4.1 DOG DREAMS: In which Tikum wakes in a dream- Escapes from the other moon-eater- Makes new and weird acquaintances- And returns back to his favorite pastime, which was of course, running

  It was a cold night with no moon in sight when three strangers met at the edge of Ulay, a village ruled by Datu Magung. The same chieftain infamous for his groundless superstition, boundless cruelty, and limitless hatred towards buruhisans, beings with magical gifts. But the place was of no importance to the three strangers, neither did the ruthless man who ruled it. They were there looking for something else. Someone else entirely...

  "Devata Dalikmata's eyes see nothin'," the first stranger said in a low voice, eyes blacker than the night. She lowered her glowing hand. And for a moment it trembled as the god's magic coursed through it like smoke. Then, she halted, face expressionless. In a glance, she would've passed on as some wandering loon looking raggedly unkempt. But she was not some ordinary mad woman for she was actually a babaylan. And a powerful shaman at that.

  After traveling for three days straight, her gray hair was now in disarray. While dirt and mud covered the hem of her form-fitting malong, marring the golden stars embroidered on it. Over all, she looked fatigued, but it did not lessen the youthful beauty she had. She turned to the second stranger, their tracker, who squatted a few feet ahead of her, scanning the ground for any fresh trail they could follow. She stared at her a few seconds longer, struggling to form each word she was about to say.

  "What do you see?" the babaylan finally said.

  The tracker shook her head, dislodging the dry leaves sticking on her short-crop hair. She ignored the gray-haired woman and loosened the side-strap of her turtle-shell armor, leaning towards the spoor in the ground. She looked tired as well, but she couldn't rest. Not yet. Not that instance. She didn't want to displease their master again.

  "Too old to accurately tell," the tracker answered as she studied the ground, narrowing her eyes. The same black pools as her companion.

  The gray-haired woman nodded, whispering something to the wind, dispelling the eerie light emanating from her hand.

  "The trail from the cross roads stops here," the tracker added as she stood to acknowledge the third stranger behind them. Their newest companion, a robed woman with pearl white skin didn't reply as she walked away from the shadows to join them.

  "There's no sign of him or her... here," the tracker said as the third stranger came closer to her side.

  "No?" the robed woman said. "Let's make sure you're right this time around, Tihol." Her words came out like a cold command.

  Tihol grunted, bowing her head. It was all she could do with the leeway of thought-process she was given.

  The robe woman sighed, turning to the shaman. "And you, babaylan? What did the all-seeing goddess showed you?"

  "Only darkness and death," the gray-haired woman said, staring at the Toad king's village a short distance away. "Devata Dalikmata would not bless us with what you asked for..." she added, eyeing Ulay as though she was an owl looking at an unsuspecting mouse. Only the yellow-flamed torches of the patrolling timawas lit the nipa roofs and the amacan walls of town's crowded huts.

  She turned to her master. "Will we burn this place too?"

  "No." The robed woman said, facing the babaylan and studying every move Karas' made. "Not yet." She gathered her loose black robe, walking pass the champions of Raguet.

  Controlling the two wasn't easy. But they were far more suited to her new approach. Subtlety worked best against her foe, Tikum Kadlum. The robed woman's blackened hand fidgeted. The binding spell on the two was taxing to maintain, but it was not as costly as the other way she might approach things. Like for example, summoning a gadlumanon consort from the shadow plains, a choice she reserved if all else failed. She hissed at the thought of even considering it.

  Amburukay studied the town before her. The urge to storm it and find her child was strong, but for now she had to be patient. To use any more magic would only put her in harms way, especially if one of them fail. Her two companions might escaped her hold too- a very dangerous possibility. So, Amburukay had to be deliberate. She had to be precise. She couldn't afford any more failures.

  She sighed. Aside from the blood sacrifice, binding the sisters' minds needed a fair amount of her concentration. A dwindling resource she had no spare of. And a momentary lapse would spell defeat if not definite destruction. She had to be miserly with what she had to avoid the costly outcome. She took a deep breath, reasserting her control. It was nothing, she convinced herself. She could still take it and still give it out. She would endure. And truth be told, if things do go awry, she was willing to pay any price just to get what she wanted.

  "We shall first see if your sister is right, Karas," the manghihiwit added, frustration evident in her voice. "After that, you can burn this town and the next one if we still don't find Ukok."

  "As you wish, Lady Amburukay," the sisters intoned, bowing to the manghihiwit.

  This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

  Amburukay hugged her robe tighter as a cold breeze embraced her lithe frame. The cold front was coming. Rains will soon erase her prey's tracks. Time was running out for her. She cursed.

  "What shall we do, now, Lady Amburukay?" the babaylan said.

  The manghihiwit snapped her head towards Karas, heart beating so fast. She was lapsing in and out of concentration and getting more and more distracted by her thoughts again. Ever since she lost her grip on her source of magic things like this happened too frequently. She cleared her throat.

  "For now, split up and find Tikum and my Ukok," she said, weary eyes aflamed by the thought of the traitor, Tikum the Black Dog Kadlum and her daughter. "I, on the other hand, will have a talk with the town's honorable datu."

  ***

  Not far from the Toad king's town, inside an abandoned nipa hut in the middle of the palm tree forest, a man struggled in his sleep. Convulsing in his fevered state, he gritted his teeth in agony- whole body covered in beads of cold sweat. Mouth dry and lips cracked, he murmured of home and of his only daughter.

  Jurah cleared the tousled black hair from the man's face and placed a poultice made of alibhon leaves on his forehead. Then, she checked the wound on his side. Still raw but it was healing quite nicely, she thought. Three days ago he was as pallid as a dead man's corpse. Now, Tikum's tawny skin was returning. His heavy breathing didn't look promising as well but it was better than the previous nights when the serpent's poison ran its course.

  "Did you get it?" the ati woman said to Milong as he arrived panting. He took the yellow sash off him, burying his hands on his satchel.

  "It took me an eternity to find this. Almost fell off the cliff. Here, is this it?" Milong said as he gave a handful of black petals to Jurah. "Don't tell this isn't the one you're looking for? Wait, what's happening?"

  Milong paused as Tikum convulsed in his slumber.

  "His fighting the poison of the macupo. He's trying his best," Jurah said, placing the leaves on a mortar and mixing it with coconut water. "I already used Ukok's agimat on his wound and it's already healing but the process drained the talisman dry." She stared at the golden tikbalang's mane beside the prone man as its pulsing golden light died down.

  Milong scanned the scant hut, eyes wide. Only cobwebs and their own meager belongings occupied the shanty. "Where are the girls?"

  "Sent them to fetch me some water down the stream." Jurah turned to the uripon, smiling. She poured the mortar's contents on a bamboo cup. "You don't need to worry about them. I told them to be careful. And I made sure this place is safe for us. Here help me. Come closer and hold him up."

  "You know I shouldn't? even be here." Milong protested, but nonetheless complied. The middle-aged uripon struggled to prop the master-less timawa's bulk up so Jurah could administer her antidote.

  He shook his head. "This young man just tried to dupe me three nights ago, you know. And for what? A limping, aged horse! I just hope we don't regret helping him."

  Jurah sighed. "Yes, I know his like. I think he'll try to fool anyone if given a chance." She paused. "You see, everyone's got a dark side. But then he saved you and to an extent myself too. By that, you're even."

  "Saved me? I did the saving here," Milong said under his breath. "I already had my mount and my way out but I returned for him. Before that serpent devoured this scoundrel I rammed poor Tungkay at the fiend's belly. Poor Tungkay, she was a loyal mount. I'll never have a horse like her again."

  Stolen or not the horse was quite useful to Milong.

  Jurah wiped the sweat off her face with her forearm. Then she comb her curly hair with her fingers giving herself a little time to rest as Milong droned on. "I just need to pour the black petal's essence to his lips and we'll all be done," she said.

  "Will it really work?"

  "If my memory is right this will wake Tikum up." She stared at the delirious man after emptying the bamboo cup full of the flower's extract in his mouth."And if we're not too late I could still send help and take him out of Handuman."

  "You know, I was just a plain old slave trying to escape the clutches of his maddened chieftain days ago. Pretty mundane. Now, thing's are a bit strange with all this talk about the dream realm and you having magic and all."

  Jurah shrugged. Focusing her mind, she extended her hand above Tikum's head whispering the many prayers and names of the Taglugars, her oft benevolent gods. Then, she leaned closer, lips inches from the delirious man's ears. "Do you hear me? You need to wake up. Tikum!"

  ***

  'Wake up... wake up... wake up!'

  The dull voice inside Tikum's head kept repeating the words. Irritated he cupped his hands and covered his ears. He wanted to sleep. He felt he needed to, but the words still lingered, tattooing each letter on his mind, urging him to move. To run. He grimaced before opening his eyes only to see utter darkness.

  Tikum sighed. He was sure he wasn't inside a cave or a tunnel, but it felt that way. It felt like he was in a dream. Looking for an escape, he focused his mind and waited to find where the wind came. But there was no trace of it. There was no wind to follow. It was as though his senses died the moment he decided to wake up.

  He shook his head after fragment upon fragment of memories came to him like drops of water filling his head- slowly building from a raging falls. First was Amburukay. Next, the fight with the mercenaries, and then Jurah and Milong. Followed by the giant macupo, and finally Ukok. All of it came rushing back. It shook Tikum's core, erasing all the cobwebs of sleep from him.

  "Gi-atay. Where the hell am I?" Tikum's body tensed, realising the dark possibilities. "Am I fucking dead?" he asked himself, voice wavering. He shook his head, remembering the fight with the famed serpent macupo. Did it kill him? Was he in Sulad? Damned giant snake, he thought. Another thing to hate about Buglas.

  "This is why I don't want to be the good guy," he said to himself. "Good guys don't get good things happen to them."

  He was about to protest once again when the curious tok, tok, tok sound came from the darkness behind him, grabbing his full attention. At first, it unnerved Tikum. What could make such an eerie sound? Was he inside the macupo's belly? He cursed, thinking of Ukok's fate now that he was not there at her side. What if the macupo- He tried to grab his trusty axe, Hutik. But it was no longer strapped on his side. He swallowed another curse. Again, the strange sound continued on as though beckoning him. So, he made his decision. With arms outstretched he followed where it came, straining his ears as it slowly faded.

  As he waded through the darkness his heart began to drum. What if he can't find the way out this time around? What will happen to his daughter? He cursed himself. This was all his fault. This was his doing. Cold hate began to rise from his core as he hastened his steps toward the sound. Then, he began running. Fueled by anger he roared out of sheer frustration only to fall into a sudden drop.

  "Gi-atay," he said as he fell in to the dark abyss.