The Antelope's Journey

10. Change the odds

“But we caught them!” I heard him say before they lit the fire below our feet. The fire went in circle around us. It was burning. I could already feel the heat at my feet. We had been tied with ropes and chains. I knew I couldn’t escape if I tried. I looked over at Kamo and he was grappling with the rope, he wanted to get off.

Suddenly, arrows were flying in—taking the people down. It was unclear at first, who may had been doing this. The arrows were coming from outside the village. The handlers were hiding behind bushes and trees that surrounded the village. A commotion had started—loud hails and thud of things falling apart. The villagers saw their own collapse to an endless sleep from the piercing arrows. None of them wanted to be next and so, they dispersed. Each one going into hiding and safety. Only the fighting men and women stayed behind to defend their village. The warriors stayed to fight. Another tribe had just washed in—they had been shooting the arrows. It was a dun-duh moment to realise that it was the Guzani tribe. They were the infamous tribe that eradicated many nations over centuries. Where they crossed, no living was left breathing. The villagers had to fight for their existence. Meanwhile, the captives were still trying to break out of the ties at the fire.

I felt something jump on my head. The tiny cold hands held over my eyes so to not fall off. I heard a very familiar squeak from it. Could this be my monkey friend? It was! Boy, was I glad to see her again? Of course, my mind revisited our last time together. Kamo had threatened me into leaving her behind. When the fire broke out and burned everything, I thought for sure I was never going to see her again. Oh, but it seems she followed me. I had to direct it towards the rope around me. Using its little canines, it started tearing off the pieces of thread. I was off. I was of a small frame, and so it was easy for me to slip out of the changes. The chains were bigger than I was.

Monkey and I spread apart to help the others. I had to get out of the fire circle to scout an exe and use it to cut off the chains. The fire was already high, I could not cross over. Lost at odds, I started tossing and turning. The others were not of help either, they only kept hurrying me up. They were yelling and screaming. I saw the giant toss in his blade, it was heavy. I went up to who appeared the strongest—Kamo.

Kali figured that, if he started with Kamo, he might help with the others. A while had passed and Kali was still tossing the blade at the same chain. The fire had already started at licking bits of their flesh.

Come on! Break off! But why did that warrior help me with the blade? Does he expect that we will help them with their fight as soon as we get off?

The chain had broken off. Kamo was freed. He quickly grabbed the blade from Kali and started freeing the others. He would cut the flimsy chains at one heavy thrust. An opening was created for them to get out of the fire. A corpse had been thrown to create a bridge. They all rushed out of the circle.

Kali was shocked to see all of them instantly run out of the village. “Kamo!” he cried. “Won’t we help them?!”

“Come on, let’s go. This is not our fight!” he grabbed the boy and they ran off.

My eyes did lock with the giant. He looked disappointed and betrayed. I felt bad and guilty. His people appeared to be losing the tribal fight. I wanted to help but I knew nothing about fighting. I let Kamo drag me out.

They had escaped the village at last. Along the way, they paused to catch a breath and figure out their next plan. They were a bit far from the village. They were somewhere quiet and audible enough to discuss. They also had to consider that they were not fully dressed, they were still in leaves and doused in oil. “Where to from here?”

“We don’t have our maps.”

Kali then said, “We have to go back.”

“He’s started again, this kid is crazy—”

“Hey, you remember whose monkey got you out of there!” yelled Kamo in Kali’s defence.

Kamo defended Monkey. I guess, that was his of making up for forcing me to abandon her in the forest. It made me happy to see Kamo on our side at last.

Francina noticed that Jim had been quiet and thinking. He was completely absorbed into his thoughts. Just like that, “He’s right!” Jim bounced back to life. He approached the centre where everyone could see him, “Remember the part of the training where we had to help a tribal fight and change the odds? This might be it.” Jim continued while they listened, “And I don’t know about you, but I saw the map before we… Before we passed out. It was blank. The map was blank. Maybe, this is one of the situations where we give help to others and we receive help in return.”

The giant was very happy to see us back. I didn’t do much, I just attacked when I could—when the enemy let their guard down. More than once, I saw Kamo protect me when I lost focus of the enemy. I saw the girl, she was good—very good. Why couldn’t I fight like her? We were the same age and same height, but she did things I couldn’t. I saw some of the group pass on and some injured. It was a pain to see such. But in the end, the last bits of the Guzani tribe ran off. They would probably be back again another day. But that didn’t matter, we had successfully changed the odds.

The injured were carried and placed in a line to receive help from the traditional healer. The healer started with the guests. They had helped his village and he felt indebted to them. Meanwhile, Kali temporarily worked on the warriors in need of urgent medical attention. He used herbs as tutored by the healer.

“So, you eat people?” Jim asked the warrior. “The speech you gave just before setting us up on fire, gave up that impression.”

“No, we don’t but we were about to for the first time…before you came in.”

“Oh, the queen mother.” Francina stood very close to Jim. She realised that he knew a lot of things about the game. The best way she could learn was to follow him around.

“Yes, the queen mother said that her daughters should feast from her. All of this was prophesied by the prophet.”

“Yes, but you caught the wrong intruders.”

“We apologize for that—”

“Indeed, you should. You killed many of our own.”

Before they were sent off, the healer doused them with protection spells and herbs. “This can only protect you for a limited number of attacks and after that, your survival rests on you.” They were dressed like the warriors now—in dried animal skin.

Then the prophet took over, “Where you go now, you are to meet The Five Great witches and wizards. They capture your soul and bind it to their youth and vitality. By all means necessary, avoid their capture or you will not return the same again.”

Jim did lean over to Francina and he whispered, “You know? After all that, I find that I don’t believe this one.”

“By the root tree, you will join hands,” the prophet continued, “chant your names, ask for dominion, and state your destination.”

They were then lead through some portal beneath the throne. They swirled in an ombre purple miasma, glistens of white and yellow as they spiralled down. It was a graceful landing into some black unknown. At their feet, they could only see the walking tiles. The tiles were randomly scattered around. They turned white and off from time to time. Casually, walking through, the man stepped on the tile but it turned off shortly before he did. He fell off and down to a bottomless below. This did raise discomfort and fear among the rest. They had to take care not to fall off and end their long journey.