CHAPTER 3

The leaves had lost the morning dew and bashed her skin as she traced her way deeper into the forest. The previously cleared paths were losing their visibility as the grasses tried to sprout their heads from them. It was becoming difficult to even see the white sands.

Until the decree of the King and the curse that had been placed on the forest, this place used to be her favorite spot. The tall trees and their branches always made it a tourist site for hurting and fetching firewood. But now it had been labeled with the name, Iyi. A name given to a cursed forest in the distant Village of Alaocha. Stories have it that the Iyi forest in Alaocha used to be the prison that harbored all kinds of mystical creatures until princess Ada's lineage and wiped them out.

Ejima rounded a bend and entered the path that led into a canopy of trees and shadows. The heating sun still blessed the forest with its yellow gaze, but those broad leaves of the tall trees sieve the light, letting down tubes of tiny light rays that were not sufficient to clear out the evening looks of the forest.

The melodious songs of the birds were present by the time she finally made it to the clearing where she had found those twin babies four months ago. Ejima's bright eyes searched the parameter, but she breathed out with both relief and disappointment when she found nothing.

I believe I can sleep with no nightmares now. She licked her lips and turned the way she had come, grateful that her fear was over.

She was about to make the first step, when she heard something chuckle. She couldn't mistake it this time. Her stomach lifted with joy as she hurried towards the direction.

Why am I happy?

That question was stuck in her throat when she saw the golden basket, sitting just under a tall tree. She made to walk towards it, but paused. She was not alone.

There, burying its head inside the basket and licking the babies was a huge tiger. The children in the basket kept giggling as the animal continued to smear their face with the slurry saliva.

"Get away from them," Ejima shouted as she drew out her sling.

The brown eyes of the tiger lifted away from the basket as if surprised, but they narrowed with hate, and Ejima could feel their heat as the animal walked towards her.

She readied her sling but cursed when the realization struck her. She had no stones.

The tiger roared and trotted towards her without warning. Ejima searched the dried leaf, and she was glad when her eyes fell upon a stick that was sitting close to her. She picked up a stick, just in time to gag the mouth of the animal.

They struggled from side to side. The tiger tried to push its strength through and Ejima held on to the stick with her weak muscles, knowing that her life depended on it.

She pushed the tiger back, but frowned with disappointment when the stick finally snapped.

The tiger roared and charged again, but Ejima waved one of her broken stick with all the strength that was left in her bone. The force met the jawbones of the animal, and the impact sent it flying to the right side of the forest.

Ejima panted and watched the tiger as it shook its head and trudge up to its feet. The stick in her hands were useless and there was nothing else she could do. Running away was not an option because that was the fastest way to die in the hands of a wildcat.

The tiger was on its feet now. Those sun brown eyes looking more dreadful and heating with hate and anger.

Ejima tried to swallow, but there was no fluid in her mouth. Her heart was racing and she could feel each thump trying to hide in her stomach. The hair on her tanned skin was already on their feet and for the first time in twenty years, she felt an ambiance and a sensation which she hated most in the world.

Fear.

Taking some gentle but precise steps back, her feet touched something that was buried under the dried leaf which carpeted the floor of the forest. Her stomach knotted. The object looked like a skull, perhaps, the skull of a baby that had died here. She picked up the object, but frowned from the rotten flesh that glued her hands. The eyes and mouth were gone, and what remains of the ear was at the mercies of some decomposing worms.

Ejima steadied her grip on the object, placing them perfectly on her sling. She had not used something this heavy on her sling before, but what other option does she have?

The tiger roared and charged again, but Ejima did not wait for it to get so close. She swung her sling with all her might and in one swift motion; she let the skull on her sling fly.

The empty skull flew in the air, and like a cannon with no gunpowder, it found its mark on the Tiger's face, shattering into many pieces.

The tiger flew back from the force, rolling down to the far end of the clearing like a weightless object. It heaved once and groaned, but ceased breathing afterwards.

Ejima panted and staggered towards the basket. Unlike the first babies she had seen four moons ago, these looked as if they were just being born. They had blood all over them and look dirty.

She picked up the basket and walked toward the direction of the river. Better to die in the hands of nature than in the hungry stomach of one of those animals. She said to herself.

The river was icy on her feet as she placed the basket into the water. Even the heat of the sun was not enough to wax the cold away from the surface.

"I bring them to you." Ejima said and placed the basket into the water, "Kill them yourself, gods of our father" The basket danced with the wave as they followed the current.

Ejima watched them for a while. Somewhere in her head, she could hear a voice which was accusing her of being more heartless than the mothers that had abandoned their babies, all in the name of tradition and belief.

The voice of the Dibia also continued to resounded like a metal gong.

Nemesis will catch you soon.