The Birthmark

by Beth Montgomery

  Horrified at the scene before her, Lily screamed. She tried to run to the side but she couldn’t move. Her voice was drowned out by the crash of the waves.

  A cold surge ran through her and she saw a figure stumble and run, as if out from her own soul. It was her own body that ran past the islanders into the line of marines beyond.

  Tack, tack! A rifle sounded and the girl was shot. She lurched and fell to the reef. Riki ran to her and so did the yani and the two nearest marines. They pushed Riki aside and punched him, while the yani pointed his sword at the girl and shouted at her.

  Lily screamed at him to stop but her words were taken by the ocean roar and he didn’t even notice she was there.

  The girl rolled to her side and wailed, a cry that Lily knew from her waking moments, a cry she had heard at Leper Beach just a few nights before.

  Then the marines, each pointing their rifles at Riki, pushed him towards the girl. He held her by the shoulders and pulled her to her feet. Her left arm, torn by a bullet, hung at her side and a patch of red stained the pale rags she wore. Together they staggered forward as the two marines and the yani followed.

  As they came level with Lily, she sensed their fear and she was sure they were both about to die. She turned back to the sea to watch their fate and was startled at the scene before her. Dozens of ghostly figures slipped off the edge of the reef into the sea. A group of black heads bobbed up and down in the swell as they made for the leaky craft ahead of them. One had already reached the boat and was hauling himself over the side.

  Riki and the girl stood at the edge of the reef. He let go of her, assured her he would go first, and would catch her when she jumped in. Just as he flexed his legs to jump, one of the marines caught him by the arm and spun him around. The yani shouted at him. Riki flinched and cowered from the officer. Then Riki said to the girl, ‘You must go first, they say. I’ll be next. I’ll help you.’

  Lily saw the girl’s terror, felt it churn within her as she peered down into the blue-black gloom. ‘It’s OK, I’ll be with you,’ Riki said, and he helped her down into the warm water. She let go of the edge and pushed herself off into the waves. Lily saw the stain of red from her arm in the sea beside her and wondered how long it would take for the sharks to come.

  Lily and the girl both turned, waiting for Riki to dive in, but instead saw the yani punch him and push him to the ground. ‘No!’ Lily screamed and this time a voice rang out but it wasn’t hers—it was the girl’s.

  ‘Tepu! Tepu! Tepuariki!’ Her scream became a wail once more, shrill and pleading, and her head rose and sank above the rolling sea.

  Riki struggled to his feet, but the yani kept hitting him about the head until Lily could no longer see his features because of all the blood. Then the two marines dragged him away from the edge and the yani drew his gun. Bwack! The girl’s wailing stopped and her head sunk from view.

  Lily slumped forward as if all the energy had been thumped out of her. She turned and saw Riki grow older, heavier and more familiar, until he became Hector’s ibu once more. His face was no longer smeared with blood; now it was covered with tears.

  ‘You saw it all. It was you, wasn’t it?’ she whispered.

  The old man didn’t answer. He merely pointed to the spot on the reef behind them. She turned to see the boat fade from view but the yani remained, shouting at Lily with furious hatred.

  She looked down at the sword and hesitated. ‘I can’t give it to him, not now I’ve seen what he’s done.’

  ‘It’s his spirit, Lily. You can’t keep it. It’s evil like him.’

  She paused for a moment and felt the crash of the surf try to unbalance her. ‘I’ll give it to the sea,’ she said, ‘the sea will take our rubbish away.’

  ‘Yes, the sea cleans us all.’

  Lily nodded. She heaved the sword as far as she could throw, out into the white sky of dawn over the dark curves of the ocean. The blade flickered as it spun in the morning sunlight and then made a slight splash on the surface. Then there was nothing—no yani, no shouting, no boat, no sword—just the crashing of the waves against her legs and the chatter of noddy birds overhead, flying out to sea.

  ‘And I will throw this,’ said the old man and he tossed the bucket of bones and the tin out to sea with all the gracefulness of a fisherman casting a net.

  thirty-two

  The Witch Track

  Saturday 3 July 2004

  They started the walk home in silence, heads down and weary. Hector’s mind spun with dozens of questions after watching the scene at the channel. Christina walked a little to the side, chewing her fingernails. She was obviously as confused as he was. Lily looked miserable. Her eyes were troubled and she stumbled a few times as she walked.

  The silence began to bother Hector. He knew Lily and Ibu were somehow connected to the whole drama, and even though they were both drained and deserved some peace, Hector had to sort it out in his own mind.

  ‘You were there, weren’t you, Ibu. That man was bashing you?’ he asked.

  The old man waited before replying. ‘Yes, it was my past you saw today.’

  ‘Why did we see it?’ Christina asked.

  ‘Ghosts walk at night, but they walk more at sunrise and sunset.’

  ‘But I’ve never seen them before,’ Hector said.

  ‘You never have. Some people, like Lily, can see. Some people cannot.’

  ‘So why did I see them today, heaps of them: lepers, marines, men on the reef? I saw them and I saw you with them.’

  ‘And I saw them too,’ Christina said, shaking her head. ‘And shit, I don’t know…it must have been real but…how could it be? How did it happen?’

  ‘There was powerful magic today. Two shamans and the black stone, it made a strong picture, for everyone to see.’

  ‘What do you mean, two shamans?’

  ‘The old magic, boy. It’s your turn to use it next.’

  ‘Magic…like Gilbertese magic?’

  Riki smiled. ‘Our magic and the magic of our ancestors,’ he said.

  They walked on while more questions brewed in Hector’s mind. Something about the black stone bothered him. He felt for it in his pocket, its surface was smooth and warm. ‘But the stone was with the tin and the body,’ he said. ‘How did it get there?’

  Lily answered for him, looking at Riki as they walked, ‘You put it there, didn’t you? Long ago.’

  The old man chuckled at them. ‘Yes, I did it. The black stone sat on Egirow, his tin. It hid him. He worshipped there, with his little book. But the forest ate up the book. My magic, it hid Egirow.’

  They came to a junction in the path, turned left and made their way down the hill towards Hector’s hut.

  ‘I don’t understand. It hid egirow—it hides anger?’ Hector said.

  ‘That is what we called him, the Lieutenant, the one who bashed me.’

  ‘Yes, the yani, Hector. The skull you found, that was Egirow,’ said Lily.

  ‘But he wasn’t hidden, I found him.’

  ‘Yes, the young shaman found what I had hidden.’

  ‘How did he die?’ Christina asked.

  The old man stopped and paused before he spoke. ‘During the war…’ he began.

  But Lily couldn’t wait for the long build up to the story. ‘You killed him, didn’t you?’ she said, clapping him on the back.

  ‘Suh!’ Hector blurted out, furious that she’d said something so rude, but his grandfather smiled at them. ‘Yes, I did it. I was angry too. I was angry because they killed my brother and because he tricked me, he made me kill my love.’

  ‘Who was she, that girl?’ Hector said.

  ‘Her name was Edouwe.’

  Lily grabbed at the old man’s hand. ‘It was Edouwe? It was my auntie?’

  Riki nodded and began to walk on. His eyes watered at the mention of her name.

  ‘She called you Tepu,’ Lily said.

  ‘Tepu is the start of my name, Tepuariki,’ he said.

  ‘I do
n’t understand,’ Christina said, ‘the marine killed her, you didn’t.’

  ‘Two times I tried to save her, two times I sent her to

  die. I thought the people at the hospital were safe. But they took them, made us force them onto the boat. I thought we would die together in the boat. But he was cruel, he made me live. We thought the people would float for a few days, then sink, or perhaps someone would rescue them. Then boom! Everyone died. They blew up the boat. And Edouwe, she died in the water but I wanted to be with her. If I was with her, maybe she would have lived.’

  Riki turned to Lily and took her stained hand. ‘That’s why you’re special. You have her scar. You are here to heal the past. You helped me do that today.’

  ‘Sometimes I hear her cry, some mornings when I wake,’ Lily said. Hector could see her eyes shining with tears as she spoke.

  ‘She calls you, to wake up and heal her, heal the past. I think you’ll hear her no more now.’

  Hector jostled for position in front of his ibu as they walked. He wanted to know more about the ghost. ‘How did you kill him, Ibu?’ he asked.

  The old man sighed again. ‘For three days I was sore from the beating. On the fourth day I went in the night to his secret place. It was Egirow’s secret place. A place to rest, to hide, to worship. I don’t know. No other marine went there. It was his secret but I knew it and I waited and I took the black stone.

  ‘Just before dawn Egirow came and hid inside the pinnacles. I waited to surprise him when he came out but the bombers came too. Boom, boom, boom. I covered my ears. Then there was a big one, so big the ground

  shook and stones flew down on me. More bombs landed further away. I heard him cry out and I came slowly, into the clearing, but bushes and trees all about were smashed and filled the clearing. He was not in the secret place; he must have run away. I heard another cry and I saw him down the hill, lying down. He moved his legs and tried to crawl but a big bean tree was on his back, holding him. I took a piece of rock to smash his head and he saw me come. I saw his eyes hate me, but before he could shout I smashed his mouth and blood came out. I took his sword because his hand couldn’t reach it. I poked the sword in his neck, like I killed a pig and blood sprayed out. He was dead.

  ‘I cut at the tree, and cut at him, and threw bits around the site, like I sliced bait for fishing. But I took his head and some bones and I buried them at the entrance to the secret place. Then I made the magic with the stone and I put it on his tin, to stop him speaking now he’s dead. And I knew they’d find him and they’d say the bomb killed him, but they would never find all the pieces and it was me that made him a ghost.’

  ‘So how come no one found him?’ Hector said.

  ‘I buried his spirit, the sword, further down the hill.’

  ‘So when we found the sword, he was released from your magic?’ Lily said.

  ‘Yes, but he couldn’t speak,’ Hector added.

  ‘So why did he speak and say Baringa Bay?’ she asked.

  ‘The sword was with him again and when Hector took the stone, I called to Egirow. I broke the spell.’

  ‘But why did he want to go to Baringa Bay?’ Christina asked.

  ‘He knew that was where he hurt me most. He knew I wanted to go with Edouwe, to die in the open sea. So that was where he should be now. Him instead of me.’

  ‘So it really was an evil thing,’ Lily said. ‘I thought you were just saying that, to make me throw it away, but it really was the spirit of a cruel man.’

  ‘Yes, but because I became cruel like him, I was ashamed, a coward, and my magic was like a curse. I told no one, except you three.’

  ‘But you weren’t a coward, Ibu. You fought back,’ Hector said.

  ‘I wanted to kill him, but I killed him like he was an injured dog. I didn’t fight fair. That’s not a shaman. That’s a coward.’

  ‘I don’t think the Japanese fought fair, either,’ Christina said.

  ‘It’s not a bad secret, Ibu. And people will think you were brave because you tried to save Edouwe. You can tell people about it now because it’s so long ago,’ Hector said.

  ‘No, it’s not for everyone to hear,’ he said and he squeezed Lily’s hand and reached out for Hector’s also. ‘It’s our secret. It binds our families. Let it be a gift to them only if they’re ready, when they suffer and hurt and need to know their past.’

  Hector nodded and looked across at Lily. She winked at him. He blushed as he thought of the love between his ibu and Edouwe.

  The old man stopped walking. ‘I am tired,’ he said, ‘go on ahead and make us all some tea, then we can rest too. After a long night.’

  ‘You can come and stay at my place for a few days, Lily. Dad won’t mind. At least until I go back to Australia next week,’ Christina said. She smiled and clasped Lily’s hand.

  ‘Thank you,’ Lily said. ‘And Riki, one day, if you don’t mind, I’ll go home and tell my mum about your secret.’ Lily looked down at her left hand. It tingled. She was stained, just like the girl’s arm was stained with blood, the blood of a desperate soul, a soul that had run through her on the reef, that had been a part of her. A great wisdom and sense of connection flowed over her. Her stain was not a dirty mark, it was a symbol of belonging, a link to the past.

  acknowledgments

  Thank you Arnold Zable for your inspiration, and to Heather Tobias, Richard Kentwell and John Irving for your encouragement.

  To the workshop teams at WWW and Berwick, your comments were invaluable.

  Thanks to Penny Hueston for her expert care and critical eye. But most importantly, thank you Jeffter, my husband, for your unceasing support and belief in me.

  Table of Contents

  COVER PAGE

  TITLE PAGE

  COPYRIGHT PAGE

  DEDICATION

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  ONE

  TWO

  THREE

  FOUR

  FIVE

  SIX

  SEVEN

  EIGHT

  NINE

  TEN

  ELEVEN

  TWELVE

  THIRTEEN

  FOURTEEN

  FIFTEEN

  SIXTEEN

  SEVENTEEN

  EIGHTEEN

  NINETEEN

  TWENTY

  TWENTY-ONE

  TWENTY-TWO

  TWENTY-THREE

  TWENTY-FOUR

  TWENTY-FIVE

  TWENTY-SIX

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  TWENTY-NINE

  THIRTY

  THIRTY-ONE

  THIRTY-TWO

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS