by Iram Dana
She stood up slowly, supporting herself on her thin arms and legs. It was only when she stood up that Rain realized how much taller she was than him. She was literally towering over him.
“So, do we have a deal?” she asked, flicking her tongue out again as she looked down at him.
Rain wanted to speak but his jaw seemed to have locked itself up. She was too close for comfort, and he felt his composure slipping a notch. He felt a soft, feathery touch on his shoulder and looked to his right. His Geeya stood there, smiling reassuringly at him. She nodded at him when their eyes met; telling him not to be afraid and Rain felt the muscles in his jaw loosen and some of his fear lessen. He was not alone in this.
“What do you want me to do?” he asked, modulating his voice carefully so that it gave away none of the fear he felt.
“I want you to go the Queen Mother. She has just given birth to her young. When she gives birth, she regurgitates a very special stone … the Nahla…” hissed Kaami, looking manically excited at the mere mention of the word.
“That stone has enormous magical powers. That, and that alone, can break the curse on me. It will remain outside of her body for the next twenty-four hours. Get me the Nahla. With it, I can choose to either become fully human, or fully a snake, and then … I can die in peace.”
“What will you choose to be, once you have the Nahla?” inquired Rain, wanting to be sure he had all the facts before he entered into a deal with a damned creature.
She looked at him slyly with her slit-like eyes.
“Now, I am more animal than human. I can never fit into the human world again…” she hissed softly.
So she would choose to become an animal. Rain tried to analyze how he felt about that and failed, given his current circumstance and the pressure he was under.
“So tell me, sequestor!” she growled, angry all of a sudden. “Will you do it? Will you bring me the Nahla? In return, I will give you the wisdom that you seek.”
“All right.” said Rain, finally. “I will bring you the stone. But in return I want you to promise me two things. The first is my wisdom, and the second is my complete safety.”
She gave him an evil smile.
“Of course, sequestor. I promise you … you will be safe at the Queen Mother’s.
“That’s not what I meant.” said Rain, understanding her game perfectly. “I want you to promise that you will not harm me.”
“Mercy me! You cannot possibly be saying that you are afraid of me?” she said mockingly.
Rain knew she had him trapped with those words. He could not admit he was afraid of her and thus expose his vulnerability; neither could he say that he wasn’t, for in that case she would simply say that if that was the case, then he didn’t need any guarantee for his safety. He wisely decided to drop the matter and pursue another topic instead.
“Where does the Queen Mother live?”
“Do you see the winding path that leads down from this mountain?” said Kaami, pointing to a dirt path. Rain followed the direction her finger was pointing to.
“Yes.”
“Just follow that. Her cave will fall along the way, to the left.”
“How will I recognize it as the Queen Mother’s cave?”
“It is fairly easy to recognize. Her cave is made entirely of bones … human bones.”
She didn’t need to tell him that, he knew. She was trying to scare him. Rain was sure of that now. And it seemed like she fed on it, because each time she made a remark like this, she would flick her tongue out and taste the air, looking excited. He would not let her do this to him, vowed Rain. He would not let her scare or intimidate him.
“All right. Wait for me here. I will be back with the Nahla as soon as I can.”
“I will go nowhere sequestor. This … I promise.” she said, taunting him as he turned to leave.
Rain hurriedly made his way down the long and winding path. He didn’t trust Kaami one bit, but he had no choice. He needed a wisdom and he was certain that she was the one who had it.
He had been walking for almost two hours when the path he had been following so far widened dramatically. Flowering plants surrounded either side of the path and painted an unlikely, yet highly pretty, picture. Some distance off, Rain saw two silver-scaled young snakes slither past. Suddenly, an eagle swooped down on them and captured one snake in each talon. It rose into the air again, taking its prey with it. Rain reacted swiftly. Before the eagle could fly out of sight, he drew out his bow and arrow and shot the eagle in its leg. The bird screeched and dropped the baby snakes. Rain ran forward to catch them before they hit the ground, his instincts telling him that it would be wise to show kindness to these young snakes.
For the rest of the way, Rain carried the two young snakes with him. Sometime later, he finally saw the cave. It was to the left of the path and made entirely of bones, just as Kaami had said. Human bones, if Kaami was to be believed, but they seemed too small to Rain to actually be human bones.
The cave was enormous and daunting. Rain stopped at its mouth, wondering if there was some way he could avoid entering it altogether and extract the wisdom from Kaami by some other means. His mind raced in all directions, but came up with no solutions. Eventually, he admitted with a sigh that he would just have to face whatever lay inside that cave. Rain took a deep breath to brace himself and then slowly made his way inside the cave. His nerves were taut and he was prepared to bolt at the slightest instigation. But as he went deeper into the cave, it only got brighter instead of getting darker; feeling less and less threatening, if that was possible.
Soon, he started encountering tiny silver-scaled snakes the same as the one’s he had rescued. The snakes wriggled out of his way quickly whenever he was near enough. Their numbers kept on increasing until there was no space left on the ground where Rain could put his feet without stepping on one or more of the tiny snakes. Several of them were biting and snapping at his shoes but thankfully, none of them had any teeth yet.
“Are these the Queen Mother’s babies?” said Rain to his Geeya.
“Yes, these are her children. Do not step on them. It will not bode well for you if any of them die under your feet.”
Rain now took double the precaution he had taken earlier and gingerly placed his feet forward. Finally, it became impossible for him to move further at all and Rain halted, looking down helplessly at the twisting, wriggling bodies at his feet.
“What do I do now? I can’t move forward at all.”
“Wait here then, for the Queen Mother to come to you.”
“How will she know I am here? Should I call out for her?”
“She knew you were here the moment you took the first step into this cave.”
Rain swallowed, not sure whether that was good news or bad news. The good thing was, she had known he was here all along and still hadn’t come to eat him. The bad thing was, by now he was trapped in his place and if she changed her mind and decided to eat him now …
Rain dismissed these contemplations from his mind. It would not help his cause if his body locked itself from fear and he became the cause of his own death.
He stood there, waiting for the Queen Mother to make her appearance, while studying the interior of the bright cave. The bones this deep were all fused together to form one big solid mass. White structures like stalactites were protruding from the ceiling but since it was not cold enough to form ice here, Rain understood them to be made of bone. He couldn’t fathom though, how they could have melted to form those structures.
He was caught up in his thoughts when the mass of snakes on the ground below began to squeal and hiss, moving towards the sides of the cave as though clearing a path between them. Rain looked at his Geeya questioningly.
“The Queen mother is coming. Be careful now, Rain.”
Rain licked his lips nervously and nodded. He could hear her scales brushing against each other with a soft chhah-chhah sound as she slithered towards him, coming closer and closer until out of th
e darkness beyond emerged an enormous silver head.
“Duck!” cried his Geeya, and Rain instantly fell to the floor, flattening his body on the ground. Above him, two jets of white smoke billowed out of the Queen Mother’s nostrils, melting the bone on the ceiling.
Rain now understood what was causing the stalactites to form. He spoke from his thoughts directly to his Geeya.
‘Is she breathing out fire?’
‘No, that is her venom. When too much of it collects in her venom sac, she blows it out as steam. You would have melted if it had touched you. That’s why I told you to duck.’
‘Thanks.’
The Queen Mother gave a low growl that rumbled through the cave.
“What brings you here, human?” she asked in a clear, glass-like voice which bounced off the cave walls.
Rain got up slowly and put down the two young snakes he had rescued.
“Queen mother, forgive the intrusion… but I am on a Quest, and I require the Nahla. I would be extremely grateful to you if you would let me have it.” said Rain, not bothering with trivialities and coming straight to the point.
He kept his head bent low respectfully, waiting for her to speak. She swayed slightly and Rain flinched, but stood his ground.
“The Nahla has unimaginable powers, human. And in the wrong hands, it can wreak havoc. Do you have any idea what you are asking for?” she said, bending her enormous head so she could peer directly into his eyes. Rain looked straight at the enormous jade-green orbs, sparkling like jewels in her silver head.
“I do not wish to gain it for personal use. Neither do I plan to use it to cause harm to another.” He said.
He wisely refrained from mentioning the actual reason he wanted the stone. Right now, he wasn’t sure how she would respond once she came to know that he needed it to break a curse the she herself had put.
“I sense in you a truth … a purity of purpose.Very well, human. I shall let you have the stone …”
“You will?” asked Rain, looking up with disbelief, thinking this had been too easy.
“… but only for a little while. You may not keep it for your own. Once you have finished your work you must come back at once and return the stone to me.”
“You have my word. As soon as my work is done, I will come and return your stone.” promised Rain.
She retreated into the depths of her cave and emerged a while later, holding a silver parcel in her mouth. She dropped the parcel at Rain’s feet.
“You have not mentioned to me why you need the stone exactly.” she began, and Rain felt the brushings of cold fear in his limbs. “But it’s all right. You do not have the black mark of the evil on your forehead, so I know that you will not use it to cause harm.” she continued and Rain almost sagged to the floor with relief. “This is for you, sequestor. Use it wisely.” she said, nudging the parcel forward.
Rain bent down to pick up the parcel and then opened the layers of the soft, scaly material of silver color. The stone was inside, white as milk and with sharp spikes surrounding it. Rain lifted it from its silvery bed, afraid to hold it too tightly for fear of piercing his fingers with the spikes.
“Thank-you, Queen Mother.” he said, bowing low and slipping the stone into his belt pocket.
“You may keep my skin, too. Consider it a gift for saving my young. Use it as an armor. Nothing can pierce an armor made of my skin.”
She must have moulted recently, thought Rain, gratefully accepting the skin. He walked out of the cave with the silver skin bundled into a small parcel and tucked under his arm and hurriedly made his way back to Kaami. It was a long walk back and Rain wanted to finish his job here before the sun set and it got dark. He remembered then that he had to return the stone to the Queen Mother once he was done with it, and broke into a jog.
When he was only a few feet away from Kaami’s cave, Rain stopped to catch his breath. From his pocket, he drew out a flask of water that he always carried with himself and took several large gulps of water. Once his breathing was fairly even, he walked up to her.
She was waiting for him outside, as promised, wriggling and dragging herself on the rocky ground restlessly. The minute she saw him approach, she stood up with a hungry, greedy look in her eyes. She eyed the parcel tucked under his arms with open lust.
“I don’t believe it! You actually managed to get the Nahla from the Queen Mother!” she exclaimed, clapping her hands gleefully. She looked at him in amazement. “What is special about you, sequestor?” she mused aloud, and then lunged forward without waiting for an answer.
“Give it me. Give it to me!” she said, swiping the air, trying to grab it from Rain.
Rain backed away immediately, out of the reach of her greedy hands.
“Not so soon, Kaami. First the wisdom, and then the stone.” he said, firmly clutching the parcel tightly.
The stone wasn’t inside the parcel, of course, but she didn’t need to know that.
“Is that the Queen Mother’s skin? Why did she give it to you?” asked Kaami, eyeing the silver skin suspiciously.
“Yes, it is the Queen Mother’s skin. And why she gave it to me is none of your business. Now, keep your promise and give me the wisdom.” said Rain, eager to get the job over and done with already.
“Where is the stone? Show it to me first.” demanded Kaami.
Rain cast a wary glance at her and then opened the silver parcel slowly, stealthily slipping the stone between its layers along the way. The moment Kaami set her eyes on the stone she began to sway in glee, dripping green saliva from the corners of her mouth.
“At last! At last!” she chanted to herself over and over again and then fell to the ground. “Follow me.” she said to Rain, and began to writhe towards the mouth of the tunnel.
“Why?” asked Rain, his suspicions about her motives heightening.
“Come.” she beckoned, entering the mouth of the dark tunnel.
“Why are we going inside?” he persisted.
“You do want your wisdom?” she said over her shoulder.
“Well, yeah. But you could give that to me out here, too.”
“Your wisdom is inside. Come …” she hissed, already disappearing within the dark recesses of the tunnel.
Rain looked at his Geeya, unsure of what to do next.
“Look,” said his Geeya, “if you don’t feel that confident going in just like that you could put on the armor given to you by the Queen Mother. Besides, in case you should need it, you have your bow and arrow too.”
“Armor?” asked Rain, puzzled.
She pointed to the silver skin.
“Oh, right. Yeah, I think I will.” he said, wrapping his torso with the crude but incredibly light armor. Then he followed Kaami into the tunnel.
As they walked in silence, Rain realized that this was the first time his Geeya had suggested an idea to him on his Quest.
‘Hey, wait a minute. You just helped me on my Quest. I thought you were forbidden from doing that?’
‘I did not help you on your Quest. I merely suggested a way for you to protect yourself.’
Rain’s spirits fell.
‘I see.’
And Rain did. But there was a bright spark to this, too. This meant that there were loopholes in a Geeya’s clause against helping one’s sequestor out on their Quest. Rain made a mental note to exploit this the next time.
They walked on and on, with Kaami leading him through an endless maze of twisting and turning passageways. Rain repeatedly looked at his Geeya who was the only source of light in here, glowing like a dull red beacon. The deeper Kaami led him, the more dank and smelly the air became and Rain was finding it increasingly difficult to breathe. She finally led him into a large cavernous place and by then, Rain was panting and sweating because of the lack of fresh air.
The cave was fairly large, dark and damp. Several piles of skulls and human bones were visible to Rain and a putrid smell wafted all around him. Kaami came to a halt in the middle of the cave and t
hen turned to face him.
“The stone …” she hissed softly, standing up and holding out her hand for it.
Rain shook his head. “I told you, the wisdom first.”
She stared at him with those dead, glassy eyes. “All right. It doesn’t matter either ways now…”
He wondered what she meant by that but didn’t want to distract her now, when she was finally going to give him his wisdom.
“The wisdom I am giving you, sequestor, is this … never … ever … trust anybody …” she said, dragging out each word slowly.
Rain looked at his chain. It showed no response.
“This isn’t the one I’m looking for.” said Rain
“I haven’t finished saying it.”
She smiled widely and from the gap between her front teeth Rain saw two fangs descending slowly. Fear formed a cold knot in his chest.
“Well, say it quickly then.” said Rain, trying to conceal his nervousness behind impatience.
Kaami’s tongue flicked out twice, licking the air and filling Rain with dread.
“Never trust anybody … with all your secrets … ever.” she said, emphasizing the last word with a bang of her fist against her palm. “No matter who they are, or how much you love them, or how you are related to them, etc. etc. you get the drift?”
Rain looked at the chain on his neck. A single claw was now glowing.
“All right, this is it. Now use the stone to break the curse quickly and then return it to me. I promised the Queen Mother I would give it back to her once my work was finished.”
Kaami gave a little jerk of surprise.
“Give it back to the Queen Mother? You mean… you didn’t kill her?” she asked, lowering her gaze so he wouldn’t be able to read her emotions.
“Kill her? Why would I kill her? I asked her to let me borrow the stone and she agreed.”
“Oh …” said Kaami, looking intensely disappointed.
“It’s just that, when you got the stone, I thought you had … never mind. It’s not a problem.” said Kaami, abruptly closing the topic and a suspicion dawned on Rain.
