5.2 SPOTS AND SHADOWS

  In the town of Ulay, the streets and huts were as empty as newly dug graves. Only the wayward wind whispered its sibilant songs along the wet and slippery alleyways of the town ruled by the vile Toad King. But the tyrannical chieftain, Datu Magung, was no longer the one in-charge, someone else had forcibly taken the mantle of ruler-ship days ago.

  The usurper's first unofficial edict was to rid the town of its tumao inhabitants. At first, the sycophantic nobility who favored Datu Magung's mad decrees resisted along with their warrior serfs who lusted for the blood of the said usurper. They were all ready to fight her and whomever tribe allied with her cause. But to their surprise, the usurper of Ulay did not have a contingent of rival clans, nor did she have the control of the vicious neighboring Yligueynes tribe that were out to stop the buruhisan cleansing that the Toad King ordered.

  She had something else with her. Something only a manghihiwit had.

  Ulay would have been far better off if it was the famed Yliguenes. Yes, they were the most brutal warriors, consisting mostly of halflings that littered the north eastern shores of Buglas island, but fortune did not favor the Ukayans this time. For in the dead of night, the raider came robed in black– determined to achieve her goal.

  After swiftly disposing the town's warrior serfs guarding the gates and before deposing the town's goitered chiefrain, she made herself known through her arcane prowess. With her black magic, Amburukay, the manghihiwit carved her way to the town's seat of power with deadly hexes. The nobles and commoners alike fled in terror as their homes were turned to dust and ash. Fleeing and abandoning the town was far better than fighting the robed woman whose face was veiled in shadows. Her attack was efficient and decisive, capturing Datu Magung in less than a day. Ulay's warriors would've kept her at bay for reinforcements to come, but the unwilling servants of the witch raider, Karas the babaylan and her sister, Tihol, a bagani of wide renown in the southern region of the vast island, came and overwhelmed the town's remaining defenses. Using the gods' magic and their sheer talent with the blade, the three women proved to be too powerful even for the countless mercenary who were under the Toad King's bidding. And when all of Ulay's men were spent and beaten the usurper, Amburukay, sat on the chief's carven throne– satisfied with the result. To make her victory absolute over the Ulayans, she and Karas, concocted a spell that only a babaylan and a manghihiwit could hatch together. A kind of magic that was simple in purpose but intricate in nature.

  Though it did chipped on Amburukay's dwindling reserves, the true challenge was in using Karas' prowess to amplify the spell's range. In simpler terms, the incantation they birthed boggled the memories of the towns people, taking away chunks of their recollection that involved the usurper and her cohorts. Every time they tried to remember, confusion would ensue and facts would be muddled up, making them incapable of retaliation, putting them all in a temporary dream state. It was a subtle solution against anyone who thought of revenge. Of course, it would fade in time like any other spell but it was potent for the time being. And things were getting better for Amburukay since news had arrived from Tihol that she had tracked their quarry down. It made Amburukay's triumph all the more sweeter. Planning and executing all her precarious scheme without any delay gave her a sense of pride.

  Now, with the babaylan's aid they started their next unholy ritual to get her daughter, Ukok, back. She thought of Tikum Kadlum and her hate against him grew beyond her control. He shouldn't have taken Ukok from her. She wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him. This was all his doing, all his fault. But now, the situation had started to change in Amburukay's favor. Now, all she needed to do was to tighten the noose and strangle her prey. It was time.

  The Lady of the Darkest Night leaned forward, dark-ringed eyes anchored on the runes painted by the babaylan.

  "Is it ready, Karas?" the manghihiwit said weakly, drained from channeling power from the Dark realm all day.

  Amburukay could no longer hide it, every muscle shrieked for rest, but she was not finished. She was too close to stop. For days, a feeling of nausea would come over and over to her like a constant companion, coupled with piercing headaches. But they were small hindrances– almost negligible in their worth. The only thing that truly alarmed her was the gaps in her memories she would experience now and again. It also did not help that emotion was taking more and more control over her, as though her hate and desperation or perhaps fear were pulling her in a particular direction.

  The shaman, Karas, looked up with tired stygian eyes, after finishing the last part of the ward on the town hall's paneled floor. She paused for a moment to collect herself. The strain of using her powers was getting on her too. She gave out a sigh, dropping the piece of chalk.

  "Yes, Lady Amburukay, " Karas said, steadying her feet. "All you need is the sacrifice and the wards will open a back way to the Bone Gates. It'll enable us to peer to the realm of Gadlum." She bowed down. "And it will enable you to call forth a shadow-fiend."

  "Tihol... bring me our offering." Amburakay smiled as the flickering light from the torches on the wall covered her face with an almost monstrous mask of shadows and light. "We don't want my traitorous Tikum waiting, do we?"

  Tihol nodded, dragging the Toad King by the collar of his tunic with one hand while threatening the goitered chief with her kampilan blade with the other. Helplessly, the beaten chief of Ulay struggled, but the bagani was too strong for him.

  "How... How did you stop all my men?" the datu said. "This was not supposed to happen. Unhand me!" He struggled and struggled, but the bagani was not his match. "I'm a good man! I'm a good datu! Ask my people, and they will tell you of the things I built for them and the lands I conquered. And the treasure... the gold!"

  Amburukay clapped her hands and Karas took someone out of the shadows. Bound in rattan rope the hunchback struggled for his freedom, but Karas only doubled her efforts, carrying him to her master.

  "Don't move or I'll drop you on your head, " Karas said, before she shook him in irritation. But the feisty hunchback could not be silenced easily.

  "You told me that you'll set me free!" he protested as Karas gently placed him near the dais, between Amburukay and Magung. "You told me... You promised me if I tell the truth. I told you everything I know already..."

  Amburukay made a slicing motion and as soon as his binds were loose the hunchback made his escape, cursing everyone to hell.

  "Then, run along," Amburukay said, shaking her head as the hunchback paused to scowl at her.

  Amburukay ignored him. "Ah, they say, that there are only healthy children in Vijayas. I guess that's not true at all. Almost preposterous, even," she added, watching the deformed man make his way out of the town hall. Then, she turned her head towards the chieftain of Ulay. "Thank you for giving me this honor your royal highness. Thank you for–"

  "That wretched mercenary betrayed me?" Datu Magung intoned, "that was the little sniveling tattle-tale who sold me out? How much did you pay him?"

  "Oh... oh... No." Amburukay shook her head. "He didn't betray you because I bribed or threatened him. No, he did it because he thought you deserved this." She sneered. "I just tied him up so he'll be true to his words."

  "I should have had him killed the moment I saw his bloated back... abomination... monstrosity!"

  Amburukay hushed him. "Have you ever wondered why he did it?" The datu did not reply so she continued on, "That poor fellow you call monster is as baleful as they come because people like you treated him like filth. Imagine, from the moment he was born he was already hated for who he was... Hated for something he could not change. 'There are only healthy children in Vijayas'... What a lie! No wonder why he hates everyone here. Your kind treat the strange with intolerance. Or worse with indifference. Simply because you fear the strange and the unknown. You label them witches, demons, and yes, monsters, just to abate those fears of yours. But you haven't seen the real thing yet. The real monsters are still out there. And I'm sure you won't enjoy it if you see one yourself." She smiled but her gaze darkened. "But tonight you'll be lucky for fortune has finally smiled on you."

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Her smile grew wider, enjoying the fear that curtained the Toad King's face. "And oh, that abomination. That monster. No. That man, told me many things about you that led to your undoing...

  "He revealed how you schemed and killed this town's chief to be the man you are now and how one by one you tortured his family members to death except his daughter. Who's still missing. But look how things are now, I'm pretty sure she'd be deeply indebted to me seeing that her enemy is now the one in the chopping block. How things change, imagine that." She turned her head to the side. "Come to think of it, if only the hunchback was treated justly he wouldn't have been such a little prick. He wouldn't have told me the weakness in your defenses."

  The datu scowled but soon cowered when the witch noticed him.

  Amburukay laughed. "After just a little coaxing, he spilled all those curious things about you Magung. And I must confess that I do not agree with all of it."

  Magung shook his head. "All lies! All lies from a monster! You hear me? Of course, he would do that to save his skin. I'm a good man! Ask my elders! Ask them as to who made them all richer?"

  Amburukay's head snapped as she eyed Datu Magung. "Perhaps, but I think not all of the hunchback's words were lies. But enough with him."

  "I'm an honorable datu! I have made this town prosperous! Can't you see it?"

  "Honorable? I highly doubt that. But you know, I firmly believe that a person should be measured by how they measure others." She smiled. "Now, can you guess where I'm going at?" She signaled Tihol to proceed.

  "No, please! Not me! Take someone else!" pleaded Datu Magung, but all fell on deaf ears as Tihol unceremoniously dropped him in the middle of the runic patterns at the center of the town hall.

  "No? Are you the Toad King... Magung, the datu of Ulay? Murderer of buruhisans?" Amburukay said, standing up from the carven throne, face in deep concentration. "Do you not deny what I said?"

  "No. No. It was my dreams you see. It was my dreams!" Magung clasped both hands together as though in supplication to the goddess of righteous wrath herself. "They called me mad! But I was right, do you see it now? It told me to kill. It told me to! It was my dreams! Do you understand? It told me to kill as many as I can so the god of death could spare me."

  "And now, you blame the gods?" She shook her head.

  "I couldn't sleep. It won't let me. It always whispered things. If I didn't do it someone... a buruhisan... will end my life. It whispered it all to me. A foretelling of my demise. Do you understand? It was the only way. It was prophesied."

  Amburukay smiled. "Oh, how quaint dreams you have. But wouldn't you know it, maybe your dreams are true. You see, I'm a buruhisan as well your royal highness. And yes, I fully understand you."

  Raising her hand, Amburukay uttered the invitations for the gadlumanon to come forth, "I call the keeper of the gates to the nether world. Open your doors to me! Open it to your servant, to the Mistress of Twilight. I call the bearer of hell's tolling bells, unleash Makabagting. Unleash the whisperer in the shadows. Come forth in the light gadlumanon!" She pointed her finger at Datu Magung's shocked face. "Come and you shall be appeased with flesh and blood..."

  ***

  Tikum's grip on the axe tightened as the wailing sound pierced through the pattering rain. He wasn't thinking straight. The pain on his side was still excruciating. If things turned into a fight he already knew who'll win and it's not going to be him. He sighed as he scanned the edge of the treeline that led to the jungle. Everything was hazy with the pouring rain and light fog, but he was sure something bad was about to transpire. Something he could not stop.

  And then he saw it, the outline of something coming towards them, and it was not alone. But as it got nearer Tikum smiled, scratching his head and combing his unruly long hair in place. He felt ridiculous and almost silly for letting his anxiety get the better of him. It was, after all, only the kids and Milong, the uripon. And the unwholesome noise? A wild pig, big enough to feed them for days. Milong carried it over his shoulder, his meager muscles straining as he followed Mendang and Ukok towards the hut. When Ukok saw Tikum, she ran towards him and the two met each other with a tight embrace.

  Ukok took her grass cloak off. "Bapa! We... we went hunting in the forest and caught us a boar with one of our traps!"

  Tikum swallowed a harsh admonishment after seeing Ukok's face light up. "Didn't I tell to never leave my sight?"

  "Yeah, but you were sleeping and we were bored. And Mistress Jurah said it was safe. And we did come back safe. And–" Ukok shivered as her father wiped her bald head with a piece of cloth.

  "The forest? Safe? Not to my knowing," Tikum said, taking her on his arms.

  "Hmmm. How so, bapa?"

  "Well, my good father, your grand pa, left me in the middle of the forest in Irong-Irong for a month when I was two harvest older than you." He smiled and nodded at the middle-age uripon as he passed him by, but Milong was too busy to even say hello. Mendang, on the other hand, wave and smiled back at the former timawa as gracious and refined as one could possibly be. Something in the way she moved made Tikum take notice. He made a mental note of it. Maybe later he'll ask her about it. Then, Tikum took Ukok inside while Milong prepared to slaughter their catch behind the hut, placing the game on the planks that covered the mouth of the dry well.

  Ukok greeted Jurah and turned to her father. "Did he come back for you after a month?"

  "Who?"

  "Your father... grand pa."

  "No. I made my way back home on my own. It took me another month to do it."

  "What?"

  "Yes. When I asked him why he did it, your brilliant grand pa told me that it was going to build my character in the long run." Tikum sighed. "The truth is, I think he just forgot about me. The only good thing about it all was that your grand ma kept nagging at him for a month until I returned."

  ***

  They roasted the boar on the fire pit at the center of their abode and none of it was wasted. After the hearty meal, Ukok told her father how she spent her whole day. Although he did not like that she went on her own, Tikum still listened attentively, telling her daughter to ask permission the next time she decided to go in the deep forest.

  As the rain continued outside, their little group settled in the rickety hut. After a time, Jurah took the children in the corner and began her lessons. She had started teaching them some protective wards after the incident with the macupo. Mendang learned most of it easily while Ukok struggled a bit. Magic wasn't for her.

  When Tikum found the opportunity, he went to Milong's side to have a chat with the uripon. Milong was sharpening his knife with a whetstone when he approached him.

  "Thank you," Tikum whispered.

  The uripon looked up and stared at Tikum an eye brow raised. He let out a heavy sigh. "For what? The meal? No worries, it was just a lucky break. Never thought I'd actually catch something with my trap."

  "No. I mean... thank you for saving me when the macupo tried to take my head off. That was really brave. I'm sorry about your horse. I'm really–"

  Milong smiled. "It's okay. I just thought you'd do the same thing if the situation was reversed. And we all need a helping hand sometimes mister Tikum."

  "I think I should make it up to you." Tikum took something from his lubid belt and began to unfold a piece of canvas with a rough drawing on it. "This is all I can offer you."

  Milong took the map of Buglas and studied it. "You sure about this? You're giving this without a price?"

  "I made it a little while ago. It's the least I could do. It's all the trails and short cuts I know here. I hope you could consider us even."

  Milong took the map aside. "I understand what you did. A father would do anything for her daughter." He stared at Mendang for a while and then to Tikum. "You just wanted what's best for Ukok."

  Tikum nodded and sighed.

  "But you could've chosen a better route. I mean to be honest, the way you do things only invites more trouble. And not just for you mister Tikum, but also for your daughter. That's why it begs the question, why?"

  Tikum smiled. "Just like you, someone's trying to catch me and my daughter. I just want to get her out of Buglas as fast as I could. I just want her safe."

  Milong took something out of his pouch and passed it to Tikum. The former timawa clasped his hilt-less dagger.

  The uripon cleared his throat. "If you're still going north, Mendang and I could go with you and your daughter as far as Sarijayha. We've been planning to visit that town for a long time, and I think it's better to move as a group here. Or everywhere for that matter. And if you're all alone it'll be easy for whomever trying to get you to catch you off-guard. With a group we could take shifts... Well, you know what I mean... As they say, the more the stronger. What say you?"

  Tikum considered it. He was not in a healthy shape and having people around would disguise them in plain sight if they ever found themselves in a crowded place. But he didn't want to commit yet. Having a group with them had its own risk. It would slow them down significantly too.

  "That's a nice plan," he said. "I'll think about it. By the way, you told me that Ulay's chieftain was trying to get you. Did the Toad King actually hired mercenaries for you? I seemed to forgot why..."

  "I didn't say."

  "Then, why?" Tikum sheathed the dagger and made himself comfortable. Lying on a mat, he stared at the uripon for any tells– any sign that would let Tikum know a bit more about his companion.

  "What secrets do you hide my friend?"

  "A funny thing to say for a man like you."

  Milong paused for a second before giving the former warrior serf a smile. "Mine's not a secret mister Tikum. Magung is a mad man. A very cruel tyrant who acted on his vile whim. You see, I'm not like you and Jurah. I don't keep secrets all to well. I don't like to surprise others too. But if I had one secret, you know I won't tell you, right?"

  Tikum laughed. "That's fair and sensible."

  Milong sighed again. "I just want Mendang to be safe. That's all I want. And that's not a secret."

  "Then, we're the same. Ukok's the most important thing that happened to my life."

  "As is my daughter, Mendang."

  Tikum nodded, noticing the subtle lie in the man's words. "Yes, I know what you mean my friend. I know it very well."