The Dancing Bride And Her Spirit Warrior - Episode 18

 

Vuyanzi leaned against the door and took in a deep breath. She heard Koni’s car vroom away. She hurried to the window and watched his taillights reflecting in the dark as it passed through her grandmother’s rickety gate. Koni had told her that they would meet very soon. Vuyanzi was already missing him.

‘’Vuyanzi, who was that?’’

Vuyanzi turned to face her grandmother who had her hands akimbo on her waist and a scowl on her face.

‘’Who was that?’’ Lishevi asked again, the scowl deepening. Vuyanzi knew that she had to give a quick answer . Lishevi was a firecracker when mad.

‘’Um…shosho it was Mr. Koni Jasiri,’’ Vuyanzi said words stumbling out of her mouth.

‘’The new owner of the reserve? Why is he dropping you home, this late?’’

‘’Um…,’’ Vuyanzi searched for words to tell her grandmother, she didn’t want to lie because nothing passed her grandmother’s keen eyes. She decided to stick to the truth as much as possible.

‘’He gave me a lift home. Fred was busy so he couldn’t pick me,’’ Vuyanzi said avoiding Lishevi’s eyes.

Lishevi knew her granddaughter was not telling her everything but she let it go. She knew that Vuyanzi had already met the spirit warrior, all indications were pointing towards Koni

All episodes of this story can be found here >> https://www.ebonystory.com/story/the-dancing-bride-and-her-spirit-warrior

. Guma had said that Koni and Vuyanzi were bound by fate and it would be hard to separate them. He had advised that Vuyanzi should stick closer to Koni because her life was in danger. Lishevi didn’t like the fate of Vuyanzi and had insisted that Guma help change it. She wanted Vuyanzi to grow up like a normal girl and live a normal life.

‘’I will go to bed grandmother, tomorrow is a long day,’’ Vuyanzi said seeing her grandmother lost in thought. She decided to use that chance and escape.

‘’No, Vuyanzi wait…I want to talk to you about something,’’

‘’What? Is something wrong?’’ Vuyanzi asked noticing her grandmother’s solemn voice.

Lishevi opened her mouth to speak but decided against it. What would she say?

‘’No, nothing. Go to bed nyanya we’ll talk later,’’ nyanya? Shosho only called her that when she wanted to say something sentimental, something was going on with the old woman.

By the time Vuyanzi made it to her room, it was nearly midnight. Her grandmother had made her promise to be more open. It made Vuyanzi think that Lishevi knew something about Vuyanzi’s meeting with Koni.

Vuyanzi threw herself on the bed trying to relieve her encounter. He was so mysterious but at the same time Vuyanzi felt a connection with him. It was like she had known him for a long time. That was one thing she didn’t understand, how did Koni know about Kweyu’s assault? She had to find out. She was looking forward to seeing Koni the following day. She had a feeling they would be meeting more frequently and she was very excited.

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Koni was mad he picked the poacher by the cuff of his shirt and growled in his face.

‘’What did you say?’’ the poacher had a red glazed look on his eyes. A clear sign that he has been possessed by an amanani. Koni knew he was not looking at the eyes of a human being. The red hue was obviously not a normal human eye color.

Dume and Koni had chased the poachers through the forest in their animal forms. After Dume had found the carcass of an elephant and its young one near the river, he had called for backup from his brothers. Koni arrived and gave orders to Manute, Dembe and Sudi to watch over the carcass of the elephants as he and Dume gave chase to the running poachers. In their human form, they could not reach the poachers fast but after they shifted, it was easier to catch up. The poachers had a head start and it took a while for Koni and Dume to reach them. The scent of fresh blood guiding them.

They had slashed the tires of the jeep and punched the bonnet to stop the jeep from moving. It had worked. They now stood in front of the jeep. The flimsy light of the jeeps headlight reflecting in the dark.

‘’We know of your bride, warrior. Her scent is all over you,’’ the amanani said in a hissing voice.

‘’Is that a threat?’’ Koni growled tightening his hold. He didn’t like it that the amanani was threatening his young bride. With only a twist of his fingers, Koni could kill the body but he held back. Behind those evil eyes, there was a human being held hostage. It was much easier to deal with an amanani that had possessed an animal than the one which possessed a human.

‘’Koni, the wardens are on their way, we have to question the poachers quickly before they get here,’’ Dume said the other two poachers were tied up. While Dume and Koni had gone after the poachers’ who had bagged the bloody tusks of the dead elephants. Manute, Sudi and Dembe had remained behind to inspect the damage caused by the hunters and ward off predators like wild dogs who were drawn by the scent of blood of the dead elephants.

‘’Your bride will be taken away from you. You can’t stop it warrior,’’ the amanani whispered.

‘’You have no fight with her. Your fight is with us.’’ Koni growled while shaking the poacher. He was reigning his anger and forced himself to keep the questions on track.

‘’Where are you hiding?’’ Koni had to know, after an intensive research in the forest and its caves, it was clear that the amanani were not there, they were hiding somewhere else. A place where Koni was desperate to find out.

‘’The forest have always been our cover warrior,’’

‘’You have been banished from the forests, you are not to be anywhere near here,’’

‘’That is what you think, we are everywhere. Like the smoke, we go where the wind takes us. This time the scent of your bride brought us. She is of age and she will belong to us like it was intended,’’

Koni let out a frustrated growl and wrapped his hands on the neck of the amanani choking the human out to force the amanani out. The human eyes bulged out and Koni could see the red eyes glaring back at him, he increased his grip until he saw the brown of the eyes. Koni got ready for the amanani to appear, the body of the amanani could only be described as horrifying, slimy and ugly. They had a lot of strength with sharp claws. They stood as tall as the warriors but with frail bodies. The human fell down as the amanani stepped from the body glaring at Koni. Dume dragged the human and seated him next to his friends tying him up.

‘’That’s better,’’ Koni relished, he could now fight fairly.

‘’You are no match for me warrior,’’ the awful beast charged towards Koni with its claws drawn out. Koni shifted to his human beast forma and lunged towards the amanani. They met midair and crashed into the soft ground. Koni dug his claws to the throat of the amanani drawing blood, the amanani gave out a strangled cry and tried to pry Koni’s tight hands from his neck.

‘’You are wasting time warrior…’’the brute released a smothered breath, ‘’while you are here, who is… looking after your bride?’’

Koni punched the beast on its mangled cheek. ‘’Never talk about my bride again,’’

‘’Vuyanzi Amani, the grand…daughter of Lishevi. We…will have… her,’’ the amanani laughed while clawing Koni’s back drawing blood. Koni winced and sank his canines into the slimy neck of the beast. He bit deep and relished as he felt the blood of the amanani flowing out. With a final growl he tore a chunk from the neck of the amanani killing it instantly. The amanani vanished in a wisp of smoke. He released the dismembered neck and the amanani vanished in a wisp of smoke. Koni let out a roar that was sure to be heard in the town.

‘Buda uko sawa? (Are you okay?)’’ Dume asked after a few seconds of utter silence followed.

‘’I have to go and see Vuyanzi, she might be in danger,’’ Koni said after composing himself and coming back to his normal human body. His shirt was torn and the jeans he wore were frayed at the ankles. He could still taste the horrible tang of the amanani on the back of his throat, no matter how many beasts he had killed, he could not get used to that horrible taste off his tongue.

‘’No, the beast was bluffing, Vuyanzi is fine. I sent Sudi to check her out. She is at home with her grandmother.”

“Thank you for your quick thinking Dume, but she is still Amani is in danger. I need to see her for myself to calm the beast inside,’’ Koni replied

‘’Koni…’’Dume started but stopped when he heard a car approaching, its headlights glaring at them. It was then that Koni remembered calling the head warden to keep watch for any more poachers as he and Dume raced towards the fleeing poachers.

Koni cursed his breath and watched the jeep come to a full stop. Four med stepped out dressed in warden’s green khakis and green berets. They came and stood in front of them flashing their flash lights at the poachers who were now coming through.

‘’Mr. Jasiri, this is quite impressive, how did you catch this perpetrators,’’ one of the wardens an elderly man asked stepping forward. He looks at Koni’s tattered dressing then looked at the bind poachers. He raised an eyebrow towards Koni but said nothing.

‘’We followed the wardens from the river and caught up to them here,’’ Koni answered

‘’I see, boys round them up. They have questions to answer.’’

‘’Afande please, let us go. We did nothing wrong.’’ One boy begged the warden who was trussing them up.

‘’It was the lions, they attacked us. Big lion’s afande.

Read " Jabali's Redemption " by the same author ( Razia Iminza )

. I have never been so scared in my life,’’

‘’Lions’ ‘’ the elderly warden scoffed. ‘’You are so lucky we are not here to pick your bones,’’

‘’Please afande….we were only looking for meat.’’

‘’That is for the judge to decide. You should know better.’’ The warden said sternly at the poachers.

‘’Mr. Jasiri how did you get here so fast,’’ the warden questioned looking around in the dark

‘’Sudi dropped us off before he drove back to the carcass of the elephant. The blood comes from the shot elephant,’’ Koni answered looking straight at the warden daring him to ask more questions. The warden opened his mouth to say something but stopped himself.

‘’The elephant lost its too much blood, here are the tusks,’’ Dume dragged the bloody sack from the poacher’s jeep and placed it in front of the wardens.

‘’Very well, let’s call this a night. We will with these three tomorrow morning,’’ the warden said after losing the stare down with Koni. ‘’There is enough space in the jeep, if we squeeze we will be able to get to the reserve,’’

‘’No Sudi is coming back for us. I have already called him,’’ Koni said he had to get to Vuyanzi and driving back to the reserve with the wardens would take hours.

‘’Okay sir,’’ the warden said though not totally sure. The wardens got inside the jeep and drove off.

‘’This jeep has to be taken back to the reserve Dume, it might contain some evidence, something that would tell us about the amanani,’’ Koni instructed Dume as he looked at the vanishing jeep. ‘’Watch out for that elderly warden.’’

‘’Sawa (okay) buda be careful,’’

‘’I am always careful,’’

As soon as the jeep’s lights were out of sight, he shifted to into a lion and took off in a sprint towards the town.

Hey Ebonites.

I hope you enjoy.