While the Gods Slumber Pt. 07

"You," Ntoza said, helping Zhura to roll over on her belly, "have the power to finish what your mother began. To return your fugitive people to a position of power and respect."

"I don't even know my... people. How could I possibly do that for them?"

"You took the summoning stone," Ntoza said. She plied the muscles of Zhura's back, releasing tension and knotted aches that she forgot were even there.

Zhura sighed in response. "Yes."

"Did you use it?"

"Yes."

"And the beast responded to you? Followed your commands?"

"You said that's what the stone does," Zhura replied.

"The stone only summons and banishes the demon. You must command it. For a witch like me it takes years to develop that level of control over a demon. For you, it took days."

"Because of my blood?"

Ntoza's slick finger slipped into Zhura's asshole.

Zhura moaned. "Please, you must stop..."

"You want me to stop?" The finger dragged partway out of Zhura's tight ass, sparking wicked sensations.

She clenched her puckered ring, in reflex, hunching her pelvis against the soft floor. "...No. But I want you to answer."

"Yes. Your blood is purer."

Halfbreed.

Suppressing a moan, Zhura turned over. She sat up, gripping the witch's wrist, forcing her to stop.

Ntoza did not resist. Zhura briefly wondered who was stronger.

She looked the older woman in the eye. "Was my mother a demon?"

"One of her parents surely was," Ntoza said. "We are Thandi. The blood runs in all of our veins. But in Anathe, it was far purer."

Zhura's face must have betrayed her horror.

"Zhura, you have been taught that demons only pillage and destroy. But the base nature of all demons is the drive to breed. To spark and create new life."

"I feel no drive to breed," Zhura protested.

"Don't you?" Ntoza's fingers played along the line of Zhura' jaw. Gingerly, the witch brushed braids away and planted soft kisses on Zhura's forehead. Then down the ridge of her nose. Zhura closed her eyes, inhaling the older woman's spicy scent, feeling herself relax.

Ntoza's weight shifted and she guided Zhura down, to lie on her back. The witch's kisses began to descend, nipping at Zhura's ear, nuzzling her throat.

"You have human will, of course," Ntoza murmured.

She planted teasing kisses in circles around Zhura's dark areolae. Zhura arched her back, sheer bliss causing her to roll her hips in anticipation.

Ntoza accepted the invitation, her hand descending to Zhura's newly shaven slit. The bare flesh throbbed with sensation. The older woman began to lightly smack Zhura's engorged, hooded nub with a fingertip, sending jolts of pleasure throughout the herb-witch's body.

She saw herself again as a musical instrument in Ntoza's hands - one the witch played with brilliance. She felt the knot of delicious tension in her core tightening, ever closer to its limit.

"But your will only barely suppresses your drive to breed." Ntoza pinched Zhura's nipples between lips and teeth, tugging. Zhura's eyes rolled back. "To couple," Ntoza said. "To come."

Zhura did.

She felt as if she had been struck by lightning. Her body was wracked with shock that left her trembling and almost weeping.

The witch paused, kneeling above Zhura, dark-eyed gaze searching hers as the younger woman recovered.

"Do you love me, Ntoza?"

Ntoza hesitated, as if deciding how to answer.

"I love what you will become," she said finally.

"That will have to do." Zhura whispered. She spread her legs, allowing the witch to climb over her right leg and lay before her throbbing cunt.

Ntoza dipped her head. Zhura lay back, allowing the witch's deft tongue and fingers to drive her to a series of toe-curling orgasms.

Zhura felt as if she were in a canoe upon the Little Mongoose in flood. She had no paddle, and she exhilarated as the rushing river carried her wherever it pleased. By the end, she was gushing over the soft floor, screaming the witch's name.

But before she fell asleep, she was overcome with grief. She had been carried upon that river for too long. Eventually she would drown in it.

In her dreams, she was still in Kichinka. She faced Great Wallop on the edge of the millet field. But instead of her staff, Zhura carried a bundle in her hands. As the demon loomed over her, she saw the face of her infant child in the swathed bundle. She gave it up to the demon.

As the head of the maul came rushing down upon her, she heard Kaj crying her name.

"Zhura!"

Zhura opened her eyes in the witch's chamber. The fire was down to embers, glowing like molten iron. The witch was putting on her skirt and halter. Zhura could still feel Ntoza's heat next to her on the floor, her warmth on her skin.

"Zhura!"

That was Amina's voice. She recognized more voices, calling her name from outside.

The witch's eyes were as brittle and black as charcoal. She ducked out of the hut. Zhura remembered the summoning stones, and the demons Ntoza could command. She scrambled to her feet. She snatched up the sanju-skin cloth, tied it over her breasts, and followed the witch.

They were all there, in the soiled and tattered clothing they'd worn since Kichinka.

Kaj and Amina, Ngo and Bayati. Behind them, Ranthaman San stood with three warriors in gold and black - the colors of the Ikanje Empire.

Zhura choked back a sob of joy to see them.

Amina held up the summoning stone. "I stole this from you," she said to Ntoza. "Zhura had no knowledge that I had taken it. I return it to you."

Ntoza shrugged. "Keep the stone," she said. "It revealed to Zhura who she truly is."

"I know who I am," Zhura said. She stepped in front of Ntoza, meeting the gaze of each of her friends. She turned to face the witch.

"These are my people," she said. "They are the ones I protect. They are the ones who asked me to lead them. They risked themselves to face you. They... love me."

"You deny your nature," Ntoza said quietly.

"I have human will."

Ntoza pursed her lips. "You cannot," she said, "escape your ancestry."

"I'm not done trying, Ntoza." Zhura held the witch's gaze, showing her she was not weak. "I have seen your summoning stones. I know you can protect yourself. Perhaps you could defeat all of these people with ease."

The herb-witch turned to Kaj, gesturing with her hand. He tossed his staff to her. Zhura twirled it, feeling the weight, and set the butt to rest on the ground before her, facing the witch again. She felt the others gather behind her.

Their resolve made her feel stronger than ever.

"But you'd have to fight me as well," she finished.

Ntoza gave Zhura a thoughtful look. Finally, she grinned and backed away. "This is not over."

"Indeed, Ntoza. It is not."

**

The border post was a pair of twin watchtowers on either end of a sprawling fishing town, called Nandi, on the river Ijon. San lodged all of the survivors at a compound that leased huts and outdoor camp space for trading vans. They did their best to fatten up again, on ugali - a sorghum dough served with spicy braised fish and vegetables.

There, Zhura discovered that Bayati did indeed have a divine singing voice, and that Ngo had a talented tongue as well. Kaj and Amina, aglow in the red cowls that married couples wore in the Kan tradition, were wed under the sun on the bank of the Ijon. San outfitted them all with new clothing, a mix of the kind of colorful prints and skirts that were worn in the forest valley with the flowing cloaks, robes and headdresses of the plain.

On the seventh morning, the five travelers met with Ranthaman San at the head of the route that crossed the savannah to Namu-on-the-sea, the first city of the Ikanje Empire. Loaded buffalo awaited, along with Ofari, porters, and several gold- cloaked warriors, all in the employ of the San Magisterial House.

"You will not regret this," San said to Zhura. "My employer and his scribes will rejoice to speak with you and your friends. The Golden Magisters are the rulers of Ikanje, and they seek knowledge above all."

"Only knowledge?" Zhura asked skeptically. In her experience, people always wanted more.

She watched as Ngo chatted amiably with Amina and Kaj, still resplendent in their scarlet cowls. Bayati gazed longingly over the rippling grass, as if she could see the great sea from where she stood.

"You may find employ there, but there is no obligation. Namu is the most magnificent city on this side of the Bright Sea, where all of you shall find the fortunes you seek."

Kaj and Amina only wanted to settle. Bayati and Ngo wanted something else. Zhura wanted not to escape her ancestry, but to understand it.

She grinned at Ranthaman San, and turned towards the rising sun.