The journey to the mountains was fierce, outside Malunga,is a refreshing atmosphere, and Ruhu enjoyed it with all pleasure. He could feel his mind being coordinated again, his powers surging up within him, as the thick dark cloud of Malunga that beclouded his focus gradually fades away. He knew this was not the time to try any form of escape for the sake of the life of the princess and the mission must not be aborted. He was willing to lay down his life for this cause, but how shall he save the scroll that possess the secrets to evoking Nyambe's signet ring?
With the clean atmosphere, Ruhu tried to contact Nyambe, although it was a risky thing to do, but he had to try. He would be careful, but first he must wait until its dark.
"Tie the buffaloes to the trees, we shall camp here for the night". Masisi commanded.
The men did as they were told. There was a river down the slope, some of the soldiers decided to cool off while others made the camp fire. A soldier kept an eye on Ruhu's every move.
Ruhu was bounded hands and feet. He was exhausted from the long walk and wished he could free up a bit, but they wouldn't let him. They knew of his powers and wouldn't risk it else he pulls some form of mischief.
Masisi would not rest or get himself refreshed, he was restless with power and the mission at hand to allow himself the leisure of rest. He took out the calabash, candles, animal skin with the tooth of a leopard and began to evoke dark powers for revelation, chanting incantation that will subdue any other power that may want to oppose him. Soon all the soldiers fell into deep sleep like log of woods. The greenish smoke proceeding out from the enchantment polluted the atmosphere, making Ruhu choke from the weight of the tormenting spirit. Snake-like creatures that had wings filled the atmosphere, swimming in all directions, beclouding the mind of Ruhu, releasing spirit of heaviness and slumber. They swam like bees. Ruhu kept scouting them away from forming a nest above his head, while Masisi watched to his pleasure and satisfaction.
These creatures formed nest over their victims' bodies. Some perched on their head, some on their chest, some even went further to have intercourse with them. The soldiers cried out in pleasure, growing weaker and weaker, to the entertainment of Masisi. It was a disgusting scene for Ruhu, as he tried to guard his heart from being infiltrated while he tried to stay sane from the terrible buzz of these creatures over his head.
There was no way he could try any communication with Nyambe. The atmosphere is contaminated with evil and the distraction was too heavy to allow any form of concentration.
Seeing that he was going to be in this distress for a long time if he doesn't do anything to stop these creatures, he began to chant in an unknown tongue. The buzz of the creatures didn't allow Masisi notice or hear him chant. He kept at it and soon there was lightning and thunder in the sky. Before Masisi could realize what was happening, a heavy lightning accompanying with heavy down pour raining thick hay and milestones struck the camp.
The soldiers woke up hysterically, running for shield under the trees, the creatures vanished into vapors, and the buffalo's scampered into the thick forest. Chaos had taken over the camp.
Thick darkness consumed the horizon, Masisi lighten up his eyes into a blue flame, began to grope in the dark in search of his enchanting tools. The prisoner was soon forgotten as everyone dashed to save dear lives.
It rained all through the night, by morning, the prisoner - Ruhu was nowhere to be found. They searched around perhaps the rain and milestone had stroked him dead, they thought, but there was no body, dead or alive, no foot print and no Ruhu.
"You fools cried Masisi, how could you think he will be dead? Don't you know he was the cause of the chaos?"
In rage, Masisi's eye turned into a flame of fire, "find me that wizard and bring him here. He will pay dearly for this".
The search for Ruhu began.
Atama journeyed all day in the deep forest. When she was hungry, she searched for wild grape, some cashew and guava. She ate as much as she needed, storing a handful in her bag pack for the night.
Hours later, the sky was becoming dark, she found an oak tree where she prepared herself for the night. Using her mind, she scouted the whole area to check out for any danger or evil lurking in the dark. Satisfied that her environment was clear, she laid her head to sleep.
The tress within the forest began to shake as something glowed in the dark.
The darkness thicken while the princess snored some more. The creeping sound kept coming closer and closer, then three fierce looking monkeys appeared before her, with awful looking eyes and blood stained mouth, obviously hunting for fresh blood this night.
Atama was in grave danger, she didn't possess any weapon to defend herself nor has she developed any skill for self-defense. There she was, fast asleep in the sight of unescapable danger.
The monkeys charged violently in a bid to take out their prey. Suddenly, the smallest rock hidden in her bag came alive, jumped off the bag and turned into a giant rock and began to roll over the monkeys. The second small rock, the rock of speed flew out of the bag with great speed, caught up with the fleeing monkeys and knocking then off on the head. The last rock, the rock of secrets came out majestically possessing magical hands and feet, got to the scene, pulled the three dead monkeys by their tails and brought them to the foot of the oak tree where Atama was sleeping and snoring. The rock dusted off its hands in satisfaction, then together, they all went back into her bag.
Atama turns to find a more comfortable position as she sinks deeper into sleep in great oblivion.
Come morning, she stretched out a yawn as she comes out of the oak tree, and behold the wonder before her.
"How could this be, what happened last night?" she wondered.
How will she explain the death of three fierce looking monkeys by her sleeping side?
"Could it be that Nyambe is truly with me?" She wondered, "This means no evil shall come near my dwelling, see how he fought my battles while I sleep in safety. Truly, Nyambe will keep his own in perfect peace even in the face of danger".
"Thank you King Nyambe, I shall remember that I'm not alone on this mission".
She took her belongings and walked past the dead monkeys in a new found confidence of safety, and protection.
The search for Ruhu continued for days. The soldiers were exhausted and tired from the futile hunt.
Ruhu walked several miles trying to find his way to the great river. Crossing the river to the other side will take him to the place where the powers of Buwana was unreachable. There, the air was clear and had not been infiltrated by the evil powers of Buwana. He will be able to access his full powers and send arrows into the camp of Masisi to destroy his palace and disrupt his mission.
The long journey got him exhausted to his marrow. He was mostly hungry and his feet sores. This greatly slowed his speed as he also suffer great starvation, causing his vision to blur and making it difficult to take a bearing on the path he took. Soon, he lost track as his body couldn't be sustained anymore, he slumps to the ground and fell into a deep sleep. On waking up, he found himself surrounded by Masisi's soldiers. They bounded his feet and hands more firmly than previous.
The soldiers saddled him on their back as they matched back to the camp, rending insults and curses on him for putting them in such hardship for days. They matched forward until they got to the camp and dumped him at the feet of the master-Masisi.
"You think you are wise, Ruhu?" Masisi walked round him, in mocking gestures with his hands clocked behind.
"You are trying my patience you wretch. I can see that you crave for a pinch of my venom".
Ruhu said nothing, already too weak from the long walk, and left with almost no energy in him.
"Answer me you cunny godforsaken wizard", Masisi lands a heavy punch on him, throwing him off balance, which lands him harshly unto the muddy earth.
"Take this fool and feed him, I need him alive for the mission. We climb the mountain top in three days".
They dragged Ruhu away to a section of the camp to attend to his needs and wounds. He was fed with freshly hunted rabbit and wild guava. The soldiers were generous enough to hand him a portion of the wild honey they scooped from an oak tree they came across some days back with the carcass of three donkeys at its foot.
Ruhu ate with much gratitude, feeling physically refreshed while he recuperated.
On the third day, the group decamped and set out for the mountains. They travelled for several miles until they came to the foot of the Mape Mountain. The vegetation was thick and occupied with dangerous wild monkeys. They did not worry themselves about that because the master was there and his powers was in charge at the moment.
It took a whole day to get to the mountain top. There was no time for rest as Masisi ordered Ruhu to begin evoking the content of the scroll from the Stone Wall of Secrets.
Ruhu sat a distance from the group with legs crossed and hands resting on his laps. He closed his eyes, then began to chant in less humorous voice.
"zodowadiiiiiii municepiiiii dodowadiiiii, zodowadiiiiiii municepiiiii dodowadiiiii, zodowadiiiiiii municepiiiii dodowadiiiii…", the chant was going higher and higher, and there was reaction in the skies.
Deep darkness began to cover the horizon, from it thick smoke began to rise higher and higher, then came a bright illumination bringing forth floating written words from scroll after scrolls.
By now Ruhu's eye had turned white like that of a god. He was accessing the secrets in the stone wall of secrets and passing it into the animal skin Masisi had provided. For days they were retrieving history through the mind of Ruhu and it began to drain life out of him. It was a tedious task. If he continued for another day, he was surely going to lose his life. Blood had started flowing from his nostrils.
Atama had travelled for days almost losing hope, when suddenly, she stumbled upon the last location where the group had camped. Hope arose within her, "but where exactly did they proceed to?" she wondered. Looking around her with no clue of the direction to take. She closed her eyes and tried to focus perhaps she will see or hear a sound, but none came. An idea came to her mind, she reasoned, if they were once here, then she could trace their whereabouts from their footsteps.
Closing her eye, she tried to listen. She bent down, with her ear to the ground, she listened and there it was, tap, tap, tap, the sound of footsteps heading towards the direction behind her. Now she knows where to follow. Paying attention to the sound of the footsteps, she realized that she could pick out the footsteps belonging to every man. That of Ruhu sounded the loudest. As if beckoning her to hasten her steps, and so she did.
Taking off in a swift race. She could sense horror in the horizon, she tried to run faster but the more she ran, the more distance she needed to cover, she tried focusing her mind on speed and boom, the rock of speed in her bag pack jumped out, sweeps her off her feet, moving like a whirl wind, and in no time she was by the foot of the mountain.
Quickly and quietly she found a shed and hid. The cloud and lightening had covered the mountain.
Realizing she hadn't thought of a rescue plan. She rubbed and hit her head, scouting for the best move for the rescue mission.
Ruhu was on the last scroll that held the secret and also, at the verge of death.
Atama closed her eyes and concentrated on Ruhu's mind, she appears in his realm, took hold of the scroll and began to change the writings. She could see Ruhu's spirit gradually slipping out of his body.
"Ruhu, don't leave, stay awake, you are the everlasting guardian of the Stone Wall of Secret, you have no equal, and your power is matchless, wake up. Do not allow evil usurp your powers. Remember, evil will last only for a while but the powers of Nyambe will reign forever".
The words she speaks turns first into mist, then vapour, at last, droplet of water that Ruhu gulped down his throat, bringing life into his body.
As soon as life came back to Ruhu, the rock of secret appeared in the realm of their minds, it opened up and swallowed the original scroll from Atama's hand while the counterfeit was passed on to Masisi.
But Masisi is no fool. His instincts told him something is odd. Charging with wild anger, he stretched out his elongated hand to fetch Ruhu from the thick smoke when suddenly, a giant rock appeared before him causing a barrier between them.
"Brace for attack", he commanded his troops. Drawing their swords, they charged towards the thick smoke.
On the other side of the rock, Ruhu had regained his strength and was running down the mountain towards Atama's hiding place. She met him half way and they ran together.
"Look!" A soldier pointed towards their direction.
"The rebels are escaping". And so they charged after them. Masisi was in rage. He began to evoke the dark powers to restrain them but the rock of speed appeared and went after him. He took on his heels but the rock caught up with him, knocking him to his face. When the soldiers witness the incidence, they were gripped with fear causing them to retreat. Going over to their master to attend to him, while Atama and Ruhu escaped into the forest.
They found a cave close to a fast flowing river for the night. Exhaustion had taken the best part of their strength. But the joy of finding one another and escaping from the hands of the enemy supersedes the pain and exhaustion they are feeling.
After washing their faces and taking a drink, too tired to hunt for meat, they shared some guava and wild grapes that Atama wrapped in a piece of cloth from her bag pack.
Satisfied, they made up fire for the night.
As soon as they were refreshed. Atama wasted no time in telling Ruhu all about her ordeal and discoveries. She narrated the story of Malaika and her daughter Anu, about the three dead monkeys she found after a long restful night sleep. Ruhu was amused, watching his once stubborn and uncooperative girl finding her true self in the face of chaos.
Atama told him about the three rocks and their powers. Jumping up, Atama ran to her bag pack.
"That reminds me, 'the rocks', reaching through her bag pack, I think I've lost them", she cried.
"Are you sure about that, look again, Ruhu urged? No one can really loose the rocks when it's in their possession. They are faithful and they stay true to their owner no matter where they go, they will surely return".
"Really!"
And there they were, all three of them wrapped in the piece of animal skin that Malaika had placed them.
"Indeed, they are truly faithful", smiled Atama. As she closed them, putting them carefully back into her bag pack.
"Let us take some rest, tomorrow, we shall cross the river. I must show you something. A greater enemy lies ahead of our mission. The enemy within must be subdued ahead of time".