The Ancient Lands: Warrior Quest, Search for the Ifa Scepter (8 page)

Right now he was busy contemplating a scheme
to get past the guards' watchtowers that his father had posted
along the border of The Forbidden Expanse. When they finally got
near, he instructed Farra to help him gather as many dry leaves and
branches as they could, and put them in a large pile.

“What’s this for?” asked Farra.

“We need to get their attention.” Bomani
said. He reached into his pouch and grabbed two fire rocks, and
then he paused. “Hey, can you start a fire with your staff?”

“What do you mean?” asked Farra.

“You know, magic stuff.”

“No, I can’t make fire. My powers still have
yet to grow. Even then, I don’t think I will ever be able to make
fire.”

“Humph, some sorcerer you are. I thought
maybe you might be of some use.”

“Hey, I helped you make that pile didn’t I?
Without me, it would have taken you twice as long. Meanie!”

“I suppose.”

“Well aren’t those guards from Ufalme? Why
do we need to hide from them? They are on our side, aren’t
they?”

“Yes,” Bomani replied. “But moving into The
Forbidden Expanse isn’t normal. They will want to know what we are
doing and why. It’s just better if we can get by them without them
knowing. I don’t want where I’m going to get back to my
father.”

Bomani began to strike the rocks until a
nice spark ignited the dry grass.

“Okay, now we run to the mountain side and
wait for the guards to come out and take a look,” he instructed
Farra.

Being the son of the King, Bomani knew a lot
about the inner workings of his Father's army. He knew about the
towers at the border and how they each used one-to-three torches to
communicate levels of suspected danger. He knew of the barracks
nearby that not only housed soldiers, but also a large stable to
where they trained their war-rhinos and battle-elephants.

As long as only one torch went up in the
towers he knew concerns were at a low level and the neither
soldiers at the barracks nor the beasts of war would come into
play. And a little smoke on the friendly side of the border
shouldn’t arise too much of a threat, he hoped.

They ran southeastward toward the foothills
of the Edge Mountains, and waited. The fire grew, and so did the
smoke. The wind was calm leaving the smoke to clump together,
painting the sky with an easily visible trail of black.

Bomani’s scheme worked just as he had
planned. A torch went up in one tower, then all the rest. They
waited until they could see the guards climbing down from the tower
and run off to investigate. Then, Bomani and Farra hurried along
the mountainside as fast as they could. Bomani kept watching to see
if another torch went up or if they were being followed.

“Hurry!” he said, “Before we are
noticed!”

They ran as fast as their eight feet —
(including Pupa’s four) could carry them. Once out of the view of
the guards, they took a moment to catch their breath.

“Oh my goodness!” Farra shouted,
suddenly.

Bomani was quick to respond. “Are they
coming?”

“A twilka tree!”

“A twilka tree?”

“Yes, yes, and its got twilka berries!”

“Farra, you can’t just yell out like that. I
thought something was wrong.”

“Oh, but there is. I don’t know much about
the Forbidden Expanse, but I do know that you won’t find many
twilka trees.”

“So?”

“So, we’d better stock up!” She ran over to
the tree. Twilka trees are thick with rows of vines twisting around
them. Their branches grow outward and then down, and they bear
twilka fruit. The twilka fruit grew from the trees in bunches and
grew in a variation of colors and flavors. Then, each berry had a
different color swirled into it, which moved across the surface
when shaken.

Farra grabbed at the berries eagerly, taking
handfuls of the stuff shoving as much as she could into her mouth,
with no regard to the juices that spilled from the fruit onto her
mouth and hands. She closed her eyes and savored the delicious
berries as sensations of fruity, tangy, and sweet shifted across
her tongue —she was in twilka heaven. She drifted back into reality
only to find Bomani looking at her in amazement.

“What?” she asked. Her mouth was still half
full, “You don’t like twilka berries? I never met a person that
didn’t like twilka berries.”

“No, I like them fine. I just don’t think
that I like them as much as you do. I’ve never seen anyone eat them
like that. You act as if you haven’t eaten in days.”

“Well, I haven’t eaten any since yesterday,”
she began, “But it just occurred to me that I might not see another
twilka berry for quite some time. Besides, you’re probably right,
no one likes them quite like I do. Have some.”

Bomani joined her in the twilka berry feast.
He actually thought that it was pretty funny the way Farra dove
into the berries. He had never seen anything like it, but he didn’t
laugh at her. He wanted to keep his composure and not seem
childish.
Far be it from him to act as if he was actually
fifteen and laugh a little.
After they had their fill, Farra
stocked some berries in her pouch and they were off on their
journey. They walked an entire day, and nothing even remotely
eventful happened. As usual, Farra did most of the talking and
Bomani did most of the ignoring.

Preview of,
“ The
Adventures

of Farra and
Bomani.”

IX END OF THE
ROAD

Bomani perched discreetly
behind a large rock looking
at Anu’s map, and surveyed the
area where they had stopped.

He looked at Farra intently, “This must be
the place.”

Farra sat next to Bomani quietly and studied
the map with him, while Pupa was busy digging into the ground after
a small animal he had seen. The clearing was dismal and isolated.
It was obvious that the “X” on the map represented the strange hut
they saw before them.

The hut lay at the northern end, just inside
Forbidden Expanse, just south of the large mountainous border of
the Edge Mountains. It was separated from the rest of Madunia, and
only accessible through the pathway taken by Bomani and Farra to
get this far.

There was not much to be said about the
hut’s upkeep, but it was surely decorated and adorned. It was
perhaps the most decorated hut Bomani had ever seen, and also
probably the worst decorated at that. It was made of adobe; the
clay brick walls were covered in odd trinkets and sparsely
decorated with bones. They could not quite decipher all the species
of bone that hung along the worn and weather-beaten hut, but at
least one kind was human.

“It looks so creepy. You sure it’s in
there?”

“Not exactly, but that’s what it says on the
map, and I don’t see anything else around here.”

“It’s got bones all over it. I’m not going
in there.”

“So,” he replied, “don’t.”

Bomani looked at her with a smirk and
winked. Like an athlete, he hopped over the rock and headed for the
hut. “Wait!” Farra called to him in the loudest whisper she could
manage.

Bomani stopped for a second and turned to
her.

“What?”

Farra didn’t respond. She just starred at
him, her eyes peeking over the rock in apparent fear.

“Well, are you coming or not?” Bomani
demanded. Farra shook her head.

“Suit yourself,” were Bomani’s last words
before he proceeded. He moved cautiously against the side of the
hut. He pulled his spear out, but left his shield mounted on his
back and slowly made his way to the door. He took a moment to look
back at Farra, who seemed too terrified to even move. Even Bomani
was a little apprehensive as he reached out to open the door,
trying to keep his hand from shaking.

Before his hand even reached it, the door
suddenly flew open with a bang! Bomani jumped back defensively and
held his spear. A decrepit old woman stood before him. Her cloak
was overly decorated in trinkets, feathers, and bone.

“Don’t you knock?” she asked as she glared
into him. “It’s not polite to walk into someone’s house. Haven’t
you any manners?” the old woman said.

“Huh?” the startled Bomani replied.

“Prowling around outside isn’t the way to go
about it either.”

“Sorry Bibi.” Bomani used a word often used
to mean Madame; he had never seen anyone dress in such a way, it
caught him off guard. His uneasy fear of her caused him to be more
polite than usual.

“Well,” asked the old woman.

“Well what?”

“Well, do you want to come in?”

“I think so. I think I’m supposed to.”

“Supposed to, eh? Sounds like destiny. Are
you trying to tell me that it is your destiny to come inside my
home?”

“Uh, according to this map, yes. Yes it is,”
Bomani said as he reorganized his thoughts.

“Well then, since you seem to be so sure,
come on in.” She held the door open with a gnarled and knobby hand
and waited for him to enter. Bomani walked past her and went inside
the dim hut. The old woman started to follow him, then she paused
and looked back over her shoulder.

“Well?” she said, calling out to Farra
loudly, in a strained and unpleasant yelp, “You’d better come too.
And bring the dog.”

Farra stood up from behind the rock
sheepishly and looked down at Pupa.

“Wolf.” Farra corrected the old woman under
her breath.

“Woof?” the old woman barked at Farra as she
approached, to make a pun. “Are you a dog too?” she asked
mockingly.

“Uh, no Bibi. It’s Pupa here, he’s a wolf,
not a dog.”

“I have some news for you little girl, a
wolf
is
a dog. And since you’re so intent on identity, don’t
call me Madame, it’s too formal. My name is Hagga.”

“Yes, Bi...—I mean, Hagga.”

“Humph. Like the boy said, are you coming
in, or not?”

The inside of the hut was more horrid than
its exterior, but it seemed to be four times bigger inside than
what it appeared to be from the outside. In the middle of the main
room sat a huge cauldron. The air felt thick and damp, and it
carried the oddest smells. They could not decipher whether the
smells were coming from the strange animals she had caged around
the room, or from what ever was boiling in the cauldron.

“I put on a fresh pot in preparation for
your arrival,” said Hagga.

“What do you mean, in preparation? How did
you know that we were coming?” asked Farra.

“I am a shaman, I know these things. I have
always known that you would come. It is in the prophecy. But, I
didn’t know that you would be here today, on this particular day
till, oh.... a week ago. You were right, boy. It was your destiny
to come inside. You just didn’t know it yet.”