Page 17 of Wrath of the Oracle

She had been awakened by rough snarls in her face. Musembi had thought she was in a dreamwhen she saw the figure of a tall woman dressed in white robes inside her room. The woman’s robes flowed on the floor, and her ghostly eyes were behind a black, birdlike mask. Musembi scrambled out of bed and rubbed her eyes. She thought the fumes of alcohol clogged her brain.

The previous day, she failed to pass the rigorous test by the examiners of the Academy of Imperial Physicians. Yet again. Every two years, she tried for the test and failed each time, sending her into a downward spiral of binge drinking to drown her sorrows. When she woke up that morning to the image of the Oracle, she almost passed out again.

“Daughter of Ulele, arise,” the snarly voice whispered, and pushed a bundle cradled in her long arms to Musembi. Musembi was too overwhelmed with fright to notice the child wrapped in swaddling clothes held by the woman.

“Who? What…” Musembi’s voice failed her as she stepped back and tried to avoid the Oracle and child in her arms. She tumbled off her feet, fell back in bed, and searched for an escape.

“Raise her,” the Oracle demanded again and pushed the child into Musembi’s hands. “I command you.”

“Who is this child? Who are you?” Musembi found her voice once the Oracle moved back, after she had deposited the wiggling baby in her arms.

The Oracle didn’t answer but disappeared in a mist before Musembi’s eyes. Musembi screamed after the Oracle left and thought she was in a dream, but the baby in her arms proved her wrong.

She turned to the child in her arms and noticed the tattoos on her head. Circular symbols she couldn’t decipher crisscrossed each other. From then on, she raised Sholei in the medicine yard as her child, but that didn’t go unnoticed in the community. A few months later she held a naming ceremony for her and the priest revealed Sholei’s delicate fate.

Talk had spread in the capital of a mysterious child with strange markings on her head raised by the drunkard physician. To say they were an odd family was an understatement.

“You summoned me, daughter of the Ulele clan.” The eerie voice stopped Musembi’s thoughts, and she opened her eyes to see the Oracle standing before her. Time passed, but the Oracle looked the same as the last time Musembi encountered her. The birdlike mask on her face hid her looks from the world. Her wild, unnaturally white curly hair flowed over her shoulders to her waist.

“I demand to know where Sholei is,” Musembi demanded.

When she returned to her residence to find Sholei missing and Tula beside herself with guilt and worry, Musembi almost went mad with worry. Through tears, Tula informed her that Prince Gane had gone after Sholei, but Musembi couldn’t rest. The last person she trusted was Gane. She knew one person would know what was going on. She turned to her ancestral shrine and put it to work. She summoned the Oracle. She wasn’t sure if the woman would appear, but that didn’t stop her from trying.

“This attachment you have to her will not do either of you any good.” The Oracle swayed with the mist andmoved closer to Musembi. Her tall form covered the lantern light overhead, creating a shadow on the floor. Musembi swallowed her fear at the sight of the ever-present Asaa, a giant black snake growling at their master’s feet, its hypnotic eyes fixed on her.

“You should have thought of that before you dumped her on me,” Musembi said despite her fear.

The Oracle released a bark of laughter, and her Asaa released a loud snarl. Her slender shoulders trembled with the effort.

“You dare mockmydecisions.” In a moment, the laughter died, and the Oracle twisted her body unnaturally until her head reached Musembi’s level. When Musembi tried to turn her head away, the Oracle grabbed her chin and forced her to look into her ghostly eyes. The chill of the Oracle’s bony fingers penetrated Musembi’s skin and caused her teeth to rattle.

“The star from the north has descended. No one is going to stop what’s coming,” the Oracle continued as the glow of her eyes turned green.

“I couldn’t care less about what the stars are doing. All I want is Sholei. Where is she?” Musembi gritted her teeth and tried to snatch her head from the deathly grip, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t move any part of her body.

“You raised her and have done your part. Now it’s time to forget about Sholei.” The Oracle laughed out loud and released Musembi’s face, she left behind traces of blood where her long nails had dug in. “Fate is a fickle lord. You might lose your life if you choose to interfere with destiny.” The Oracle began to fade before Musembi’s eyes. The cloudy mist of the incense swallowed the beast and the Oracle’s tall form.

“Where is Sholei? Are you going to use her as part of your plans?” Musembi scrambled to her feet and ignored her bleeding face.

“Stop.” The Oracle’s voice echoed through the room, and a gust of wind blew. “Death is the destination down this path you seek.”

A sharp pain crossed Musembi’s back and she screamed as she collapsed to her feet. The coppery smell of blood permeated the air and replaced the heavy incense. The Oracle struck her in the back. Before her world went black, Musembi recalled the Oracle’s last words and the sad tone that accompanied them.

A tracker returned,holding a package in his hands. “You need to see this, my lord.” He handed the bloody necklace to Prince Gane. Gane sheathed his sword and regarded the necklace. It was the same piece he had placed around Sholei’s neck the previous day. He had bought it from a trader across Lake Alokove. The merchant had boasted about the jewelry’s protective qualities.

“Lies,” he cursed under his breath. The piece was meant to draw the talented physician onto his side. Her incredible skills worked like magic, and Prince Gane was a man who appreciated talent. Who knew the extent of her skills and what use he could make of them?

Sholei was a talent he needed at his side. He had stumbled onto her by accident, and she would be perfect for his plans to take out his brothers and make his ascension tothe throne smooth. It also looked good for the people of Mukuru if he didn’t spare any effort to search for one of them, even if she was a no-name physician. Who would dare kidnap the physician in his city? He gazed at the distant and towering walls of the capital. The arched tops of the palace were obscured behind the morning mist. The Mawindoni Hills, with their deep caves, were on the other far horizon.

“Where did you find this?” he asked the weary man. They searched for Sholei all night under the torrent of rain and thunderstorms. The search party was exhausted and hungry, but he pushed them on.

After Tula informed him about Sholei going after a Dembe soldier she had spotted in their midst, Gane had gone after them. He couldn’t risk ignoring the threat of Dembe soldiers. Even less so since Tula produced an insignia to prove her allegations.

“We traced horse hooves to Bondeni Valley. We came back once we found the necklace,” the tracker wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. They had trudged through the entire night without a break, and it showed.

”My lord, if I may say this….” Another tracker, a long-limbed man, approached with hesitant steps.

“Speak up.” Gane clenched the necklace in his hand and glared in the distance. He tried to determine the quickest way to Bondeni Valley.

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