The Antelope's Journey

36. What’s in the bush?

It was morning before they realised it. They had to get moving if they did not want to get caught inside that palace. The rebels had already made the decision to invade the palace that very evening. It was very clear that they would start off by dispersing their watch-guards to surround the area starting in the morning. This was the more reason to get out of there.

It was good that Mrs. Peterson had already released the men she captured from the cave. She had already received a lot of information from them, so it was easy to let them go. It only made sense that she released these captives as they were her prisoners and she was leaving. She had a fear that if she left them there they might be mistreated or wrongfully prosecuted at some point. That kingdom was big on prosecution after all.

They were crawling out of the bushes that they had come in from the previous night.

…a bush was shaking and rustling. This caught the guard’s attention. At first he thought he was just too paranoid and that he had, probably, hallucinated the shaking bush.

The bush danced again. Now he paid attention. He looked closer, his eyes were especially popped and he was quieter. He had stopped whistling his favourite tune at this point. Maybe he had to get closer, maybe then he would be able to see what was going on.

It was somewhat senseless to be terrified in that forest. That forest was actually very quiet as it was at the back of the palace and not many people bothered going there. The most common sounds were the twitting of the birds, hooting of the awl and the clicking of the clickets. On special days, the winds would collaborate with the trees to produce the SHHH sounds of leaves.

However, at the same time, this was the forest. A home to a lot of species, some poisonous and simply, annoying. He was more worried about the poisonous species. No matter how much he may have tried to redirect his mind, his mind always swayed back to the thought of a poisonous snake. Any sane person would be scared of snakes. That animal changed the entire course of humanity.

He drew closer. He decided that he would pay no mind to his mini-fear. If it was really a snake, he would find a way to deal with it.

Getting closer…

Getting closer…

“Come on, get moving you guys.”

“Hey, you’re used to doing this. You’ve been crawling out of here for decades—you’ve gotten used to it.”

He heard voices. That meant that humans were behind that bush. He was usually more comfortable dealing with humans than animals, because he was an effortless bully. This was beginning to calm his anxiety. Just like that, he started seeing people shooting out of the bush. Each dusted themselves and they stood up on their feet. This was baffling to him. What were they doing inside the bush?

Mrs. Peterson and her little crowd were very shocked to see the guard standing there and watching them. Thoughts immediately flooded each of them…

“Do you think he saw us?” Kali whispered to Mrs. Peterson, who then responded, “Let’s see his reaction first.”

There was that short silence, where each of them waited on the other to start the topic. “W—what are you doing there?!”

Not each of them knew how to answer that. Should they tell a totally unrelated lie? Or, perhaps, should they twist the truth?

“I saw you crawl out of the bush… What’s that about? What were you doing in there?”

“Oh, huh…” Mrs. Peterson was a mastermind at making up stuff. “We went to visit a shrine regarding my daughter’s—”

Mrs. Peterson had to stop herself there. She remembered that because of the universe she was trapped in, she never grew old, she still looked in her early 30s. And so, that guard would not believe that Francina was her daughter…

“My sister’s marriage. You see they want a girl child as first born. And this will bring them fortune and abundance. However, it appears that they are having a boy!” Mrs. Peterson cried, holding her head as if she’d just exposed the most devastating news. This led to the man, as a boy himself, feeling insecure, “But what’s wrong with a boy child?”

“Oh, nothing is wrong. But you see, a woman is a symbol of abundance. A woman is a gift that keeps on giving. Having a daughter, it is said that their family will be on the favorable side with the gods. Their family will be blessed and only then can they have a boy on a well matted grass.”

“O…kay. So, what are you doing here in the bush?”

“Oh, they had to consummate the marriage here in this very bush. They had to—”

“Okay! I get it. Please go.”

……….

Mrs. Peterson and her little crew were now looking for a place to lay low. It was just three of them again; herself, Kali and Francina. All the people they had around had been sent off.

“Marriage?” Francina brought up the topic.

“Consummate?” even Kali was pissed at Mrs. Peterson’s thoughts of them. They both gave the mother a death stare. She could not bring herself to look back. She had thought that if she just simply pretended not to see them staring, they might let things go.

But this was not the first time Mrs. Peterson tried to ship them. The mother obviously had ideas about the two youngsters. This time they would not let it go and she had gone a step too far, they both thought. The intensity of their staring eyes shot deep. Mrs. Peterson could not take the pressure anymore, “Okay, fine… That was a bit too much.”

But Mrs. Peterson also had to provide excuses for herself, “But then, you guys look so good together…”

Kali stepped in, “Mrs. Peterson, I have a co-dependant relationship with your daughter but we’re in a romantic relationship.”

“We’re not.” Francina assured her mother, “I talked to him and he feels nothing romantic and neither do I. Maybe, somewhere in the future there is that possibility, but not now.”

“I’m just glad that, for the first time, I’ve become attached to people and I actually have people who care for me. Growing up, I never had that, my dad was always busy working.”

“Hey, you,” that was the rebel woman. She appeared out of nowhere. She was in their way. “You guys ran away from the feast. You vanished and I’ve been following you…”

Dun dun!