My two legs are on the ground and my posture straightened.
"So what if I tell you what to do, son of Miko?"
"What if I chose what you will be doing from now on?
"Will you defy me and risk the anger of my gods?
I swallow hard and try to act firm, but the pain shoots back continuously.
Until I raise my leg from the ground again.
She stands and walks into the cave, and I follow her slowly.
She enters and begins to make something with the leaves she had cut from the garden.
"Now that you have seen my face, you will have to die. Do you know that?
But! I protest.
"But what Kalenje! She replied
"You did not mean to?" She asked following my response.
She turned and I could see the glow in her eyes rise.
There was a grin on her face, and cold sweat filled my body. I could feel the fever come back.
I do not answer because I wanted to, I needed to feed my curiosity.
"You will not kill me," I tell her. confidently realizing she is playing with my head.
"Why do you think that? she asked.
"You are the seer, surely you already know that will happen".
She burst out into a hearty laugh.
"I liked it earlier when you were anxious," she said, and continued to work now.
"What are you making?" I asked, checking her hand with my eyes.
"A poison to help you heal," she replied.
"What are your thoughts now? she asks as she brings the koko(calabash) to me.
"I will live," I tell her, I will live for all of them."
"Yes you will", she replies and hands the koko(calabash) to me.
And as I drink from it, I feel the bitter taste, but I don't flinch.
I have been drinking concoctions like this since I was a child.
Before I could drop the koko down, I heard footsteps, light as a child, walking into the cave and then another.
And as I looked on, I saw the craftsman's daughter Laziza, and also the daughter of Indo the drunk.
"The koko falls out of my hand, and I ask "why is it that only girls have survived?"
"Because these two were not in the village when it happened, and after they saw the ruins, they made their way here.
And also because you ran!
Borankama stated in jest.
"I am not a girl!
But you ran, and that is what girls do.
I stared at my feet, knowing she did not lie.
"Welcome my dears", she says like a grandmother welcoming her grand children home.
"You are both welcomed to stay with the gods until he can build and hunt for you," she says, looking at me.
I raise my head up to look at her, and then she says out loud, "you are the head of Mubaila now, and anyone that survives is your responsibility".
I nod in acceptance, and she continues.
"Once you are able, you will retrieve the totem of Miko and never lose it."
I nod once more, and then she says, "You will escort them to go and get water",
She points to some pots by the side, and the two girls hurry to get one each.
"You will protect them Kalenje," she says as I look at my wound and then back at her.
She still is not looking at me, she watches the girls pick the pots and head out in search of water.
I follow behind them limping as we go out into the forests.
The two girls kept talking and giggling while I struggled to keep pace with them.
Laziza is older and plumper than indo's daughter, Ara. who herself wasn't thin.
The two were older and would soon be made. to marry the strong and hard working kids, so they would bear strong and hard working kids too.
I wonder how Indo had married, since all he did since I knew him was get drunk and fall on his back as the kids followed him around.
Now all that is gone, and there is nothing anyone can do about it.
My father would say, 'one journey ends, so another has to start", when someone dies.
Before the body is put into the ground, I raise my head to look around, the girls have moved farther.
I stamp my feet on the ground, and I don't feel the pain any longer. The portion she had given me, I think it is for the pain.
I don't stress the leg, but I hurry to catch up with them.
"Laziza, wait up!
"You two should not go without me?
"Are you scared? Ara teased.
I don't answer her, I just walk close by and climb a tree as they stand and watch.
I walk to the edge of a strong small branch and drop straight down, holding the edge as it cracks. When my legs touch the earth, I pull the other end from the tree and clean the leaves on the branch.
I swing it a bit and it floats through the air, just as Gara had thought the boys my age to attack.
Gara was our warrior chief, and I wonder what has happened to him now.
"Show off," I heard Laziza say, "if you could do this, why run to Borankama?" She teased, and the girls laughed in unison.
I don't pay attention to them, I just do as she had instructed.
I escorted them back to our village, and they go to the stream and fetch water.
And when I reach our village, I see the bodies still stretched on the surface of the earth.
I go into the craftsman's hut. I find most of our wares have been taken by the intruders.
I look around and find the digging wood.
I go out and use it to bury my people while the girls return to Borankama.
They did not argue when I told them why I would stay back.
And as I eased the bodies into the earth, tears ran down my face. The faces of those I laid into the ground were my family and extended family, and those who I have known all my life.