LiTTLE CHERiNE Book 02 - post220

arthur.grafo (69)in #sfandf-fiction • 7 years ago

^{I soon realised what is wrong. There are no children, no little voices calling out in play, laughing, screaming, crying. The place filled with only adults as it was, felt dead.}

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1264

Tanzania is not exactly a tourist Mecca and those who come there are mostly there on business. Most people do not take children on business trips. I decided a warm beer or a fresh coconut drunk from the nut itself are better in a local village where there are children, than sitting here in supposed luxury. To me, luxury is the joy I feel in being surrounded by their vibrant souls. The hotel bus was about to leave for Dar and the driver agreed to drop me at the bottom of the hill below the farm. From the way the driver talked I found out that all the locals know Dimitri and though they think he is crazy, they like him. He asked after him and I told the driver Dimitri is away, gone for a visit. He made noises of astonishment, telling me he could not believe it, that he has not left his farm for over twenty years.

I arrived by the front door, about to open it. The back of my neck prickled and I spun around. There were about fifteen men holding pangas and they were coming in towards me, their faces frozen in a wild trance. The door refused to open and I was stuck in the middle of the ring of death closing in upon me. I took the cowards way out. I asked my healer to block all pain and turned back to face the men as they silently came towards me. They spoke in Swahili, so I could barely understand them.

“He is the one who brings the demons to take the souls of our children.” They all replied, “He is the one.” As this continued the first one came within striking distance. He raised his panga and without any hesitation, chopped downwards. It sliced into my side. I saw the blood, my bones showing through, but I felt no pain.

Desperately I tried to bluff, but I had to do it in English. “Those who strike me will pay. I will return to make your children sickly and they will spend their lives in pain and so will their children and the children of their children. The demons I send will torture them their whole lives and when it is time for them to die they will eat their souls. The same will happen to you.”

It is as if they could not hear me, there was no change of expression and the second blow landed on my shoulder slicing through. My left arm hung uselessly. There was no way my healer could repair such damage fast enough. The next panga stroke was aimed at my waist and I knew it would slice through too many organs for me to live through it. A hand reached out and gripped, holding back the blow.

Softly a voice spoke, “Samama! Kwenda sasa.(Stop! Go now).”

All the men stopped, even the one about to strike me did not struggle. They turned to what I saw was an elderly man. He looked like a normal black man, but he must have had some power to have broken through their trance. He spoke to them, his voice still soft but filled with authority. They looked at him and then at me and their eyes were filled with fear as they saw what they had done.

“Tell them I do not blame them. It was the evil one, the spider who made them do it.”

“I have spoken to them, they will leave now.” Even as he spoke they left. He put his arm around me, holding me up. “Can you repair yourself?”

I gasped. “How did you know?”

“Bwana Eddie told me to come. He told me you have many powers.” He easily opened the door and led me to a chair in the kitchen, where I sat down.

“I need water please.” He brought me a glass of water that was stained with rust from the pipes, but I drank it and returned it for a re-fill. I knew my healer could not make something out of nothing. I was drenched in my blood and it needed to make more very quickly. I closed my eyes and tried to relax so that it could concentrate on its job.

“This Eddie, he is an old man with a white goatee beard, a friend of Dimitri?”

“A friend?” He laughed. “Those two fight all the time like old women. He will be here soon. I see the one wound is already closing.”

“My shoulder, can you hold it up so that the wound can be closed?” Gently he held it in place for me.

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“I was not expecting them to get here so fast or else I would have hurried. I am an old man and do not like to hurry unless I have to. I apologise.”

“For what, for being old?”

“That I am proud of. My name is John.”

“Robert.”

“Do you know why bwana Eddie called for you to come here?”

“No. I think it is to help me.”

“You have powerful enemies. Who is this spider you spoke of?”

“A woman. I made her fear me and now she is seeking to kill me. How did you break her control over their minds?”

“These are my people, this is my land.”

“Are you a witch doctor?”

He laughed. “I am a chef at the hotel by the beach. I saw you there, but before I could speak to you the bus left.”

“You did not have the power to make the driver wait?” I teased.

“He who uses his powers must be careful how he uses them or else they will, like a serpent, turn around and bite him. I see the shoulder wound has closed, can I let go now or are you still repairing the bones?”

“I have no idea. I cannot communicate with my healer anymore.”

“You did not use it wisely and it…”

“No. The woman I spoke of, she blocked my mind.”

“There is a war on then?”

“Yes.”

He described Doris. “Is this the woman?”

“You know her?”

“Bwana Eddie is her husband.”

“What!!!”

“She comes sometimes to speak to him.”

“In her body?”

“You know? No, mostly her spirit.”

“She was here today, just before I walked down to the hotel. I do not understand, why does her husband want to see me? Why would he send you to save me?”

“He loves her, but they do not believe in the same things. Wait for him to tell you. Will you be alright if I leave now? I have to cook for the guests or else I will be fired.”

“John, I can’t find a good enough way to thank you.”

“I think you will find a way when the time comes. Bwana Eddie told me you would. He says that you look like a man on this world, but that you are Death. So the time will come when you will help me. I hope it will not be for a long time.”

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I began to laugh and he watched me, not understanding. “John, if I am Death then it should cause you much amusement to know that you saved me from death.”

He shrugged, not seeming to understand why I found it funny. “Many gods have been helped by men.”

“I am not a god, I’m just an ordinary man with some gifts, talents or powers you may call them. Or I was before she blocked me.”

“Then why do you let her? Why not break her block?”

“To break her block I need to use my gifts. To use my gifts I need to break her block.”

“I see. You are a man, thirsty but swimming in the middle of the ocean.”

“Something like that. Not that I would have put it that way. I feel more like a man swimming in a lake of fresh sweet water, but my mouth has been tied shut and I cannot drink. If you can spare me a few minutes I would like to wash and change and come with you. After the repairs I will be starving. Do you cook a good steak?”

“I will make a special one for you. It must still be red inside so that you get the strength of the meat.”

The healer had to call on my last reserves for me to make it to the hotel. John made me sit down and soon had a plate of sandwiches and a coffee for me.

“This will help you for now.”

“Could you ask a waiter to bring me a packet of cigarettes?”

I sat alone, looking relaxed, but my mind was in a turmoil. From what John had said, I understood that this Eddie guy called to me, was the reason I had felt the need to travel. The fact that he is also the husband of my enemy was disturbing. Hearing that she comes to visit him still and that he loves her did nothing to instil me with confidence.

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