The Legend of Karachuo 7 The Death of Le Lwenje

Everything he saw since he met Le Lwenje no longer seemed unnatural to him. Therefore, that light did not at all astound him, it even excited him. He anxiously wanted to get to the forbidden land and see more of what he had seen that day.

He was buried in his excitement when Le Lwenje abruptly stopped. Ochieng' turned his head to the front only to see a strange lion standing just in front of Le Lwenje.

The lion was pitch black except for its yellow eyes and mane which had patches of purple. It was Brobdingnagian. It was around eight metres long, five metres wide and three metres high. Its presence gave Ochieng' an icy feeling.

He was wondering why the strange animal had to block their way when he heard it roar. He realized they were communicating between themselves when he heard Le Lwenje roaring back.

ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!

The beasts were quiet for sometime when it all started. He could tell that they were arguing and from the trembling of Le Lwenje below him, he could figure out that they had reached a point where they could not contain themselves anymore.

" Sibuor Mudho ( Lion of darkness), I have told you to get out of my way or I make my move! " Le Lwenje bawled out.

"And I have asked you to give me the child or I kill both of you!" The lion had also lost it.

" Then the last beast standing to have him."

Forthwith after saying so, Le Lwenje bolted towards Sibuor Mudho with all its strength. It was indeed tempestuous because the way he charged, if it landed on the lion, it would tear it to peaces. It even forgot that it still had Ochieng' on its back.

Ochieng', who didn't gestate that Le Lwenje would make a move slid to the ground with a thud. Even though he was injured from the impact, he picked himself up and rushed to a nearby bush to watch the engagement of the beasts.

BOOM!

The two beasts collided and air waves from their collision spread to an area of radius of around two hundred metres. The trees that were close to them fell because of the impingement. Ochieng' was sent flying alongside shrub and tree leaves, tree branches and flowers by the raging air waves to a boggy eight metres away from his hiding place.

After colliding, despite the huge difference in their sizes and weights, the two animals retreated six steps behind spurting a mouthful of blood each. Le Lwenje wanted to proceed and teach Sibuor a lesson but when it turned and saw what damage they had caused, it couldn't help but worry about the boy.

It rushed to certain direction when it heard a "AH! " behind him. It turned only to see the lion holding a muddy figure ready to run away. Lwenje did not waste time, it reached before Sibuor in a blink of an eye and sent it's sharp claws at the animal. The lion who did not expect this, unconsciously dropped the figure back to the mud and dodged to the side.

The lion roared and leapt towards Lwenje. Instead of moving, Lwenje stood rooted to the ground waiting for the lion to reach. When they were just a centimeter away from each other, the lion sent its left paw towards the belly of Lwenje. Lwenje was prepared and twisted it's body to the side, however, that was a wrong move as it turned out the paw was just a faint and the real strike was coming.

The side that Lwenje twisted to was exactly where Sibuor's real strike was coming from. The lion's real strike landed squarely on Lwenje's left cheek. The latter was sent flying five or six metres away.

CRACK!

The cracking of bones was heard immediately Lwenje landed. Ochieng', who had found his way out of the muddy pit and was currently lying behind a fallen tree could feel his heart beating fast. He realized that what Nyakam told him was true. This place was dangerous.

Just when Ochieng' thought that Lwenje had died, the animal stood up with its lower jaw hanging and blood copiously flowing from its mouth. Its lower jaw bone had been broken. It tried to say something but it couldn't.

Even in it's condition, Lwenje still rushed to the lion, though it was way much slower. The blow it suffered just a moment ago seemed to have been severe. Seeing this sight, Ochieng' felt his tears rolling down his cheeks.

This predicament was worse than he thought. He had thought that with Lwenje by his side, he would be safe in the forbidden land. He realized how naif he was, he had to face everything alone... He was thinking of how to help Lwenje when the latter arrived before the Lion.

Lwenje tried jabbing it's paws into the lions face but its movement was too slow and weak. The lion held the limb and sent its sharp claws into the other animal's neck. Five claws viciously pierced Lwenje's neck like a needle pricking a balloon. At its death, Lwenje did something brilliant.

Lwenje used it's other free forelimb to destroy the lion.

It used its remaining strength to blind the lion. The saying that 'the last kicks of a dying horse are very important' could perfectly describe this situation. With its claws, it pulled off the lion's eyes. It died but left the blind lion running up and down, knocking down every tree here and there.

Ochieng', though furious that Lwenje died, was too weak to move. Falling down hard two consecutive times had made his body ache almost everywhere. His muscles were too painful to help him in making any movement. He regretted being too weak to avenge Lwenje, but if regrets had cure, many dead men could be alive today.

"Kid! Come out before I come for you because even though I can't see you, I know where you are. You must know that this is the forbidden land and you will die sooner or later. Considering how Lwenje decided to die for you, it goes without saying that you aren't ordinary. "

"I won't harm you either because you may be as utile to me as you were to him. So, be good and come out of your hiding place since I will treat you even better... I won't harm you. "

Sibuor roared. The helpless Ochieng really wanted to kill Sibuor to avenge Lwenje but the question is, was he in a position to do so? He remembered carrying medicinal herbs in his gourd. He struggled to reach it on his waist only to find it absent. He couldn't have fallen two times without it cracking, right?

'Why must everything be like this?' He wondered. 'There's no hope for life at this rate. I will die anyway, why don't I just push myself and kill the lion... '

Those were his thoughts. Having lost everything he had except for the skin on his body, he endured the pain he was going through and picked up a tree branch that was lying nearby.

He sprinted towards the beast, determination written on his better-looking face. With all his strength, he smashed the tree branch at the animal's head. Before the piece of wood reached the animal, he found himself being levitated by an invincible power.

A few seconds later, he found himself hovering above Sibuor Mudho. Beside him was another animal that resembled Sibuor. The only difference was that the animal was much smaller than Mudho, just three metres long, a metre wide and a metre high. The animal had black pair of wings with purple patches.

Chapter end