The Lost Tribe: Maliha the Wanderer (Book 1)

Endings

                   
"Clean her up, I have no wish to harm her more than necessary." Growled Ujarak, storming away from the stage.

Yaniza wobbled over to her daughter and bit by bit so did other members of the tribe. Though they seemed to have no love for Tanzim, just like Maliha, they could also feel the pain of The Ishanu.

Its grief called out to them, haunted them with its loss but Maliha didn't know what was worse. To feel this soul wrenching grief or to be bereft from the connection like Tanzim now was.

Looking at Tanzim, it was clear to see that the female was not only delirious but she was also empty. Her eyes were a void of dull colour that amassed to nothing but unseeing orbs. She stared blindly off into the distance, her head bobbing and eyelids barely moving. She was barely present, all fire taken from her being.

"Tanzim, can you hear me?"

Yaniza's voice waivered as she tried to grab her daughter's attention, tried to bring her back to the present even though there would be nothing waiting for her but more punishment.

"Mmm" she mumbled, her lips clasped together, "Uma."

Her eyelids flickered until the whites showed and then she collapsed. Her body shaking with seizures that rocked her frame.

"Quick make her bite this." Snapped Makula shoving a stick at Yaniza, who gently placed the stick between her daughter's lips to stop her tongue rolling.

"She can't take anymore." Sobbed Yaniza, her hand dabbing at Tanzim's face as she tried to repress her daughter's violent shuddering.

"She can't."

Maliha felt her pain, could understand how hard it would be for any mother to witness her daughter's demise like this. It was hard for any human to see, whether they liked Tanzim or not.

"There is no choice." Gritted Ujarak.

It was clear that he did not want to punish Tanzim more but her punishment had to be completed. No one took pleasure in this, least of all Maliha. Though she knew that Tanzim's actions were serious, she could have killed Maliha but still this was, it was something that she couldn't quite wrap her mind around.

It was heart breaking to watch a proud woman be brought down to nothing, but perhaps that was what was needed. Perhaps Tanzim needed to be brought down to nothing so she could rebuild herself into something better. Not a bitter and hate filled woman. Perhaps this was Savuriya's plan.

"Subdue her so we can get this over with Yaniza. It is not my intent to prolong her suffering."

Yaniza muffled her sob as she forced her daughter to drink more of the tea, Tanzim's eyes rolling as she flitted between consciousness.

Lenar gripped Tanzim's mutilated arm towards her body whilst one of the guards gripped the other. Her head was gripped in another tribe members hands as Ujarak pulled out his gold sword again. With a smaller silver blade, he quickly sharpened the edge of his gold sword before placing it to Tanzim's head. He grasped the thick mass that was her hair and began cutting away at it. Large clumps of red hair dropped onto the floor, resembling kindled flames.

"Keep her head still," Ujarak snapped as he painstakingly cut each strand.

This was nothing like what they had done to Maliha. Though they had cut her hair, Maliha still had some hair left on her head. Maliha's hair was a thick mass of coiling strands that hung haphazardly by her ears, but Tanzim's was not.

Ujarak kept cutting away chunks of her hair until the white of her scalp began to peak through the short strands of her fine her. He kept cutting, scraping the blade along her head until Tanzim looked almost as bald as she had been on the day she was born.