Lady Black and the mysterious creature of the night

Chapter 7

Black had a good sleep in her king-size bed, she even did not feel the kitten hop onto her bed. In fact, the kitten slept on there too. She only found it the next morning when she sat up to stretch. The fierce woman did not hesitate to kick off the kitten and she may have said a few angry words at that. Now she stretched and yawned. “Something feels a little weird today. Do you feel it too?” she hopped off her bed.

The kitten was l*****g its paws now, on the carpet, “Well, you’re in your body this morning. Which is very odd, because normally, on the break of the morning your body becomes heavy and slumps down peeling off you. That’s what’s weird today. Any more questions?”

It was only now that she noticed. Normally, she would wake up and leave her unresponsive body on the bed but this morning it actually picked up with her. She went and opened the curtains to let the sunlight in but to her surprise, there was in fact, no sun through the windows. It was dark as night. “Wait a minute, what time is it?” she rushed back to her bedside table and goggled at the watch a little more. “How is this possible? Why is the sun not up yet?”

“What are you talking about? There’s the sun peeking between your curtains,” the kitten could see the sun, it was a normal bright day for it. As a matter of fact, it was a good one to go out and have breakfast in a fancy restaurant, “Well, hurry up. Get dressed. Me is hungry, lady!”

“I don’t feel like eating today.”

“Okay… Well, then we’ll just go around town.”

“I don’t feel like going to town.”

“What is this? Wait… Are you actually playing hard to get with me?”

With a sudden mood change, she tossed a pillow at the kitten, “And I don’t feel like talking to you right now. Get out of my room!”

The kitten had ducked. “What is it with you? Agreed, you are ill-tempered by nature but today, you’re doing a little too much. And you love to eat, you love going out to town, but more importantly, you just love going out with me.”

She only rolled her eyes and tossed herself back to sleep pulling her blanket over her head.

This day, Aggie’s shift was to start around noon availing her the morning. This was a perfect chance for Mpho to meet up with the kitten. Mpho picked a note at some random hidden, she slid it into her pocket and proceeded. When she arrived, she was greeted by the kitten standing at the door, “Welcome to Crescent Castle, my lady. How do you do?”

Mpho proceeded into the building, she was in complete awe, “How is this possible?” Her eyes strode from one angle of the room to the next. What she saw was pure magnificence.

“Who built this?”

“It was I… With these two paws. No, make it four paws of mine.”

Mpho proceeded to stroll around the fancy corridors. She was impressed with how this very warehouse of hers turned out to be some extravagant mention. Even better, in such a small space of time. It was already furnished and decorated with paintings, sculptures and vases.

“What do you have for me?” Mpho was getting down to business now. “Who is she really, and what does she want?” They were in Black’s office, Mpho did not shy away from launching down on the giant throne-like chair at the desk. The kitten would not normally do this but Black was not in the room, so it leapt onto the desk and made itself comfortable there. “It is her. Only now, she may suffer from memory loss. But she seems to be recovering bits and bits all the time. Good news is we are safe for now. I am not sure why she’s back yet. Quite frankly, I don’t think even she knows why she’s here either.” Mpho took a note from her pocket in her pants. It was the same note she picked from some hidden on her way to the castle. She unfolded the piece of paper and read, “The eagle may escape its cage, flap its wings and haul up the dust. Dust not good. Hurry, help.”

“Ooh, so poetic. What is it?”

“This is a note from Nothile. The g**g had a meeting the other day, they have finally heard the rumours that Eagle might come back. Now, they’re asking Great Black to help them out.”

“So, how do you feel about that? Eagle coming back, are you good with that?”

“I don’t know… But I couldn’t kill him. He’s not supposed to die.”

Suddenly, Black heard a voice inside of her. It was calling on her, “Kanala”. It was a woman’s voice. Black got off her bed and almost possessed, she followed the voice. It led her outside, “Come, Kanala.” Mpho and the kitten heard the front door close and immediately they rushed to see what was going on. They found themselves following behind Black. Before they knew it, they were standing before Gama’s mention.

“Ow-ow. Should we stop her?”

“No.” Mpho said, “I must see this.”

Black entered the fence. They saw her dissolve into the high fence. They went around to see the other side and they saw her proceed into the house. Mpho and the kitten knew they could not follow her in. They just could not go past the security like Black did. “Kanala…” she found herself in the basement of the mention. In there, she saw many souls chained by neck to the monster on the throne. The monster had its back at her. “Oh, dear. Kanala. You woke up. He found you. I must have underestimated your father. The way that I hid you, no-one was supposed to find you.” Black could not do much for herself…for now. She felt locked out of her will. All she could do was stand there with curiosity. “Do you know who I am? Do you know where you are?” Black would not talk. The voice was soft as a whispered hum and tempting as a devil’s nectar, “You are in my vicinity. My castle… Kneel before me, Kanala. I am your queen, don’t you know?”

Black could feel the woman’s voice fill up her head. Just listening to it made her weak in her knees. Ow, the young woman fought so hard from succumbing. Although, she had not an idea what was going, she knew she did not want to give in to her. However, the weight on her knees was too heavy and too burdensome. She may have bent a little but would constantly pull back up. “Join me, Kanala. Don’t you want absolute power? Do you not miss your old life? You once ruled the world, you ran it like a true demoness that you are and you can run it again!” Black was reluctant, almost as though giving in as the promises were tempting. “You can have it all back. You won’t need to hide anymore. Come now, Kanala. Kneel down to me.” Black looked around; she saw souls being trapped in there. One of the soul’s held onto money, another one held onto a baby, another grabbed onto a blooded knife. All these souls had something in their possession. When she looked to the ground she would kneel on, she saw a crown made of gold and diamond. This depicted something she always wanted.

“She’s been in there for a while now?! Shouldn’t we be worried?”

“Cat, you seem to like this character, don’t you?”

“She’s really not that bad. So, are you going to help her?”

“I have to find her first. Aggie was in that mention yesterday. She said the rooms are either locked or empty. And there are many rooms in that house. It is going to take forever to find her. I’ll ask Aggie to do something when she checks in for work.”

Aggie searched the house but some doors were still locked. She went into Gama’s office. She was f*******n there, so, she had to be extra careful. On Gama’s desk, she found papers of something that looked like account sheets. She knew immediately that she had to take photos for Mpho. Now, she browsed through the drawers, there she found a set of keys on a keyring. She took it with and started unlocking every door she could find. Still, no sign of Black. Soon enough, she began hearing voices down the corridor. She knew she had to hide; she tried the door behind her of which was in a big distance from all other rooms but the door was locked. The voices were nearing. Quickly, she tried on the different keys and finally, the door unlocked. She slid in and locked herself in just in case Gama might try the door. It did help that she did not pull back the key and so, when Gama slotted in his key from the other side, he could not open. “Boniswa!” he cried. He kept trying the door. “Boniswa, open the door please!”

Aggie was frightened, she had no idea what he would do to her if he found her there but she knew that whatever it would be, it wouldn’t be nice. Finally, there was silence as though Gama had given up. She thought she could breathe now. Exhaling, she turned to gently land her back against the door. It was only then that she realized that that room was Gama’s bedroom. Worse, there was a woman on a sofa. She sat paralyzed and her eyes pocked at Aggie. She was in her mid-50s. Aggie immediately caught some fright. It was scary that she was being watched the whole time. This must have been the Boniswa that Gama was yelling just then. Boniswa would not move or blink on that chair. “Hi,” said Aggie.

Boniswa would not respond. She was the wife to Gama and her whereabouts were rumoured unknown. It was public perception that Boniswa was nowhere to be found. Gama would not indulge on the topic of his ‘missing’ wife. If anything, he would avoid the talk. “Um, how are you…today?” she had heard that Gama’s wife was sickly before she disappeared. “Why are you locked in here? Should I help you out?” Aggie was beginning to lose it. How was she supposed to help the woman whom would not talk? Aggie began checking for bruises on the still woman and she found none. “No sign of physical a***e. Maybe she’s being drugged?”

“I’m calling a locksmith, Boniswa. Are you okay in there?”

“Oh, God! He cannot possibly find me here! I might have to leave you for now but I will come back… And rescue you. I’ll get you out of these walls.” She listened out for the noise and she heard Gama’s footsteps diminishing as though he was creating a distance. She pulled back the key and looked through the hole. There was no-one on the other side.

Hurriedly, Aggie unlocked the door, opened and rushed out. To her demise, Gama was still standing there. He had tricked her. She could almost jump when she saw him in his boldness and fierceness. A few steps aside, she was trying to get away but he jumped at her and had her pin herself against the wall. Gama held an intense gaze at the little woman with the intention to intimidate the frail petite girl. “What are you doing here?”

His deep voice shook her even more. She could only ruffle through her mind searching for a way out. He was big and somewhat oozed a forceful machismo. He had a stern look upon his face and she knew right then to be careful what she said or she would be escorted out the building or possibly harmed.

“Mr. Gama, h-how was your day?”

He said nothing, he only stared at her. “There’s a woman in there. Why would you lock her up? Do you not know that it is a very mean thing to do?”

“What were you doing in my room?”

“Cleaning,” but she saw that he was not buying that. Aggie knew that she would need to elaborate further and perhaps annoy him with her voice, since it did annoy her sons. “When I was hired, I was strictly told to keep every furniture, every room and corner of the house very clean. So, I found the keys in your drawer and the hard worker in me saw a great opportunity to prove myself to you, but here I find a sick woman locked up in your room. What is going on, good sir?”

“That woman is my wife. She doesn’t like people seeing her that way. And so, we keep this room locked.” He took his keys from her.

“Am I fired?”

“I’ll think about it. In the meantime, don’t tell anyone about what you’ve just seen and never come in here again. I believe we’re clear.”

“What do you mean Aggie could not find my master?!”

“Hey! If anyone has to be your master, I am!” cried Mpho at her kitten. They were at Crescent Castle pacing around the living room when there entered Black. The kitten ran to her, “You’re back?!”

“Kanala?” she kept mummering to herself. “Kanala. Who is Kanala?”

“That is your original name.”

It was only then that she noticed the people in the room. She did not expect Mpho there but at the moment she was interested in what the kitten had to say. Black went and sat on the couch, “My name?”

“It was given to you by your birth parents. Empress Tamala and her hidden lover believed to be Zula son of the village treasurer. The Empress was known and adored by many. Oh, she was a giver, and she was full of so much wisdom. She succeeded the thrown from her father at such young age when he died at battle.” It was so quiet in the castle and, Black and Mpho listened to the story.

The village lords were at first against this idea of a mere child taking over the throne. In fact, they contested the idea passing the entitlement of the throne among themselves. They held matches against each other testing their strengths against each other, all the while 8-year-old Tamala was locked up in the prison cage and rumours were being spread that she had gone bedridden upon the loss of both parents. While the village lords killed one another one by one, the treasurer had an undeniable loyalty to the deceased royal family. The treasurer took it upon himself to rescue the girl. He took Tamala to a faraway cave and protected her from there. He nurtured her for the time being. Soon, he realised that Tamala may had inherited magical abilities from the bloodline of her mother side.

That was when he paired her up with his son, Zula, whom was a born teacher of persons with unique qualities. It was rare for persons to awaken at such young age but Tamala was an exception. Normally, they would awaken as adults and they would be passed to Zula for training. Zula would teach them how use their powers and some level of discipline. Zula and his father were discovering new things everyday about the girl; she could call on the rain, command all four elements of life, whisper to the wild and see through the future. She was a rare phenomenon. She trained for at least 3 years and only after she was deemed ready to show face back to the village.

The village was utterly shocked to see her again as the rumours that she may had been ill turned to a decree of her death. When she walked back into the village, she had prophesied an invasion from an enemy. Not one person believed her because the new king accused her of having lost her sanity. This king had even called on his sorcerer to affirm Tamala’s claims but the sorcerer could not see Tamala’s prophesy in his visions. For that reason, she was tossed into the cage again. That same night when the village was asleep came the invasion. The strong Tamala broke out of the cage and rescued her people. When the fight had been won, she was reinstated back to Monarchy. She became the Empress at a tender age of 11.

Indeed, the village had become a laughing stock to other kingdoms. In fact, it was constantly attacked. It was unheard of that a mere child could be a ruler of the people. But every battle, the village won under this little girl’s reign. The village was rapidly prospering and simultaneously, it was becoming divided. Some rooted for the young queen but the others gave in to the slander. While Tamala was growing the village, sneaky rebels in the village formed alliance to bring her down. They put up so many rules to try and constrict her power. They put her under scrutiny and  constantly disrelished her decisions. This led her into keeping her intimacy with Zula a secrete.

It was becoming suspicious that Empress Tamala ascended her twenties and still would not choose a man to marry. Bachelors presented themselves by the palace for her to choose but still she would not look their way. Then the bump on her belly began showing. It was becoming bigger and bigger. The persons were wondering how a woman could fall pregnant out of wedlock. Her child was agreed to be sacrificed to the gods upon its birth, just as all the babies of the unmarried women. She tried to protest this rule but it only made things worse, a large number of the villagers turned on her and protested that the child’s father be sacrificed as well. It was now even harder for Empress Tamala to keep Zula hidden. Constantly, she told him to leave but the madly in love young man wanted to stay and protect the woman and their child…

“And then? What happened next?”

But the Kitten stretched and dozed off on the couch. Now, Black could focus on Mpho. “You must be Mpho.”

“And you are?” Mpho asked back. They sat facing each other.

“Call me Black. Welcome to my castle. I hope cat made you comfortable.”

“Thanks. We saw you earlier. What happened?”

Black leaned back on the couch, “Dark night of the soul. I may have some past healing to do.” Suddenly, she started hearing some things. She jumped off the couch, “D’you hear that?” Mpho could not hear a thing. “Come!”

It was midnight and for more than 24 hours, Black did not see the sun. Only she did not see the sun. It made sense to her that the others could not understand what was going on because this journey to healing was hers and hers only. They were outside and Black saw a woman in her mid-50s. She posed with confidence at Black’s gate. “I heard they were here, and I just had to come myself and see,” the woman said.

“Who?”

“Him and his brother,” the woman pointed at Mpho whom stood right next to Black. “I didn’t know you could forgive, Kanala. From what I know, you were one vicious and vengeful girl but today, you’re housing an enemy.”

“First of all, 'he' is a girl and what are you talking about?”

“Are you sure you can trust them now? Do you wish to repeat history, my dear?”

“If you’re going to talk, then talk. Who is she and what history?”

Mpho could only wonder who Black was talking to. She was baffled looking around to see whatever Black may had been seeing but she saw and heard nothing in the dark. “Walk with me,” said the woman leading Black along the way. “I took care of your mother back in the cave. I was one of her trusted servants. Oh, she was one gifted little child. When she came back to the village, she led us to greatness.”

“Treasurer? You are the treasure, Zula’s father?” Black’s eyes almost popped at the woman standing aside her. In her past, this woman a man. Her grandfather. It did come off very surprising seeing her grandfather in the body of a woman in her mid-50s.

“So, you remembered?”

“You came back as a woman?”

“And I may need your help this time.”

They entered some house and she walked Black to the living room. In there, they saw a man on the couch, “That is my husband. Battling coronary heart disease and he needs surgery. It is risky.” Mpho only stood aside watching Black and the unresponsive man on the couch. She was curious as to what was going. “Take the risk then. If he dies, he dies.”

“Ow, yeah. You’re still heartless!” cried the woman. “And no, he cannot die. At least, not yet. Our son is graduating med-school soon and he needs him there. He needs both of us there. At least, until the graduation day.”

“Okay. And so, you need money? You need a good doctor?”

“Aw, sweetie, we have enough money. But a miracle doctor would be very desirable. However, a witch doctor I went to told me that he is destined to die on the operation.”

“Then wait until your son graduates and then take your husband to the operation afterwards.”

“He doesn’t have much time, this operation needs to be done very soon. And so, like any desperate person, I went and sold my soul to the soul thieve. Come this way,” she led them to her room. There, they saw the woman’s body fallen on the ground, “The devil came for me and took me in an instant.”

The woman explained that she was the demon’s farmer in the night and she was awake in the day. She would be taken anytime in the night to harvest some crop and make rich her taker. She was building a certain amount of wealth and she would surrender it in exchange for her husband’s life. Her only worry was that she was running out of time, the man’s health was deteriorating. “But you do know that when it is time to go, it is time to go? You cannot manipulate people’s time on earth.”

“I know, but—”

“Besides, you cannot trust every witch doctor you go to. Sometimes they make mistakes too and some are simply crooks.”

“Well, how would I know? I need you to help me. Help me elongate his life and help me free myself from the devil. You owe me anyway.”

Long after Kanala was born from Empress Tamala and Zula a lot happened in the interim. Kanala was separated from her parents. The treasurer had taken the new born baby far, far away to raise and protect her. He died when she turned 11 years old, an age when her mother took over the Monarchy. On the night he died, she had sworn to, “meet again and I will repay everything you did for me. For me, my mother, my father and my kingdom. Grandpa, you will not be forgotten.” That was the last time she saw this man. The little girl proceeded to find her way through life. All the while, her mind drifted to her parents back home and the fight they constantly had to put up with but she knew that she could not return as the villagers were thirsty for her blood.

“You were my grandfather. I don’t owe you anything.”

“Oh, but you gave me your word. You manifested us meeting again, and today, here we are.”

Black knew she was known to keep her promises. She did have the memory of the old man flash and the promise she sent him off with. “I shall come by tomorrow morning. I need to meet with my Angel first.”

“Your Angel?” it did seem odd to the woman that Black was assigned an Angel.

The Angel returned with Black’s answers, “No, he’s not going to die soon after the operation. However, he is destined to leave earth a few months later.”

“So, that means he will make it to his son’s graduation?”

“Yes.”  Angel taught her how to enter Mpho’s body and become one with her. This was in preparation for her the next day.

Black had gone through her dark night of the soul. She learned a few things and for the first time, she was immune to the demon’s temptations. She came back stronger. The next morning things where back to normal, when she woke up from her bed, her body separated from her soul and stayed rested on the bed. She went into Mpho’s body and combined with her. Mpho could feel her strength increase incredibly. She was amazed she could perform magical things. She was impressed by such power. When they arrived at the woman’s house again, the woman could not recognize them of which was understandable since she was in flesh now. “We will come by tonight again. Maybe then, you will remember me.”

On her way back to Crescent Castle, Mpho was happy to run into her old friend, Mfundi the palm-reader. She saw Mfundi dragging a sack and pacing around. “What is wrong?”

“Mpho! Glad to see you. Hey, you no longer come by for a reading. Has your life improved so much that you don't need my help anymore?”

Mpho was mostly concerned about the man who appeared heavy with thoughts but mostly the baggage he was carrying, “Are you moving?”

“I got kicked out.”

“No… Rent?”

“Yup, people don’t come for readings anymore hence, I don’t make money to pay the bills.” He lamented about how he had no place stay and Mpho was very quick to invite him to the castle. “Um, no. He cannot!” but Black inside of her was not with the idea.

“Oh, you are very welcome. In fact, you can stay for as long as you want,” Mpho was helping the man in. “You don’t even need to pay rent and our breakfast is free.” When Mpho left Mfundi to settle in his new room, she went to the office. In there, Black snatched out of her. Angrily, Black yelled, “This is my castle! You can’t go and bring in every stray cat and homeless man out there!”

“You forget that you found me here, Kanala.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“And besides, you’ve been complaining about lack of service around here. He is a very good cook too and he is a palm reader. He can look into your past and also look into your future!”

Black was sold in on the idea. In fact, they spent the whole day learning about Black’s history. Mfundi had her left hand held in his and began reading her palm. It was agreed that Mfundi would service Black in exchange for boarding and dining in her castle.

Night came and the woman from the other night had found her way back to the castle. Black freed the woman and sent her back home. She went and coated the woman’s home to protect her from the demon.