DANUSHIKI

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER TWO

Walking back to his compound from the sacred grove with his son, all other male eighteen year olds were somewhat surprised to see Darjer’s countenance after the prophecy session in relation to his son’s destiny inside the sacred grove.    

Outside the sacred grove, they walked home in silence, ignoring the thick vegetation and slimy reptiles around the sacred grove. They were two mysterious caves located on both sides of the sacred grove, looking aged with all sorts of rodents and reptiles climbing and scurrying atop them. Although Darjer had never attempted going near either of them, legend had it that no one, for whatsoever reason should ever attempt coming near the two caves, or else they’d disappear to the abode of the Shaingwan gods and goddesses.

The legend further had it that the first cave contained a mysterious waterfall which never went dry all through the year and also served as the bathing spot for the goddesses of Shaingwa. Young girls on the island had shared eerie tales of daring escapades to the exterior and entrance of the cave. According to them, they’d heard laughter, splashing and female voices engaging in rapid conversations.  

The second cave was slightly larger in size, and always had smoke coming out of its small entrance. It was scary and sacred at the same time, with no shrub on or around it. All the weed and the plants, which grew about ten metres from its base, were brown in colour and always looking withered even though they grew as normal plants. ‘Brave’ inhabitants of the island who passed it at night when the moon was not shining, were unanimous in asserting that the dark coloured cave resembled one carved out of ice, with smoke still blowing out of its small entrance.

These three ‘natural’edifices symbolized Shaingwa’s ‘tourist attractions’, which were yet to be fully explored by visitors to Shaingwa. It was frightening for any stranger to see diamonds hanging, smoke blowing permanently without fire, or water falling from a height inside an enclosed place which had no body of water anywhere around it. These could only exist in Shaingwa.

After he’d scraped the tenth horn, he kept them close to the fire to darken them and give them the burnt smell he desired. He remembered his own father doing the same thing for him before he left the following week to the sacred training and initiation ground, with the necklace fastened around his neck. Shaingwan men were known to be domineering over their wives in everything, but as but as darkness drew near that evening, he somehow lost the courage to tell his wife that her only son was going to achieve something glorious and end up being transformed into a statue.

Using a strong fibre from a tree, he soon fastened all the horns together before putting away the necklace in a small leather pouch around his waist. While watching the fibre pass through a small hole he’d made on the ten horns, he was amazed how his fingers resembled that of his late father. Memories of the dead man soon faded away as he began to think of how best to handle his wife. He knew he could not hide the topic forever, after all a man must always be ready to face any kind of situation no matter how unpleasant.

‘Three weeks is enough time to ponder on any issue,” he said to himself as he fastened the woven cloth around his body, while inhaling deeply at the same time. Trudging down the road afterwards, while responding to greetings and salutations from adults and children who passed by, his mind was focused only on how best he’d bring up the issue before his wife after three weeks of concealing it. He was somewhat happy that his three eldest daughters were married, meaning less questions for him to answer. He stepped into his compound and saw his two teenage daughters doing one chore after the other, before realizing his son’s absence. Upon inquiry, Gohryo his last daughter, informed him that Danushiki had gone hunting.

He watched the girl speak, and suddenly realized how painful and serious the ‘issue’ with regards to Danushiki was. The thought of losing an only son seemed to tear his heart out of his chest, as he forced a weak smile. He remembered that immediately a young warrior completed the mandatory training and initiation, he became ‘immune’ to any form of human weakness, as the instructors in Cobra Land termed such feelings, but a father would always be a father.

”When did Danushiki leave the house?” He inquired.

“He left soon after mammy finished her discussion with him.” She replied with a smile, while her father suddenly became alarmed and the ‘issue’ came to his mind again.

“The discussion…what was it about?” he asked impatiently.

“Mammy wanted to know if he really loved Choshi’s daughter, because he’s always running after other girls…and she doesn’t want him to put any girl in the family way.”

She was surprised at her father’s curiousity, as he dismissed her with a wave of hand, followed by a look of satisfaction on his face.

Stealthily, he walked across the sitting room, and entered into a small red chamber through a small door in the wall in his room. The existence of the small red chamber was replicated in every other family in Shaingwa. These chambers were overseen by the male head of the family and housed their personal deities (which was inferior to the gods and goddesses of Shaingwa). Each individual deity consisted of frightening objects such as an old bronze shield, which resembled an object immersed in human blood, an old sword belonging to the male family head which was laid atop a small clay pot, wherein a rattling sound could be heard whenever the family head was inside the small chamber. There was also the decomposing head of any four-footed mammal, whose eyes still looked alive, and a large revolving diamond some inches above the clay pot, which was as big as a man’s fist. The revolving diamond bore the first letter of the name of every member of his family on each facet.

Darjer remembered an occasion when he’d had a close shave with death. He’d been fighting in battle, and was bleeding profusely from a deep cut below his ribs, while straining both eyes to look through the smoke around him. Several hours later, after suffering a concussion he trudged back home as if nothing had happened. He prayed every day about the last war he’d been involved in and hoped it’d be the last, but everything had come crashing down three weeks ago while listening to the voices from the large steel pot inside the sacred grove.

He was glad at that moment that the mother of the house was yet to arrive as his ears picked up sounds of children playing in the compound nearby. The evening breeze had a refreshing effect on him as it blew around the large mud house which had been in existence for more than thirty years. From time immemorial, himself and many before him were always made to believe the gods and goddesses of Shaingwa all-powerful, all-knowing and indestructible. He didn’t doubt all these while remembering two previous incidents with a smile. Those two occasions were when Shaingwa had had some ‘visitors.’ He’d been a much younger man at that time and had partaken in defending the island. He’d felt like an immortal during both incidents, and could not explain how the pains and injuries mysteriously disappeared from his body. He longed secretly for those days as he took a deep breath, cleared his throat and thought about his son’s future.

Although the major purpose of having a deity in a small chamber by every Shaingwan family head was to get details about any particular issue, and feel closer to the gods and goddesses of the island, they also knew their personal deities were controlled in one way or the other by the powers inside the sacred grove.

“Glory to the gods,” he muttered as he settled down in the small chamber.

Inside the small red chamber he squatted in a solemn manner, before staring into the eyes of the antelope. The next moment, every object inside the chamber soon possessed an animate nature, while the entire chamber felt as if there were unseen forces inside. He chanted the necessary incantations, which were the hailing of all the ancestors in the family, their achievements and respective distinctiveness. He stopped abruptly when he saw what he desired. Right there before him, the old bronze shield turned into a silvery reflective surface, followed by a king cobra which appeared on it. It spread its hood, opened its eyes and beckoned to him to come closer. He obeyed but soon stopped at a respectable distance with his buttocks resting on both heels while his palms rested atop his knees. Kneeling in the traditional Shaingwan style, he regained his composure and managed to ask the king cobra the one question that’d been bothering him for the past three weeks.

“How dare you quessstion the prophecy of the godss and goddessess?” the king cobra hissed after hearing his question.

”My sincere apologies, I just want to be sure…you know he’s my only son,” Darjer responded with fear in his voice.

“Let me show you ssomething before I tell you what I want you to know,” the king cobra replied without any regard for his eagerness.

The next moment the reptile disappeared, and was soon replaced by a battlefield on a Shaingwan plain, some four hundred metres before the ocean’s edge. On the reflective surface, the outnumbered Shaingwan soldiers charged towards their enemies who were dressed in different attires and possessed strange weapons. One of the Shaingwan soldiers suddenly turned back as if he was retreating, and ran towards the cliff with his battle-axe strapped to his waist. The next moment he leaped off the cliff and immediately transformed into a gigantic golden eagle with amazing features. 

The revelation on the shield was soon interrupted by the voice of the king cobra, as images of the armed strangers he’d fought with as a young warrior began to seep into his mind. He thought about their complexions, statures, voices…

Darjer immediately knew that his son’s fate was sealed and nothing, not even a pot, as large as the one inside the sacred grove, filled with his wife’s tears could reverse it.

“I hope you are obssserving carefully,” the king cobra hissed.

“I’m observing,” Darjer stammered half-heartedly.

“The treasuresss of Shaingwa are sssacred and should never be used for persssonal purpossses except in the sacred grove.” The hissing sound by the king cobra made Darjer nauseous, as he began to imagine how the island would be ravaged again.

“In the processs,” the king cobra continued, relishing the attention it was being given.

“Your ssson will lead the liberation to free the inhabitantsss from the shacklesss they’ll be locked in. He would later return to the sssacred grove for all eternity, to join other past warrior commandersss whossse sssoulsss were sssacrificed in the sssame way…for the power of transformation.”

The king cobra that’d now fully appeared moved its hood as if for emphasis before it continued speaking.

“Let me warn you, that none of the passst warriorsss voluntarily desssired thisss power… Shaingwa giveth power, and after they ussse the power, Shaingwa collectsss their sssouls and pressservesss their bodiesss in a ssstony form.”

He was still staring at the old bronze shield when the scenery mysteriously disappeared as it had appeared. The entire shield was gradually covered with the reptile’s coiled mass. Its head slowly touched the surface of the shield after it folded its hood before hissing to him for the last time that day.

“I hope your curiousssitiesss are sssatisssfied?” Before he could answer, the king cobra disappeared and everywhere became normal. Darjer stood up slowly, stretched himself and eased out of the chamber before shutting its door with a deep sigh.