Gradually, I became aware of the darkness. A deep darkness, such as I have never seen before.

Is this death? I wondered.

I don’t think so. I can hear voices. Death should be like going back to the bosom of mother earth. A deep silence, as you await for her to use you in creating new life. I don’t think anyone would have the appetite to talk in such a situation. So, certainly not death.

But if I’m not dead, why am I alive? I know that not being dead automatically means being alive. But…

My father’s Hanu had seen me. And he should have killed me to erase all traces of his crime.

Turned me to sand, more like.

The look on his face showed he would have too. I shuddered at the memory. I mean, I know death is inevitable, and that that’s what happens when one is buried. One goes back to being sand, and his spirit goes to the bosom of mother earth. But it happening that fast? And before I am dead and buried?

No, thank you very much. Let’s take it slow and steady.

And dead.

I really shouldn’t have thought that, because the darkness started getting heavy. It weighed down on my consciousness, dragging me down into oblivion.

…. …. …. ….

I awoke to a gentle swaying. I opened my eyes. I recognised the ceiling of the infirmary. It came rushing back. The sand my father became. The look on my tutor’s face. The footsteps. Who were they?

Whoever they were, they probably saved me from my tutor.

I wasn’t feeling dizzy, but the ceiling was swaying vigorously. I closed my eyes and opened them again. It didn’t stop. I sighed. It wasn’t disturbing me much, since the bed I am in didn’t seem to be swaying much. It just made looking for my mother a little bit harder

Of course, how could I forget my mother was in the infirmary, whatever had happened?

I sat up. I had to find her to make sure she was okay. I couldn’t look around from where I lay with all the swaying. That was when I noticed that the beds weren’t the normal one we used

The normal ones were tacked to the floor, but this one dangled from the ceiling. Now I knew why the whole room swayed, while my bed remains reasonably steady.

I looked around, wanting to know if all the other beds were the same way. My eyes fell on the bed beside mine. More specifically, in the person lying on it. My heart skipped. I stifled a scream. It was my tutor.

I kept completely still and looked steadily at him, just incase he was pretending to be unconscious so he could be the same place as I am. Which would mean he is waiting for the first opportunity to kill me.

But he didn’t even appear to be breathing. I watched him for a long time. If he was acting, then he should have died by now. Not even once did he draw a single breath.

Cautiously, I touched him, trying hard to keep my feet steady on the not so steady floor. Luckily, they weren’t screaming anymore.

He didn’t move.

I pinched him carefully. Same result.

Did he die? What killed him?

I got bold and poked a finger into his nostril. He didn’t even twitch.

Well, that was good news as far as I was concerned. I don’t want to be looking over my shoulders all the time. One problem taken care of.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

Now, to find mother.

“Sari!” the unmistakable voice of Mali filled the infirmary.

I turned. There he was, at the door, with his father and sister. Relief flooded my heart. I hadn’t even realised I was worried for him. If he had lost consciousness when I hit him, I’m not sure he would have survived.

He ran into my outstretched hand.

“Elaenja” he called me what he usually calls me on the playground.

“Hanu” The reply was automatic.

My father’s Hanu had killed him too. I suddenly did not like the title very much.

“Your father!” he blurted out.

“How did you know?” The words just fell out.

“That he’s missing? Everyone knows. He ran into his courtroom when we couldn’t hold off the strangers. That was where we found you. But he wasn’t there. And no one had seen him leaving either”

I sighed in relief internally. For a moment, I thought he was about to tell me what happened to my father. No one else was in the courtroom, which would have meant he was on my tutor’s side.

With the relief, I couldn’t hold it in any longer.

“It was my tutor” I whispered.

“What?” he frowned in confusion.

“He’s not missing. He’s dead. Tutor killed him, turned him to sand.”

His face remained contorted in more confusion. Then it turned bland with firm disbelief. And I could see the disbelief was intentional. As if he wasn’t quite ready to accept it, even though he thought it.may be true. At last, he said

“You’re crazy. Everything must be getting to your head”

I sighed. Of course. No one would believe it. It just doesn’t seem like something that can happen in reality. Even I had trouble believing it, even as it happened right before me.

With this knowledge came panic. If no one would believe me, how can I ever tell them what happened to my father? Is there no way to avenge my father? Will I watch the Hanu succeed the Elaenja as the custom demanded, even though he was the one that killed the Elaenja?

“And the strangers?” I asked.

“Our men, the ones that remained, are fighting them. I don’t think we stand a chance. The strangers, they can throw fire.”

And you can’t believe someone turned to sand within a blink? Your denial is phenomenal, friend.

“Why do we fight then? Let’s surrender and save the remaining of us”

Mali shook his head in a gesture of hopelessness.

“They don’t accept surrender. They seem intent on killing everyone. Besides, we may stand a chance. Your slush, it seems to hurt them on contact.”

“What are we waiting for then? Where are the bags we brought up

As I talked, I was already yanking off the handholds we had so painstakingly put up earlier. As I yanked off the one above my tutor’s bed, I considered dropping it on him. They can throw fire,he can turn someone to sand. If it hurts them, it ought to do something to him too, dead or not.

I dropped it. It fell on his eyes. The eyes shut more tightly. He jerked. His eyes opened. It met mine.

I ran.

That was the first thing that came to mind. Between turning to sand and getting fore thrown at me, I choose the one may be able to dodge.

…. …. …. ….

Opportunity to prove myself to Mali came faster than I had thought.

It had quickly turned into a grim battle. We threw dried slush as hard as we could, hoping to add as much damage as we can to the slush natural ability to hurt the enemy. Never in my life would I have imagined that I would one day be fighting fire throwing men with dried slush.

Life is really full of surprises.

But I quickly discovered it would be more accurate to say that they exploded things. They picked up objects, and explode it right in our faces. So we were combating throwing skills but super throwing skills. Not that it evened our chances.

We quickly discovered that the slush was a knockout when soaked with sea water. So our men started diving into the water with bags full of handholds.

I was on my way to join them when I walked into an encirclement. They blocked my way forward, and I wasn’t exactly excited on going back where I came from. That was when my tutor decided to make an appearance.

Now or never.

“Tutor!” I shouted so loudly that I caught everyone’s attention.

I waved frantically, as if in a sinking boat, and shouted again.

“Tutor! Help! Save us!”

With how frantically I was pleading, and the confident, I was confident I got everyone wondering what Tutor could do. No way he’s going out of this one. And to make extra sure.

“Just turn them to sand, like you did the other man!”

The enemy visibly shifted back. Tutor raised his hand in a gesture of ‘what’. The strange men scattered, screaming. I couldn’t hear the words they were screaming, but I could make out two words clearly.

“Run back…..have….level sorcerer!”

Now, that the men were visibly frightened, it would be suspicious if he didn’t do anything. So Tutor raised his palms and the nearest man to him turned to sand. The others turned tail and fled, visibly terrified.

“Don’t let them escape!” Tutor and I shouted, almost in unison. Our men got to action. In a little while, we had them rounded up and tied.

When the commotion had died down, we realised my tutor was unconscious once more.

So, that’s why he hadn’t killed me. Turning someone to sand knocks him unconscious.

…. …. …. ….

As the men cleared the deck of corpses, both ours and otherwise, I sought out Mali. I needed emotional support as I planned my first murder. Tutor was unconscious, now would be the best time to kill him.