CHAPTER 6

Shana went back to the house and sat on the floor in tears as she thought about her daughter Tanya, with tears rolling down her cheeks. She regretted everything as she took all the blame for her past behavior.

She had treated her with so much love and care and gave her everything she ever wanted. Was she wrong to have shown her daughter so much love and given her such freedom?

It's been two months since the disappearance of the five friends. Shana and other parents were devastated as they cried bitterly. Some had refused to eat until they found their children but gave up after a few days when they couldn't resist the hunger anymore.

"Where have I gone wrong in bringing this girl up? What will her father say about me? How will he feel about this? Please protect my daughter for me wherever she is oh Alpha…" Shana begged as she cried profusely.

Not long after, Shana heard noise coming from outside her compound. It seemed to be coming from another place farther than her house as the noise wasn't loud enough to be at her door. She wondered what was going on but cared less if it had nothing to do with her daughter.

A young boy entered her compound running as he called out to her. She stopped crying as she went towards the boy and asked him why he screamed her name at such an hour of the day and what was happening outside.

"All the people that disappeared have returned. Everyone is rejoicing except you who's still indoors." The young boy told her. He also happened to be Tanya's closest friend.

"Are you sure what you're telling me is true?" Shana asked, shaken by the information she had received.

"Yes but…I didn't see your daughter amongst them. Anyways, they are all back. Maybe she's in the crowd." He told Tanya's mother.

"Yes, yes. Let's go and get my daughter…my daughter…thank you Alpha for returning my daughter." Shana cried with tears in her voice as she dragged the little boy by the hands and went to where the crowd gathered.

They arrived at the location of the crowd and searched for Tanya but they couldn't find her. Other women were happy as they reconciled with their children but Shana was yet to find her own daughter as she searched through the crowd.

"Where's my daughter?" She screamed as everyone kept quiet as they turned towards her.

"I said where's Tanya?" She asked again, getting angry as she didn't see her daughter. She went towards Guni as she held her right hand violently and repeated the question.

"Mother…there's something we want to tell you." Guni said as she turned to look at her friends who stepped forward to where she was standing, with their heads bowed to the ground as they all stood out in sad expressions.

"What happened to my child?" Shana asked on top of her voice, getting impatient.

"We're sort of done, we didn't come back with Tanya…'' Shanti broke the silence that had engulfed the friends.

"Then where's she? Where's she?" Shana screamed at her friends.

"Stop it Shana! You're only scaring the kids away! This isn't the right approach to these kids…" A parent spoke.

"How do you tell me what to do! How dare you! Do you know the pain of losing a child? Do you know the pain of losing the only child you have? Answer me!

Or is it because your child isn't missing that you're speaking this way? If anything happens to my child, you'll all know that I am insane! You'll all see the wrath of Mabula and know what I can do and undo!" Shana threatened the woman that tried to calm her down which scared everyone.

"Mother, please no. We'll tell you everything that happened." Guni pleaded, accepting to explain what had happened. She turned to her friends, giving them an eye signal to help out as Jaman decided to speak.

"Mother…we're sorry for what happened. The five of us: I, Shanti, Shey, Guni and your daughter Tanya, we all agreed to sneak out of the house to go on an adventure in another land.

We knew that telling our parents was going to put an end to our plans so we decided to do it our way and leave without letting you know where we've been.

"Where did you go?" Shana asked the boy.

"The mountain…" Jaman replied in fear.

"What? Why did you go there and how did you get to know about the mountain?" A parent asked in awe.

"We heard the elders talking about it and also the traders that come to buy and sell…so we decided to know what it was all about. We were curious to know about the mountain that everyone talked about but didn't want us to know." Jaman sincerely explained.

"Are you out of your minds? How stupid are you these children? So where's Tanya and what happened to her?" Guni's mum asked.

"Tanya was taken away by the monster…" Shanti confessed as she started crying.

"What? Where's my daughter? What have you done to her? Where's my daughter…" Shana let out a trail of bitter tears as she fell to the ground.

"Tell us how it happened. Let's know if we can do anything to save her." A voice in the crowd asked.

Jaman narrates all that happened to everyone as they cover their mouths in shock. Shana was horrified as she listened to everything that Jaman had said.

"What happened?" Shana asked, totally shaken with fear.

"She tried to fight back while she asked us to run away. We were lucky to escape the monster but she wasn't. We didn't know how it happened as she wasn't with us anymore. We thought it had eaten her as her body wasn't there so we all ran away and came back home." Jaman replied with remorse.

"What?" Shana exclaimed as though she was about to faint. Women rushed to her to make sure she was fine but she didn't want anyone to come close to her.

"How could you children be so careless? Why would you do such a thing? We kept that away from you because we know how dangerous it is to be in a place we suf but you stubborn children decided to have your way, see what had happened now." Another woman scolded.

"This behavior of yours is unacceptable and you will all be punished!" One of the eldest men said,

The children went to their various houses as the elders discussed what should be done. Shana didn't want to rely on them but she was wea ad didn't know where to start from.

Shana was also stopped from going to look for her daughter as it was dangerous for her. She may also lose her life in the process so everyone was asked to stay away from the mountain issue until the palace had decided what decision was to be taken next.

A decision was finally made and Shana was called upon with all hopes and expectations that they would go find her but her hopes were dashed.

"Shana, we sent for you in regards to your missing daughter." The head of chiefs started, loudly clearing his throat.

"What about her? Are you sending your men to go find her? Please tell me…" She asked impatiently.

"We're sorry Shana." Another chief apologized to her.

"What are you sorry for? It's no problem, I would be thanking you for helping me to search for my daughter. I know it's a dangerous task so why be sorry?'' Shana asked, getting confused and impatient too.

"That's the point…it's too dangerous Shana…and so…'' The King spoke for the first time after listening to their conversations.

"So what your highness? Somebody please tell me something." Shana pleaded more desperately.

"We can't carry out the task." The bombshell was brought out.

"What? Why not?" Shana asked, confused.

"You just said it yourself, it's a dangerous task Shana…" The king explained to her.

"And so what are you trying to say?" Shana asked again.

"I can't endanger the lives of my men. Every soul of the soldiers is precious to me, I can't lose any of them. I'm sorry." The king exploded the bomb that was out.

"You're joking, aren't you? What do you mean by that? That's their job, they go to war, they guard the kingdom knowing fully well that their lives are endangered so why is this different from what they've been doing?" Shana asked again, this time with anger in her voice.

"We're sorry. There's nothing we can do and besides, it's just your daughter…just a single person so…" A chief said.

"So what? Answer me?" Shana asked with anger in her voice.

"Don't you get it? Why lose the love of our people for some strangers from a kingdom that doesn't even exist?" Another chof asked.

"What?" Shana asked as though she had been soaked in cold water.

"We're sorry. You may leave." They said to her.

"My daughter sacrificed her life to save the other kids and yet this is what you could do?" Asked Shana.

"Old woman, anyone can do that okay? Don't make it look as though we're the one who captured your daughter and besides, the entire kingdom knows just how stubborn your daughter is so stop all these dramas and instead, go look for her yourself." Another chief hadn't said anything and replied out of anger.

"Tanya was saved not just the lives of those kids but also the entire kingdom. She had fought for you people and done a lot of good things. She helped people on their farms, became stubborn all thanks to your people and you're saying this?" Shana asked as cruelty was shown to her and her daughter.

"We're grateful for everything she's done for us okay? We're not ingrates but this is beyond our doing. Please if you can excuse us. We're done here." The head of chiefs said in conclusion.

Shana left the palace in tears and anger. She made up her mind to go find her daughter by herself. They did good to them but got paid with cruelty. How life can be.

Shana went back to her home and stood at the door for some minutes, thinking. In tears and with determination to find her daughter, she began to pack a few clothes and wrapped them up in a sack cloth. She emptied the hut and started her journey to find her daughter.

People saw her and asked where she was going to but she gave no one an answer. They all watched her with sympathy as some shook their heads and began muttering some things about her and her daughter.

"It's such a shame that she has to go through this. Or could it be that she's cursed or the daughter is? I mean why does she have to go through such a thing? Why her daughter of all children?" One asked the other.

"No, it could be that she's the one that's cursed. Her daughter is just a little girl so she couldn't have committed a sin to warrant her being cursed. See how she's dragged her beautiful and innocent daughter into the punishment of her sin." The other replied back.

"It's a good thing that she's leaving. She deserves whatever that she's facing. We can't have such a person live in our midst. She's such a shame." The other replied.

"You people should stop talking so ill of her! She doesn't deserve such treatment from you people. If you can't be more to her then why not just shut the hell up?" Another old lady scolded the two men as she had been eavesdropping on them from where she was sitting and couldn't take it anymore.

Shana heard all these as tears ran down her cheeks. She had nothing to do but to endure it. She was leaving anyways, so there was no need to fight back.