52 Lagoon of Holy Water

At the dawning of the next day, Ochieng' and Apeleka left the Odindi clan on Jakony's back. They took just five minutes to arrive at the lions' clan. At the clan, Mudho, Ratong' and the tribe head stood next to a large jadefeathered eagle. These were the beasts Ochieng' was going to travel to Turka with. They did not waste time with formalities, the three lions, Jakony and the two humans climbed the back of the enlarged Jade Eagle.

"Ochieng', even though your strength has increased by leaps and bounds recently, I ask you to be very careful. There are creatures out there that may pose to be a threat. After all, this earth is vast." Warned the Jade Eagle after flying a few metres away from the lion beasts' clan.

"Rest assured." Ochieng' answered not getting his eyes out of the map that he held tightly in his hands. He was using it for directions.

"I did not know you look good in a cheetah's skin."

"You brandish me Luvembe."

"I am not brandishing you... are you ready?"

"Yes"

"Let us go."

That was Luvembe and Lokoit, Kalek and Lang tribe heads respectively. They had agreed they would leave for a place that morning. They climbed their horses and vanished.

Their counterpart from Lu had spent the night with his warriors at Kisum warriors camp oblivious to what the other tribe heads were planning. That morning, he had woken up alongside his warriors preparing their breakfast.

The happenings of the previous day had left them fearful but did not talk about them for fear of casting a misfortune in their tribe.

That was the nature of these people. Most of the times people never talked about things that were beyond their understanding, because they believed that would bring them bad lack. The success of a few people were never discussed as that would make them face misfortune. So, even if the hearts of the people were dying to say them, they tried to seal their tongues. The stories of legends were only told after their deaths.

At noon, Jade Eagle was still flying towards north. They had left the boundaries of the forbidden land and crossed the Luwa lake. Other than it and Jakony, the rest including Ochieng' and Apeleka had never crossedLake Luwa.

"I was told beyond lake Luwa towards north east is extremely dry. Now that I see it with my own eyes, that seems to be the case." Apeleka said looking at the dry land that stretched beyond the horizon in wonderment.

"Is this place even inhabited?" Ratong' asked not believing his eyes.

The place was extremely dry. What could be seen were acacia trees and cactus that were scattered in the land. The sun above was extremely hot and were it not for the peculiar bodies they possessed, they could have found it hard to move across this place.

"A few kilometers from here, there are 'manyattas'. It is a clear indication that there are people living here." Jade Eagle explained calmly.

"The Lang people?" Mudho asked in shock. Others apart from Jakony and Ochieng' who was concentrating on the map looked at Jade Eagle's head with anticipation.

"How naïve. 'Manyatta' is not only used by the Lang people. In fact, the people widely known to use such buildings are the Masi people. They border the Lang people to the east and it is a very powerful tribe." Jakony answered throwing a disdainful look on the lions.

"Then, which people live in this desert?" Asked Apeleka with concern written on her face.

"This place is inhabited by two communities as I can see on the map. The 'manyattas' you see right ahead belong to a community that makes up the Lang tribe. Lang tribe is known to be the largest tribe amongst the communities found near Lake Luwa..." That was Ochieng' obtaining information from the map. He did not finish his statement because he also could not believe what he was seeing.

The Lang tribe was really that large?

Even though it could not see the creatures on its back, the Jade Eagle was able to understand what Ochieng' was really thinking about.

"Lang tribe has several sub tribes. The one near Lu tribe is the Nadi sub tribe. There is also a small Kigi sub tribe near the Lu tribe. The sub tribes normally live independently so it is not surprising that you people don't know much about them. They normally don't help each other even when one is in trouble. They are only considered as Lang tribe because they have the same living standards and administration. Even their languages are more or less similar." Explained Jade Eagle. The other animals and the two humans nodded.

"Ochieng', what is the other tribe living here?" The lion tribe head asked smiling at Ochieng'.

"After the Lang people, there are the Sambu people. Their homeland is around three hundred kilometers from here, with Jade Eagle's speed, it will not take us too long before we get there..."

"Ochieng', I really want to get out of this desolate place! The scourging sun also makes the food in my stomach deplete at a profound rate. Should we stop a little to have a bite of food? The beautiful Apeleka, what do you think?" Before Ochieng' could even finish his explanation, the blabby Ratong' had interjected wearing an indignant face.

What followed was all the eyes except Jade Eagle's turned to look at Ratong' as if they were looking at a fool. Ratong' on seeing the gazes, it lowered its head apologetically and shut its mouth.

They continued with their journey until later in the afternoon when they stopped to rest and have a meal. The journey would be long so they had to travel while resting. Of course they had met with beasts and people who liked looking for trouble. They were easily dealt with by Jade Eagle. They had not met with any creature stronger than the eagle.

Jade Eagle stopped at a nearby pool of water.

"At last. You people had no idea how the emptiness of my stomach was hurting. I guess it was just a matter of time before I died." Ratong' exclaimed as they descended Jade's back.

"Will you die if you keep that mouth shut?" Apeleka who had been quiet for all this time asked the lion annoyingly.

"Apologies Apeleka, my Mistress." Laughed the lion leaving everyone else shaking their heads empathetically.

"I guess with the gourmand Ratong', the food we have for the journey will be reduced to nothingness even before we finish our journey. And the journey was to take two weeks." Sighed Jade Eagle.

"With your speed that will not be necessarily so. I said it could take two weeks because I had not witnessed your flying speed. I think we will be there in three days...only if we don't stop every time to replenish our stomachs." When he said the last sentence, Ochieng' rolled his eyes at Ratong'. The latter lowered its head in embarrassment.

"We are at the border between the Lang tribe and the Sambu tribe. The distance across the Sambu tribe is definitely the longest in this journey. It is also drier than the place we have gone through. I think we should get prepared." Advised Ochieng' after they all sat to have their meals.

The beasts were feasting on the animals they had captured before this journey while Apeleka and Ochieng' the food they prepared back at home.

"I have been to this place before. Even though it is dry throughout the seasons, it is liked by beasts from different races. This is because of the existence of the Lagoon of Holy Water at the center of this Sambu tribe." That was Jade Eagle who was enjoying the meat of an antelope.

"Lagoon of Holy Water?" Lions tribe head asked its eyes widened in confusion.

"Legend has it that several seasons ago, during the great drought of the great eastern valley, the sun's heat had reached an unimaginable level. It burned down thefew crops that the people living in the valley grew. Many people and animals died due to lack of water and food. This land was occupied by several communities but due to the drought, many migrated while others died. The few people left were pastoralists most of which were the Sambu people." The eagle narrated,

"When the few people left thought they could die, a female thaumaturge appeared from nowhere. Her name was KuluwaMadevi. Other than being a thaumaturge, she was a Mogwedhi and a rain maker. When she saw this land's condition, she cried wile reciting things only she could understand. The moment her tears started falling, the clouds darkened and great rain fell. The rain was accompanied by great thunder and lightning."

"After an hour, one great thunderstorm occurred and when it did, a large rock dropped from the sky. Immediately the celestial rock dropped, the sky cleared and the rains stopped. The rock sank to the ground leaving it's surface at the level of the ground. The surface of the rock has never lacked water since then..."