The Dancing Bride And Her Spirit Warrior - Episode 21

 

A loud noise had woke Vuyanzi up. Sirens were going out loud and she could hear voices shouting from a distance. Caro was also awake, sitting on her bed and rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Their hostel room was dark and it was in the middle of the night. The sirens were piercing against the darkness.

The last time Vuyanzi heard the warnings was when she was young. Her blood ran cold thinking about what was to follow.

Vuyanzi jumped from the double decker bed she shared with Caro and fumbled her way the door, switching on the lights on . The fluorescent lights floored the room and Vuyanzi had to blink for a few seconds to adjust to the glare. The light illuminated their small room. Apart from the double decker bed, there was a sizeable wardrobe in the corner which had space enough for two people to store their clothes and a study table that was filled with study material, a lone chair stood beside it. To complete the room, a gas plus few utensils stood at a corner. Currently the room looked disorganized and in need of thorough cleaning but for the moment that was not their biggest issue. They were always organized but since they both had CATs at the moment cleaning the room was the last thing in their minds.

‘’What is going on?’’ Caro asked pulling a leso (a wrapper) on. Vuyanzi checked her phone and saw that it was almost past one.

Vuyanzi went to the window and peered out.  It was dark apart from a lone streetlight casting a grey light on the paved driveway in front of the hostel

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

. Vuyanzi could see a group of their colleagues standing together and talking in low tones.

‘’Are those siren’s from the game reserve?’’ Caro joined Vuyanzi on the window. ‘’These idiots can’t be out in such a time, it’s dangerous,’’ Vuyanzi could not blame the people who were out. They had come to town as students but they were not raised in the area, which meant they didn’t know what the sirens were for. As a native and a volunteer at the animal reserve, Vuyanzi knew that the sirens meant that a wild animal had escaped the reserve and it was on prowl in town. The siren was to warn people to stay indoors and secure their locks. The siren would be put off once the animal was found. Vuyanzi wondered what kind of animal it was, if it was an elephant or a hippo that meant that people’s farms’ were under attack. If it was a predator like lion, cheetah, leopard, hyena or a pack of wild dogs then the livestock were at risk. The siren was sounded to warn people to keep off the way of the animal because if they feel threatened in any way they would attack and cause grave body harm to the human.

‘’Who knows what kind of animal has been seen running away, it could…,’’ Caro could no finish the statement as her phone rang. She picked it up and went back to sit on her bed. Vuyanzi thought of her grandmother and thought hopefully she would be safe. Shosho had gone to visit her sister in the next town and she would not be back until the following day.

‘’ Yes baba (father), am in my room right now…yes…Vuyanzi is with me…five hyena’s...yes I will not step out. They were heading towards town...what...but…Okay baba take care,’’

‘’Hyenas’? No wonder the siren has been sounded.’’ Vuyanzi thought. A security man had come out and escorted the people out into their rooms. Vuyanzi stayed at the window gazing out, looking out to the long shadows as if the hyenas would jump out at any time. If Caro’s father said that the hyenas were heading towards the town it meant that they would most likely heading in their direction.

‘’But hyena’s have not attacked the village for a long time Vuyanzi what could be the meaning of this?’’ Caro mused, a small frown crowning her forehead, sleep clearly out of her eyes. The long braids that she had plaited were bunched up in her head and held loosely by a hairband.

‘’I wonder too, the long rains are here and that means they have enough prey out in the forest, why would they come out?’’ Vuyanzi answered with a questions on her own. Generally predators like hyenas avoided human settlements until they are forced by hunger to attack the livestock.

‘’Wait Vuyanzi do you think that the elephant incident and this are connected?’’ Caro asked, she always loved a good mystery.

‘’Probably not Caro, I mean that included poachers and an elephant, that was purely a poaching incident. This is about hyenas invading the town at night. How did they break away from the reserve?’’ Vuyanzi argued. There was something off about the hyenas Vuyanzi could feel it.

‘’Okay, what if they are running away from something, maybe they are being hunted Vuyanzi, can’t you see.’’ Caro was getting excited.

‘’Hyenas being hunted is rare but not impossible, has your father said anything?’’

‘’he said that five hyenas have broken free from the reserve and are running towards the town, they are hot on their heels the reserve guys are with them?’’

‘’the reserve guys?’’

‘’Yes you know that handsome guys who work closely with Manute. I swear to you Vuyanzi those men is hot. Gosh,’’ Caro said fanning herself with her hand. ‘’Did you hear, they came from Nairobi?’’

‘’Yes Caro you told me that several times already,’’ Vuyanzi scoffed. She knew that they were handsome but one man had refused to leave her head. Koni Jasiri. Even his name sent shivers down her spine. Vuyanzi had concluded that Koni had been a dream that she had conjured up in her mind. She had relived their encounter more than once in her head. She thought that they had a connection but it was one sided.

Vuyanzi hated the feeling of loneliness that seemed to engulf her. How can she miss someone that she had met once? And why did she dream of him being in her room at night? Was she going insane? Why did her heart miss a beat every time she thought about him? Something about Koni was drawing her to him but what?

‘’What if they are spirit warriors, my grandmother insists they are?’’ Caro asked again and Vuyanzi rolled her eyes.

‘’Your grandmother has not even seen them how can she tell,’’ Vuyanzi decided to indulge Caro’s wild theory.

‘’She just knows okay? My grandmother just knows these things. And besides you refused to help me conduct my investigations,’’

‘’Oh no I am not sneaking into someone’s homestead to snoop around,’’

‘’It won’t be the first time you did it Vuyanzi. You have been sneaking inside Kweyu’s house for years,’’ Caro derided her voice dripping with sarcasm.

‘’That is different and I have not been doing it for years,’’ Vuyanzi nearly shouted heatedly. How could Caro compare the two? She was clearly asking for Vuyanzi to be an accomplice in a crime of trespassing into private property. It won’t be hard to sneak inside the reserve, Vuyanzi was a pro when it came into breaking into places where she should not be. She was not proud of that part in her history but it had been necessary evil. She was no longer doing it.

‘’How different? I told you I have everything planned out. Under the disguise of going to see my father we would sneak into the reserve. I even have a map of the whole place. It won’t be hard to find the residence of Mr. Jasiri and his team of handsome men. Then we would hide somewhere near the house and watch out for him. It’s all about catching them unawares or without shirts, at this rate any would do. Imagine how much we would make if we got a nude photo of any of the ‘new reserve guards’? They can guard me anytime. There is something about a man in a camouflage uniform and a beret that gets my juices flowing,’’ Vuyanzi could only stare at her best friend with her dropped jaws.

How had Caro manage to spell out her plan plus her x rated thoughts that Vuyanzi was would have done better not knowing in one sentence? Truly Caro was talented.

Don’t pretend you have not thought about that a voice in her head said.

No I haven’t, I don’t think about Koni in a soldier’s uniform with a beret on his head and sunglasses on she argued vehemently.

Who said anything about Koni? The voice mocked before going silent.

Before Vuyanzi could answer that question her phone rang. Her grandmother.

‘’Vuyanzi, have you heard the sirens. Stay in your room, don’t come out,’’ Lishevi ordered

‘’Shosho where are you?’’ Vuyanzi asked panicking, maybe her grandmother had already left her sister she was going to visit.

‘’Am at the bus station, the bus had broken down, I hate this things…’’ Lishevi went on a tirade to complain about the public transport system but Vuyanzi cut her short,

‘’Shosho stay at the bus station, don’t go anywhere until the sirens are switched off,’’

‘’Why? I won’t sit here and allow mosquitoes to feed on me. There is enough street lights to enable me to see. Don’t worry nothing will happen to me. Now you take care,’’ the call was cut short. Vuyanzi cursed her grandmother’s stubbornness. The old woman would not sit still.

Vuyanzi tried to call her back but the call went unanswered. She tried again and again each time growing frustrated.

‘’Am going after grandmother,’’ she announced to Caro and picked up a sweater and pulled on her rubber shoes.

‘’No Vuyanzi you can’t go out there, it’s dangerous. What if something happens to you?’’ Caro tried reasoning with Vuyanzi.

‘’If you insist I am coming with you,’’ Caro stubbornly stood on the door preventing Vuyanzi from leaving.

‘’No stay here. I am a fast runner. I will be in the bus station in minutes and prevent shosho from trekking home in this darkness, with wild animals roaming the town,’’

‘’No it’s still dangerous. I won’t let you,’’

‘’How about if I call Juma to help you, he has a motorcycle.’’

‘’Oh no, I don’t want another face off with my cousin and it is in the middle of the night, we shouldn’t disturb him,’’ what Vuyanzi didn’t tell Caro was that she had been avoiding Juma. Not picking his calls, deleting his messages before reading them and places he mostly frequented. After the launching of new animal reserve, Juma had not gone immediately back to the city, he stayed behind to Vuyanzi’s chagrin.

‘’That is the only way I will let you out of here. I know you are avoiding him but right now you need him,’’

‘’I am not avoiding him and I don’t need him,’’ Vuyanzi pouted like a small child.

‘’Yes you do.

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

. You might think I am not keen but don’t think I have notice how you quickly silence your phone whenever he calls or run away whenever you see him around the corner. Don’t forget besty, this is a small town you are bound to run into him sometime,’’ Vuyanzi opened her mouth to come up with a clever answer but nothing came up.

‘’You’re so secretive Vuyanzi. You can trust me I am your best friend,’’ Caro said with a hint in sadness voice in her voice.

‘’How can you say that Caro. You are the best friend anyone can ask for,’’ Vuyanzi didn’t want to bother Caro that was why she didn’t want to tell Caro that she was avoiding Juma.

‘’I want to avoid issues with Tabu, that’s why am keeping off Juma,’’

‘’What about that night you met with Mr. Koni Jasiri? You kept that away from me too,’’

How in the world did Caro come to know of that?

‘’Small town Vuyanzi, small town. Am disappointed in you how come you didn’t tell me about it. I tell you everything,’’ Caro sulked.

‘’It’s not like that Caro, I was planning on letting you know it just that it slipped my mind, am sorry if I did wrong, hmm’’ Vuyanzi tried to sooth her best friend. Caro was her best friend, her wild imaginations added to her wit and charm.

‘’Then let me call Juma promise you will listen to what he has to say,’’ Vuyanzi had a feeling Caro had been waiting for a long time to say that.

Vuyanzi wanted to continue protesting but the look on Caro’s face said it all. And she had reach her grandmother fast before she left the bus station.

‘’Okay but let me do it,’’ Vuyanzi said taking the phone out of her pocket. Caro nodded her head and Caro made the call.

Juma agreed to be there as soon as possible and Vuyanzi wondered if it was a good idea to meet up with Juma.

No, it’s not the voice in her head screamed.

So question guys,

How is the story progressing?

Am trying to balance between mystery, comedy and suspense. Tell me if you enjoy it down below.

Much love.

PS: you can ask me any question.