To Seek A Cure

I am standing on the edge of a cliff as the full moon reflects its white light onto the tree tops below. In the shadowy darkness and marching predatorily behind me was a black wolf.

Its yellow eyes glares into mine as it slowly transform itself into a man. The moonlight hits its skin and I study the man's face and figure. I can't make out his face because there seems to be something obscuring it. There was a glistening shine on his flesh as though it were oily or wet with some black substances like mud or paint. He reaches his hand out to grab mine and I shove it away. When I look down at my forearm where he had tried to grab, I noticed a smudge of dirt…no it looked darker than dirt… it looked like black paint. I extended my arms towards him, swiping at his arm and a layer of moist black pigments transferred onto my palm, exposing his skin little by little. He suddenly clawed at my neck, strangling me…

(It's a dream. I've had this dream before. I need to see who this person is. Hold on a little longer.)

My breath is being squeezed away and all my energy is rapidly depleting. (Must see who it is.) I reach out my arms and wipe away the black pigment off of his face as his grip tightens on my throat.

Finally, I see his face. I give him a smirk and say his name with all the air left in me.

"Manji-manidoo."

Jerell is shaking me and I wake up gasping for air, coughing and choking on my own spit along the way.

"Are you alright, Sereen?" Jerell asked in horror. "I thought you were drowning in your sleep or something. All that choking and holding your breath, you nearly stopped my heart! Who's Manji-molly-poo?"

"I'm fine." the words coarsely squeezed out of my obstructed airway. "I'm fine, really."

"Alright… but who is molly-poo?"

"Manji-manidoo," I corrected Jerell. "He is a very dangerous man. One that I haven't quite met yet, but I've seen on numerous occasions. When we meet up at Central Grounds, I need you to be wary of that man. He is not one to toy with."

Jerell nods, "Seems like a serious man with a lot power. Like a duke or a…"

"Duke…" my memories suddenly washes in like a tide and I change the subject. "Jerell, I remember hearing Lei say something about me coming from a family line of high importance or royalty… or something. I'm beginning to think my family came from something. Maybe my father was a duke. I just feel like something is there that I'm not getting."

"If your father were a duke or an earl, I can only remember only one family that has a missing lineage. That's the Joreston family. The Duke of Lovingsworth, Ansel Joreston and his bride-to-be went missing about twenty years ago. Joreston's family are the proud owners of the trades that come from the dock. They have control over everything that comes and goes in London. They basically run the London market, based on what they let in or out."

"Joreston, you say? That does sound very familiar."

"Yes, Lord Joreston. Have you heard the story?" Jerell asked and I shook my head, no. "Well, it was said that two days before their wedding night, a horrible storm came. Ansel Joreston ran to the docks to help assist his workers with the cargo and shipments when lightning struck him. There, on that very spot, he obliterated into ashes, and joined the puddles in the mud as he soul lifted up into the sky. Never to be seen again."

"And what about his bride-to-be?" I asked.

Jerell shot me a funny look and then continued, "It was said that she ran off to marry his guardsman, but from what I hear, they eloped and that was what sent the duke into madness… that he really didn't die, but ran away because of his heartbreak… that he is now living in the sewers of London living amongst the rats, and is the reason for the spreading of the plague."

"That's not true!" I blurted out. "He is a good man."

"Oh, so defensive as if he WERE your father…" Jerell chuckled, taken by surprise by my outburst. "So you know this man then? Twenty years ago… before you were even born, you knew this man?" He said sarcastically.

An awkward silence simmered as we stared at one another before Jerell finally made an assumed connection.

"Good god! He COULD probably be your father!" Jerell exclaimed. "Oh, it all makes sense!"

My brain tries to unravel the ball of twine that this could be my family lineage. "But how is this all connected to Lei? How would he know all of this? Why would he take me as a bride if he…" I paused at a new sense of realization, staring into the abyss.

"What if he knew your parents?" Jerell asked.

"Yes, what if he knew my parents? What if he knew who I was all along. My mother's portrait was on the vanity, just waiting for me to return on his ship. My name, oh, god he knew. He knew who I was all along and failed to tell me. Then he took advantage of me and my gift by buttering me all those years and I…I… I let him have me. He took me to bed, Jerell. At my weakest moment, where numbness overcame me, I let him bed me. Oh, I'm so stupid!"

"Hey, hey, hey!" Jerell puts his arms around me attempting to calm me down as I flail my arms around in anger. "Sereen, it's not your fault. You are innocent in all of this. But we need to stay calm, focused and quiet." Jerell reminded me and I quickly stopped, covering my loud mouth with both my hands.

The smell of my soil covered hands smelled delicious, and my attention suddenly shifted into a sniffing spree with them while Jerell began to whisper.

"We don't know how far behind they are. They can find us if we lit any fire, make too much sound, and if our tracks aren't covered or skewed. Once we get close enough to the southern borders of the Ma'iingan camp, we can rest at one of my old underground hiding places and... What in the bloody hell are you doing?" Jerell chortled at the sight of me licking the dirt off his fingers.

I pushed his hands away and cupped my hands into my lap, "Nothing."

"Are you alright?" Jerell asked. The sincerity in his voice was so honest that I had to tell him.

I gave him a loud sigh before I proceeded to tell him what I had been hiding from everyone. I told him about the dirty potatoes, my lack of eating, and my never ending desire to eat dirt. He sat and listened to me as I went go on and on about wanting to eat dirt.

After all of my whining, Jerell finally said, "I have a resolution to your problem, but we will need to hunt something big."

"Hunt? We don't have time to hunt. Can't we just snare something?"

"No, the animal we require has to be one of a bigger stature. You're correct in the sense that we won't have the time to hunt, but I swear when we get to center point~"

"Center camp." I corrected him again.

"Right, Center Camp…I will cure you of this food sickness."

"How do you know it is going to work?" I couldn't help but ask. I needed reassurance that I can get rid of this craving. It was like a parasite that controlled my every movement and my thought.

"Master Boix had a lot of bastards, remember?" He reminded me and I nodded. "A lot of those women exhibited strange cravings while pregnant. I was often tasked to retrieve very specific food or items for them. I think the strangest thing I was ever tasked to retrieve has to be a jar of fermented fish made by a Japanese fisherman. The only place you could find it was a small market located in Norway. Master Boix claims that the pregnant women, if they didn't get what they craved for, will birth mutated babies. It was some strange times we had on that boat."

"So those women that didn't get their needs met… were their babies mutated?"

"To be honest with you, I don't know about their babies. When at sea, any pregnant woman nearing their birthing time, are often forced to walk the planks if Master Boix felt anything may be wrong with them or their pregancies."

"That is horrible!" I yelled. Jerell shushed me and I covered my mouth again.

"It is, that is why the servants created the 'ROM'. You know, the Rescue Of Moms? ROM was created to rescue the women who were forced to walk the plank of death."

"Yes! Before the pregnant woman was forced to walk the plank, Master Boix would pamper them with love, it was a routine of his. When the crew saw that happening they'd notify the servants who would embed heavy brass chains onto a log and dress it in a women's gown. Master Boix never watches the woman walk the planks, so we'd throw the logs into the ocean to trick him. Then Master Boix would leave his chambers to watch the floating dress log sink to the ocean."

"What happens to the women?"

"They live below deck with the servants and their babies. I never get to go down there. It's its own entire world down there."

"That is really nice of you all. I'm so glad you were my friend. Even though it was really brief." I said in admiration.

"Four years of our childhood was brief alright. Time flies when you're happy and then stays frozen when you're miserable." Jerell said, giving me a sympathetic glance then placed a kiss onto my forehead. " You need rest and so do I. Let's go back to sleep."

Jerell lays me back down and spoons me from behind.

*

"Giken, did you hear that?" Gimtimi whispered in the dead of night after hearing some grass ruffling near her sleeping mat.

"Shhhh" Giken shushed, pointing his hands north to convey the voiceless message to the waking tribesmen.

Mooji stands and walks toward the noise. Her shiny tears reflected the moonlight as she placed her palms out to gesture their new arrival of peacefulness.

"You've come, finally. My moon…" Mooji said into the darkness. A man approaches, setting the Ma'iingan into high alert. "Stand down!" Mooji shouted to the group.

"Asin?" Giken rushes to greet his second uncle and Asin bowed to show his respect to his new leader.

Mooji walks over to Asin and he embraces her into his arms. Finally, she allowed her tears to fall from her eyes as she held onto her onaabeman (destined partner/ husband) for the first time in a long time.

"Asin, you led them here to kill us?" Wawa protested.

Asin shoots Wawa a sympathetic look then says, "I'm sorry."