The Ancient Lands: Warrior Quest, Search for the Ifa Scepter (10 page)

No, it wasn’t difficult to control them and
they didn’t mind hard work. Unlike men, they were not strong-willed
creatures. They were brutish, unthinking beings with no
intelligence for growth or growth of intelligence for that matter.
He never worried that they would ever rise up against him, because
they had no ambitions of their own. They wanted a leader, and they
wanted to follow.

Hatari walked through one of his mines
contently. He had gotten used to the smell of carbon, magma, sulfur
and the awful stench from ogres. He loved the way he felt when
inside his mountain, amongst all those diamonds, rubies, amongst
the Ifa Scepter.

One day as he watched the progress of his
ogres chipping away at the rock inside the mountain when suddenly
he felt a strange tingle at the back of his neck. His head jerked
up slightly as if someone had a tiny string attached to the back of
his head and had gently pulled it. For a split second, he
envisioned the Ifa Scepter, and he knew instantly that someone was
looking for it. Someone was trying to call upon it. It was under
his control now and it had warned him.

The image of the Ifa Scepter moved with the
current of the broth inside Hagga’s cauldron. They all stood around
it, watching the quivering image and listening to the story of the
Griot, until Hagga noticed a change in the image. The image faded
completely and then one of Hatari appeared. It floated from the
cauldron like a hologram; Farra drew closer to Bomani again. The
hologram began to speak.

“Did you think that I wouldn’t find out that
you are beckoning the Ifa scepter, little witch,” said Hatari. His
face was twisted in a reprimanding smirk.

“What is it you want, Hatari? You’re
spoiling my soup.” Hagga said, indifferently.

“Lest you forget, with the scepter under my
power it warns me of those that seek it.”

“Oh, then you
do
have it.”

“You know I have it, witch! And you know
that I cannot allow you to...” Back in the mine, where Hatari
conjured up his own image, a view looking up as if he was inside
the caldron. He paused as the image of those who stood around the
cauldron materialized before him in the large, flat, crystal he
used to view his images.

“Wait, just wait a minute. Don’t tell me that
you have chosen those two children to retrieve the scepter and
restore it to its rightful place. That’s laughable! You must really
be getting desperate in your old age.”

“I choose nothing, Hatari. I follow
prophecy.”

“I really don’t know much about prophecy;
that’s your department. Nevertheless, they must be killed. But, of
course, you knew this? And to think that I was really worried for a
moment.” Hatari waved his staff and his crystal darkened over the
image of the children. Back at Hagga’s hut, his image faded from
the cauldron.

Hagga clinched her fist and turned toward
the children. “Don’t worry. He was just trying to frighten
you.”

“He’s done an awfully good job. Did he say
kill us?” asked Farra.

“I don’t care who he is, if he has the Ifa
Scepter, I’m going to take it from him,” said Bomani clenching his
spear and moving away from Farra bravely.

“He is Hatari,” said Hagga, “He is one of
the children of Montok whose purpose it is to control all of
Madunia. For years, your Kingdom has sat just beyond the Forbidden
Expanse keeping Hatari from moving his army of ogres north. Hatari
has been quiet for some time now. Perhaps he has been waiting for
the right time to strike. I fear that time may be soon, especially
now as the fertility of Ufalme continues to dwindle. And with the
Ifa Scepter under his control, he will have great power. The task
to stop him has fallen upon you.” Hagga looked at the children
intently, and the children sensed the seriousness of the peril they
were in.

“Gosh,” said Farra. I didn’t realize we
would be fighting some powerful wizard, and ogres. Ogres are
hideous.”

“This is the path that you have chosen,”
said Hagga.

“I will retrieve it,” said Bomani.

“You, boy. The trouble with you, though, is
that you have no fear. At least you pretend not to. That notion
will soon be tested. There is so much fire in you. You must learn
the difference between courage and
stupidity
. You would
likely jump into a pit of snakes without thinking, wouldn’t
you?

“I...” Bomani started.

“Some questions are to be answered out loud,
and some are to be answered within.” Hagga interrupted so that she
could continue. “Just remember, that a warrior must be strong in
heart and mind first, then in body. Know when to be cautious, or
you won’t live to bask in your own greatness.” Bomani listened to
Hagga’s advice carefully.

“Hmmm,” he acknowledged her warning.

All of this talk of prophecy had made him
even more confident in the decision he made to take on this task.
Farra, however, wasn’t so sure, but for some reason she trusted
Hagga. At least she seemed to know what she was talking about, and
to Farra, Bomani seemed to be strong enough to handle just about
anything.

Hagga returned to the large ladle that sat
in the pot and focused on stirring the soup. She drew a small
serving from the steaming pot and poured it into a bowl. The
children still could not make out what was in the soup. They turned
their noses up in disgust as they saw small unidentifiable chunks
splash into the green slime. Hagga’s husband, the Griot, stepped
forward and reached his hand out to grab for the bowl, but she
quickly slapped it away.

“Mind your manners, we have guests!”

He grunted and stepped back to allow the
children to be served first. Hagga glared at him and then turned
her attention back to the children. “Now, you have a long journey
ahead of you. You should eat to keep up your strength.”

As she moved the bowl toward them, some of
the
soup
spilled over and splashed onto the floor. Pupa
walked over to it, and sniffed. With one whiff, he turned up his
nose, barked at the spillage, and then winced away from it,
whining, as if he had been stricken by something painful. That was
all the warning Farra needed.

“Um, no thanks.” she said, forcing out a
lie. “We ate just before we got here. A big meal.” Then elbowed
Bomani just enough to invite him in.

“Yeah, big meal. Huge meal!” he chimed
in.

“See, huge meal,” replied Farra.

“Still stuffed.”

“Yes, quite stuffed.”

“Eh, suit yourself,” Hagga said and handed
the first bowl to her husband, who welcomed the putrid roux.

“Well, perhaps just some bread for later,”
said Farra in a compromise. She didn’t want to hurt Hagga’s
feelings. With that, Hagga gave them bread to carry on their
journey and they stored it in their pouches.

“Okay, okay, now for the important matters,”
Hagga walked over to a shabby trunk that sat against a wall, and
shuffled inside of the box until she came up with an even smaller
box, and then she walked over to them with it.

“Now, to help you on your journey, I will
provide you with these six runes. You must use them wisely for they
can only be used once each. Farra, I give you
earth, water
and
air.
Bomani, for you, that leaves,
fire, thought,
and
space.”

She handed them the runes. Each rune was
close to the same size and fit comfortably in the palms of their
hands. Each one had a different marking on it and was a different
color: reddish orange for fire, blue for water, green for earth,
grey for wind, white for thought, and black for space.

“Now,” Hagga continued. “The space rune is
the most important,” she said, pointing to Bomani with the smooth
rock. “No matter where you are, it will bring you back here, do you
understand?”

“I think so,” Bomani responded.

“When you are all done, when you have
retrieved the Ifa Scepter, only then should you use it, otherwise
it means you have given up.”

“Yes, okay, I understand.”

“Farra interrupted timidly. “Uh, excuse me,
may I ask a question?”

“Yes, child. Speak.”

“
How
do we use them?”

“Well, if I told you that, it would spoil
all the fun, wouldn’t it? Don’t worry. Stay true to yourself, and
it will come to you.” Farra and Bomani thought for a moment that
she was kidding, and they half expected her to continue with the
instructions on how to use the runes, but Hagga had moved on.

Hagga looked over toward the corner of the
room and began to whisper as if she had begun a dialogue with an
invisible presence.

“What? The boy?” Hagga questioned her
otherwise undetectable listener.

Bomani and Farra looked at her
cautiously.

“Hmm, if that is what you want. You know
best.” Hagga finished.

A bundle of black bandages hung from a bone
that protruded from the wall, and she grabbed a handful and handed
them to Bomani.

“Here. Take these, boy. They are very old.
Warriors have worn them for centuries. Some, you may have heard of
— heroes and legends of old. You’ll need these for those nasty
wounds you have on your arm and leg.”

Bomani looked down at his limbs curiously.
“What wounds? I have no scars on my arms or legs.”

“Bomani, it’s a gift, just take them,” Farra
said reaching for the bandages and putting them into her pouch. “I
thank you for them, even if he doesn’t.”

“Now, you two had better get going. No doubt
Hatari has already begun sending ogres this way.” Hagga walked them
out as she continued. “Directly east, there is a river, and by this
river, you will find my boat.” She turned and pointed specifically
at Farra. “And
you
must get to the boat first. Take it and
head down stream. All I can tell you is that you must make it to
the other side of the Angry Mountain.”

At the doorway, she stopped them. “Are you
ready?”

“Yes,” answered Bomani.

“Of course you are. What about you, my young
Anifem?”

“Yes, I guess I am.”

Not far from Hagga’s hut, to the South, up
high in one of the trees a stocky, hairy, ogre had been lying
tranquilly in the branches. He was one of hundreds of ogres that
Hatari kept posted throughout the Forbidden Expanse, and like most
of the ogres who lived in these camps, he had very little to do
with his time, but feed off of the small animals that roamed, and
nap leisurely.

“Ogre!” A voice called out abruptly. It
startled the beast so much that he fell from the tree. There were
some ogres that Hatari called by name, but this particular one bore
no special reference, except that he was located nearest to Hagga’s
Hut.

After recognizing his master’s voice, the
ogre reached for a large diamond that hung from a rope around his
neck, and raised it so that he could look into it as he spoke.
Hatari appeared in the diamond making the beast a bit nervous. It
was rare that he had to speak to Hatari face to face.

“Yes, Master?”

“What are you doing?”

“Um, lying on ground, master, talking to
you.”

“Are you near the northern border?”

“Yes, Master. I am at my post, as
always.”

“Good. I want you to head east toward the
river. There are two humans that I want you to capture, children.
Bring them to me.”

“Yes, Master.”

“They will most likely take the river. That
would be the fastest way South, deeper into the Forbidden Expanse.
In fact, there is no need to bring them to me. Just destroy
them!”

“Yes, Master, dem destroyed.”

“And ogre…”

“Yes master?”

“The little girl’s staff, I want it.”

The ogre saluted Hatari. “Yes master. Make
dem destroyed. Bring the staff. Got it master.”

Hatari’s image faded from the crystal. The
ogre hurried to his nearby camp and informed the rest of his clan.
They all wore a diamond around their necks so that Hatari could
keep track of them. He had mastered the art of communicating
through his diamonds a long time ago. For him, it was a simple
matter of concentration, but the ogres could not contact him
whenever they wished. They waited for his call —sometimes for
hours, sometimes for days, months, and even years.

Just as Hagga had told them, a boat awaited
them at the river. It was a small, frail wooden boat and from the
looks of it, Bomani doubted that it would float at all. He walked
toward the boat to untie it from a stake in the ground but he was
stopped suddenly with a thump. Farra looked at him curiously, and
he attempted to take another step, but he was met with an invisible
barrier that stopped him. He could not get within a meter of
it.

“What’s wrong?” asked Farra.

“I don’t know, but look.” Bomani reached out
toward the boat, again it was blocked. “I can’t get near the thing.
There must be a spell on it,” he said.

“
Hmmm
, she said the
you
must
get to it first. Maybe she didn’t mean we, maybe she just meant
me.” Farra stretched her hand toward the boat and tried to touch
it, but she could not get any closer than Bomani. “Hmm,” she said
thinking to herself for a moment. Then she placed her staff on the
barrier, and it caused a bright spark. Farra and Bomani shielded
their eyes from the light. She reached out to the boat again, this
time she was able to touch it. The Barrier was gone.

“See, all it took was a little magic.” Farra
boasted in a cheerful grin. “She probably keeps a spell on it to
keep thieves away.”

“Yeah, probably,” Bomani replied. He untied
the boat from the stake. “Come on, get in. I’ll push it. Let’s see
if this thing floats.”