THE STORY OF ARYA

T

HE hyenas that caged Jaden that night hovered like sinister clouds of tempered locusts. The hyena that seemed to be the chief moved inch by inch closer to me. It would probably borrow a hawk’s eye to see me, where we lay in the clove. Thankfully, my eyes did not glow like Taka’s or I would need to close them to avoid being seen.

“Shh…” Arya whispered to me. I wondered if my thoughts were so loud.

“Yes” replied Arya.

Arya was the priestess of the pack. Perhaps why she won my sister with a landslide to win that position was her special gifts. For one, she was the only wolf of my generation that could hear thoughts.

“Yes, I’m the only one and it’s a burden” said she. I hissed to myself. Arya must stop barging into my thoughts uninvited. Or Rather I must stop thinking! Arrrgh!

The only thing worse than Arya’s rude penetration of my thoughts was her NERVES! She probably had more nerves than all the adults in the pack. She would command us, as though her being priestess made her any older than us. We dared not protest loudly, lest the adults in the pack would turn on us. WE couldn’t also curse her with our thoughts, yet she calls thought-reading a burden. Her nerves!

“It is really a burden” she snapped, “Wolves think too much and it’s all ringing in my head. It’s a noisy world in here.”

PERHAPS, that would explain why she gets irritated easily. Or… Maybe not. She is just an irking, annoying ‘female dog’! Arya fired an angry gaze at me. I knew I wouldn’t dare think that if we were with the adults. Now, we were far far away from them. Alone, here with the hyenas.

The full Moon arose gradually from the dark clouds. It was beautiful. I was probably the only one in love with marvelous silver linings that crowned its face. The others in the pack loathed the full Moon greatly. In fact, it is believed by our pack leaders that the Moon itself was an animal, a hyena named Kakanda and our greatest dream is to feed on its flesh. It is said that the flesh is bigger than an elephant but just a chunk of it, with its heavenly taste would quench hunger forever.

I knew I could not bring myself to eat the Moon. I would rather keep it in my cave and look at it all evenings, and admire it. Those silver linings. Arya probably agreed with me, because she turned and smiled. But, quickly for fear of losing her stern, she firmed up her face again. Well, maybe she had cause to anyway, because the hynas were now beginning to arraign Jaden for the ritual. He howled and howled, until a big hyena put him to rest with a gnaw. Jaden writhed in pain and after a while his howls quietened.

It was part of this ritual for the hyenas to be very aggressive, even to themselves. With every bite they inflicted, they reminded themselves of what the ritual was about. The stories they told themselves and even young hyenas to validate the ritual. Something about a war between the hyenas and the wolves back when.

“It was not just a war,” Arya cut in. “We, wolves are too noble to fight the hyenas.”

“You would live longer if you mind your thoughts!” I snapped. The others amongst us, tuned in to the argument. Their names were Frosh, Kobo and Dimo. Every young wolf loved a good story better than the biggest hunt. They probably turned to hear the hyenas’ story.

“Okay then, since you know so much about it, why don’t you tell the story yourself?” I called at Arya. Knowing her, she received this invitation with open arms and before I could take in the next breath, she had already begun:

“LONG before the great Gimba was born, the wolves were in close association with the hynas and they lived peacefully as cousins. This lasted until Gimba of our clan was born. AS at the time he was had, Kakanda too was born, though a few weeks after. Now, Kakanda is widely regarded as the founding father of the hyenas’ clan because of his achievements in their territory within the short space of time he lived. It was he that dredged the heap of sand in Sarin River. He also invented better traps that helped the hyenas trap even the biggest animal. It was even said that a trap he created had once caught an elephant.”

Arya’s eyes widened when she said this and her audience exclaimed in wonder and exchanged whispers.

“Must have been the babiest elephant ever,” I scoffed.

Arya ignored me and continued:

“…Within time, the hyenas made Kakanda their king. It was during his reign as king that he went to hunt with Gimba, the Wolf and never came back. Gimba who is known for his devious ways was said to have betrayed Kakanda to the lions. From then till this day, it has been bad blood flowing in the veins of the hyenas against the wolves. The hyenas believe that when Kakanda died, his spirit rose up and became part of the heavenly bodies, and the biggest heavenly body at that: the full Moon. Therefore, at all full moons, they have made it a ritual to shed the blood of a young wolf in order to pacify the spirit of Kakanda.

“So basically there was a war between the hyenas and the wolves, right? Exactly what I said,” I snapped.

“It’s more than a war…”

“Look, Arya. I have no time for this, let’s just do what we are sent to do here and leave.”

Kobo noticed the hyenas were now awfully quiet and informed us. Aside Jaden’s howls, nothing else could be heard. Not even the tree leaves. Where could the hyenas have gone? Dimo crawled quietly leftward and then strained his neck, there were no hyenas. Yet Jaden was still caged. Someone suggested we go and release Jaden but Arya decided against that. We were a bit certain they wouldn’t leave Jaden there and go hunting. They were definitely somewhere close. If they weren’t close, then they were … VERY close.

ONE of the hyenas pounced on Kobo and we darted like arrows out of the clove. The hyenas emerged one by one from neighboring bushes in pursuit.  The hyenas had well mastered these bushes but their mastery did not make up for speed. It would take the speed of two hyenas to match the least wolf among us. This night was different, however. It seemed their strength had blossomed in the new moon. Jaden’s howls thinned out in a distance, yet I did not stop running. I dashed till across Sarin River. After me, one by one, the other wolves ran safely across the Sarin. Now I could boast to Arya I was the fastest wolf in a hundred-mile radius of our clan. Dimo followed. Then, Frosh. Kobo got bitten by a hyena, and we helped him wade through the river.

I asked where Arya was and the three exchanged significant glances. The river bank was plunged into silence.

“I thought she ran off with you” Frosh queried. I was quiet. Dimo was tending to Kobo’s wounds.

“We have to find Arya”.

Kobo shot an amused gaze at me. “We must return to the pack and inform the adults”

“There is no time; Arya would be dead by then”

“That’s senseless. Thinking we can confront those heated hyenas.”

“It’s suicide.”

“Arya would do this for us.”

A while I stood there, yet no agreement was forthcoming, Dimo was obsessed with Kobo’s wounds, and Frosh helped hold Kobo down.

“Well then, I’m going back”, I declared. Now the wolves were sure I was crazy. It was not just crazy in their eyes. It was also pity. And caution.

With one leap, I plunged into the river and off I shot into the thick forest. The Full Moon was now at peak and it was almost like day. A blue day.

“Arya! Arya! Arya!” I howled and wondered if she heard. From the bank of the Sarin river, Dimo, Frosh and Kobo could hear me. They had abandoned Kobo’s wound and merely stared in my direction. In the thick ominous forest that the hyenas called home. They were unsure what the hyenas would make of Arya or me, yet each time I called out to Arya, they howled in solidarity.

“Arya! Arya!” a voice called in the distance. In the deep forests, and even monkeys on transit from the last tree onto another; even humans in their concrete homes and steel gates; even babies in their new cots and whiten sheets were roused. And yet Arya heard me not.