Darkly Rising

by J. D. Matheny

  “Well, it’s over now,” Thomas said. “He’s gone. We watched him be destroyed, the old woman must have told you that, as well.”

  “Yes, a great victory. It is amazing that you are here to talk of it. To defeat a true God, there will be generations of my people that speak of it. Daucina’s defeat. If a God can ever truly be destroyed, I should say.”

  “He looked pretty much destroyed to us. I think we can all sleep easy tonight,” Thomas said.

  “Yes, I hope so. And my family’s pride helped with this, I hope?” He gestured toward the heavy, wooden club in Sophie’s hand.

  “As much as anything else, I suppose. It did feel good to use it.” Thomas left out that the club was essentially useless.

  “That is good! My ancestors will smile to know it. I will hang it back on my wall in its place of honor.” He held out his hand toward Sophie, who passed over the thick club. “And the lantern too, if I might just look?”

  Sophie paused. “Actually, I was planning on keeping that, to have its own place of honor on my wall back home.”

  “Yes, of course. You should have it, you’ve earned it! I only desire to look. It came from the Bure Kalou on Daucina’s island, yes?”

  “That’s right,” Thomas said, handing over the lantern.

  As soon as it was passed over, Kai began to squirm and whimper. Chief Josefa held it in front of his face and peered into the small flame. Kai’s whimpers grew to a plaintive cry.

  The Chief’s eyes moved from the flame back to the distraught baby. Slowly, he handed it back to Thomas, his eyes narrowing slightly as the baby settled back down instantly.

  “For now, Noni has told me the story and you have confirmed it. She suggests that we have a ceremony to honor you and your young child.” He watched Kai for a moment longer, then turned his attention back toward the others. “Please, feel welcome to explore the village while we prepare food and Kava for you. We can be ready in an hour’s time.”

  Sophie frowned. “That’s very kind of you, Chief Josefa, but we really are very tired, and my brother needs to return to the main island to find a doctor. His injury is worse than he lets on.”

  Chief Josefa’s eyes moved to Thomas’s face, noting the blood-soaked shirt and the way the left side of Thomas’s mouth drooped.

  “We would be happy to treat your wounds here, Thomas. Our healer is skilled. It would be our honor and you will be finished by the time the ceremony is ready. Please, this is a momentous time for us.”

  With that, he gestured to a small man standing meekly at the steps of the church, who trotted forward and dipped his head in a silent greeting.

  “This is John, he is our priest and our healer. Please go with him, Thomas. He will take very good care of you.”

  Thomas looked at Sophie with his one exposed eye. “Maybe it’s for the best, sis. The sooner this is looked at, the better. Why don’t you and Lomate walk around for a bit, try to enjoy yourselves. The scary part is over.”

  Sophie didn’t like it, but she smiled in response and watched Thomas be led up the steps of the church and through the large wooden door.

  As the door closed behind him, a tickle of panic itched at the back of her mind. For a moment, she was sure she would never see her brother again. Then she brushed the thought aside as paranoia and followed Lomate back toward the boat.

  4

  They spent the better part of the next hour walking through the pleasant water, doing their best to stay cool under the early afternoon sun. The sky was mostly clear and the weather hot. Lomate had suggested that they find a nice palm tree to sit under for shade, but Sophie refused. She didn’t want to say it, but she felt better staying by the boat and further away from the village. She told him that she preferred the beautiful waters, that she would get a chance to have such an experience again for some time, but the truth was simpler than that. She was scared.

  Everything around her held a touch of fear for her. Thomas being led away scared her. As if he were being led to slaughter. When they had returned to the boat, Lomate went to check on Sala, only to find that she was gone, and that had scared her too. Her mind pictured a group of strong, muscular, village men sneaking down below and grabbing her. Speaking of villagers, they all seemed to be avoiding them, walking well away from them, as if they were carrying a disease that might be contagious. That also scared her. Everything just felt wrong. She tried to tell herself it was all in her mind, that she was just suffering the aftereffects of all the violence and madness of their recent ordeal on Daucina’s island. Then she would notice the uneasy looks that Lomate threw toward the village, always quick and fleeting, as if he didn’t want Sophie to notice.

  “Are you sure it’s OK for you to stay for a ceremony, Lomate? Don’t you have family that are waiting for you at home? I don’t want to keep you here any longer than is necessary.”

  Lomate seemed to consider this, which got Sophie’s hopes up. She wanted him to agree, to tell her that he would inform the Chief that they really must go, that people were waiting on them. But he disappointed her.

  “My family will be waiting, yes. But do not worry about this, Sophie. This is a historic time for the villagers. They wish to honor you. What you have done is almost unbelievable. There will be stories of you and your brother for years to come. We would insult the Chief and the village if we did not stay. Try to relax and enjoy yourself.”

  He glanced back up toward the village, sweat dripping down his furrowed brow. It was surely from the heat, but Sophie couldn’t help but wonder if he wasn’t nervous, despite his words.

  So, they waited. It felt like much longer than an hour to Sophie. The sun seemed to move halfway across the sky and the village grew very quiet. It was an eerie feeling once she noticed it. Always there were noises and people laughing and playing, but now there was only the whispers of the tropical breeze moving through the trees.

  Then she heard movement behind her. She snapped her head around, expecting to see some strange man in a painted face and grass skirt rushing up behind her, but what she actually saw was her brother, strolling along the beach with a guilty grin on his face. Her heart doubled in size and she let out a great sigh of relief.

  “Thomas! You’re OK.”

  “Of course.” He laughed. “Did you think they were going to serve me up as the main course?”

  “That’s not funny. Look at you! You look much better than I expected.”

  The left side of his face was still several shades of blue and purple and the swelling was still intense, yet not nearly as bad as before. His eye was visible now, where before there was only a small tunnel created by the extreme puffiness. The cut was where the most improvement was made, though. Before, the slash had opened his face up enough to make the skin sag and droop, exposing bone. Noni had concocted a black paste and mixed it with moss, to fill up the valley in his cheek. Now there was only a deep red, angry line swooping down from the puffy eye to the corner of his mouth, held tightly together by several black stitches.

  “It won’t ever look right. Matter of fact, I’m pretty sure Kai will grow up thinking of me as Frankenstein, but it could be worse. I’ll just have to buy a Harley and get some tattoos. Chicks will dig it.”

  “Does it hurt?” Sophie wanted to run her hands along the wound but knew better. Besides, she didn’t want to put the lantern down.

  Lomate moved up to Thomas’s side and gave him a firm clasp on the shoulder. “You look like a true Fijian warrior, Thomas! Carry the scar with pride, my friend. How many men can say the fought a God?”

  “Thanks, Lomate, but I’ll probably keep that part to myself. A bear, maybe. People might just believe that. Listen, the whole village is gathered up in front of the church. They’ve got a large fire going and all kinds of food spread out. They wanted me to get you and bring you up. I hope you’re ready, because I’m dying to dig in!”

  He wasn’t exaggerating about the spread. As they wound their way between small houses toward the center of the village,
they didn’t pass a single person. Every member of the village was gathered around the clearing in front of the church, where Thomas and Sophie had experienced their first Kava ceremony, what seemed like years ago.

  Sophie guessed there must have been two hundred villagers gathered in a loose circle around the fire. The wood was stacked as tall as her brother, the flames shooting several feet up into the air, sending out great black plumes of smoke into an otherwise clear blue sky. Surrounding the fire pit were numerous piles of food, all laid out on stacks of palm fronds along the ground. She gasped at the beauty of it; fruits and vegetables of every color, pork, chicken, and beef, browned to varying degrees with different spices. There were bowls of white milk, coconut milk she assumed. There were even desserts, several varieties of cakes full of fruits and sprinkled with sugar.

  Standing in front of this bountiful and gorgeous display was Chief Josefa and the old witch, Noni. The Chief looked fearsome with white and black paint streaked under his eyes and along his cheeks, bare chested, wearing a wraparound skirt, or Sulu, as Fijians call them. Noni, as was typical for her, remained in her drab, brown, hooded robe, face and eyes buried in the darkness of the cloth shrouding her head. Thomas noticed that she still wore her satchels.

  Once they made their way in front of the Chief, he spoke in his deep, baritone voice. “Welcome, Thomas and Sophie, to our feast! This is a special time of celebration. A day that will be written about in our histories and remembered with food and stories on this day of the year, every year until our people are no more. We honor you for your great victory.”

  Chief Josefa then turned to face the larger crowd of villagers and raised his voice to project out to the very last person.

  “The God Daucina was an evil spirit! He tricked our people and set disease upon them! Our new friends have battled the monster and have been victorious over him on this day, but will we let this evil spirit return to threaten us once again?”

  The question rang out over the crowd and they answered.

  “No! No! No!” The answer flowed out repeatedly, and Thomas and Sophie watched with growing unease as the people shook their fists and bared their teeth.

  “NO!” The Chief hollered back. Then he raised his arms and the crowd hushed. “We must always be ready. We must always be willing to overcome evil, no matter the cost.” His wide eyes and reddened cheeks swept over the crowd, as if trying to look at every individual to confirm his words were being heard.

  Then he turned toward Thomas and Sophie.

  “Mr. Thomas, Ms. Sophie. You were tricked by the God Daucina. He stole from you what you cared most about. You battled to see your child returned, and you did the impossible, you defeated a God!”

  With that, the voice of the crowd rose up in a cheer, and after letting the sound wash over them for a moment, the Chief raised his hand once again for quiet.

  “But the God Daucina is not so easily defeated.”

  Sophie looked up at Thomas, growing more anxious with each word that the Chief spoke. She gripped little Kai a little tighter and wedged herself firmly between her brother and Lomate, who had remained quiet and unmoving during the speech.

  “Chief Josefa,” Thomas said, “trust me when I tell you that Daucina is defeated. We watched his body scatter to the wind. You can ask your witch doctor there.” He nodded at Noni, who remained quiet in response.

  “Our Vuniduva is our knowledge of magic, our history of Gods, and she has advised me in this. Would you see the evil of Daucina return, Thomas?”

  “No, of course not, but I don’t think you understand . . .”

  “Daucina is still among us, Thomas. He lay with your sister when she was newly with child, he sent his seed to quicken in the womb with the new-made child, with the Kaivalagi baby, the foreigner. Daucina’s desire was to grow in power and to be free to leave his island. He found a way, Thomas.”

  Thomas’s face began to redden, and his jaw muscles clenched. “What are you trying to say, Josefa, that Daucina is in my sister’s baby? That Kai is a God now? You’re crazy!” He whipped around toward Sophie and took her by the elbow. “Let’s go Sophie, Lomate, we’re fucking out of here.”

  But as they moved to head back toward the beach the crowd closed the gap and their way was blocked. Thomas, as big and strong as he was, knew that he couldn’t push through. Instead, he turned back toward the Chief.

  “Tell your people to let us pass, Josefa. There’s no need for any more violence. We’ve done your people a great service today. You owe us.”

  As he spoke, Sophie watched the newly sewn stitches flex with each movement of her brother’s jaw and waited nervously for them to pop open and the blood to flow.

  “Careful, Thomas, just relax. We don’t really know what he’s trying to say. I’m sure it’s just a misunderstanding.” She looked up at the Chief, who towered over her. “Right, Chief Josefa? You’re not talking about doing anything bad to us.”

  The Chief glowered down at her at first, but then his expression softened. He nodded down toward Kai, who was nestled into Sophie’s arms, watching the flame of the lantern with wide, unblinking eyes.

  “I’m sad for you, Sophie. Truly I am. We all are, but we cannot deny what has happened. There is no question that the child is the seed of Daucina.” He raised his hand as Sophie and Thomas both opened their mouths to protest. “Please! If you will open your eyes to see what your love is blinding you to. I urge you to test my words for yourself and place the child’s hand near the flame of the lantern.”

  “This is ridiculous! Tell your people to step aside, now!” Thomas was tense and appeared ready to fling himself at the large man before him, but Sophie placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him. She knew that attacking the Chief, or anybody else, would be a fatal mistake.

  “Thomas, you can’t fight all these people.” She directed her eyes to Chief Josefa and tried to focus on keeping her voice steady as she spoke. “And you, if you can’t prove my baby is the child of Daucina, will you let us go?”

  The Chief gave one single nod in response. Sophie had to hope that was enough. She had to believe him, that when he saw no sign of otherworldly power coming from Kai, he would let them go in peace.

  She looked down at her baby, who looked to her like any other ordinary child but for the special effect of being somehow more beautiful than any newborn that had ever come before. With a hand that shook only slightly, she reached out to take Kai’s delicate fingers, then brought them toward the flame with the intention of getting them close enough to prove a point, but not so close as to cause him pain.

  The reaction of the small blaze was immediate, and she sucked in her breath.

  Please, don’t let it be real. It’s just in my head.

  But as she brought the hand closer, what she thought she saw was proven a reality. The flame seemed to bend toward Kai’s hand. In dread fascination, before she could stop herself, she brought the hand closer. She had to know. In response, the flame bent further and seemed to grow, reaching out for the fragile fingers.

  “No . . . it can’t be. Thomas?” She dragged her reluctant eyes away from the sight before her and stared pleadingly up at her big brother. Tears were blurring her vision and the image of Thomas doubled, then tripled.

  The black arms of an octopus seemed then to wrap around Thomas’s body and he gave out a shout. Behind her, another grunt sounded off. Desperately she blinked her eyes repeatedly to clear away the tears, only to see both Thomas and Lomate being wrestled to the ground by several strong-looking men.

  Then Kai was snatched from her arms and she was suddenly left holding only the lantern. Chief Josefa had him in two large hands, held out before him toward the old witch, Noni.

  “NO! Please, please don’t hurt my baby, I beg you!” She let out a great, despairing cry that was outdone only by the angry wailing of her baby.

  Noni stepped forward, her hands cupped in front of her. Sophie looked to see that she held a large handful of that strange yellow powder tha
t she had used against Daucina. Her memory flashed before her, seeing again in her mind the frightening effect that the substance had on the powerful and seemingly indomitable form of the island God. She recalled the blazing yellow cracks appearing in his skin, like a spidery web flowering over his entire body, until he had essentially erupted from within.

  “NO!” she cried out. “You can’t! He’s just a baby!”

  But the old woman paid her no mind. Her dark eyes glinted out from the dark cavern of her hood as she stretched the cupped hands out over Kai and began to sprinkle the powder.

  Sophie watched in horror as fine grains drifted down to land on little Kai’s soft, pink skin.

  Then all hell broke loose.

  5

  Sophie leapt forward to shield her child, but it was too late. The yellow powder alit on Kai’s skin and the effect was immediate. Angry red welts formed up everywhere that the strange substance landed, and the air was filled with loud hissing pops, like water being sprayed on a hot oiled pan.

  Kai screamed out in response. Sophie erupted with the desperate cries of a mother seeing her child in agony.

  Then she felt a hot rush fill her arms. Flames leapt up before her eyes and the ground tumbled away beneath her feet. Suddenly she was looking up at the sky and watching wild tendrils of fire dance around madly in all directions.

  A hot wind seemed to be rushing through her ears, and over the roaring sound she heard Kai’s wails. Only now, they didn’t seem pained. They sounded full of rage.

  She realized then that she was no longer standing. All around her was a maelstrom of roaring wind and rippling flames. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. To her right, Thomas was still pinned beneath the bodies of several men, though he had ceased struggling and his eyes stared out past her, wide in shock.

  Her attention moved slowly back toward the Chief, who had been holding Kai in his giant hands like a sacrificial offering.