Read Online The Ancient Lands: Warrior Quest, Search for the Ifa Scepter by Jason McCammon - Free Book Online Page B

more
polite than usual.
    “Well,” asked the old woman.
    “Well what?”
    “Well, do you want to come in?”
    “I think so. I think I’m supposed to.”
    “Supposed to, eh? Sounds like destiny. Are
you trying to tell me that it is your destiny to come inside my
home?”
    “Uh, according to this map, yes. Yes it is,”
Bomani said as he reorganized his thoughts.
    “Well then, since you seem to be so sure,
come on in.” She held the door open with a gnarled and knobby hand
and waited for him to enter. Bomani walked past her and went inside
the dim hut. The old woman started to follow him, then she paused
and looked back over her shoulder.
    “Well?” she said, calling out to Farra
loudly, in a strained and unpleasant yelp, “You’d better come too.
And bring the dog.”
    Farra stood up from behind the rock
sheepishly and looked down at Pupa.
    “Wolf.” Farra corrected the old woman under
her breath.
    “Woof?” the old woman barked at Farra as she
approached, to make a pun. “Are you a dog too?” she asked
mockingly.
    “Uh, no Bibi. It’s Pupa here, he’s a wolf,
not a dog.”
    “I have some news for you little girl, a
wolf is a dog. And since you’re so intent on identity, don’t
call me Madame, it’s too formal. My name is Hagga.”
    “Yes, Bi...—I mean, Hagga.”
    “Humph. Like the boy said, are you coming
in, or not?”
    The inside of the hut was more horrid than
its exterior, but it seemed to be four times bigger inside than
what it appeared to be from the outside. In the middle of the main
room sat a huge cauldron. The air felt thick and damp, and it
carried the oddest smells. They could not decipher whether the
smells were coming from the strange animals she had caged around
the room, or from what ever was boiling in the cauldron.
    “I put on a fresh pot in preparation for
your arrival,” said Hagga.
    “What do you mean, in preparation? How did
you know that we were coming?” asked Farra.
    “I am a shaman, I know these things. I have
always known that you would come. It is in the prophecy. But, I
didn’t know that you would be here today, on this particular day
till, oh.... a week ago. You were right, boy. It was your destiny
to come inside. You just didn’t know it yet.”
    “How could you have known that? I just found
out a couple days ago,” asked a very skeptical Bomani.
    “Ah, but they knew.” She said and
pointed upward. She drew a handful of strange rocks from her
raggedy garment, and threw them onto the ground. She gazed upon
them, reading their relative positions to each other and to the
four corners of Madunia.
    “Two young ones, they say. One born of the
moon and one born under it.”
    The words sounded unpleasant as they fell on
Bomani’s ears, he did not understand them. He dropped his face in
his hands and shook his head. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
    “What is your name, boy?” asked Hagga.
    “The prophecies didn’t tell you that? Don’t you already know what my name is?”
    “Don’t trifle with me, boy. I’m too old for
it.” As she spoke, she grabbed a few glass vials from a rickety
shelf, and sprinkled small portions in the bubbling broth that
simmered in the large cauldron.
    “His name is Bomani,” Farra said, “and, I am
Farra, and this is little Pupa.”
    “Yes, and you are an Anifem, aren’t you. I
see your mark is not yet complete. Ah, just begun in fact. In time,
your powers will grow.” She leaned over and looked at Bomani. “This
one thinks he already has all the power in the world. There is
always room to grow, boy. Otherwise, what’s the point?”
    Bomani was impatient, and he was beginning
to feel agitated by all of this conversation. He hadn’t come this
far just to talk, or meet new people. He came for the Ifa
Scepter.
    “I don’t understand. Do you have the Ifa
Scepter?”
    “No! What would I do with a thing like
that?” Hagga laughed. “That kind of power is not intended for one
person to possess.”
    “You mean it