CHAPTER 1
Witching
This is the story of how I die . . .
CHAPTER 2
MorningStar
I preferred walking beside MorningStar. The old camel kept a pace that was identical to mine, me with my long legs and she with her smooth, more laid back gait. As the months progressed, she slowed her gait as mine slowed. Dedan would often walk with me, but other times, he rode ahead on Tende. The red-furred camel loved him and Dedan loved him right back. This was no surprise. The way the two found each other was a journey in and of itself. Tende was a beautiful camel and these days, he smelled like desert flowers and dust. He was kind and humorous. And he was strong and just as ready to go where we were going.
Last week, we’d reached the town of Banza. Here, Tende attracted so much attention that we had to leave a day earlier than planned. Banza was a bustling town where the style of dress was very tight. The women wore body-hugging dresses and pants and tops and the men wore body suits that accentuated every bulge. The fabric was thin and treated with weather gel, so no one overheated, but what a refreshing sight it was to see people young to old with pot bellies, stick legs, sagging breasts, and bony backsides proudly sporting the colorful tight bodysuits and dresses.
Dedan and I stayed in the guest house of some of Dedan’s relatives. MorningStar and Tende stayed in the camel shed beside the house, and it didn’t take the neighbors long to come. Red furred camels like Tende are rare, and he was a beautiful one. By morning, there was a crowd around him. A few camel sellers even approached Dedan wanting to buy Tende. Thus, he spent the whole day at Tende’s side, guarding him while politely answering questions. And Tende had growled and spit at anyone who came too close, amusing the crowd even more.
I needed rest and a few good meals, so we stayed. MorningStar slept by our room’s window. No one paid her any mind, since she was old and there was nothing extraordinary about her . . . except for the fact that she’d died and I resurrected her by calling back her spirit. The bed was right beside the window and I slept looking up at the stars, knowing that MorningStar was right there.
Those two days in Banza were peaceful. I didn’t speak much to Dedan’s auntie, uncle, or cousins, other than the brief introductory greeting. They left me alone after that, assuming I needed my rest. Dedan attended a village meeting and two parties without me. The people of Banza like to throw celebrations for every little thing. The first party was for the coming of age of a young cousin who was turning eleven. And the other was for the birth of a white camel. By the second party, his auntie had bought him an outfit to wear to it. The tight body suit accentuated all his best bulges. Since the day he destroyed the glass house, he always wore a leather cord with
a blue piece of glass from the glass house around his neck. Clearly his auntie had noticed it, for the body suit was the same vibrant blue as his glass. He’d proudly posed for me in it before leaving.
“Banza-ware always makes me feel like I can do anything,” he said.
“As long as you can breathe,” I laughed.
I stayed in our room and Dedan brought me heaps of roasted goat meat, grilled vegetables, saffron puff puff, dates, and all kinds of delicacies. I ate these and fed MorningStar and Tende plates of dates Dedan brought them. Afterward, I’d sit on the floor and rise up as the kponyungo, flying the sky for a few hours. I’d return to myself and then sleep. The evening of the fourth day, we moved on. Yes, I rested and ate well, but I was glad to return to the desert. To continue on our way. So was Dedan.
We’d been travelling for eight months. We were strong. We would reach my village Adoro 5 soon enough. But there was something I had to do before turning all my energy, attention, focus, and wrath on The Cleanser.
First, I needed to give birth.
Yes, I was pregnant. I’d been pregnant before I left. Just before. This was not the only reason Aro wanted Dedan and me to leave so soon, but it was one of them.
“You are reckless,” Aro had said back in Jwahir, as we stood on the sand dune looking down at the place where Dedan’s glass house used to be.
I sighed and shrugged.
“I have known it,” he said, frowning. “But sometimes, you have to let go of the camel’s reigns and let the camel decide if you will live or die.” He nodded. “It is tough, but the camel often knows best. And you
deserved . . . your happiness. Thankfully, none of us died. I knew the day you conceived. If anything happened, to you, to your baby, to Jwahir, it would have been my fault. I allowed it.”
We were quiet, letting the weight of it settle. I wanted to say that I was responsible. He’d warned me over and over about the potential I had to kill us all if I got pregnant while training, yet something wild in me just didn’t care. Not about any of it. I’d had sex with Dedan with unbridled abandon. If everyone died, so be it. I’d have killed everyone. Wiped out the past, present, and future of hundreds of people, including Aro, including myself. I risked this without a worry. Irresponsibly. Wholly. Unabashedly. Shamelessly. Brazenly. Impulsively. Willfully. Reckless. But I said . Wiped out the past, present, and future of hundreds of people, including Aro, including myself. I risked this without a worry. Irresponsibly. Wholly. Unabashedly. Shamelessly. Brazenly. Impulsively. Willfully. Reckless. But I said none of this. ...
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