13 The Bird

Ochieng' and Mudho wanted to disregard the bird in the first place but they appeared to be hypnotized by it the moment they set their eyes on it. They found themselves pasted where they were, looking at it in delight.

Laaaa! Laaaa!

The bird started singing. Its voice was charmingly sweet, putting its listeners in a trance. Ochieng' and the lion found themselves in an illusional world. In the phantasyworld, they saw different things. Mudho found itself walking in a land filled with beautiful flowers. The scent from them gave it a pleasant feeling. The sky was covered with red clouds and the air around it was extremely warm.

It lay on the flowers and started rolling in delectation. It's blood circulation became rampant as his breathing became tranquil. It felt its strength booming. It had never felt this way before. In the real world, surprisingly enough, the changes in its body were really happening. It was rolling on the plants in the forest, knocking rocks here and there leaving it's body aching though it was oblivious about all that. It was walking on air due to the gains it was obtaining.

Ochieng' on the other hand found himself in a desert full of sirocco. The sky in this world wasdark due to the dark clouds with frequent lightning. His ambiance was extremely cold making him quiver vehemently. He wanted to run away from this place but when he turned, he realized the desert covered a very large area. He fell on his knees and waited for what was to come.

He was all of a sudden covered with the raging sandstorm. His eyes squinted before they were entirely shut. His breathing became bottled up. His muscles hardenedand his skin was being bitten by the winds. He covered his mouth and nose to avoid absorption of the sand. As his his muscles hardened, he felt his strength kicked upstairs. When he discovered this, even though he was feeling extreme pain, he gritted his teeth tightly in determination, determination to gain more strength.

Laaaa! Laaaa!

The bird continued singing outside, releasing zephyr that gave different effects to the two fellows. To Ochieng' it was like a duster that bit every cell of his skin, to the lion it was warm air that gave a pleasant feeling. The strength of the two kept increasing. After around two hours, the bird stopped singing. The two fellows fell on the ground panting and breathing heavily.

Yeeee! Yeeee!

The bird heaved and started singing again. It's song took Mudho into a deep sleep whileOchieng' into another world. In the illusive world, He saw the storm tranquilized and colourful plants started burgeoning forth. The atmosphere became cool and the pain he was feeling a minute ago was entirely dispelled. He sat cross legged on the ground and closed his eyes to savour the current moment.

"Ochieng. " He had just sat when he heard a gentle voice calling from behind.

He turned his head only to see an exquisitely gorgeous young lady, around his age standing not far from him. She looked so beautiful that one could think she was an ethereal maid from heaven. When their eyes met, she gave a charming smile revealing her snow-white teeth and a small gap between her upper jaw teeth. Her lips were small and soft, one couldn't resist the urge to kiss them. Her slightly big eyes glittered and her small nose fitted perfectly on her delicate face. She had a small waist and wide hips. She made an eight figure.

Ochieng' unconsciously widened his eyes and mouth in awe. He had never seen such a beautiful woman in his life. He was lost in his world when the gentle voice called his name again.

"How did you know me?" He asked taken aback.

Instead of answering, she softly walked to his side and stretched her arms to help him up. She then looked into his eyes becharming him. He felt like embracing the young woman tightly but was too afraid to do so. Since he became an adult, he had never seen a girl let alone talk to one. Even so, this beautiful one made him crave for her. In the end, he just looked at her and gave a smile. She smiled back and retrieved her soft hand from his grasp.

"I am Apeleka from the Lang tribe." she suddenly spoke after a long silence.

"I'm Ochi..." he wanted to say his name but remembered that the lady already knew him. He then kept quiet because he was run out of words. After another long silence, he asked with a lot of concern, "How did you get here? Are you not aware of the dangers lurking here? "

"I have been sent to exile with my tribe... " she started answering when Ochieng' leapt in anger before asking in a trembling voice, "Why?"

She didn't really expect him to react that way but considering her beauty, that was to be expected. Was there a man who could not want to please such a beauty if opportunity came? She gave him an answer in the end as he listened carefully.

According to her story, she was to be married to the eldest son of the chief of a neighboring clan. She didn't want to be married to the man and decided to flee from home, a day to the day she was to be married officially. She went back home after three days only to find the chief and the son in her compound with thirty heads of cattle as dowry.

As a woman, having no say in where she was to be married, her running away didn't change anything. It only annoyed her tribesmen who were eyeing the large number of heads of cattle. Since she knew she could not walk away, she took a piece of firewood, sneaked to where the man she was to marry was and hit him on the head to his death

Knowing what catastrophe her daughter had put her clan in, Apeleka's mother advised her to hide because she had to be punished, or the tribe would have to bare the consequences as that chief was a very powerful one. Her mother could rather be punished along with the clan than see her daughter in trouble.

Understanding how severe the consequences of her actions were, Apeleka decided to be punished despite her mother's refusal. The punishment she was given was to be taken to the forbidden land. That punishment was worse than death. She was carried until the gates of theland blindfolded so that she couldn't trace her way back. She was then left tied on a tree trunk for fate to deal with her.

Before she was sent to the forbidden land, the chief lashed her on the back to vent his anger. Her mother who couldn't watch her daughter's skin being ripped by the tongues of the chief's whip zonked out. That was the last time the mother and daughter saw each other because when the mother woke up, Apeleka had already been taken to the forbidden land.

Ochieng' unconsciously found himself shading tears while listening to her ordeal. He promised to help her take revenge in the future. He then remembered something and lifted his head to ask how she came to know him only to find her absent. "She was just here a second ago, how did she disappear? " He wondered.

Raauuu!

The bird changed to another song to wake the two up. Immediately they got up, it disappeared. Ochieng' wanted to look for Apeleka when he suddenly found himself lying next to Mudho. He realized he was in an illusory world but the image of that young lady did not leave his mind.

"What just happened? Why do I feel so strong? " He couldn't help but ask.

"The bird." Mudho answered.