by Emil Toth
Pauli directed them to show their palms, and she raised hers along with the others, indicating they came in peace. The paddlers angled the canoe to the shore. The crowd was unusually quiet.
In the crowd, Ravi spotted the lovely, blond-haired woman and could not believe his eyes. She was his sister incarnate, lovely, graceful and alive. The woman had to be his sister’s daughter abducted some twenty years ago. There could be no other explanation for the similarity. The foreigners came ashore and introductions were made between the foreigners and the two councilmen and chief council and the two priests and their families, using the common language. He waited until all the formal greetings were over and saw his opportunity. He quickly moved to Ashlee and presented himself to her. He greeted her tentatively, “Ashlee, is it you?”
She was shocked to hear her name called by a Nubilon. She saw a much older version of her light-haired uncle.
“Is it you, Uncle Ravi?”
“It is me my child.”
She threw herself on him weeping, while those around them stood shocked at them hugging. It was a long time before she released him.
Her voice shook. “I was hoping you would be alive. I did not know what happened to you and Aunt Yara.”
“I do not have much time to talk to you now. Soon you and your party will be entertained and fed by our council and priests. The moment it is over I want you to come to stay with me. I shall be waiting for you outside the assembly hall. We have a lifetime to talk about and a thousand questions to ask and answer.”
They hugged again and she left him.
At the formal dinner, Ashlee was still excited at seeing her uncle but never felt comfortable and wondered why. While the council and the priests were friendly. She noticed their wives and children seldom spoke. She was used to meals in Kahali, where everyone had something to say. As she thought it over, she felt she had discovered the reason why she felt unsettled. She made a note to herself to speak to Kaathi and see if she had a similar reaction.
At an appropriate time, Ashlee excused herself from the dinner group and explained why she was leaving. She looked for and found her uncle’s face in the crowd surrounding the large assembly hut. His face had a strong resemblance to her mother’s. They hugged again and walked to her uncle’s hut, with her clinging to him. People gawked at her as they made their way through the village. She sat down with him in the privacy of his home and was eager to ask the dozens of questions darting around in her head.
She started the conversation. “I never thought I would ever see you again. When I was a slave, I tried to keep Mother and Father in my memory. Too often my memory would shift to the horror of the terrible day they were killed.”
His eyes filled with compassion as he spoke, “It had to be a horrible burden to bear. My friend, Devra, told me your father was killed trying to protect you and your mother.”
“Devra, the name sounds familiar.”
“She lived next to you.”
“She told me your mother and you were abducted.”
“It is how I remember it.”
“Do you know what happened to my beloved twin sister?”
“Oh my goodness, I forgot you and Mother were twins. No wonder you remind me of her. I do recall there were only a few light haired people among our tribe.
“Thank God you are alive. I have lived the horrific day over and over in my mind countless times. I remember them killing father and dragging us away. They carried us and still outran our men. After seeing them kill father I was terrified. Mother kept calling to me saying she loved me. It did not help me. The mutants traveled through the night. The next day they must have felt they had outdistanced our men, for our terror began anew. A mutant was about to assault me and mother hurled herself at him in an effort to save me. He threw her to the ground, pulled his machete and he beheaded her. Her head rolled from her body, and I screamed and screamed and cried and moaned until there was nothing left inside me.”
She stopped to emotionally gather herself. She had told the story often and was surprised she still exhibited emotion relating the horrible event. She continued her story, “I screamed, kicked, bit and hit the mutant attacking me. It did nothing to deter his savagery. He ravaged me over and over again. I had lost my mind for I do not remember much afterwards. For the next three years what I remember the most is the lightning storms. I regained my mind after those years by having to take care of the mutant’s newborn daughter.”
“I am sorry you had to live through such horror and brutality, my dear.”
“I am too.”
“You do not have to share all of the horrible things you had to live through.”
“I appreciate your consideration. I have shared my story many times and much of the terror is gone.”
“Why did the mutant mother not take care of her child?”
“I am not sure. All I know is the child saved my mind.”
“And you were a slave for eighteen years before you escaped?”
“Yes.”
“My days in the mutant camp were a series of horrific nightmares from which I could not awaken.” She stopped again to compose herself. “The only thing keeping me alive was the mutant child, Gwen. What little love I had, I gave to Gwen. I think what kept me alive was thinking of her, even as I was being raped repeatedly. I vowed I was not going to die a slave and be subject to barbaric behavior for the rest of my life. I planned my escape for a year, and, while I was, I was having dreams and visions of Kaathi.”
“The Kaathi you came here with?”
“Yes.”
“She sounds psychic.”
“She is.”
“Did you have any confrontations with predators during your escape?”
“I did. I had run out of water and I ran into some water buffalo and knew they liked water. I tried to circle them and ran into three lions. They spotted me and were in the act of attacking me… Miraculously, the buffalo chased them away and did not trample me. It took a long time to stop shaking and get to the water.”
“You were indeed lucky. It is well known the buffalo and lions are enemies. Do you recall how many days you were on the savannah?”
“I am not sure. I do remember running out of water on the ninth day.”
“It is utterly amazing you could survive alone on the plains.”
“If it were not for Kaathi, I would not be talking to you. She knew where I fell down to die.”
She shook her head. “Tell me everything you remember about Mother and Father. Do I look like Mother?”
“Yes. I could not believe my eyes. The moment I saw you I knew it had to be you. There are only a few women with blond hair in Nubilon.”
“I always hoped I looked like her. Tell me what Mother and Father were like and what they did.”
“Of course my child. Their roles were probably similar to people in any village. Your father did not have a prominent skill so he hunted to supply meat for the meals and your mother gathered fruits, nuts and vegetables from the communal farm. Our religion influenced everyone’s lives. Like most every man your father dominated his home. Our women are given little respect. We are extremely jealous of our women and yet, we treat them as sex objects. I am puzzled how it is alright for us to fornicate with jezebels and treat our women like them. Yet a woman is forbidden to talk or look at a man. It is a senseless standard. If a married woman looks at another man, she is beaten. Many a woman has been caught innocently interacting with a man and been beaten viciously by her husband, brother or father. My sister, your mother, was a free spirit, and when your father was not around, she demonstrated it and taught it to you. Had your father known what your mother was teaching you, he would have been upset and beaten her.
“Had I been a more traditional man, I would have surely told him what your mother was doing. Thankfully, I was a great deal like your mother. If I remember correctly my mother was rebellious and father had a rough time controlling her, but he never treated her wrongly. Being twins and growing
up, there were many things binding us together. I loved her a great deal and could not stand to see her hurt. I cannot tell you how many times I spoke to your father about his mistreatment of your mother.”
Ashlee’s eyes showed she was trying to search for some way to forgive her father for his mistreatment of her mother. Her whole concept of her parents was shattered.
“Why did my father and our people stumble and fall? How did our religion go wrong?”
“I am not sure. It might be, in the past, one of our priest’s went crazy from something his wife did or one of them was influenced by some men. Heaven only knows my dear.”
“Ever since Kaathi rescued me, she has reinforced what I always knew.”
“What was it my dear?”
“I have worth and I am equal to any man.”
Ravi nodded his head. “Kaathi must be an extraordinary woman.”
“Uncle, she is the most gifted person I know.”
“Gifted, in what way? Religiously?”
“She is not religious; she is spiritual and loving.”
Her uncle scratched his beard concertedly. “I believe I know what you are saying. My friend, Amira, is spiritual. Your life and mine changed forever on the dark day the mutants raided our village. I never saw what happened to you and your parents. We lived too far away from each other. I can only tell you what happened to your aunt and me. The mutants struck unexpectedly. The mutants must have surprised our outer guards and killed them, for there was no warning of their attack. One moment I was asleep the next I heard screaming and shouting. They threw a torch at our house. Fortunately, it did not land on the roof; it came through our entrance. I grabbed it and threw it at a mutant. Your aunt was at my side with my long blade. I used my spear and wounded one of them. Three of them charged us. Your aunt had my long blade and was swinging it at them while I jabbed. We wounded two of them. We fought to save our lives. Though she resisted valiantly, the mutants were a relentless horde of hyenas. She paid for her resistance with her life. In defending her, I was struck several times. One of the blows severed my arm and another knocked me unconscious. They left me on the ground for dead.”
He automatically grabbed the stump of his arm, which was severed above the elbow. The finger long scar on his head which rendered him unconscious was clearly visible.
“The mutants fled with many of our screaming women and children. Our men gave chase but could not keep up with them. Many days later I recovered consciousness and was told you and your mother were abducted and your father killed.”
Ravi’s eyes focused on the past and he grew silent.
“Amira, the widow of my good friend, lived next door. She found me lying in a pool of my own blood. She told me she tied my arm above where it was severed and stopped any further loss of blood. She dragged me into my house, lit a fire, heated a knife and cauterized my severed arm. She tended to the rest of my wounds, the most serious of those being the blow to my head, which had rendered me unconscious. I was delirious for nine days. The tenth day my fever broke, and I was on the road to recovery. Seeing your aunt killed broke me. Frankly, without Amira, I never would have been able to restore my mind and body.
“As my mind began working properly, I remembered pieces of my experiences. From what I recalled, I had meetings and conversations with someone in the afterlife. Every day of my recovery, I remembered more and more of those talks. They literally changed the way I viewed my life and my interactions with others. Before nearly dying, my attitude and character were shaped by my religious beliefs. I believed women were inferior to men on some levels before my experience, afterward, I came to have a different view of life based upon those talks.
“Every time I was able to focus for a moment or two, I saw Amira by my side. She lovingly attended to me. Like you, with Kaathi, I have Amira to thank for my life.
“At one of our long talks, she told me, the mutants had driven an axe into her husband’s head. She was unable to accept the loss and spoke openly and often to God. Long after she asked her first question she had dialogs with someone without form, at least the female voice never represented herself in form. Her perspective of life changed well before mine. We spent many days together in heartfelt conversation and I learned a great deal from her. I came to respect her and all women far more than before the attack.
“I slowly sensed something else about Amira. She had an energy no one else had in Nubilon, at least no one I knew. In her presence, I felt comfortable and at peace. There were times we sat in each other’s company and did not need to talk.”
He thought a moment. “Have you had a similar experience with Kaathi?”
“There were many times we sat in silence or in a meditative state.”
“I think Amira would like to meet Kaathi. I failed to mention there are two other women who have come into my life. The four of us get together to discuss things and sit in silent prayer. Do you think Kaathi would mind meeting them?”
“Not in the least.”
“What was life like among the mutants?”
She had told the story dozens of times to help others faced with terror and brutality. She did not hesitate to relate her eighteen years of slavery among the mutants and of her escape and near recapture. She spoke of her time with Kaathi and the planed adventure to visit her home village.
CHAPTER THIRTY
The group from Kahali were conversing with the Nubilon council and priests. During the talk, Ashlee managed to convince Zafir, the head of the council, she and Kaathi were best hosted by her uncle. Caleb was hosted by Zafir, while Pauli stayed with one council member and Sandor the other. The informal meeting concluded and Ashlee and Kaathi excused themselves, saying they wanted to talk with Ashlee’s uncle, Ravi. He was waiting for them, along with three women, outside his house.
Ashlee introduced Kaathi to her uncle.
“I am sure you do not remember these ladies. They are Amira, Devra and Nena, my dearest friends,” announced Ravi to Ashlee. The women greeted each other with embraces, and he hugged them as well. They made their way to Ravi’s home.
The moment they were settled, Ashlee spoke, “Uncle we convinced Zafir to let us stay with you.”
“I am delighted. It is my pleasure to host you and to tell you how strange this is to be talking to all of you women. Before my near death, I never would have dreamed of sitting down and discussing anything with a woman. Primarily because it is frowned upon by our religion.
“I am fortunate I am an old man and I am widowed, otherwise I would not be allowed to talk to these wonderful women.”
“We do thank you, uncle for hosting us.” Ashlee looked at the ladies “I hope you do not mind me asking, why is it necessary you women cover your body, head and much of your face?”
Amira answered, “Our religion dictates it.”
“It seems strange to be covered in this heat.”
“I feel the same as you. Even so, I do not want to go against our religion and be beaten,” responded Amira.
Unable to comprehend such strange restrictions, Ashlee shook her head.
Kaathi abruptly stood. “Amira, would you mind taking a walk with me?”
Amira looked at her friends as if to ask if it was acceptable to leave with the mystic. No one voiced an objection.
“I would love to walk with you.”
Amira rose and the two left Ravi’s house. Ashlee and the others watched them leave each wondering about the urgent need for Kaathi to be alone with Amir.
“I found your request unusual. We all just met you and you separated us from them. Why would you do it?”
“I wanted to talk to you alone and the day is so beautiful I did not want to be cooped up inside.”
Amira half-heartedly accepted her explanation.
“Are there any married women interested in meeting with your group?” asked Kaathi.
“We have talked privately with some friends but they have some reservations. None of them want to upset their husbands and if they found
out what we are discussing their men would beat them.”
“Have you approached other widows?”
“We have. Three are leaning towards attending.”
A lull in the conversation found Kaathi locking her arm with Amira’s at the elbow. Amira smiled at the familiarity. A man in his fifties was walking their way and stopped the moment he saw them and watched angrily as they approached. His graying beard touched his chest and his hair was longer than most other men. His deeply tanned face was fissured and thin. He glared at them in open anger and blocked their way
“Why is your arm locked with this infidel?”
“What concern is it of yours?”
“Because she is dressed abominably and looks like a jezebel. Her arms are uncovered. She is exposing her legs and her belly.”
He was so enraged spittle trickled out of his mouth. “She is indecent and openly asking to have intercourse with any and all men.”
His eyes were red with anger. He pointed his finger at Kaathi and shouted at her, “It is evil women like you that cause men to go astray.”
He waved his finger accusingly at her. “You are the devil incarnate and should be beaten to death. If I were younger, I would throttle you myself right here.”
Throughout his tirade, Kaathi kept sending him love. She finally spoke, “My dear brother, it is not what the eye sees that is offensive; it is what the mind has been taught that is offensive.”
Kaathi tugged at Amira’s arm and they made their way around the enraged man.
Not recognizing the truth in the mystic’s words, he spit after them. “You will burn in the fires of hell!”
Amira turned to take a last look at the raving man. “I apologize for his behavior.”
“No need to, Amira.”
They walked along in silence until Amira stopped and looked into the mystic’s eyes. “You deliberately wanted to walk because of the conversation back at the house about how women must dress. Am I right?”
Kaathi smiled. “You are perceptive as well as beautiful.”
