Zahrah the Windseeker (20 page)

"She was amazing," the female said with a sound of admiration.

I felt jittery. I still feared the panthers but ... another Windseeker?
It sounds like her,
I thought.
But it can't be.
Could it? All the way out there? It didn't make sense.

"What was her name?" I asked.

"I don't recall," the female said.

"No wonder this one is so young yet still alive," the male said to the female. He turned to me. "How long have you been with the trees? Judging from your tattered attire, you're from the Ooni Kingdom."

"Where else would I be from? All human beings are," I said. I didn't think they would eat me anymore, and I was beginning to relax.

"Some humans live far from the Ooni Kingdom, though very few," the female said. "The Windseeker we met was not from there. Other panthers who'd met her said she was from somewhere beyond this area."

"How long have you been away from your people?" the male asked me again.

"A little more than two weeks, I guess."

"Why are you here and not with those who birthed you?" the female asked.

"I need to find an elgort egg, to save my friend. "

If panthers could express fear on their faces, I saw it then. They stepped away from me. The gesture made my belly flutter.
If these great creatures can fear elgorts
... I shivered, unable to finish the thought.

"Not smart, especially for a Windseeker," the male said.

"Maybe we should eat you now," the female said. "Anything is better than being destroyed by an elgort."

I looked at my feet, trying to ignore the sting of their words. For many days, I hadn't thought about the danger of hunting down an elgort. I was too preoccupied with the more immediate perils of the jungle.

"I have to do this," was all I could say.

"Well, I hope we hear good stories about you after your certain death, young Windseeker," the male said.

"Make sure your spirit is prepared to leave that scrawny body of yours," the female said, rubbing her nose and turning to leave. She sneezed. "You do smell very bad."

"Peace watch over you," the male said.

Then they turned and left, the female still sneezing in disgust. For a moment, I just stood there, their words echoing in my mind. I swallowed the lump in my throat and got myself moving, though my legs were stiff and I felt a little ill.

I continued using the lemongrass, even when I no longer saw animal carcasses in the trees. The panthers I'd met were curious, but I wasn't sure if the others would be. I also noticed that the smell of the lemongrass oil kept mosquitoes and gnats away better than my repellant, and it smelled nice.

Later that day, I picked several tree clams from the low branches of an ekki tree. Then I built a fire and roasted them in their shells. I knew to put out the fire quickly so as not to attract the large black eagles I saw zooming about in the sky. I had learned from the field guide that these eagles were known to snatch up prey as large as deer!

That night, the pink frog that I had met at the beginning of my journey appeared again. It hopped down from a branch above me and sat at my feet. I blinked with mild surprise. I was tired and instantly felt annoyed.

"Well?" the frog said. "What do you want?"

"Why do you keep bothering me?!" I snapped. "Are you not right in the head? Or do you have nothing better to do?"

"I couldn't care less about you," the frog said, looking equally annoyed. "You're the one bothering me with your neediness."

"Me?" I said, scrunching my face. I was too exhausted for this. "You're just an irritating talking frog with a bad attitude. Why would I want anything from you?"

The frog sighed loudly, turning around.

"I hope something gobbles you up soon," the frog grumbled, hopping away. "At least then you'll leave me alone."

"More likely you than me," I shot back as it hopped down a branch and disappeared behind some leaves.

I sat for a moment feeling angry and aggravated.

"Stupid nonsense frog," I grumbled, bringing out my digi-book. "As if I couldn't squash it with my foot."

I picked up the digi-book and stared at the screen for a moment trying to push the frog out of my mind. Then I tried accessing some elgort information again. When I clicked on the link to the elgort passage, the screen went blank. Then it turned light green, and the words of the elgort passage appeared in black, the opposite of its usual black screen with green words. I gasped with excitement. Finally, I would know what to expect. Aside from the screen and words being the wrong color, a few of the characters were a little messed up, but I could still read it. Trying my best not to move the digi-book, I quickly began to read:

Suddenly it went dark. Again, it said error. I bit my lip hard, resisting the urge to throw the digi-book to the ground and be done with the frustrating instrument once and for all. Instead of throwing it, I tilted it to the side. I heard something small rattle inside it. I tried accessing the elgort entry again. "
Source Page Error,
"it said. I wasn't surprised, though I felt a little deflated. Any information would have helped.

I turned the book over and sighed loudly. Even without the information, I knew that the elgort was deadly. Everyone knew that. All it ever wanted to do was murder and eat things. I felt dizzy. What was I doing? No wonder the panthers had assumed I was on my way to my death. I
was!
I was hunting a monster and when I found it, it would find me delicious! What was I
doing?
What was I
thinking?

But I knew the answer to both these questions.

In my heart I was sure, even if my brain kept telling me I was crazy. I knew. I was sure. I didn't sleep well that night. But by the morning, I was ready to keep going.

As I walked, my mind was in the clouds. I was thinking about how much I missed seeing the open sky. The field guide had a whole chapter dedicated to "Junglemyelitis."

Needless to say, a few of us who were more sensitive to being completely surrounded by trees and bushes have gone mad from Junglemyelitis. The trees started to look as if they were boxing us in. Then the leaves and branches seemed to block out more sunlight than usual. The soil began to smell soilier. And an over-whelming fear of animals waiting to attack set in. This is a rare condition. After being in the jungle for so long, we all feel a bit claustrophobic. That's normal.

But if you have these symptoms, well, the best way to treat them is to gather as much food as you can and climb to the top of a nice sturdy tree where you can see the open space above. Stay there for three days.

I didn't like the idea of staying in a tree that long. I didn't have the luxury of time. Plus I wasn't really having any abnormal symptoms. Still, I'd have given away all my mangoes if I could only run through an open grassy field for an hour. I was staring up at the blue sky when I heard the first bark.

Wild dogs.

They must have been sleeping nearby because they were at my heels before I knew it. I managed to run and then half float and half jump into a tree just in time. They had caught me off-guard, and I could feel my heart beating extremely hard. As I clutched the tree branch, I watched the pack of dogs mill about below, growling and looking up at me. I tried to think of relaxing thoughts.

Still, just as the dogs started to lose interest and walk away, I began to feel myself slipping.

"Oh no!" I said groggily. My mouth felt numb and I slurred my words. "Not now, not now."

The last dog disappeared into a bush just as things faded. I couldn't hear or see any dogs, but that didn't mean anything in the Greeny Jungle. It didn't mean anything at all. The next thing I remembered was the painful thud of my body hitting the ground. I'd fallen out of the tree. My hip exploded with pain and my eyes flew open. The first thing I saw were black furry feet a few yards away. I slowly looked from the feet to the legs to the—I gasped. Then the gorilla came rushing at me. I was so shocked that I tried to roll onto my side. I was greeted with a fresh burst of pain from my hip. I couldn't get up.

The gorilla beat its chest and howled angrily at me. I bit my lip hard, pushing my fear as far back as I could. I opened my mouth and took a deep breath. The gorilla got within a foot of me and stopped. It teetered forward and fell to the side.

I frowned.
What's wrong with it?
I wondered. Thankfully, this display of vulnerability helped me relax. The gorilla got up and stood on all fours, its long left arm shaking. Then I realized its entire body was shaking. I squinted, rolling myself to the side a little. If I had been standing up, the gorilla would have been almost my height. And it was obviously much stronger, even if it was in a weakened state. Its fur was more gray than black. The gorilla was old.

It had green jewels on its ears and around its neck and ankles. Gorillas were fairly common back home, especially in the mountains on the southwest side of the great city. There were several well-known gorilla tribes there, but I'd never heard of gorillas who wore jewelry.

"I-I mean no harm," I said, holding a hand up. I almost wanted to laugh at my words. What "harm" could I possibly do when I couldn't even get up!

"What is your name?" the gorilla said in a low, gruff voice, its body still slightly shaky It beat its flat chest once and stared at me. Not "it," "him." This gorilla was male. And I noticed there were others, too, as the bushes around me began to rustle. Some peeked around tree trunks and bushes; a few were in the lower branches of trees.

"M-my name is ... it's Zahrah, Zahrah Tsami," I said, looking around some more. I could see no way out even if I
could
run.

"You are a human," the gorilla said.

"Yes."

"You're a child. "

"I guess."

"You are hurting."

I hesitated.

"Yes," I said. My injured hip was too obvious to hide.

"Where are those who gave birth to you?"

"Back home."

"In the human-dwelling city?" the gorilla asked.

I didn't reply. I'd already spoken too much. It was better if the gorillas thought there were others. But these gorillas weren't stupid.

"You're the one that the Windseeker was looking for," he said after looking me over.

"Windseeker?" I said, surprised. "Was her name ... was her name Nsibidi?"

The gorilla nodded.

"She's a friend of the idiok," he said. "She's been searching the forests for a human girl. She left here only two days ago."

"Oh," I said. "Wow."

"I am Obax, Chief of the Modern People. If you continue to be truthful, then you're among friends," he said, stepping closer to me.

Obax,
I thought.
Where have I heard that name?
Then I remembered. One of the idiok was named after him. This was Obax, the great gorilla chief.

Since I knew I was a bad liar, it seemed I had found myself among friends. The minute Obax called out "It is all right," the other gorillas, small and large, young and old, gathered around me.

"Ododo," Obax said. A slightly smaller gorilla wearing a necklace of yellow, stiff-looking flowers stepped up. "Come and see."

Ododo looked down at me with her large orange eyes as she leaned on her knuckles.

"Where does it hurt, child?" Ododo asked in a gruff voice. Ododo's chest was not flat like Obax's. Ododo was female.

"I-I fell out of that tree," I said pointing upward. "Onto my hip."

She pushed me a little to the side and I winced, tears watering my eyes.

"Ah, please," I said, with a pinched face. "Hurts!"

"I know," Ododo said, continuing to poke and prod the left side of my hip, where the pain was. The pain was so horrible that for a moment I couldn't think. Slowly she helped me sit up, and the burning subsided a little. Another gorilla stood behind me so I could lean back. I could feel the gorilla's fur on my neck, soft and thick. Then Ododo slowly straightened my left leg and I screamed in pain.

"Elu," Ododo said to a stocky male gorilla. "Come and carry her."