I joked with the slaves and with my owner. I told them to cook a nice dinner for me because I would be back tomorrow. The slaves laughed but the witch Makira and my master were far from pleased. I had the satisfaction of seeing my owner turn pale.
They loaded me into a boat at dead of night and rowed to the centre of the great Makarikari lake. In the boat were Makira, our owner and his two concubines, and the four slaves who rowed the alien boat.
At a sign from Makira the slaves pulled in their oars and lifted me up and threw me into the water.
The cold dark water closed over me, smothering me. I felt myself sinking into the dark depths like a helpless stone, down . . . down . . . down . . . into the watery womb of the lake.
There were sounds in my ears and there was heat on my body. Slowly I opened my eyes and found myself looking into the blinding glare of the midday sun.
Quickly I closed my eyes and allowed my brain to work on this incredible fact: I was alive. But I had no right to be. I should be down there in the green depths of the water instead of lying somewhere on the northern shore of Lake Makarikari! I should be dead instead of hearing the song of the birds in the swamp trees and feeling the heat of the sun on my naked body.
‘Lumukanda!’ The strange silvery voice calling my name suddenly out of nowhere sounded exactly like my mother’s. I felt a rush of incredible strength gush into my body as I leapt up and looked about me.
‘Lumukanda!’ It sounded from somewhere in the forest.
‘Mother!’ I cried. ‘I am coming, I am coming to you.’
Now I was sure that I was dead, that I was not on earth but in the Spirit Land. I knew I was going to meet my parent soon and be happy for evermore. I ran wildly into the forest and the next thing I knew I was flat on my face in the mud, having tripped over a mangrove root. I sprang to my feet again, ruefully, and looked about. I was covered from head to foot in stinking mud and a voice laughed heartily from somewhere behind me.
‘My parent,’ I cried, ‘please show yourself. Do not make me suffer; I have suffered enough as it is.’
Suddenly my mother stood before me, smiling tenderly, with her sword in her hand and her metal headdress on her head. She stood there, tall and straight and very beautiful, and she smiled at me in a strange tender way – just as she smiled when she died. I leapt forward with my arms open to clasp my parent to my breast. My arms encircled her and I closed my eyes and wept, tears of pure heavenly joy that knows no description. But when I opened my eyes I found myself fiercely embracing nothing but a moss-covered mangrove tree.
The ringing laugh echoed through the forest again as I collapsed to my knees, sobbing bitterly.
I was going mad . . . I was mad. Someone or something was playing evil voodoo tricks upon me, trying to drive me into the valley of insanity. I must escape. I had to escape from that evil swampland . . .
I ran madly through the forest. Every tree, every rock seemed to have somehow grown a face – a face that opened its mouth and guffawed at me insanely. ‘Run, you murderer – matricidal slave, thief, beggar, run . . .’ and there followed the laugh again, now distinctly maniacal.
How long I ran through that nightmare forest I do not know. But when at last the sun began to set I found myself lying flat on my face in a grassy glade utterly exhausted. My toes were bleeding from all the tripping and falling and I was caked all over with dried mud.
The grass rustled as something came towards me and I buried my face in my hands and moaned: ‘No, no, leave me alone.’
But when at last I looked up I found it was only a stray impala which leapt gracefully and fled for its life when it saw me raise my head out of the long grass.
Some time later I found a small cave in the forest – a cave whose walls were covered with figures of men and animals painted not long before by the Batwa – the Little Yellow Ones. I cleaned out the abandoned cave and lay down inside to rest. I must have fallen asleep because when I awoke night had fallen long since and I was feeling terribly hungry and thirsty. Silently I crept to a nearby stream and drank my fill of the clear, cool water. Then I caught two frogs and ate both of them raw – having no means of making a fire – and finally returned to the cave where I made myself a bed of green leaves and lay down to sleep.
When I awoke it was nearly midday of the following day and I was feeling hungry enough to eat ten elephants. I left the cave and went down to the lake carefully avoiding the forest. A while later I found a game footpath leading to the lake. Here I dug two pit traps and covered them with grass and twigs, hoping to catch a buck or something for food. Then I proceeded to walk aimlessly along the lake to kill time and forget my hunger.
I had been walking for some time when I saw what I took to be an image made of shimmering silver, standing on a rock on the water’s edge. It was shaped like a woman – tall and unbelievably well-moulded; it stood with its back to me and I was struck dumb by its utter perfection. It reminded me of those statues of alien gods which the Strange Ones had in their god-houses, or temples as they called them.
Because the Strange Ones had the habit of putting statues in the most unlikely places I was positive that this was also one of their works of metal art – probably a likeness of some imaginary water goddess.
But so perfect was the image that I was greatly tempted to have a closer look at it, and so I slowly approached it on the water’s edge. Suddenly I became aware of a very strange thing: unseen waves of pulsating heat seemed to be radiating from the statue, becoming more intense as I went closer. Bolts of fear tore through my body and I turned and ran as fast as I could up the gentle incline away from the lake. When I felt sure I had put enough distance between the silver thing and myself I paused and looked back. An involuntary cry of horror and great fear was wrung from me by what I saw: The ‘statue’ had turned and was now looking directly at me. Even as I watched it slowly began to walk in my direction and then it began to run. With a loud scream, I turned and fled, the mysterious thing in hot pursuit.
I ran along the marshy edge of the great lake, taking care to avoid the forest. But the thing was fast gaining on me. It came so close that I could see it had three heavy breasts, each with a shining green nipple . . . and its eyes were the colour of gold.
Wild with panic I swerved and dived headlong into the lake, swimming away as fast as I could. The thing stood waist deep in the reeds and I heard the ringing laughter I had heard before. Then, most gracefully it proceeded to swim in my direction and the radiance of its body left a trail of steam. What unearthly thing was it? It did not belong to this world – of that I was sure – and it was as out of place as a bird amongst the fish. Abruptly a voodoo voice reached my ears: ‘You had better give yourself up, human being, I will catch you eventually in any case.’
‘What do you want to do with me?’ I cried loudly as I increased the speed of my swimming.
The voice came back to me: ‘I am lonely and longing for companionship . . . I can stand it no more . . . I long for you . . .’
‘No, no!’ I cried. ‘What are you . . . what kind of creature are you?’
‘I am a creature whose existence you have once denied. I am a goddess, and Ma is my name.’
This increased my terror and as she closed in on me I dived under in an endeavour to drown myself. But she hauled me out by my hair and dragged me back to the shore. We had a brief struggle in which I managed to free myself and I made a dash for the depths
