The Antelope's Journey

17. Death of a traitor.

“Francina,” a soft womanly voice. It echoed and modulated. It sounded familiar. “Francina my baby,” the woman had been calling. Her voice always sounded as a whisper in the wind. She appeared to Francina’s gaze. Her dress was as silver as the moon could only flatter and tatter on her body. She had a glow and dazzle about her. Perhaps, it was the magical effect of the moon. Francina woke from her sleep to see the woman floating underneath the moon’s night-sky.

“Who are you? Your voice sounds familiar.”

“We’ve been speaking through the moon, I am your mother. Long, I have waited for this moment.”

Francina could only listen in to hear what the woman had to say. The voice did sound familiar to the voices in her heard whenever she would engage in sudden conversations with the moon. Now, she could the face behind the voice. It all seemed surreal.

At the same, this was a perfect confirmation that she was not imagining the entire time. For so long, Francina felt that this voice was only a figure of her imaginations. She felt that she had created this fantasy to try and escape her troubled reality. Of course, from time to time, she did doubt herself—her thoughts of these conversations would change each time.

The would woman had been speaking, “The Antelope’s Journey; a journey from the North to the South. She learns, she pieces puzzles and she’s done. I have been telling you the tale of the Antelope for years. It is time you remembered, for you are very close.”

“But where are you?”

“Find the giant moon and you will find me.”

“Where’s the totem? What is the totem? I have no idea what I am looking for.”

“The right person will know it. The right person will find it. NOW, WAKE UP!”

Francina bounced from her sleep! The woman’s sudden screech shocked her awake. Everything was setting in; it was now that she realised that she was dreaming. Not long ago, she was starting to believe that it was real. The dream felt as real as daylight. Finally, she could put a face to the voice that long lived in her head.

She launched up to awaken her body—right at that, she saw all three of them circling around her. They had their stones at grip, all glaring and flaring. They simultaneously pounced to attack! She quickly launched up and set to defence mode. She was fighting the two lovers off.

Kali was cowardly standing aside. Through their manipulation, he had at first thought he could. He thought he could help Mbali and Betty. However, they were not speaking through his ear now as they were too focused on bringing Francina down—he claimed himself back. Kali had withdrawn as soon as he saw the brutality of the scuffle. All he could do was watch. Maybe, he was not coward—he just did not take kindly to violence. Kali disliked what they had all become. He strongly believed in oneness. He believed that they would all survive if they worked together and trusted one another. Not what was happening.

At this rate, no-one will make it. Fine, say we take out Francina—who is to say, they won’t then turn on me next? But then, again, it is true indeed that Francina is untrustworthy. She could really be the death of us all. We’re probably still alive just because, she plans on using us as stepping stones later on.

Francina had received a blow to her head, she was feeling dizzy. Betty had hit her hard with the stone. The pain went from a spiking feeling to a dull wailing pain. Betty hit her once again. She tried for the third time but Francina quickly caught her wrist. She pulled Betty in closer and banged her forehead against Betty’s. Mbali jumped on Francina, strangling her from the back. This was to avenge her lover.

Moments in now, and Francina had been squeezing the pipes out of Mbali on the ground. Mbali tried coughing out some words. She was squalling for help, but Betty was still out of it. Slowly, Mbali was losing her fight. Oxygen was suppressed from her muscles and that caused immobility. Gradually, she was setting to rest—

Kali put Francina out saving Mbali’s life. He then tossed the stone he used. He reached down to pull Mbali up. “You okay?”

“You should’ve done that sooner,” Mbali snapped. She took no time to recover from the trauma she’d just gone through. Instead, she shoved the boy off and went to check on Betty.

Kali was still looking at the result of his actions—Francina laid there unconscious. He began to feel his body trembling, and his heart was pulsating. His thoughts raced on. He couldn’t believe what he’d done. Violence was not in his nature. He knew he had to check for her breath—

“Come on,” Betty pulled him along, “we must get going.” She was holding onto her forehead, the pain was still vibrating across her skull. Thanks to Mbali who woke her up, and now they could abandon scene. Betty wanted to get the mission down with. They had been there for months now. It was only understandable that they waste no time. Also, Betty wanted to get away from Francina’s body before starting to feel guilty for what she instigated. What had just happened was not what Betty ever thought she would become. She wanted to flee from the scene of her doing. She had internally spoken words of self-defence. She was trying to imbed it in herself that they all did nothing wrong.

Seeing the distress on Kali’s face, “You did what you had to do,” Betty said. In encouraging Kali, she was also encouraging herself.

They had been walking for hours now. The journey felt even lonelier now—they’d lost Kamo and Francina in that tunnel. Who was next? The journey felt even more dangerous now—they’d lost two of their last best fighters, Kamo and Francina. Who would be brave for them now? Betty was the one they all looked up to now. Compared to Kali and Mbali, she was a much better contender.

Mbali was still trying to convince the distraught boy, “I was going to die if you hadn’t stepped in. And don’t beat yourself up too much, she was a risky one.” It seemed that Mbali was the only one who could deal with their situation. She was calm about it all, almost as though not traumatised. She had no internal battles, none whatsoever. She would be hushing down Betty too, but Betty hid her fear perfectly well. And so Mbali focused on Kali.