Kintu and Nambi; Once upon a Time The End #33

Continued from; Darkness and The Rainbow

By Mugabe Victor

Once upon a time, love was only a word until I saw her face, and fate, fate was only a word.

I could feel electricity surge through my veins and my wounds ached as I pushed myself to my feet. Walumbe from a distance seemed to be invigorated. He’s mindless leaps down the rainbow, almost amusing at first sight, reminded me of my quest. At that pace he would easily reach Kintu and Nambi. My thigh was bleeding profusely from both of my previous battles with Walumbe and my spear felt as heavy as hell’s burden. I could still feel that strange warm sting in my knee cap, a reminder of the battle with Gulu. I was weak. All this madness had to end quickly.

“WALUMBE!” I frantically barked; echoes bursting through the chaos and freezing everything. The beast stood still in its tracks turning sharply in my direction. “I was a warrior, born and raised to be a fighter,” I repetitively mumbled in a bid to stay steady, “nothing and no one dares to challenge me,” 

My hand clasped the spear, feeling its fiber. It was the one object that had tasted my calloused palms from the moment I was first taught to fight. It knew the taste of my fear, my hate and anxiety.

“I am sorry,” I whispered as I broke it in half. I had to maintain a close range battle to end this fast. Movement was my enemy. Walumbe was at his heels, barrelling towards me. It wouldn’t be long before he was within fighting range. The rainbow was starting to fade, I had less time.

He might have been ten times stronger than before but deep down he was the insecure nymph I had always known from childhood. A hare that constantly dared to challenge the lion. However, even when the hare learns to hold the spear, the lion does not lose its claws. I would end this fight the same way as all the others. Quickly. 

His pitch black shadow engulfed me as the mad tyrant launched an assault through the air. It reminded me of the times I wrestled with father. Back when I was younger and nimble.

 “The first battle won, is that of the mind,” his voice echoed. The slight pinch from the ground wrapped around my feet, sending a shock through my thighs. It was perfectly timed, my instinct was ticking in. We grappled, slashed, and lurched at each other endlessly teasing into the edge of the rainbow. I was on my knees once again when he launched a kick at me but I instantly blocked it with the back of my spear. However, the impact was so strong that I still lost my balance, collapsing upon the ground. 

“Stay down Kayikuzi, my power surpasses that of any god, fighting you is as good as fighting a child,”

He was right. The left side of my chest ached with bruises, my thigh was crashing due to two separate injuries, my power had proven to be useless so far.

“You are a warrior, you’ve fought well, now let me do what needs to be done,” Walumbe whispered in his hoarse voice. 

I was a failure. 

Pulling myself onto my feet and watching Walumbe’s eyes widen in shock. I trudged my way towards him, dropping my spear in plain sight and taking him in an embrace. Strangely, he barely reacted to this. Holding my breath for one final assault, I let go of my body, launching it off the rainbow, hurtling towards the earth. 

Aside from the cursing, somehow the fall was one of grace. I could feel the wind tickle my skin as though to welcome a long lost friend. I couldn’t help but grin as my life flashed before my eyes. Walumbe, a tiny toddler playing in the dirt with Nambi next to him arranging flowers in tiny piles. A soft breeze in the air,spreading them and catching Walumbe’s attention. Of course he takes a few and adds them to his mud paddle which infuriates his sister. The two get into a childish argument over the role of flowers. They probably hated it, but to me, it felt like a beautiful moment that was forever, meant to be cherished.

With a loud BANG that rippled over the earth, giant cracks formed splitting the land mass. A sharp pitched sound assaulted my ears as I tried to regain my senses. I couldn’t feel Walumbe in my clasp any more. “I wonder what happened to him?” a little voice echoed in my head.

“You love Kintu so much, you help him win the tasks, you won’t even let me go retrieve Nambi, why won’t you let me kill him? Do you love him that much?” Walumbe hissed

“Oh, there he is” the voice teased as I stretched my neck in an attempt to see him through the dust. 

I could barely get up.

“You fool, the only reason for all this is because,” my voice broke, “I love YOU,”

“Love? Me?”

I could feel the air around me explode. Walumbe pounded my face into the ground. Barely giving me a chance to even think, he pounced upon my chest, continuing with his assault. Pounding my face with his fist over and over again and yet ,somehow I could feel a smile creep upon my face. 

“You are smiling? Do you think I am a joke?” Walumbe barked as he wildly landed more blows upon my face. To be sincere, I certainly felt happy. My body had finally gone numb in an attempt to save me from the trauma. In a way, this was my chance to rest. 

Through the slits in my swollen eyes, I could sense some light. Was Walumbe gone?

“Brother,” Walumbe suddenly spoke up. I could hear a soft sniff in the back. “Brother, why won’t you fight back? You smile and yet you are not winning?”

“You called me brother,” I whispered, “I no longer feel the dark shadow that roamed over the heavens, you are once again the mischievous, dirty boy who likes to dig holes,”

“You’ve always hated me, and now that I have gained power you acknowledge me?”

“Don’t get me wrong, I have always found you irritating, however, every time I follow you down a rabbit hole, every time I tame father’s wrath for you, I acknowledge you”

Walumbe, chuckled, his voice cold and devoid of any emotion, “I need to feed upon her soul in order to keep existing Kayikuzi, what don’t you understand, I need her.”

The echoes of silence sent ripples over the vanishing rainbow as the scuffles of a standing man reached my ears. “Look at what you’ve done to the earth,” Walumbe laughed. Pain raced through my entire body as he pulled me, wrapping my arms around his shoulders. I could feel us decend in short paces that sent a shock through me with every step. 

Setting me down upon the ground, he asked, “Now that you know, will you stop me from going down to earth to get our sister back?”

“I respect Kintu’s struggle, I’ve accepted Nambi’s decision and Father wants you back home,” I chuckled, “it’s quite the paradox, isn’t it?”

Leaving me on a large extrusion rock, Walumbe sat, facing the moon at its apex. “What if I don’t want to go home?”

“Then I chase you down until I wear you out, tie you with a lasso then drag you to the nearest rainbow I can find.

“Why didn’t you fight back?” Walumbe suddenly asked, his voice sounding almost normal again

“I remembered a song,” I chuckled

“See and smile…” In hushed tones I attempted to sing

I could hear Walumbe jeer from a distance as he got up, walking away from me. The rumble of the shifting ground reached my ears as the ground vibrated. “A hole in the ground?” I muttered to myself, “Could he have been less obvious?”

Once upon a time, fate ceased to be a mere word

For centuries the immortal creature roamed the earth stealing Nambi’s children in the cover of night. However, today the place where Walumbe and Kayikuzi landed is called Tanda. An area filled with over 240 bottomless pits. He has been sighted, roaming through the forests and diving into the pits dressed in a black tunic and currently goes by the name Jaaja Bulamu (GrandFather of Life). 

Near the pits is a massive rock named Nambi’s rock. A place where she was believed to live. An endless stream of water to this very day flows out from beneath; blessing the children she birthed.

THE END