4 His Disappearance

The next day, the chief left for Kisum where the headquarters of the Lu tribe was located. He wanted his beloved Ochieng' to tag along but the young boy refused even after he cajoled him several times. He was dejected but then his admiration for the young boy soared.

The chief was going to join the other clan chiefs and the tribe head and division heads to discuss how they could solve the incoming crisis. The Lu tribe could maybe meet its end when that battle took place.

As soon as the chief left, the son disappeared and no one knew where he went. This became the talk of Odindi clan. The chief being away, the clan elders took control of the clan. They ordered the village men to search for the chief's heir only to fail, after repeated searching.

He was the only son and child of Anyango, the Odindi clan's chief's first wife. She was not herself since he got away. She had brought him up well, teaching him all the laws of the land and narrating to him several stories. He was always by her side if not by his father's. She loved him more than she loved herself. She was never the same again until his son came back one day.

It took chief Ong'am two weeks to arrive at Kisum. He went there on a horse. If he went on foot, nobody knows what timehe could take to get there. Horses were rare and expensive during that time and only the wealthy in the society like chiefs had them. He did not even know that his son had vanished.

After he left his home at dusk, a few hours after his father left, Ochieng decided to head to the forbidden land. A land that nobody dared to go to. If anyone from his clan or tribe got the wind of where he was going, they could just die from anger because that proved that that chief's son was insane and his courage was heaven defying.

He knew the direction of the forbidden land from his mother and the elders during their stories. According the stories, those who went to the forbidden land never returned.

He was told the forbidden land was a land that was cursed by 'Were'. This is because it was believed that 'Jochiende' ( demons) and mysterious animals inhabited the land. Nobody had seen them but for some reasons, this was a place that could make one's hair stand on end by just the mention of its name.

Ochieng, though young, wanted to know how these creatures really looked like. He wanted to know why those who went there never returned. He wanted to mould and strengthen himself to protect his beloved mother and clan, through doing things that even the strongest in the tribe's history like Luanda Magere could not do.

The reason why nobody even found him was because nobody even dared to take the path leading to the forbidden land as no one even believed the young boy would go to that place.

After walking the whole night and whole day, stopping once in a while to have his meals, he reached a point where he could walk no more as he was exhausted. He decided to look for a place under a big ng'ou tree to spend his night.

Auuuu! Uuuuuu! Roaaar!

He had started sleeping when sounds from different animals started insulting him. Surprisingly enough, he feared nothing. He lay quietly as if nothing was really happening waiting for sleep to take him over.

'I know mother is worried about me, father will definitely be another thing if he comes back and not find me. I can't stay there, I must look for strength to protect my people. I can't find strength if I don't overcome fear. Therefore, no matter what happens, this is where I must go. Father! Mother! Odindi! Karachuo and the entire Lu tribe! Rest assured that when I come back, it will be to destroy those with ill intentions against you! '

After saying that for himself, he fell asleep...