The Ancient Lands: Warrior Quest, Search for the Ifa Scepter (26 page)

Farra looked up at the golden creature
through distraught glassy eyes, pleadingly, hoping for help. It
towered over her reaching the height of seven feet, peering down at
Farra with its one eye. Farra was in a strange and wonderful new
place with strange and intriguing new creatures, yet her concern
for Bomani did not allow her to soak any of it in. The only thing
that concerned her was her friend.

“Can you help him?” Farra cried out. “He’s
dying, he’s been poisoned.”

“We will do our best. That is why I have
brought you here, to offer our help. I am Baina. Our sprites bear
the gift of healing. They will do all that is within their power to
help your friend.”

Two more Mangas gently glided over the
ground toward Farra and Baina, as Mangas do. One was fluorescent
purple, while the other was bright steel blue. They took hold of
Bomani and started to carry him off. Farra got up abruptly, anxious
to accompany them, but Baina quickly glided toward her and held her
back.

“I want to go with him. I want to help!”
Farra pleaded.

“There is nothing for you to do for now,”
Baina replied. “It would be best that you let our sprites do their
work. I promise you that they will take good care of him and
restore his health, but you must not interfere, my child,” Baina
said. She smiled at Farra soothingly.

Jamila, a sprite about four inches tall flew
over leaving a multi-colored magical red trail behind her. A green
sprite and another red one accompanied her. Baina turned to Jamila
carefully.

“Jamila, take special care with this one.
This boy is important,” Baina said intently.

Jamila nodded in affirmation and then she
and the other two sprites left to join Bomani. They flew away
swiftly, leaving red and green trails behind them.

Farra was surprised at Baina’s expression of
Bomani’s importance. After all, they had just met, and Bomani was
unconscious. How did she know that he was important? Did she know
him? What was it about him that was so important to her?

“How do you know?” Farra asked.

“Know what?”

“That he is important?”

Baina smiled, “dear child, all living things
are important. But yes, we know a great deal about you and your
journey. We listen to the voice of the wind — the very breath of
the land. The current of nature’s voice carries all that happens.
We Manga can hear that voice, and we listen when the wind
speaks.”

“I’ve never heard the wind speak,” Farra
answered.

“That is only because you don’t know
how
to listen. My people have been here for ages. Yes, the
wind did speak to me. It spoke of two moonchildren. One born under
the moon, and one born of it.”

“Bomani and me. My people are given their
power by the moon, and Bomani was born under a full moon.”

“Yes, you see, I was already searching for
you when I saw your beacon.”

“Beacon? Oh you mean the air rune. Those
things, heh, they are great, but it's always like, what happened,
did it do anything? I was ready to give up.”

“You can’t give up. No matter how hard a
task may seem. You must always press on. People who give up are
people who fail”

Farra reached into her pouch and pulled out
the space rune. For some reason, she felt the need to confess to
this kind and gentle creature.

“Wait, I want to show you something. I have
this,” she said, holding the rune out in the palm of her hand. “The
Shaman told us to use it to get back home once we were finished
with our journey. I should probably use it now — to get us back
safely. It would be so much easier.” Farra said, dejected.

“Easier, yes,” replied Baina, “But then, who
would retrieve the Ifa Scepter? Prophecy says that it is you. If
you don’t do it, then no one will.”

“But it just gets harder and harder, and now
Bomani is dying, and I miss my mother, and she doesn't know where I
am, and what if something happens to me, and what if something
happens to Pupa, and what if….”

Baina chuckled lightly, interrupting
her.

“Life is full of,
what ifs.
Ask
yourself, what if you succeed?”

Jamila and the sprites flew throughout the
village — each leaving a trail of color behind them. They carried
small baskets moving from tree to tree, and from flower to flower
carefully gathering pollen and bark flakes from them. Jamila flew
inside one of the trees and collected a small portion of
orange-colored sap. The other sprites added their ingredients to
Jamila’s potion according to her specifications, and she carefully
mixed the ingredients together, scrutinizing the tantalizing potion
carefully as she stirred it — A recipe for healing.

Bomani lay in a cool, dry hut, hidden in the
woods. The hut blended with tree roots and foliage so well that
even an ogre could not happen upon it. They lay him on a soft bed
of woven arachnid silk. Healing silk, said to have been spun by the
legs of invisible silk spinners, descended from
Anansi
himself.
Just as they could listen to the wind, the sprites and
the mangas were also able to see these crafty spinners although no
other creature could.

Six sprites worked over Bomani inside the
hut, and colorful trails hovered over his body magically as they
danced around him like bees, dropping pollen over him. Jamila took
her mixture and rubbed it on the boy’s skin, carefully placed one
drop of the potent elixir into his mouth. Afterwards, four sprites
knelt beside him, placed their hands on his body, and closed their
eyes.

Bomani’s skin began to illuminate with a
soft, glow that traveled carefully along his body. It massaged his
arms, his fingers, and back until the light became dull and
dissipated. Suddenly his stomach moved as if something inside of it
sought to escape. The entity within seemed to make his midriff
rise.

All of a sudden, a great liquid energy began
to appear from his stomach. The liquid was murky, like dark,
frothy, grayish smoke. It was Bomani’s
ill pool.

Bomani’s body slowly lowered and lay back
down upon the soft bed of silk beneath him; but the ill pool
remained — hovering above him for several hours. Baina eventually
brought Farra into the healing hut to see Bomani.

“What is that?” Farra asked, pointing at the
murky ball that hovered over Bomani’s resting body.

“That is all that made him sick. We call it
an ill pool. Now that we’ve extracted the contaminants and
impurities from all of the units in his body, the rest is up to
him.”

“Up to him? What does that mean?” Farra
asked. Baina smiled. Before she could say anything, Bomani began to
stir. He was a bit disoriented and still a little weak, but he was
conscious. His eyes slowly traveled around the room until they
found a familiar sight — Farra. “Where are we?” he asked. His voice
was low and barely audible.

“Oh, Bomani. You’re all right!” Farra cried.
“Are you okay? You’re all right, aren’t you?”

Farra rushed to Bomani’s side and held him
as closely as she could. She had never squeezed anyone so tightly
before. She quickly released him, “Oh, your wound. Did I hurt
it?”

“No,” he replied. “I’m alright.”

“I thought you were gone!” she said. “You
got sick, and I couldn’t carry you, and the ogres were coming, and
then I had to used the
air rune—
and then, I thought it
didn't work and that we were gonna die; but then Baina came — this
is Baina, and she swooped down and brought us here — but you still
wouldn’t wake up, and the sprites have a very magical power, and
they saved you!”

After Farra gave her rendition of what
happened, Bomani glanced at the strange creatures that surrounded
them and said apologetically, “You’ll have to excuse her. She gets
excited easily.”

“So she should,” Baina replied, “She almost
lost you today. Welcome to the village of the Mangabangabana. We,
the Manga, are honored to be of service to you.”

A weakened Bomani stood up. Whether he
needed it or not, Farra was quick to aid him.“I am Bomani. I am on
a quest, and I must continue my journey.”

“We know of your quest, and we know what
lies ahead of you. You are young and brave, but do not be so hasty
to be on your way. I suggest that you two stay here until tomorrow;
eat, rest, and regain your strength. You will need all of it to
face the
Gates of Fear,
and the Kitunusi who guards
them.

“What’s that? asked Farra.”

“It is a terrible creature. It thrives on
fear. It turns your fears against you, and in the end it will be
your fears that you must face and fight. If you give into your
fears, they will paralyze you. Then the Kitunusi will take you, and
consume both of you. You must be strong. Not just in body, but
strong in mind as well. Come.”

Baina led the way out of the hut and they
walked through the Manga Village. As they walked, the forest was
broken into different sections with tangled branches gating each.
It seemed as if Baina willed the branches to move out of her way as
she walked through the thicket. After the branches pulled back and
allowed them entry, they once again locked together as if they had
never altered or moved.

“Baina,” said Farra. She was amazed at the
natural magical biome that surrounded them. “How is it that you
exist? I mean, how can you sustain this much life in the Forbidden
Expanse? Where it seems that nothing will grow, you have an entire
forest. How is this possible?”

“We are part of the balance. Where there is
evil, there is good. Where you might find goodness, you may also
find evil as well. We exist because we respect the forest. We have
for thousands of years. The forest exists around us because it
chooses to. We do not think of ourselves as being separate from it.
Here, we are all one.”

“Is that why the trees obey you?” Bomani
asked, totally not grasping the meaning of her words.

Baina corrected him, “They do not obey us at
all.”

“It seems like they do. Just like those
branches. They moved out of the way for you.” Bomani insisted — not
getting the point.

“They moved because they wanted to. If they
did not want to move, I could not make them do so. They choose to
provide for us, to make the sap and to bear fruit, just like the
twilka berry.” She gestured out in front of them with her hand. The
brush opened up to a section plentiful with twilka berry trees.
Farra, of course was beside herself.

“Oooh, twilka berries!” she gasped. Her face
lit up in astonishment. “I didn’t know you had twilka berries. May
we?” She was anxious to indulge herself. Both she and Bomani were
hungry, it would have been a good feast whether she was a fan of
them or not.

“Of course you may. That is why I brought
you here, child,” said Baina.

Farra ran over to the trees and began
picking the delectable fruit. She stood on the tips of her toes to
reach a ripe bunch of berries that was just out of her grasp, and
the tree kindly lowered its branch making for an easy pick. “Come
on Bomani. Aren’t you hungry?”

Bomani too went over to grab some of the
twilka fruit. Farra sat on a large root that was partially out of
the ground and leaned back against the trunk of the tree.
Immediately, the tree grew a soft moss on the root, softening her
newfound chair. She sat comfortably on the root and bit into the
twilka berry with no regards for being neat or cute. All she
focused on was that great tingling, juicy flavor, that overwhelmed
her tongue and the feeling of satisfaction as it went down her
throat and into her stomach. Bomani gladly followed her lead, for
he was just as hungry as she was.

“What about Pupa?” Farra asked quickly
between bites. He doesn’t eat fruit. He is strictly
carnivorous.”

“Yes, I know.” Baina responded. “For him we
have something else. She walked next to Farra as another root took
a circular shape. Inside a strange gooey almost pudding type
texture filled the empty hole.”

“Is that meat?” Farra asked.

Baina chuckled. “He will eat it.” And sure
enough Pupa did, gladly. “He thanks you,” said Farra with a mouth
full of fruit.

“ He is welcome,” said Baina.

Those were the last words spoken. Bomani,
Farra and Pupa gorged themselves until they had had their fill.
Their bellies were so full that they ached to move; so they didn’t.
They each grew tired and fell into a deep sleep right were they
were, as if they were ogres. It didn’t matter here in the Manga
village. The trees accommodated their comfort growing softer moss
where needed. Baina saw no need to wake them. They were tired, but
they were safe.

The next morning, Baina brought them to a
stable that was fenced in the usual way. As she came to the
branches, they receded and a pathway to enter was revealed to them.
After they had crossed, the branches returned, once again
completing the barrier.

“What are they?” Farra asked looking at the
strange, but beautiful creatures inside. Some of them were
fully-grown, but off in the corner were five little ones, and they
were oh, so cute!

Twilka
—
A four winged feathered
flying animal used for traveling. An adult twilka is about seven
feet in length and about two feet wide. The torso is
feather-covered like a bird, but shaped more like a dolphin and
when on the ground, its body sits horizontal. Each of its wings is
as thin as its body, and just as long. Twilkas rarely fly more than
four feet off of the ground except to avoid obstacles. Their power
of flight is managed both by their physical attributes, as well as
a magical ability to control the airflow around their
bodies.

“These are twilkas,” she said as she rubbed
her hand over the top of one’s head. They will carry you as far as
the gate, but no further. They know the way, it is simply up to you
to hold on tight.”