Tokoloshe: When you hear the drums, it's already too late!

by Botha, Johan

  Peter glanced at her but did not reply, taking all his concentration to simply move forward.

  “Mommy!” the voice whispered in her ear at the same moment Beth felt the blistering pain begin at her feet and up her leg. She swung the flaming torch she carried around behind her at the unseen attacker.

  Beth looked down at her leg, sure she would see her body on fire, somehow from the leaping flames behind them, but instead she saw no flames, just blood running down her thigh from seven long claw marks that were cut into her flesh.

  Beth stumbled from both the pain and the sight of her injury. Peter was immediately at her side.

  “Peter, My leg! I can’t… I can’t run…” Peter tore off his shirt and wrapped it around her leg quickly and tied it in a short knot.

  “Don’t give up Bee! You can’t give up now! You can do this, we can do this, remember?”

  He pulled her back to her feet and they continued back through the woods, trying to find John and Peens… or simply survive.

  They weaved through the smoke filled air, the dense underbrush seemed to reach out and trip them, Beth’s voice seemed to be muffled by the air around them as she called out to John.

  Suddenly Peter’s hand went limp in hers. He stopped in front of her and was looking down at his own chest.

  “What the fuck?” Peter said in disbelief, reaching down to feel his stomach. His hand was full of blood. There seemed to be a swirling energy around them.

  “Peter!” Beth yelled, reaching into the air, trying to find his hand again. “John! Peens!” She continued, now desperately-seeking help for the attack she felt was imminent.

  She turned back to Peter and tried to get closer to him, to turn him to see his injury, when something had yanked at her hair and torn a piece of skin right from her head. The force of the tear was so hard it pulled her from her feet and she seemed to be pulled back through the air, landing at the foot of an ant covered tree. The burning sensation on her scalp left her dizzy and her hands shook as she tried to get back on her feet. She thought she was going to pass out.

  Peter ran back towards her, shirtless, she could now see the familiar seven edged claw mark across Peter’s chest, angry and seeping, now sticky with dirt and leaves.

  “C’mon Beth!” Peter shouted and kept pulling her hand to follow him.

  He knew that Beth was hurting badly, but he wasn’t about to let her meet the same fate as his Juanita had.

  Chapter 18

  Lucky and Danny spent the day listening to Umthakati Nqobizitha chanting away near the foot of the mountain. Lucky knew that the Sangoma would take a while to connect with the ancestors, but he didn’t think it would take THAT long. It felt like they had been there for hours.

  The African sky had become dark, the stars too shy to show their faces, hiding from what was happening beneath them. The air seemed thick, too thick. A frog croaked once, and then disappeared, as if scared of its own voice. Strangely, there was no Springbok to be seen anywhere. Usually, you could see them in the distance, curiously looking for anything interesting in the vicinity. But as the Sangoma chanted her song; there was not an animal in sight. The baboons in the trees sat quietly and not soon after, scattered in different directions, leaving Lucky and Danny to listen to the never ending chanting.

  Lucky sat on a log beneath a wattle tree, watching Umthakati Nqobizitha shake the bones and pebbles she had in her wrinkly hands. Her cansi, a woven mat from reeds, looked as if it might lift off the ground and carry her back to wherever she came from.

  “You ok man?” Lucky looked at Danny, who didn’t seem to like sitting here for hours at end -with no end in sight.

  “How will I ever be ok? You just gave my soul or whatever to this woman!”

  “It will be alright, don’t worry.” Lucky said and turned back to the Sangoma, not fazed by what Danny had just said.

  “Sure.” Danny said sarcastically.

  Umthakati Nqobizitha froze, her eyes rolling to the back of her head.

  “Nkosi!” she said. “Nkosi!”

  She started tugging at the grass near her cansi and pulled it from the soil. Her hands started bleeding from the blades of grass that cut into her hands. Lucky followed her example, searching for dry grass on the ground.

  “What are you doing?” Danny asked, feeling uneasy.

  “Shh.” Lucky said and looked at Danny. His eyes were rolled back in his head as he kept fumbling for grass.

  “Lucky! What’s happening?” Danny jumped to his feet and put his hand on his friend’s back.

  “It will be alright, don’t worry.” Lucky said and smiled at Danny. “She helps me, I help her.”

  A strange looking pile of grass was taking shape in the soil where they were working. Umthakati Nqobizitha was busy making a doll-shaped figure while Lucky kept scavenging. A loud crash near the top of the mountain jolted Lucky out of his trance.

  “You hear that?” Danny worriedly asked.

  “Um, I…” Lucky was a bit confused. “What happened?”

  “I think the Sangoma was using you to do her dirty work.” Danny said and pointed to Lucky’s hands, now bloody and full of soil from digging in the sand.

  “The ash. The ash. The ash.” Umthakati Nqobizitha chanted and looked at Lucky, her eyes still rolled back.

  Lucky gave the ash they took from Peter and gave it to her. She made a little opening in the doll she had made and carefully scattered the ash in the middle of the figure. She then closed the opening and gently blew onto it.

  “Spirits of the ancestors, guide me to the sins of the past. Bring me to this darkness it has created!” She looked up at the sky and her eyes rolled back into place, now with a yellow glow in them. She pointed up to the mountain. “It is there.”

  “Shit.” Was all that Danny could say.

  From where they stood, they could see smoke drifting into the sky. The faint smell of burning veld became stronger until there was no denying it.

  “Something on the mountain is burning!” Lucky yelled.

  Umthakati Nqobizitha got up and started walking towards the mountain, doll in hand, chanting in a strange tone.

  Lucky and Danny followed her, keeping a close eye on the smoke becoming darker and thicker as they progressed up the mountain path. There was no animal to be seen and the silence was nauseating. The only sound to be heard was the crackling of their feet as they walked over dry sticks and leaves under the trees.

  “What is she carrying?” Danny asked.

  “It’s a doll to capture the Tokoloshe with. She’s gonna capture his spirit and throw it into the fire.” Lucky didn’t know why he said that, it just came out of his mouth.

  He had the strange feeling that Umthakati Nqobizitha had taken control of him, his mind was clouded and it felt like he was being pulled toward her with an invisible cord.

  The trio followed the smoke and came upon the burning campsite. It was evident that someone had set fire to it. Flames crackled all around them and the smoke filled their nostrils with a deep hunger to suffocate them. Umthakati Nqobizitha stopped chanting and stared at the scene in front of her.

  “Never had the ancestors been so angry, been so hungry…” she whispered.

  “Huh?” Danny said, coughing through the smoke. “Lucky, we have to get out of here!”

  Lucky stood next to the Sangoma, staring into the flames, not responding to the smoke or the heat in front of him.

  “Lucky!” Danny yelled. “C’mon!”

  Dumdumdum dum dumm dummdumdum

  A strange sound filled the air, drums playing somewhere in the distance. Danny could feel an evil darkness nearing them. Enveloping them.

  “Lucky!” he tried yelling one more time. He was under a spell; the Sangoma put him under her spell to make him do what she wanted him to do!

  Danny knew he had to get help and he had to do it quickly. Time was running out. Before he could take another step, Umthakati Nqobizitha started yelling, “Nkosi njalo! Save us!”

  Dan
ny heard voices not too far off. It almost sounded like Peter and Big John! He started running towards the voices, hoping that his friend will still be there when he returned with help.

  “Help! Help!” He yelled as he ran towards the voices.

  He stumbled and fell, something cutting into his foot. He stood up and hobbled on, afraid to lose track of the voices in the dark.

  “Please, help!” He yelled as he spotted Big John, Peter and Beth, helping each other to safety.

  “What the…!” Big John yelled. “Danny, what are you doing?”

  “Your son, he… he…” Danny was short of breath and could not finish the sentence. He pointed in the direction he was running from.

  Big John instantly knew that his son was in danger. “Why the fuck did you come up here?” he screamed and started running.

  Danny collapsed to the ground, physically and emotionally drained. He started sobbing like a small child and Peter and Beth sat down next to him, Beth clutching at her bleeding body and Peter praying that they see the light of a new day.

  “Lucky! Lucky!” Big John shouted his son’s name, not caring if the throbbing of the drums was following him.

  In a small clearing, he saw a woman, a Sangoma, with black clouds swirling around her, clutching something in her hand. Beside her stood Lucky, staring at the darkness around them, mesmerized.

  “Son!” Big John yelled and lunged forward into the circle. Something gashed at his cheek and blood spurted from a wound near his eye. The pain was intense but Big John didn’t notice. All he wanted was to get his son out of harm’s way and out of the Sangoma’s grip. He knew a control-spell when he saw one!

  He grabbed at Lucky’s hand and pulled him away from the Sangoma. As he looked back, Umthakati Nqobizitha looked straight into his eyes and said, “Now we will all die, you and me and your son, we will die at the hands of the ancestors.”

  “Lucky, Lucky, listen to me!” Big John yelled, ignoring the threats from the sangoma.

  “Father?” Lucky mumbled, dazed.

  “Son, you have to listen to me. You have to get up and run! Run with all you have in you, you hear?”

  Big John pulled his son to his feet and they started running. “Don’t look back Lucky, just run!”

  Big John knew exactly what was going on behind them, but he didn’t want his son to see it. He knew if he looked back at the Sangoma, he will be in her grip once again and then he would never see his son again. He knew that the Sangoma had angered the Tokoloshe and he would soon make it known to her. He knew… and all he could think of was getting as far away as possible from it when it happened.

  The black clouds were now forming a tornado around Umthakati Nqobizitha, cutting her off from view to the outside world. “Nkosi Njalo!” she said as the deafening sound of the drums filled her ears.

  The darkness around her began to spin and a very strong wind snatched the doll from her hand. It lifted her from the ground and she smiled at her own power. She could command the Ancients, when she called to them, they answered her. She was the most powerful Sangoma in the country and this would surely build her reputation beyond all other Sangomas.

  Something gripped her hair and made her look up into the dark sky. There, she saw it. What she was most afraid of. All the people she had stolen from over the years, all the misfortune she has brought upon others, were staring right into her face. “Look…” a deep, otherworldly voice moaned deep in her ears.

  “Tokoloshe…” she murmured. Suddenly, a tremor of fear shook her body.

  She saw a young woman with nothing to give, wanting only for the Sangoma to heal her sick child. Umthakati Nqobizitha killed the child instead of healing it. She made the young woman sacrifice herself to the Sangoma, for the pleasure of it. She saw the blood flowing from the young woman’s throat, making gurgling sounds as it flowed from her. The Sangoma felt no shame.

  The wind started pulling at her hair again. It lifted her from the ground and ripped the clothes from her body.

  “Tokoloshe, be gone with you!” the Sangoma commanded proudly. “You have had your vengeance! You have done your deeds – be gone and do no more – NO MORE!” she shouted.

  A flash of light escaped from the doll she had created, floating in the air. She grabbed it and threw it into the flames beneath her. A thrill scream came from the flames, an unnatural sound that sizzled into the smoke filled air. The sound died away and so did the drums. No sound was to be heard except for the vicious wind that had Umthakati in the air. The tornado of smoke whipped up into a frenzy and encircled the Sangoma fully now. She held her arms up in victory, smiling broadly at her success. She waited for her reward from the Ancestors.

  She felt a sharp twist at her wrist and screamed out in pain. As she looked down, she saw that she no longer had a hand. The wind had ripped it right off her body.

  “No…!” she shouted, knowing her time on earth was coming to an end.

  She heard a ripping sound and blood splattered into her face. Her chest was ripped open and she could see her heart beating, she could see the organs flowing from inside her, twisting around her. She felt something move inside her head and looked up. Her brain was hovering above her head. It came down on her with a loud crash. Before she could yell out in pain, her face was crushed by her very own brain.

  The black cloud continued to spin and tore the remaining pieces of what was the greatest Sangoma in the country limb from limb, and spread her remains into the river.

  With a great Whoosh, the air cleared and a golden glow lit up the walls around the mountainside.

  Beth, Peter, John and the boys all stopped in their tracks and seemed almost commanded to turn and look back at the face of The Guardian, they couldn’t help but look at the ethereal light.

  A slight crack in the mountainside, near the waterfall seemed to be lit from within and glowed brightly over the river, a group of shadowy figures appeared there, and seemed to be waiting for something.

  From the foothills came another twisted monster, bent over and heavy laden with a terrible, crying burden of broken hearts and dreams. It crept up the mountainside with a tiny chiming bell as its companion, and bent in submission to the Ancients before it.

  Breaking through the waterfall came the form of a great African Prince, from long ago. He looked upon the dark scenic land before him with eyes that have seen worlds beyond this humble earth. He watched the progress of the newest slave to the Tokoloshe – knowing that those who seek to be Master always fall the hardest. He looked down at the river below, hearing the sounds of ancient chains, cries and prayers. Iqiniso raised his ethereal arms over South Africa – he seemed to say a prayer as his shadow dissolved into the water.

  The group witnessed the unearthly monster that was Umthakati Nqobizitha, now a prisoner of the Ancients, retreat into the Guardian, along with the other shadowy and frightening creatures just before a slab of rock slid down over the opening, casting the mountain back into darkness.

  Chapter 19

  Holy shit.” Rob said to himself as he drove his Jeep up the mountain path.

  The Guardian was covered in smoke and the flames still blazed in the trees. The sirens of the fire trucks sounded thrill in the early morning air. Strangely, there were no birds flying in the sky or any startled animals scurrying for shelter from the heat of the flames.

  As he drove passed the burned wattle trees, he couldn’t help but get a feeling that something unnatural had been here not too long ago…

  Out of the thick forest brush on the side of the road, five figures appeared, badly bruised and bleeding. They stumbled onto the road and Rob nearly ran over one of them. He jerked the car to a stop.

  “Hey!” he said as he jumped out of his car. “Hey, you alright?”

  It took him a few moments to recognize the blood-covered crew. Big John was helping Beth and his son, Lucky. They were cut and bleeding and were covered in ash from the fire. Peter was holding a boy by his shoulders. Danny, now exhausted, looked as if he might fa
int at any moment.

  “Rob, please, get us out of here.” Peter asked, pleading for Rob’s help.

  “Were you guys trapped in the fire?” Rob asked.

  “Please. Please Rob.” Big John panted.

  “Yes! Yes! Of course, get in!”

  He helped to get Beth into the Jeep, careful not to hurt her bruised body any further. He noticed deep scratches on Beth and Peter’s legs. He pulled bottled water out of his truck and tossed bottles to everyone in the car.

  “What happened?” He asked as they got into the Jeep. He looked at Big John sitting next to him.

  Big John stared out onto the road ahead and did not say a word.