A Heart In Flames

CHAPTER EIGHT

From Manke island, they sailed many days. Though the evil tree became more visible, there was no indication that they were anywhere near Mookoo.

One morning, there was a terrible storm on the sea that nearly caused the boat to capsize. From that time on, Oma and Mansa sailed with care and caution. It was as if the storm was a sign of some uncanny events that were coming their way.

“Stop the boat!” Mansa shouted, and pointed to a spot far ahead on the sea.

Oma stopped pulling the oars and the boat stopped after some few minutes.

“What is there?” he asked. Mansa stood staring; her eyes were fixed on a spot, a distant away on the sea.

“I saw something—something like a huge fish,” she said.

Oma looked at the spot Mansa pointed to, but he could not see anything apart from the sea waves. “It might be the waves,” he replied.

“I am sure of what I saw. It can’t be the waves,” she said again with all seriousness. Her eyes were still fixed at the spot where she saw the huge fish move.

Oma was about to speak when a giant creature leaped out of the sea. It was a huge monster. The monster looked like a huge octopus with wide ugly eyes. Its mouth was like that of a huge pig. And it had many long and sharp teeth.

“There it is,” Mansa screamed. “Turn back the boat. This is a deadly creature. We must get out of here before it consumes us.”

“There’s no where to run to, my lovely wife. This is just the beginning of the battle. I think we have entered the boundaries of the Gusha sea where monsters roam and devour any one and anything that comes their way. Stay calm, my lovely wife; and watch me fight. We shall win. We shall conquer,” Oma said to Mansa, and took his sword.

Mansa shivered, but Oma's words gave her hope. She stood watching as Oma quickly prepared to combat the deadly monster. If the monster prevailed, that would mean the end of their lives.

The monster swam and leaped towards the boat, and as it did, the sea water splashed around. The uninterrupted voyage had come to an end—the journey ahead was going to be a real struggle.

The ugly and fearful monster leaped closer and closer, and soon, it sprung out of the water near the boat. It was such a fearful and horrible thing to look at.

“Tamun Hu Oma,” Oma chanted, holding his sword. And instantly, the sword burst into flames.

Just the same time, the monster stretched its limbs to swoop Oma and Mansa. And in one stroke, Oma killed the monster with the sword. Its body floated on the sea, and its blood was carried away by the waves.

“You are brave! You are courageous! You are strong!” Mansa hailed Oma with joy.

“Your beauty is my courage, and in your presence lies my strength. We shall succeed, we shall conquer, we shall win. We shall win and free every human from the evil calamity,” Oma replied with pride and satisfaction.

The sailing continued, and every day and every night, Mansa and Oma battled monsters. Mansa was always on the lookout for the monsters, and when she had found one, she would draw Oma's attention. Oma would then chant the three mysterious words and kill the monster. The monsters kept appearing, but Oma battled and subdued them. Within seven days, Oma battled and killed seventy-six monsters.

One early morning, when the stars were still visible in the sky, and Oma was still asleep, Mansa saw a huge object ahead of them on the sea. It was so huge that Mansa could not believe it to be a creature. For a moment, she thought it was a little island, but the object moved slowly. She kept looking until finally, it became clear to her that it was another monster. It was Piwu, the most deadly and fearsome monster in the Gusha sea. It had the tail of a big fish that it used to swim. It had the legs of a beast that it used to walk on land. And it had three heads. Its first head was that of a shark. The second head was that of a dragon. And the third head looked like a python.

Almost the same time on Manke island, the wizard woke up. The spider web on the cave tore open for the wizard to get out. That was the end of his long and comfortable sleep.

The wizard slept for fifteen days continuously in every month. The only thing that could wake him up when he was asleep was a scorpion's bite, but no scorpion could go through the spider's web that he used to seal the entrance of the cave, so, he always slept for fifteen days and woke up without anyone or anything disturbing him. It was thus clear that, the wizard had gone to sleep when Oma and Mansa reached the island.

The wizard sniffed when he got out of his cave. He always did that after waking up from his long sleep. A sniff helped him to know whether a person, animal or something else came to the island when he was asleep.

After sniffing that morning, he got to realise that humans had visited the island while he slept. He then shook his wand, and his wand showed him the direction the humans had gone. He laughed happily—happy because he was going to have human flesh as his first meal after waking up.

“Ordinary humans don’t move as fast as wizards do. I will get them soon for lunch,” he said, and flew away towards the direction where Oma and Mansa had gone.

“Wake up!” Mansa said in a loud voice, and shook Oma when the monster drew closer to the boat. But Oma did not wake up. He was deeply asleep and snoring.

She shouted again and again as she shook him, but Oma didn’t wake up. The more she tried to wake him up, the more deeply he slept and snored.

Out of fear, Mansa cried and shivered. She didn’t know what to do as the deadly monster kept drawing closer to the boat. Then, after a while, she stopped crying and took Oma's sword.

“Tamun Hu Oma,” she shouted, but no flames appeared on the sword. She chanted the three mysterious words again but nothing happened.

She was about to chant the three mysterious words once more when the huge monster struck the boat with its python head. The boat shook and drifted on the sea, and the sea waters splashed around the boat.

Mansa stood helpless. Oma was still asleep, the powers in the sword seemed to have vanished from it. And the monster was relentless in its effort to destroy them. Mansa wanted to give up, and succumb to the monster. But just when she thought all hope was lost, she heard a voice in her ears saying: “Stay strong. You can do it. Use your name!”

Mansa got strengthened immediately. She held the sword firm and chanted again: “Tamun Hu Mansa.” And surprisingly, the sword burst into flames.