The Bridge Home

by Matthew Williams

  ***

  As Akiiki gradually came to his senses, he rubbed his eyes gently and found his cheeks damp with cold tears. Opening his eyes, he looked out across the horizon at the orange glow of the rising sun as more tears welled up in his eyes and trickled down his cheeks. With a serene appreciation of nature’s simple beauty, he watched the sun rise for a while before he spoke.

  “I have never seen such a beautiful sunrise,” Akiiki said, turning to Obasi.

  “You have never truly looked,” Obasi replied with a smile.

  “What was that song I heard during my healing?” Akiiki asked.

  “That was the song of love. There are only a few species who still sing the true song of love, for it is a song that takes millennia to compose. Even as of now, the era of man has not yet learned the complexities of its tune. Of course, the hearts of men and women feel love towards those closest to them, but rarely does it extend into a oneness.”

  “A oneness?”

  “All things in this world exist as part of a larger whole. There can be no pleasure without pain, no right without wrong, and without overcoming fear we could never find our inner strength. To find love in your heart is to accept the whole of life, its ‘oneness’. It is not important for you to love everyone. But you must have love for all things.” Obasi explained.

  “How? How can I have love someone like Lael?”

  “You love your mother, don’t you?” Obasi asked.

  “Of course.”

  “Did your mother ever scold you or make you angry?”

  Akiiki nodded.

  “But yet you still love her because in your heart you knew that she loved you and you accepted her even when she scolded or punished you. In this way love is powerful. It is a string that connects us through tough times. This same string connects you not only to Lael, but to all children of mother earth. Our love for others never truly leaves us. Instead, as the winds of life blow around us, our hearts grow cold and it becomes easy to lose love for the world. For a heart that has grown cold, the only remedy is to find love for the oneness within.”

  Akiiki looked at Obasi in the light of the early morning.

  “It’s not the same thing,” Akiiki said, resentment in his tone. “Lael killed my father. I could never forgive him.”

  “Then you will never find your oneness. Forgiveness is not a responsibility you owe to anyone but yourself. To forgive someone who has wronged you is to heal the wounds of your soul. I urge you to make peace with Lael in your heart, not for him but for yourself.”

  “Like he forgave my father?”

  “I know it is difficult,” Obasi said calmly. “But you see what living with such anger did to Lael. In the end he allowed himself not only to lose love for others, but he lost love for himself. There can be no true freedom or power without love, and when you find love for the oneness of not only yourself, but the world, there is no longer anything to fear.”

  The wisdom in Obasi’s voice rumbled through Akiiki’s head like a flood, crashing against walls of doubt. A part of him knew Obasi spoke the truth, but a deeper part of him did not care. The anger inside of him had been a reliable traveling companion and he was not ready for them to go their separate ways.

  “I don’t know if I can,” Akiiki said quietly.

  “Forgiveness is a process. It takes time and patience to forgive someone, but the first step is the hardest. You must make the decision that the person who wronged you is worthy of forgiveness. But you are still young. As you grow into a man I am sure you will learn forgiveness and find love for all in your heart.”

  Obasi passed the fish and water to Akiiki and they ate in silence, and for the first time since he had been kidnapped, Akiiki felt the relief of a full stomach. Knowing they were close to the capital city filled him with excitement as they quickly packed up their belongings and headed out on the last leg of their journey.

  With his recovered strength, Obasi’s pace quickened and Akiiki strode alongside him eagerly, each stride a small promise to himself of a returned life. As they walked, Akiiki thought about his home. The thought of returning to the palace still seemed like a dangerous dream but he found hope buried underneath the danger. The world had changed him, and he was anxious to bring that change back with him, to his mother and sister, and to the kingdom that waited for his return. For the first time in his life, he was not afraid of his responsibility as king. He thought back to his time spent with Lael and the fear he had felt looking into the eyes of the man who had killed his father. Those terrifying nights had hardened him. He had been only a boy when Lael took him from the palace. He gritted his teeth and vowed that he would return a man.

  It was then that he understood. Without Lael he would never have heard the beautiful song of the wind as it blew across the sands, nor would he have felt the earth’s power coursing through his muscles or sung the beautiful song of love. He accepted his fate as a force more powerful than himself and shed the last of his tears for his father. Casting his pain away, his heart was warmed with the memory of his father and he accepted a new truth in his life, forgiveness.

  They made camp as the sun began to set.

  “It shouldn’t be long now,” Obasi said after a sip of water. “The capital city should be no more than a day’s walk, if we keep our pace we should arrive tomorrow.”

  Akiiki looked at Obasi. “Will you stay at the palace with me?”

  “Perhaps for a night. But you have much work to do and I would not want to intrude in the business of the kingdom,” Obasi replied.

  “You could be my advisor,” Akiiki said hopefully. “My father used to say a good king is made great only by great advisors.”

  Obasi smiled.

  “The more you speak of your father the more of him I see in you. He was a wise man. But my place is out here,” he spread his arms wide. “Amongst nature. Amongst the people. I have nothing left to teach you, all that is left is for you to experience the trials of life and face the world as a man.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. Besides, there is little I could help you with in the matters of the kingdom. Now, let’s get some rest. We’ll start early and with any luck, we will make it to the city before nightfall.”

  That night, Akiiki tossed and turned in the sand, anxious to get started on the final leg of their journey. Questions skipped through his head like stones across the calm water of his mind, spreading ripples that scattered his thoughts in a thousand different directions. Unable to sleep, he laid in the sand and waited for the morning to arrive.

  Chapter 5

  THE NEXT MORNING, Akiiki listened to the beautiful melody of the calm morning wind as Obasi stirred by his side and sat up, his face painted with a familiar smile.

  “I take it you are ready,” he said.

  They packed their things and began to walk. The cool morning air quickly gave way to the strength of the midday sun, but the oppressive heat was made bearable by the promise of an end to their journey.

  “There it is,” Obasi whispered as he came to a stop in the hot sand.

  Akiiki strained his eyes as he looked out over the horizon at the endless expanse of sand.

  “Over there,” Obasi said as he pointed inland.

  Akiiki turned his head, and his heart began to beat so quickly he feared it would burst in his chest. Two large doors stood high and proud in the sands, flanked on either side by grey walls that stretched as far as the eye could see.

  His father had taken him only once to see the famed entrance to the capital city, and though he did not remember much about the trip, the sight of the doors was like seeing an old friend. Suddenly he became light-headed as his breath shortened and tears filled his eyes.

  The trek to the capital city seemed to last an eternity, but when they finally reached the gates, Akiiki wished for more time to prepare himself for his return.

  He looked up in awe at the beautiful wooden doors that towered into the sky as th
ey approached. Two rows of guards stood along each door. Akiiki recognized them as royal guards by the fine cloth around their waists. They stood perfectly still, their dark skin defiant against the heat of the sun, with white cloth covering their faces so only their eyes were visible. Without recognition, they watched Akiiki closely as he and Obasi made their way past the doors and into the city.

  Compared to the calm silence of the desert, where the blowing wind sang her song, Akiiki felt lost amongst the low murmur of voices and the movement of people in the city. Making their way through the cobblestone streets, they weaved through the small labyrinth of alleyways that made up the city on their way towards the palace. They passed large square houses that stared down on them with small dark windows, and Akiiki watched as men and women strode past him without a glance. As he studied the people that passed him on the street, he saw fear etched in the lines of their faces.

  They passed small vendors selling lavishly colored fabrics, and foods that filled the air with an aroma that made Akiiki painfully aware of how hungry he was. Men and women laughed and joked outside the walls of their homes and beggars leaned against the walls of houses, their clothes dirty and tattered. A group of children shrieked with delight as they darted through the streets. As Akiiki watched them play, one of the boys fell to the ground in a cloud of dust. When the dust settled, the boy laid on the ground in tears which darkened the sand on his face into mud. A woman rushed over, put her arms around him and kissed him on the forehead. The boy, his face still a mess of damp sand, looked up at her with a big grin and hurried off to rejoin his friends.

  Akiiki smiled.

  As they got closer to the city square and the bridge that led to the palace, the street gradually widened and filled with more and more people. They turned onto one of the larger streets and were suddenly thrust into a current of people all heading in the same direction. The low murmur of the city outskirts was replaced by a roar of voices and commotion.

  “Stay close to me,” Obasi said loudly, turning his head so Akiiki could hear.

  They fought their way through the crowd, until they reached a small vendor. The man behind the wooden table shouted as people walked by, waving his hands in an attempt to stand out amongst the seemingly endless confusion. Obasi spoke to the man and pulled a few round coins out of his pack. He handed them to the man, who piled two handfuls of nuts on a couple of large dead leaves that he handed to Obasi. Obasi passed one to Akiiki and kept the other one for himself. Popping a couple of the warm nuts into his mouth, he looked down at Akiiki.

  “I think we have time for one small meal before you become king,” he said with a smile.

  Akiiki smiled back as he chewed.

  Obasi looked around at the crowded city square. “I always forget how different the city feels,” he said. “In all of my travels I have never found any place quite like it. Tell me, what do you feel here?”

  “I feel…lost. Like the people here do not notice me,” Akiiki said after a slight pause.

  “Do not blame them. Just like the brush, the city is a difficult place, though its challenges are different than those of the brush. Finding food and water is what drives those living in the brush, while in the city, food and water are plentiful, but they are not without cost. A hunter’s goal is clear, to provide a meal for his family. In this way there is little distraction when the hunter sets out on a hunt. In the city however, there are many distractions to providing a meal for a family. In this chaos people must block out the noise and distractions around them and focus on themselves, or they risk going hungry. Finding your way through life when the path ahead of you is hidden amongst the weeds, can be as difficult as when you see the path clearly, but it is littered with thorns.”

  “And my path, will it be littered with thorns?” Akiiki asked.

  “None sharper or more dangerous than the ones you have already encountered. No one who finds their path in life will walk it without incident, but choosing a journey through life means progress, and progress leads to fulfillment, which is what we all truly seek.”

  Akiiki thought back to all that he had been through on his journey. The fear he felt the night Lael had stormed into the palace, the daze of his first day in the brush. He remembered the anger and resentment of the nights spent around the fire with Lael and his men, as well as the relief of safely escaping with Obasi.

  Then his memory turned to his visions and his new understanding of the world, the freedom of flying high above the desert sands as the wind sang to him, the power of the earth under his feet that spoke to him through every muscle, and the panic he felt as fear turned the world around him into chaos. Finally, he remembered the song of love. As the memory strengthened, he yearned to hear it again, to become lost in its enduring notes.

  A man yelled behind him, forcing him to retreat from his memories and back to the hustle of the city. He turned to Obasi.

  “How can anyone listen to nature in a place like this?”

  Obasi smiled. “Many in the city never hear nature’s calling, they spend their lives afraid, unable to silence the world around them. But it is not the world you must learn silence, it is your own thoughts. You have learned the way of listening, but it is a skill you must practice every day. Learn to silence your mind and nature’s lessons will never lead you astray.”

  They finished the rest of their nuts in silence and dropped their leaves onto the ground. With only a glance between them, Obasi and Akiiki made their way deeper into the city square.

  The city ended on a tall rocky cliff overlooking the ocean below. On either side of the square, houses lined the cliff, precariously perched against the rocky edge. Only a small wall separated the city square from the dangers of the cliff, and as they came upon it, Akiiki gasped with excitement.

  In the middle of the wall was a small opening with one guard on either side. Akiiki’s eyes followed the opening as it became a long bridge that stretched out across the ocean below and ended at the island palace. They slowly approached the guards, who eyed them suspiciously. Akiiki hoped for any glimmer of recognition but looking down at the dirty cloth wrapped around his waist, he realized he barely recognized himself. His hands were rough, and his skin had weathered under the strength of the sun.

  “No one enters,” the larger of the two guards said.

  “You would deny your own King entry to the palace?” Obasi said, his voice strong and defiant.

  Akiiki saw the doubt in their eyes as both guards turned to look at him. The smaller guard moved closer and looked Akiiki in the face. Slowly, his eyes grew wide as the hard lines of his face softened with recognition. He glanced at his partner and nodded.

  “My apologies my King, I did not recognize you,” the man said quietly as they both dropped to their knees and bowed their heads.

  Behind him, Akiiki could hear the rumbling whispers of intrigue as the crowd of people around him watched curiously. He put a hand on the man’s shoulder and the man looked up at him.

  “It is not your fault. I hardly recognize myself.”

  The man stood up. “Follow me, my King,”

  The two men led him and Obasi on the long walk over the bridge. As they moved further away from the city, a knot of anticipation and excitement clenched Akiiki’s stomach.

  When they reached the end of the bridge, Akiiki felt all the strength flush from his body as he looked up the small sloping hill that led to the palace doors. His mother and sister stood together, looking down at him.

  “Aki!” Esi yelled, as she ran down the hill toward him. They embraced each other with outstretched arms, and tears fell from their eyes into the grass at their feet as they laughed and cried in each other’s arms, and love’s beautiful song comforted them with its tender embrace.

  “I missed you so much,” she said, sobbing into his chest.

  “I missed you too,” he said, gently kissing her on the forehead.

  He looked up towards his mother, who dropped to her knees
in tears.

  “Come on,” he said in Esi’s ear. Her strong grip around his waist loosened slowly, and hand in hand, they ran up towards their mother. They crashed into her together, a wave of love and longing.

  “I thought I had lost you,” his mother said, tears streaming down her face. “Let me look at you.”

  She cupped his face with both hands and the gleam in her dark eyes reminded Akiiki of the stars in the night sky as she admired him. The force of her gaze reduced Akiiki to tears once again as she pulled him close.

  “Thank the gods you are all right. I prayed every night that I might see you again,” she said.

  The sound of footsteps approached at Akiiki’s back, and his mother kissed him on the cheek before standing.

  “Are you the one responsible for returning my son to me?” she asked.

  Akiiki turned around and saw Obasi standing in front of her, one guard on either side of him.

  Obasi bowed his head. “I simply showed him the way my Queen.”

  His mother gently placed her finger under Obasi’s chin and raised his head. “Please, if anyone should be showing respect it is me. My name is Safiya,” she reached her hand out towards Obasi.

  Obasi grabbed her hand in his. “Thank you, my Queen, I am truly honored by your gratitude. When I heard about the death of the king my heart broke a hundred ways. I am grateful fate made it possible for me to perform my duty to you and your family after such a tragedy.”