Chapter Twenty One

I trail my mother's footsteps to her bedroom. Kaseke is still outside, still trying to pry it open.
D'ziko stands and raises his arms which gives him in an upward motion that makes him look like he's about to float. His feet shake, I hold my breath, waiting for him to float.
He moves his hand this way and that and a mist in an array of colours--black, navy, red and yellow--emerge from the tip of the sword.
Like an anaconda, the mist snake wraps around me but instead of suffocating me, the magic tingles my hands and flows through me. I get a burst of energy, of confidence and alertness. I feel this warm chill shoot down my spine and throughout my body and then this unimaginable rush of pleasure and my body rocks with it, there's a distance ringing in my ears. I liken it to a high, to the way Zoe once discribed an orgasm.
I've never felt so alive, so relaxed, so good.
He moves his hand, the way witches do with their wands, and the snakes flattens and goes under me, creating some sort of colourful rag. It moves me to the window. Up in the air.
I blink several times. "What are ya doing?"
He shrugs. "Convincing them ya're the real Goddess."
I swallow hard. "There was doubt?"
"The Griffin thinks it was too easy for ya to have the sword."
"Is't that how it was supposed to be?" I cut him a look. "Easy?"
"No," he says. "The colour shouldn't have faded. Ya should've been able to hold it and produce these colours. And ya should've been born with blue hair and either gold or silver eyes."
He picks up my fake sword on the floor, throws it at me and touches it's edge to his and mine lits up with the same magnificent lights.
“Touch the Griffin with yer sword,” D'ziko says.
Before I can question him, the magic current waves me through the window and out onto the street. I'm flying. A bird soaring high. Caged no more.
The current stops and I find Sir Ayize in the crowd that's gathered outside. He looks almost disappointed. There's an army behind him. Queen Mother leads it. She looks at me flying, my hair flowing around me. I wonder what I must look like to the people watching me with eyes children reserve only for that shiny toy they're longing for.
Queen Mother mutters something angrily to Sir Ayize and the Griffin waves his wings around. One of his wings can't really move. Sir Ayize suffered a stroke a couple of year's ago, nothing merryz or Mama can't normally heal but when he tried them and both had failed, he just knew, as well as everybody else, he was hit by the Gods. Not fate.
I don't know how D'ziko does it but as Sir Ayize tries desperately to explain to a furious Queen Mother, a bolt of blue and gold light leaves my sword and goes straight to him. The wave is so strong that it knocks him down.
Queen Mother shrieks and seeks comfort in the arms of one of her muscular guards.
Sir Ayize gets up, flexes his wings, ready to march toward me to tell me off but he stops himself. He's now noticed the left wing flexing with magic. He spreads both wings and lifts to the heavens. He's flying for the first time in years.
Queen Mother says something and spins back to her carriage. She's so angry that guards put way more distance between themselves and her than necessary.
Now I understand. Sir Ayize knew I'd forged the sword. Queen Mother had wanted to expose my lies. But now, I've proved him wrong. I'm the Goddess. More precisely, Goddess by association. So I guess what they always say is true: who ya know matters.
“Thank ya,” I tell D'ziko as soon as I'm in the bedroom.
He’s silent, leaning against the wall, hands in his pockets, legs crossed. Even as he watches me with those deep moons, he looks thoughtful.
“What is it? I ask, wiping my face. “Do I have something on my face?”
He says nothing. And then, “Ya're so beautiful. I've never seen anything like ya before.”
He is so random.
For the next several hours, we talk about anything and everything. By the time midnight rolls around, I'm convinced no one knows me better than he does.
“I should go,” he says getting up.
I nod though I don't want to be away from him. I walk him to the window. We stand facing each other. He looks into my eyes until I drop my gaze to his lips. They're trembling. I hope they're trembling with need as mine are.
I close the distance between us. He presses his forehead against mine. His breath comes more quickly against my skin.
He doesn't try to kiss me. Instead he steps back, smiles at me and gives me that fleeting look that always sets my insides ablaze.
D'ziko jumps out and begins walking away, hands always in his pockets. He stops suddenly, and whirls, looking up at me and says: “I’ll see ya in the morning.”
I watch him until the darkness swallows him. I close my window, kill the lights and bury myself under my blankets.
Today is the Reed Ceremony. What I'm looking forward to the most though is the game at the end of the Ceremony.
D'ziko runs his fingertips on the sharp end of the knife, cutting his index finger. He winces then smiles.
"You made this beauty?" he asks, his eyes grow warm as he scans the knife.
I can't contain my grin. "Oh, ja. I sell them for fons 800 in pairs of threes. The Queen Mother and King Father buy them from me each October so that all the girls who want to participate in the Reed Ceremony can go pick up their traditional attire as well as a Bush knife from the royal palace. "
When I mention traditional attire, D'ziko's heated gaze runs over mine. He's looking at me like I'm the only thing that makes sense, like he has waited for this moment all his life. As with tradition, my chest is bare and the black skirt I'm wearing shows my bottoms. A gold and yellow rattling anklet rings throughout the room everytime I make a slight move. My necklace and bracelet are made from green, blue and black beadwork. They were handed down to me from my great-aunt.
“Ya look good in those,” he says.
“Thanks,” I say, looking him straight in the eye. He holds my gaze for too long and I give in and look away.
I pull on my shoes and put in my gold contacts.
“Don't forget yer Bush knife,” he reminds me.
I take it from the dressing table and smile at him. He doesn't smile back. He stares for a moment, and then his forehead crumples and his eyes drop to the floor. I feel an intense urge to go to his side and comfort him somehow, only I'm not sure who needs the comforting more. I can't stand the thought of being away from him.
"I'm going to miss you," he says.
“I'll see ya later,” I say kissing the side of his neck and shut the door behind me.
Mama meets me at the door and we walk into the street in silence. Unless she starts the conversation, I never know what to say.
“Er...Ya look beautiful,” she says, she's staring at her feet as she says this.
I hesitate then smile. "Thanks, I guess."
Her traditional attire is almost identical to mine but since she's no longer a virgin, her breasts are covered and her skirt reaches below the knee. And because her husband left her, she's only allowed to wear only black, grey and white during the Reed Ceremony.
Mama squints at the crowd a few feet ahead of us. “Isn't that MaZulu?”
I frown. “She's supposed to be dead, isn't she?”
Mama laughs and hits me lightly on the shoulder. “Stop listening to rumours,” she says. “Ya don't hit yer wife with a frying pan, kill her and bury her in the kitchen. And stilll walk the streets, not in Noddon."
I laugh too. The thought does sound ridiculous now that I think about it. MaZulu is definitely not the type of woman anyone would dare try to kill with a frying pan. If ya want her dead, ya have to bring out all the guns, swords, and bombs. She looks like she eats tacks for breakfast, bolts and nails for lunch, and steel bars for dinner. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they told me she's made out of Omuri.
“But I heard that, Gog’Flo down by the lake consulted a sangoma and bewitched MaZulu. They say MaZulu was pregnant for two years and when she finally gave birth it was to a half human, half crocodile baby that died within hours. That's why MaZulu hasn't been seen out of her house in years.”
Mama looks around frantically. “Lower yer voice. Don't be mentioning people's names like that. They'd fine ya a cow if they heard you accusing someone of witchcraft.”
A cow we don't have.
I sigh. “I know. But it's true, isn't it? Gog'Flo did bewitch MaZulu?”
“I helped deliver that baby.” Mama shakes her head. “Poor MaZulu. She was so horrified."
Mama and I reach the group and all us maidens lack behind and allow the older women to lead. This allows both groups to gossip about the other.
“Hi girly.” MaZulu's son, Mondo. He snatches my hand and drags me to one of the fences, away from everybody else. “I know that ya did it.”
Like most Noddons, he doesn't speak really good English. Most families only speak Noddon or Xhosa.
I frown. “Don't ya dare hold me like this.” I rip my arm back. “I'm yer Goddess.”