TLADI

Chapter 18

Stima's grief, on the other hand, had awoken with him as raw as ever, every day after he had learned of Tladi's suicidal departure. The pain had plagued him and almost deranged him until he had decided not to feel anymore. Thus, he became a creature of cold stone where the heart should have been. His purpose was single-minded and all-consuming; reaching the land of his ancestors and delivering The Most Secret Truth to his people. Shami wondered what Stima would do with his life once this goal was achieved. Somehow, he did not see Stima settling down, getting a wife and living happily ever after. He did not see that happening to him either.

He felt there was something else, something greater for him out there. Perhaps he and Stima could leave the work of teaching The Most Secret Truth to rest of the group from the nameless village and instead go on a quest of their own.

"I share the same sentiment," Stima's rounded textured voice replied to Shami's suggestion, gravely.

"Yet what shall our quest be?" Shami's pleasant melodious voice asked with a hint of excitement as his beautiful flood-river-brown eyes met Stima's dark gaze steadily.

"We shall wander the desert and hope to die a dramatic death" Stima replied with a serious glint in his dark gaze and not a hint of humour in his voice. Shami could not even force his laughter. His graceful form turned away from his greatest friend and he gazed into the expanse of desert as he asked:

"You really loved her didn't you?" in a very melancholic tune.

"Yes," Stima said simply. 

He did not talk about his feelings anymore; they were an aspect of his life that he had declared dead with Tladi. Oh! And how dead Stima was without the light of his emotions. He no longer lived up to his name anymore. When you looked at him, all you saw was darkness. Shami thought sadly. This did not seem to bother Stima, nothing seemed to bother him, and nothing seemed to please him either. He was a body without a soul, essentially, he was dead, but Shami vowed to fight a Jesus-like battle and bring him back to life.

"We'll be moving off now!" Stima raised his voice so that the whole group would hear him.

"We are going to check the safety of the path ahead!" and without even waiting for a reply, Stima nodded towards Shami and off they went at a steady trot across the fiery desert.

Oyena watched the two men move off and wondered what had transpired in the heart of Stima to make him fall in love with such a woman. Then the slow realization dawned on him that the very same could be said about him concerning Umthunz'omnyama. He then felt a sudden kinship with him that he had never felt existed before. He experienced a feeling of oneness and as it filled his heart, he knew that he would never be the same.

"It seems that we are much closer to the end of the desert than we thought!" Shami breathlessly exclaimed, hints of excitement reflecting in the depths of his eyes.

"You have too much optimism," Stima said tonelessly. Shami wondered if it was just his imagination or if Stima was really reaching deeper levels of coldness. If he kept going this way, someone was going to get frostbitten! Shami laughed on the inside at the pun of his observation.

"Look!" Stima's voice, like a dead-weight-trying-to-sound-urgent, called. 

Shami followed the line of his straight forefinger to the horizon at the end of the desert. He gasped. Now how is that possible?! His mind raced. He looked at Stima with his eyes wide with shock. Stima looked very much unaffected; nothing in life affected him anymore.

"Is...is that a... a... a DUST STORM?!" Shami stammered. 

But, it is not possible! The swirling mass seemed to span across the entire horizon and reach almost to the sky and it had seemingly just appeared. They had not even seen it build up! Moreover, there was no wind! It was highly unnatural like it just... materialized! That was not the way of nature!

"We should be getting back now," Stima said tonelessly. 

Shami did not protest. The pace they took on the way back was very fast. Upon arrival, the breathless Shami attempted to explain what they had seen.

Umthunz'omnyama cut him off with a brusque; "We already know".

"Oh," Shami replied, half wounded.

"I saw it in my mind's eye. I saw it take form. The only reason I could not anticipate it is because it was not supposed to appear. Some people are meddling with nature. No natural storm could take form like such. Some powerful people are playing with the balance of nature, but they are doing it very well. This is the work of skilled Sangomas in collaboration. They are not using the winds of the earth but rather their own strength to power the storm. Thus, the balance of nature is maintained. Here are masters at walking the thin line between the destruction and the greatness of the ancestral magic. We must flee or find refuge." Umthunz'omnyama said gravely in her deep rough solemn voice.

"There is a very large sand dune up ahead, if we could pitch our tents on the steep side we might not get buried alive or flayed to death in the sand storm," Shami suggested.

"Collect the children, let us go." The-red-eyed-mob urged. 

They packed up the remainder of their belongings and set off at as fast a pace as possible to the large sand dune that seemed slightly familiar to Stima.