The Ancient Lands: Warrior Quest, Search for the Ifa Scepter (21 page)

“Yeah,” she said in a soft dry voice, “Feels
good.” She was busy checking Pupa for any bite marks that the flies
left when she remembered the structure at the horizon. She stood
up, putting her staff into the ground and looked through the
crystal, using it as a lens.

“What is it?” Bomani asked, coming out of
his trance and to his feet. “What do you see?"

For some reason that Bomani couldn’t tell,
Farra wasn’t offering any answers.

“Well, what is it?”

She finally spoke in a solemn voice. “The
Temple of Wanyama.” Bomani couldn’t tell if she was disturbed by
the place, or if she was just in her mood.

“What? Let me see. Bomani jumped up and
butted his way to get a clear picture through the crystal. “I don’t
see anything. It’s all blurry.”

“Of course you can’t. Why would you be able
to see through
my
staff? It only works for me.”

“What is the temple for?”

“Man-a-morphs.”

“Well, is it a good thing or a bad thing?”
Bomani now had to drag answers out of her, which he didn’t like at
all.

“I don’t know,” she said, pulling her staff
out of the ground.

“Well should we go, or shouldn’t we?”

“I don’t know.”

“Is it me, or has this breeze turned into a
strong wind?” Bomani asked as he noticed his shield being tugged by
a gust of wind. He was right. The wind was getting stronger. The
nice breeze had slowly escalated and they hadn’t even noticed until
now. The wind blew from directly ahead of them, pushing back
towards the cliff.

“We’d better keep moving, Farra,” he said.
She nodded, but didn’t speak. In a place so barren, Bomani’s
curiosity brought him in the direction of the temple. He didn’t
even bother to check the compass rune. Farra wasn’t offering up any
answers and he wanted to know what this place was.

With each passing minute, the wind grew
stronger. Soon it wasn’t just the elements of the air that they
were fighting. They became nearly blinded by the dirt carried by
the current. Like fine bits of sand, the dirt brushed its way into
their faces. Farra once again picked Pupa up and placed him into
her pouch.

Bomani dismounted his shield to use for
protection. As long as they kept in the general direction of the
temple, they need not see where they were going.

“What about the air rune,” Bomani said.
Maybe we can use it in the wind.

Farra didn’t agree. She shook her head at
the notion. At other times she had gotten a feeling about the
runes, this time she felt nothing.

She pulled on her hood and nestled her head
as far back into it as she could. Then she unfolded the flap at the
bottom of her hood, which normally came down mid-bicep so that now
it reached the middle of her forearms.

The dirt and sand were now whipping at their
skin. Bomani grabbed her hand and pulled her close to him as he
shielded them both. In that way, the shield was doing its job, but
pushing against the wind with a giant surface proved to be
exhausting. They struggled for over an hour moving toward the
Temple and the shelter they hoped that it would provide.

It seemed to be toying with them. At one
second Bomani would peak around his shield and guess the distance,
and then a few minutes later he would peak again without even
noticing a gain. Still, they kept moving, for they had no other
place to go.

“Don’t worry,” Bomani said. “We’re going to
make it.” Bomani was always optimistic about any given situation.
If he believed in anything, it was his own abilities.

As the winds blew harder, they leaned into
it even more, staying on their toes now to use the full strength of
their legs. The wind, dirt and small pieces of rock came at them
even harder, giving stinging abrasions to any part of them that
wasn’t covered.

The ground which was flat now was noticeably
bumpy and rugged. They found themselves feeling around with their
feet for proper footing until Bomani’s foot became lodged and he
lost his balance all together.

They both hit the ground and Farra landed on
the skeletal remains of something, of what, she wasn’t sure. Any
skeleton to her was horrific in itself. This one was large enough
to be human. There just wasn’t enough of it to be sure.

She quickly scurried away from it and over
to Bomani who was busy putting his shield back into place to block
the wind. “It would probably be easier just to crawl from here.” He
shouted, trying to keep his voice above the wind.

With his shield held horizontally, they
crawled side by side over the land. Only, as they quickly noticed,
this wasn’t just land. Every foot that they moved forward unveiled
another skeleton. And it was apparent, that many of them were
human.

The thought had crossed Bomani’s mind that
these people were either going to, or coming from the temple. He
kept this thought to himself. He didn’t see any use in disturbing
Farra any more than he already knew she was.

They made their way toward the temple,
crawling over rock, dirt, skulls, rib cages, femurs, the bones of
the hands, and feet, some of them strong, some of them old and
brittle enough to give way with the slightest bit of weight.

Then, even louder than the constant roaring
of the winds, they heard something or someone yell. It sounded like
a horrible scream of pain. They couldn’t tell from what direction
it came. Nor were they sure if it was from man or beast. They just
hoped that it was not aware of them. They both looked at each other
wondering if the other had any clue as to what it was. Since
neither knew, neither said anything.

They crawled about 150 yards until finally,
they reached the outside of the temple with battered hands, knees,
and skin that looked as if it had been whipped with a broom. It was
worth letting the wind hit them in the face just to get a glimpse
of the size and shape of the building. It was mainly a giant rock
pillar that rose to about a hundred feet up. From where they stood,
it looked as if it touched the height of the sky itself. At the
top, half figures of animals protruded from the side as if they
were jumping out to
attack —an
eagle, a
leopard, and a shark. The statues circled the top of the thick
pillar and Bomani could only assume that the other side had animals
carved out of it as well.

At the bottom, the temple was surrounded by
a dry moat, the bottom layered by more of the dead. They moved over
a single stone bridge that extended across it, and anxiously
entered the building. The brisk breeze that had given them so much
relief before was now a relief to escape.

They entered the opening of the temple. It
was about 7 ft high and wide enough for any large-sized man to
easily make his way through. The corridor only extended fifteen
feet before making a 90-degree right turn. Then, it reached far
enough to escape the ambient sunlight and faded into darkness.

They turned the corner and were safe from
the wind, but they only walked until they were still satisfied with
the light bouncing off of the corner wall.

“Here,” Bomani said in the tender way a
mother speaks to her child. “This should be good.”

Farra was as quiet as ever. She put her back
against the hard wall and slid down to the ground, wrapping her arm
around her knees. She was shaking, but she wasn’t cold. Pupa
crawled around her and even he was noticeably distraught. She
picked him up and held him tight until she could feel the heat from
his body and the beating of his heart against hers.

Bomani could see the wind abrasions against
her face and the trickles of blood painted on her knuckles. From
the way he felt, he figured he might as well be looking in a
mirror.

They had no water, his boar sack was empty.
He thought that perhaps now, inside, he might be able to find some
water that hadn’t been banished by the sun’s heat.

“Are you thirsty?” he asked. Farra looked at
him, but didn’t bother to answer.

“I’m going to go see if there is some water
in here.”

As he turned away, Farra grabbed his hand
and squeezed tightly. She didn’t even look at him this time. Her
head looked forward at a blank wall, and she shivered as if she was
just pulled out of a freezing lake.

“Are you cold?” Bomani asked and took off
his cape and placed it around her. “Look Farra, I know you are
thirsty, I have to find water. I’ll be right back okay.”

She didn’t want him to go. Again, she
grabbed at him, begging him to stay with the squeeze of her
hand.

“Farra, I’m not sure what’s wrong with you.
But I need you to be strong. Do you hear me? You need to be strong
right now.”

The words fell on her ears like an insult.
“I JUST CRAWLED OVER HUNDREDS OF DEAD BODIES!” she yelled. Her
voice traveled down the corridor into the darkness and then echoed
back out again. She broke into a soft whimper, “I want to go
home.”

Broke was right. Farra was broken. Just as
any great man or woman can reach their breaking point, no matter
how big and strong, Farra had reached hers. She was in a state
where hunger and thirst no longer mattered. She had experienced so
much discomfort, that right now she just wanted to be comforted. If
she had her choice, it would have been her mother, in her home, in
her bed. But she wasn’t home, and the one thing she knew was that
she didn’t want to be alone. On the other hand, she couldn’t bring
herself to move either.

Bomani looked at her for moment before
giving in. He sat down next to her against the wall and was totally
confused as to what to do next. He could have held her, but it
hadn’t occurred to him to do so. For now, just being there was
enough.

Farra’s whimpering had stopped. No tears had
fallen from her face; she was beyond that now. She leaned over and
rested her head on Bomani’s shoulder and fell asleep. It was at
that point that Bomani understood. He didn’t need to do anything
more. He felt a wave of pleasure as the small girl lay against him.
It was comforting. He felt like a parent and a child all at the
same time. He embraced both these feelings and before long he laid
his head back on top of hers and he too had fallen asleep.

XXIV THE
SHADOWLIGHT

thought

By the time they awoke, the sun had sunk
well below the horizon and was replaced by the strength of the full
moon. Farra couldn’t see it from the corridor, but she could feel
its energy surging beneath her skin. It certainly helped with the
pain that her battered and bruised body was feeling.

Now, this man-made cave was dark, she
channeled some of her energy through her staff to give a soft glow.
When she stood up, she woke Bomani. He looked up at her standing
next to the light and couldn’t help but wonder how she felt.

Without him even asking, she gave him a
reply. “I’m much better now,” she assured him. “I’m going to check
out the temple. Wanna come?”

“Yeah.” said Bomani. “I’m right with
you.”

No matter how well they tried to navigate
through the tunnels, they found themselves lost. It was apparently
designed that way. Farra was sure that the main chamber of the
temple lay somewhere in the center, and if only they could make
their way through this maze on the outer shell, they could find
it.

“While you warriors spend all your time
swinging weapons and trying to toughen each other up, the Anifem
insist on making us learn.”

Bomani tried his best not to take that as an
insult. “So what is this place?”

“I don’t know a lot,” she replied, “I’m
still young, and I have a lot to learn. I do remember my father
speaking to me about it, and talking about the power of shape
shifters.”

“Shape shifters?” Bomani asked.

“Yes, people that can change themselves into
animals probably like the ones that are at the top of the temple. I
remember him saying that controlling the power of the shape
shifters was like having ultimate power. Somehow, my people are
descendants, or cousins, or descendants of cousins or something
like that. That’s pretty much all I know.”

“So wait a minute? You are one of these
people?”

“No, we’re not shape shifters, but we do
have a bond with animals, as you know. There isn’t a lot that is
known about the Man-a-morphs, I think they are all dead. So, to see
this temple is actually a big deal.”

“Well,” Bomani said while coming to an
intersection and having no idea which way to go. “It doesn’t seem
like we’re ever going to make it inside anyway. This place is a
maze.”

“Yeah, I think we are lost.” Farra then
turned her attention to Pupa who was busy licking the water
trickling down the side of the wall. “Oh! Pupa you found
water!”

Bomani’s eyes opened wide. He could already
taste the water and feel its wetness on his tongue before it even
reached his mouth. Farra and he rushed to the wall and put their
hands up to the small trickle of water to capture a much as they
could.