Jumbe said.

Bomani wasn’t sure what all this meant.
Perhaps it was to honor him for bringing back the Ifa Scepter. That
made the most sense. But, just possibly, his deeds had produced the
desired effect that he had wanted in the first place. Maybe, just
maybe, his father was officially honoring him as his true
successor.

He looked at the crown shining in all of its
golden glory, atop his father’s head. It demanded respect; it held
power, represented leadership, and stood for everything he had
always wanted.

But now, something was different inside him.
So much had happened through his journey, it had changed him
somehow. He looked at all of the people before him and saw them as
just that, people. Not only subjects of the king. They had family
and friends; they struggled to eat everyday, they sang songs,
laughed, cried, and cheered when the moment struck them.

He realized then, that this ceremony could
be that moment that he had longed for. Of course, he wasn’t at all
sure. He could be totally wrong and they just wanted to honor his
returning of the Ifa Scepter. But for the first time in his life,
he didn’t care. The crown suddenly meant nothing to him. His whole
life, all he had wanted was to be king, but now he knew that there
were other things in life that were far more important.

With the scepter back in its place, the next
month showed obvious changes in the kingdom. Bomani found that when
he walked around , people nodded to him and smiled out of sheer
respect. He gladly returned the gesture without a hint of a desire
for showing off or proving anything to anyone. The girls that
giggled as they walked by now giggled through a coy, shyness
instead of the humor of mocking the younger of the two
brothers.