Chapter 18
“Keita!” Luyanda grabbed the old man’s shoulders and gave him a rough shake. Keita did not move. Luyanda spun him over onto his back and called out louder.
“Keita!”
He slapped him on the cheek. Keita’s eyes flickered open as he gulped a mouthful of air, and broke into a fit of coughing.
“Are you okay?”
“Never been better,” Keita gasped. He grabbed Luyanda’s arms and pulled himself up to his feet. “What a trip! That was incredible.”
Luyanda eased Keita into a chair.
“Were you there the whole time?” Luyanda asked.
“Yes. Where’s the pendant?” he asked, his eyes scouring the floor. “It must have fallen here somewhere.”
Luyanda spotted it on the tiles. He scooped it up and handed it back to Keita.
“Do you understand the significance of what just happened?” Keita asked, as he strung the pendant around his neck.
Luyanda shook his head.
“No, I don’t.”
“We’re such fools not to have seen it earlier.”
“See what?”
“You, my friend, are the descendant of Lwanda Magere.”
“Luyanda who?”
“Lwanda, not Luyanda…Though I suspect there must be some obvious connection between your names.”
“What are you talking about?” Luyanda asked, scratching his head.
Keita got up, crossed over to his bookcase, and plucked out a tattered volume that was really nothing more than a stack of loose papers bound with twine. Keita undid the yarn, and leafed through the pages delicately, like it would fall apart at any moment.
“Here we are,” he announced, his fingertip resting on a page. He looked up at Luyanda’s questioning gaze.
“It’s in ancient Nubian. I’ll translate it for you.”
“Centuries ago, on the shores of Lake Victoria, a terrible war raged between the Luo people and their sworn enemies, the Lang’o. The loss of lives was terrible, and the Luo were almost subdued. When all hope was lost and the Luo were at the end of their tether, a mysterious warrior arrived in their midst. His name was Lwanda Magere. No one knew where he came from, or how he had obtained his powers, but his skin was as hard as rock, and his prowess in battle was unmatched. With Magere on their side, the Luo were soon able to achieve the ascendancy in battle. No Lang’o warrior was able to withstand the power of Lwanda Magere. In a short while, the Luo had subjugated the Lang’o, and once again enjoyed peace and prosperity in their lands. But the Lang’o were unhappy. Embittered by their defeat, they devised a cunning plot. They got wind of Magere’s displeasure with his several wives and his desire to add one more to his harem.”
“So that’s the guy I became?” Luyanda asked.
Keita nodded, and continued reading.
“The Lang’o sent their most beautiful maiden as a wife for Magere, as a sort of peace offering. Magere was smitten and took her for his wife. It was she that discovered the true secret of his immortality when the great warrior took ill. Acting on his instructions, she pricked his shadow to draw some blood, and to her surprise, the man of stone bled. Armed with this knowledge, she returned to her people, and the Lang’o marched upon the Luo. The Lang’o warriors attacked Magere’s shadow, and mortally wounded the great hero. His body disappeared shortly after his death on the battle field, and a massive rock took its place. To this day, the Luo people venerate the rock as the body of Lwanda Magere, their fallen hero.”
“What book is that?” Luyanda asked as Keita put the page back in its place and wound the twine securely around it.
“The Book of the Forgotten. Or what’s left of it, to be more precise.”
“Where’s the rest of it?”
“I’ll tell you about it later. But for now, we need to understand what abilities you have inherited from your illustrious ancestor.”
“Well, that’s pretty obvious,” Luyanda replied. “I know my skin’s indestructible, for starters.”
“Is it really?” Keita asked.
“I think so. Remember the syringes in the sick-bay? They couldn’t break my skin. And also there’s the bus that ran over me and nothing happened.”
“I have my doubts,” Keita said, pulling open a drawer on his desk. He took out a pen-knife, and flicked open the blade.
“Stick your arm out,” he said.
Luyanda rolled up his sleeve and stuck his arm out. Keita leaned over it and examined Luyanda’s skin, then —
“Ouch!” Luyanda pulled his arm away as Keita jabbed it suddenly with the knife blade. “That hurt,” Luyanda said, rubbing the bruise on his arm.
Keita frowned. “It’s not supposed to.”
“Just because my skin is indestructible doesn’t mean I don’t feel pain. When I was in the Shadow Realm, I had aches and pains all over.”
“Okay. Give me your arm again.”
“Go easy,” Luyanda said, extending his arm. Keita grasped it firmly, and scraped the blade against his skin. Luyanda winced. A bright red drop of blood popped out on his skin. Luyanda eyes widened in shock.
“That’s definitely not supposed to happen,” he stammered.
“I had a feeling it would.” Keita replied. “One last thing. Stand here next to the window.” Luyanda clutched his arm to his chest, and moved into the bright sunshine streaming through the window. Keita leaned over his shadow on the floor, and scraped the blade across the edge of Luyanda’s shadow.
“Oww!” Luyanda squirmed as a trickle of blood crawled across his palm. Keita nodded as if satisfied, and handed Luyanda a tissue from the box on his desk.
“The bleeding should stop soon,” he said, as Luyanda wiped the blood on his palm and arm.
“I don’t understand,” Luyanda groaned. “My skin was indestructible in the Shadow Realm but here it’s normal?”
“And to make matters worse” Keita muttered, sitting down and resting his head on this hands, “your shadow is also mortal.”
“That’s unfair. You mean I’m now weaker than a normal person?”
“I’m afraid so.”
Luyanda groaned and sat down opposite Keita.
“When this — thing — first happened to me, my skin was indestructible. Now it’s not. What on earth is going on?”
“The abilities you are channeling are slowly diminishing.”
“Why?”
“I don’t think you inherited his powers exactly as they were. Remember, Magere could not inhabit shadows. But you can. It’s almost as though his powers have evolved inside of you.”
“And left me worse than before. I mean, look at me! All I can do is slink around. I can’t do anything cool.”
“Cool?” Keita asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah. Like fight the way Magere did. You saw the way the soldiers were afraid of him? It’s like the guy was a bad-ass.”
“So you want to be a … bad-ass?”
“Who wouldn’t?”
Keita chuckled.
“This isn’t funny, okay? My life is on the line here. If anyone found out my secret, they could kill me in the blink of an eye.”
“Why would anyone want to kill you?”
“I don’t know,” Luyanda replied. “That guy in the Shadow Realm did. And I had done nothing to provoke him.”
“I think,” Keita said, standing up, “we should call it a day for now. Let me do some more research. Perhaps I’ll find something.”
“Let me help,” Luyanda offered eagerly.
“No you cannot. My point of departure will be ancient manuscripts. And you can’t read them. At least not yet.”
“But what if some of the answers lie outside your books?”
“How do you mean?”
“I’m adopted. What if my biological parents knew something? What if I’ve got a relative somewhere who is going through the same thing? Or knows someone who did?”
“It’s highly unlikely that -”
“It’s worth a shot.”
“As are most things when you’re shooting in the dark,” Keita said. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to prepare for my next class.”
“So when’s our next meeting?”
“Let me do some research first. Then I will let you know, depending on what I find out.”