Two Moons by J. Raymond Ractliffe - Chapter 42

Two Moons is a new novel by J. Raymond Ractliffe that explores the inner spirit life of Africa, her people and their powerful faith in the world of the Unseen.

The Mark of the Two Moons
Chapter 42

     The tired dust lay where the winds had chased them. Small will'o wisps had danced with them across the open compound and around their mud walled huts. Had there been children in the now silent compound, they would have raced after them as they sped past, their shrieking laughter bouncing off the hilltop where the eyes in the long shadows had receded for the day.

Majura sat watching the rolling clouds as they came from over the horizon to play in the winds. Through her small doorway, she could see their endless changing as the hand of God came to caress their moving Spirits.

She had sat through the night whispering to the glowing flames as they had revealed their stories. Her old fingers tracing each story's outline before they faded into the night. What her nighttime fires had not fully revealed, the visions in her Milk Eye had been clear.

Her time here had come to an end.

The living waters in the stream were to touch the foreheads of those whose paths were to separate from her in the coming months. This would mark their Spirits as belonging to the Holy One in the Sky and keep them safe from any harm.

The old tree in the middle of the compound pointed a gnarled finger at her as she shuffled past the tall stones in the center. It was the only Spirit aware that the clouds had brought the new story of change. It alone had remained quiet, watching the swirling events unfolding around them all. No one had bothered to watch its long silence, thinking it had remained in the centre of their homes since before the coming of the Twins.

Majura's soft smile greeted the old tree, a simple nod as she continued her way across the dusty open path, all that she needed to waken its spirit from its dreams.

The quiet stream at the edge of the compound welcomed her silent hello, the sun glittering as her hand broke its rippling surface to reach deeper below for the water that had remained untouched by the swirling African dust and death around them.

Her mouth spoke the Words of Creation as the droplets of shimmering water ran from her hand to the simple gourd she had carried to the stream. Over and over, she reached in to grasp the stream's Innocence, letting the waters trickle off her hand into the gourd until there was enough to complete the Blessing of the Twins.

Majura's clear eye watched the gentle stream as it danced past her, aware its own birthplace had come from the sky.

She returned quietly back to the compound, where the withered tree had begun to stir, an eye buried in the rough bark under a limb, opened briefly to see her as she shuffled past, the first stirring of a Spirit that had brought Majura to this place.

Back in her hut, Majura sat comfortably by her warm fire, new herbs sprinkled on the hot stones adding a sweet aroma to the air that lifted her mind to join her Spirit while she DreamWalked the pathways in the Heavens.

The afternoon slipped away to first darkness as the stars began to bring out their mysteries in the sky. A first single starlight made its presence known, then the rest of the Ancestors found a way to light their own fires until a sky of lanterns filled the heavens.

When the last crimson colour on the horizon had slipped away, the Twins came silently through her doorway, kneeling in the cooling sands while they waited for their Mother to speak.

Now they watched her with their own curious eyes, to what task she would assign them next, or a Life Teaching to be shared from her Life Travels.

The minutes trickled by and the stars shifted their place past the limbs of the tree in the compound and still Majura sat silently staring at the fire. The Twins had come to expect these silences that could come as part of their teaching, drawing them all into one pathway before their mother's words would direct them to their task. Time shared by the firelight wove their heartbeats into a single tone, the words that were coming needed to be understood by all.

"Those who were meant to come to this place, have come," Majura said finally. "Now we have to move on away from this place."

"It is not needed to be here." she said.

The Twins were not surprised. They too had watched the rolling clouds that had come, speaking their wisdom of the coming changes. Majura turned to look directly at Gileni and Pathera, a smile forming on her lips as the words coming from her heart brought her joy.

"Both of you have been touched by the smile of a young man. Not in the eager way of silly young girls with heat in their bellies. The warriors blood has touched your own and made you one with a man."

The girls blushed deeply even in the darkness of the fire. Their eyes searching the air past their Mother in which to hide.

"One of you wishes to walk the path of this Healing. One of you will walk the long path of her husband's life."

All three shared their smiles as the flickering light danced off their lips. Eyes glistened while love overflowed for the first time, their young hearts bubbling like new springs.

"Gileni. The son of a chief has asked you to be his first wife."

"It seems his young spear remembered you after he woke from his fever."

Gileni blushed now with a glow that seemed to outshine the fire. She turned her head away from them all, trying to hide in the shadows. Majura chuckled, playing with the young girls shyness.

"He has left his village to follow his father's wishes."

"He will go to a place of learning far away and learn reading and the ways of the white man."

Majura paused now, seeing the joy replaced by fear on Gileni's face.

"You must go to him at the farm, he is waiting for you."

"He will not go alone." Majura said.

Majura turned now to Pathera, the quieter of the twins. Here the Spirits had found a deep well. Her heart had brought a greater strength to the herbs and salves she had learnt to prepare.

"You have chosen to walk behind me." Majura said with a smile.

"This path will also take you far away from here, over a lifetime."

Majura turned again to speak to them both, her face distant as the images of her coming journey filled her mind.

"I am returning to the mountains where I live, where there is a cave and waters that spring from the heart of the earth. I have lived there since I was touched by the Hand of Ngai and is the heart of my Visions. Much is to be revealed and only in the face of crystal waters can they be seen in the fullness of their days."

"I must go there alone." she whispered.

Majura turned to Pathera, "Chezwe will walk with you in this time and take you to this place. He will be your shield as you go to find my Spirit that waits for you."

"Tomorrow, your faces will not see each other after you go. It will be many years until your love will be seen in the other's eyes."

The impact of Majura's word had begun to seep past their new joys. What had been a single path since their birth, like a spring broken apart by a great stone, their one path had now become two rivers.

"I will walk with you tonight in your dreams, while you prepare for your new lives. Do not be afraid of the things to come, for I will be with you always."

"In the morning, you must gather your things and prepare your way."

Majura spoke softly now, her heart filling with the emotions of a mother.

"I am leaving you both beneath the stars of this night."

The smile now faded from Majura's face as her Milk Eye began to see past them all. The time for young girls and their dreams was past and the road before them stretched out in front of them in her visions.

Majura paused for a moment. The words now were her own and not from the Ancestors or Sacred fires that filled her Spirit.

"You have been my daughters and like the two faces of a stream showing the sky and earth, you both have entered my heart forever."

It had been a long time since her own children had returned to the earth, dust with dust, their breaths scattered to the winds. Only in the silences of her heart were their names whispered as their happy faces appeared out of the mists reminding her of their past coming.

"I will be with you both in all the days of your living."

Majura reached for the gourd that had sat patiently beside her, the bright fire warming the living waters that had come from the stream. Her old hand dipped gently into the gourd, then as the droplets clung to her fingers, she reached over and Blessed each Twin with the Innocent Water, marking the ancient sign of the Holy Mother God between their eyes.

"May the Holy One Watch over you, and Guide you."

"And Bless you All the Days of your Life."

"Let this Water be Her Blessing."

"And Mark His Hand on your Spirits."

Majura sat quietly watching their steady tears. Love begins to weep when rivers change their directions and those that were brought together for their time, smile their farewells as they continue their Life Paths to God.

Majura sat smiling at the Twins, her love for them filling the night air as the fire before them all flickered and danced their love songs.

When the lowest, bright stars had touched the highest limb of the withered tree in the compound, Majura reached over one last time to touch them gently on their foreheads. As she bent over, the carved polished ornaments in her hair began to sing her own Songs of Farewell.

"Come with me now." Majura said.

"It is time."

Majura walked through the doorway with the Twins trailing behind her, the moon lighting their way between the mud huts and old broken walls. Those above in the hilltops woke to watch her leaving, no word spoken between them, while somewhere out in the distant, a lion's call bid her his farewell.

She walked to the withered tree that had stood silent watching over them all, and turning to face the Twins, she paused once more to see them both.

The moonlight caught her Milk Eye in the darkness as her soft tears fell to the earth.

She raised her palm in final farewell, then touched the tree with a smile.

The gnarled limbs that had marked the passing of the stars in the heavens above them, dissolved in the night air like smoke rising from a fire. Where the trunk had stood in the centre of the burned stones, only its shadow from the white moon remained.

In its place, a tall walking staff stood waiting to begin their journey, poised as the day Majura had come and planted it in the middle of the compound. In the long years they had travelled together, while gripping it, Majura's old hands had polished it to a dark luster that shone in the moonlight. On top of the walking staff, a large crystal watched as Majura took it firmly in her hand, releasing it from the ground.

Majura turned without looking back at the twins and began her journey back to her cave in the mountains.

In a few shuffled steps, the moonlight shadow cast behind Majura faded as she slowly disappeared into the darkness. When their eyes could no longer see Majura while her hair whispered her Song of Tears, her small footsteps could be clearly heard as she slowly walked away from their old compound.

When all that was left was the silence in their hearts, their eyes found a single brown feather in the dust where Majura's last footsteps had faded in the dark night.

Above them, a lone falcon dipped its wing, riding the swirling night air through the twinkling stars, to find the distant mountains that was home to a well of Crystal Waters and a River of Dreams.

Only Ngai could see the single tear that fell from the glittering sky, marking Majura's silent way home.

Then she too was gone.