52 Lagoon of Holy Water (1/2)
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.