High Priestess- No Man's Servant Page 9
“That must not happen. She has to remain unmarried to undo the curse. That much is clear,” Goni said firmly.
“In that case, I will postpone looking for her. It should take at least two months to pay back Jinja’s family. That way, once the debt has been fully repaid, they will not ask for her when she returns. Speaking of which, I am having a really hard time coming up with the money. I have asked for help from every friend our village has and I’ve sold some things—trinkets and such—but I suspect I won’t be able to come up with the amount needed for the first payment at the end of this month.”
“I don’t know how much more you need, but I have something that will help you.”
“What right do I have to ask you for help when you’re here, unable to provide food for the nine children you have at home?” Nora said exasperatedly.
“You don’t have to worry about that. Please keep this to yourself, but I have hidden gold. No one will find it unless I give them specific instructions as to how to find it. There should be more than enough to cover what you need.”
“Gold!” Nora’s eyes sparkled with surprise.
“Please keep your voice down, High Priestess. I don’t want others to find out about this. Please keep it to yourself until the day you need to pay Hula.”
* * *
Kenda and Lucy had been coming back to the riverbank every day for over a week, collecting tin cans and asking the river for fish. The bridge had become their home when they had failed to find a better place to stay, and Kenda’s attempts at finding an employer always ended in disappointment.
She was getting tired of eating fish and being afraid of running out of money. The nights were cold, and her clothes now looked dirty and ragged. Without soap, she was also beginning to smell, even though she tried to take a bath with her clothes on every day. She couldn’t take her clothes off to wash them because she had no spares, and, regardless, the trash-infested river wasn’t really sanitary enough to clean either her body or her outfit. Now that potential employers had begun to avoid her purely because of how she looked, Kenda knew that she needed new clothes.
Kenda stopped for a while. She and Lucy had just finished yet another meal of fish, and they had begun heading back to the market. The cat had a point. But what could she ask?
Her eyes glowed with excitement as she said,
“Follow your advice. Let’s try our luck on the opposite bank.”
Kenda picked up the whiny cat and crossed the river. The slow current allowed them to cross faster. The water reached her waist, but Kenda didn’t mind her clothes getting wet. She held the cat above her head to prevent it from getting wet.
Lucy said, not moving in Kenda’s hands.
Kenda did not reply. She was focused on reaching the other side of the river. The river was wider here compared to its meander beside her village, and it took Kenda about five minutes to cross it. She was thankful that the morning sun was hot enough to prevent her from getting cold. Intent on avoiding anyone spotting her doing what she was planning to do, she decided to cross the river first. Upon reaching the other bank, she picked a black rock to sit on to rest for a while as the sun dried her clothes.
Kenda walked closer to the edge of the river, squatted down and put her hand in the water. Closing her eyes, she pictured what she had seen when she was young and asked the river to give her gold. The water rippled in answer.
Opening her eyes as she felt the ripple, Kenda found that the river continued to move, but there was no gold in sight. A few minutes passed, and still nothing appeared. Kenda went back to the riverbank where the cat was sitting, transfixed.
Kenda’s eyes lost their sparkle as she tried to think of any other way to survive in the city.
The sun was high in the sky and Kenda’s skin began to sweat, but neither she nor the cat started to move back to the other side of the river. Kenda was deep in thought when the cat’s words suddenly brought her back to reality.
Kenda looked at the river and saw the water coming toward them. The water was clear, and as the wave came near, she saw that there was something shiny at its crest. She gasped in surprise as she recognized it.
The wave stretching to her fingertips, Kenda held out her hand, palm upward, to accept the gold that the river was offering. It was about half the size of her fist and far larger than any of the pieces she could remember Goni having showed her. She bowed her head in gratitude.
The wave curled toward the other side of the river, looking toward the shore where Kenda and Lucy would collect the trash. Kenda touched the water and immediately understood what it meant. No words were spoken, no visions were shown, but the message was clear. It was almost as if Kenda and the water were sharing their thoughts.
The water seemed to bow upon hearing what Kenda had said.
Overjoyed, Kenda and Lucy ran into town to sell the gold. She knew how to read some English words, and she looked for stores that displayed photos of jewelry and gold. She skipped those which appeared crowded, as she didn’t want to attract attention. Her grandmother had warned her not to flaunt her wealth if she ever became wealthy. Her words came back to Kenda as she searched for somewhere to sell the gold: “Jealousy is an evil trait and is often seen in people that will covet, steal, or kill to take what is yours.”
They finally spotted a store with no customers. Although the sign included other words that Kenda had not studied yet and so didn’t know how to read, it clearly stated that the store would buy gold and old jewelry. As much as she wanted to read the words, she stopped herself from being curious and gathered her will to focus on selling the gold.
The store displayed golden watches, bracelets, necklaces, and other types of jewelry in a display case that separated Kenda and the store owner. The display case was made of wood and a transparent material that made Kenda initially think that there was nothing covering the jewelry. When she leaned over, she felt the smooth, col
d, solid material, finding to be as hard as wood.
“Alin aton?” The store owner looked at her, trying to hide his disgust at her appearance. He was middle-aged, with skin so pale that Kenda presumed he probably stayed indoors most of the time.
Kenda passed her annoyed reply via her mind.
Kenda put her hand in her pocket and took out the gold. She leaned in closer to the counter, extended her hand, and opened it near the store owner’s face.
“Diyos mio!” he gasped.
“In the mountain,” Kenda explained, making an inverted V with her two hands to show the mountain. “Far away.” She waved her hand backward to emphasize her words.
The owner opened his hand, expecting Kenda to give him the gold. Kenda gave it to him without hesitation.
The owner placed it on top of a square machine, pressed some buttons, and waited impatiently for a few seconds.
“Diyos miyo! Tood gid ah.” The man’s eyes sparkled with excitement.
Kenda nodded her head. The store owner’s eyes showed disbelief. He looked at her clothes, then back at the gold.
“May ID ka nga daea?”
Lucy replied.
The store owner must have sensed her confusion when she gave him a blank stare. His hand disappeared in his pocket and brought out a wallet. He opened it and took out a thick and square paper. He held his hand up for Kenda to see and began explaining what it was.
“No, I don’t have any ID.” Kenda shook her head.
“Sa baeay nyo?” The man gestured an inverted V for a roof.
“No, I don’t really have one.” Kenda shook her head again.
“Ano baea ang obrahon ay?” the man said to himself, not seeming to know that he was speaking aloud.
“Uwa ka it ID kaya sekreto eang ra ha?” He made a zipping motion across his lips with his fingers.
Kenda nodded. The owner looked at his measuring machine again, counted out some kwartas, and handed them to Kenda. He made the zipping motion one last time before letting go of the money. Kenda counted the money as soon as she got it. The store owner had given her ten thousand kwartas in exchange of the gold. She did not ask for more. She didn’t have any idea how much the gold was worth, but one thing she was sure of was that the man had probably given her less than its true value.
“Excuse me, can you give me some clothes?” Kenda touched her clothes and pointed toward the man’s clean clothes.
“Uwa ako kaeobot.”
Kenda touched her clothes and made an X with her hands, trying to indicate that she didn’t like them. She pointed to the man’s shirt and made a thumbs up.
“Ah! Gusto mo bag ong eambong?”
Kenda nodded.
The man fished a square device from his pocket. He pressed it, and it lit up. He spoke into the device while holding it next to his right ear.
“Maliya anay. Daea ka it eambong. Mga para sa katorse it edad nga baye. Iya lang kang do bayad.”
“Ma bayad ka galing it tunga it kwarta.” He showed her one kwarta and folded it into two.
Kenda gave back one thousand kwartas to the store owner, and he quickly gave back her change. He gestured for her to follow him and she did. Inside the store was a small room containing an oblong object. There was water at the bottom, and Kenda thought it was a well.
The man tried to catch her attention upon seeing that she was fascinated by it. He gestured drinking and shook his head. Kenda nodded in understanding.
“Para sa ihi ag pagbawas da.” He pretended to squat. Kenda wondered how it was possible for someone to relieve themselves in such a shallow thing. In their village, they dug big holes in the ground to use as their toilet, covering it over with soil once the hole was full.
The man turned something next to the wall, and water came out from what looked like a vine. The end was big and round where the water came out, like a waterfall. Kenda was mesmerized, like she was watching one of her Uncle Goni’s tricks, and it made her sad thinking about him. She didn't know if he had survived. If he had, he was surely being punished.
The man turned off the water and gestured for her to wait. A woman’s voice was heard from the counter. There was a little argument, and Kenda guessed that the woman was probably curious as to whom the clothes were for. The woman left angrily, and the store owner returned to help Kenda. He showed her how to turn the knob, and to open and close the door. Then, he left her to herself.
Chapter 13
Refuge
Lucy burrowed her nose into her hair.
Kenda used her mind to communicate as people brushed against her. It was Thursday, and the market was crowded. People didn’t seem to care when they bumped into another person, and they didn’t say sorry when they stepped on someone’s foot, which really annoyed Kenda. But, as she didn’t know how to tell them otherwise, she just looked at the culprits murderously when someone stepped on her feet. She bought a new pair of pink slippers, and she felt ecstatic. Previously, she only used to wear slippers when there had been gatherings in the village.
The market was enormous, and Kenda struggled to find the lady’s store where she had first asked for work.
Sure enough, after reaching the end of the vegetable section, the place seemed familiar to her. Kenda took five cents from her pocket as she came closer to the lady’s store.
She picked up an apple and gave the money to the lady. The lady looked at her with recognition.
“Ah,” the lady said as she put the money in her pocket. “Nag adto ka iya para mag obra?”
Kenda nodded.
“I want to help, but I don’t have money to pay you,” the lady said in the town’s language. She showed her money and gestured a little with her index finger and thumb.
“Ok lang,” Kenda said. She had learned how to say ‘it’s okay’ in the town’s language after spending more than a week there.
The lady smiled in wonder.
“Sige!” Kenda answered excitedly, agreeing with the lady.
Chapter 14
Evil Lurks
Nora held a purse containing fifteen hundred kwartas and a nugget of gold that was as big as her thumb. The day had come for her to settle half of the debt owed to Hula, and she estimated the gold to be worth at least two thousand kwartas.
Nora stood at t
he edge of the village facing the river, watching as Jinja and his men made the climb up to Daa. Several of the villagers were also stood beside her, eager to see the visitors after what had been a quiet few weeks for the village. Nora was able to clearly discern Jinja from his men, his red attire sharply contrasting with the black worn by his men, as if he was trying to show himself from afar.
Nora walked back to her house, which was about a five-minute walk from the end of the village. She decided that she would meet them inside her house. She put her hand inside the purse and rolled the gold between her fingers. Goni had suggested that they should pay the full balance outright so that they could look for Kenda and bring her back, but Nora had refused. She didn’t want the village of Taa to think that they were rich.
She sat down on the floor in the middle of the house, where the lunch was set. It was a simple lunch in comparison to that which had been prepared for when she had first welcomed Hula and his family to the village, but she didn’t want to make a fuss. There was no need to try to impress Jinja. If not for her role as high priestess, she would just hand over the payment and send Jinja home, but there was certain etiquette that a priestess must abide.
Cesar came out from the kitchen. “Aren’t they here yet?” her husband said as he sat down next to Nora. Cesar was a man of few words during gatherings, but he was talkative when they were alone. He swallowed his pride during meetings and gatherings and stayed quiet to allow his wife to do the talking, in deference to her being the high priestess. He hadn’t even been by her side when Hula and his family first came to their village. As a man, he was often the topic of debate in the village. A man was normally the head of his household, with the woman following his wishes. In Cesar’s case, things were different, but he had known before marrying Nora that his life would not follow the same course as the other men in their village.
Jinja bowed his head in greeting as he entered the small house. Nora motioned for him to sit, and he did, opposite Nora. The men guarding him sat close by.