Chapter 15: The Statue

Bucky couldn't escape his curiosity. Bella, clad in black bodysuit, slipped out of her hut in the middle of the night and he determined to follow her. For someone leaving to go 'hunting' he hadn't seen any weapons or vehicles nearby and he didn't believe her story. The evening downpour left soft, squelchy mud in its wake and he began to follow her footprints as far as he could.

He ran at full speed, expecting to easily catch and bypass her, but was surprised when he did not. He could still see her footsteps, even as the forest turned to grasslands. Her footsteps, though nearly hidden in the tall grass, could still be seen with his enhanced senses.

He ran for hours, growing in befuddlement with each mile. Then, the light, feminine foot prints stopped, swallowed up in a series of animal tracks. Bucky's heart nearly stopped as he saw tracks of a large cat mixed in with those of a herd of elephants.

He ran after the elephant tracks now until he reached a small ledge. Below, in a clearing, the brilliant moonlight bathed the valley below in a cool glow. He looked down and saw the elephants splashing in a brown river, waist high in the river bed. They filled their trunks and sprayed their backs, the air, each other in their play.

There, on the bank of the river, he made out the tiny figure of a woman, nearly hidden in black. The figure faced off with a lean, lithe shape of a large cat, though he could not tell what kind. He nearly leapt from his hiding place to try to intervene. Before he could, however, the silhouette of the cat began to transform. It bundled inward and curled in on itself, before blooming upward in the shape of a man.

The man bowed his head in Bella's direction before shaking her hand. The two appeared deep in conversation, though the sound of the nearby waterfall drowned out all distinguishable syllables. The pair turned and exploded into a run. At the first step, the man's body curled back into its feline form and fell into a delicate graceful lope, faster than any wild thing Bucky had seen before. To his amazement, Bella kept up stride for stride.

He jumped from his hiding place and trailed the two, running as fast as his enhanced body could and still struggling to keep up with their pace. As they emerged from the protective shade of the tree tops into the exposed grasslands, the rays of the moon's light revealed the spotted tawny coat of a leopard covering the beast in front of him.

He tried to stay out of range of their senses, though he was not sure he could determine the range their supernatural senses could carry. He had no doubt now that both of the beings he followed were his kindred supernatural beings.

Far past the borders of Wakanda, there approached another gathering of what appeared to be human silhouettes. The leopard transformed into his man form. His head shown with light sand colored curls. His bare body glistened with sweat and an inhuman yellow undertone. Even in his human form, Bucky could see the outline of claws on his hands and powerful cat-like incisors pouring from his mouth.

Bucky found a large baobab tree to hide behind and he peaked around, straining his enhanced senses as far as he could to try to decipher their conversation as they spoke in rapid-fire Kiswahili.

"Here is my brother," the man-leopard said. "She appeared to him last night but one in the watering hole. The entire surface froze in ice and the face of a powerful sorceress appeared. She bid him to join her forces, promising him an important role in her new dominion if he promised his fealty. He refused and she spoke a word in an ancient language we do not believe is of earthly origin. Then, he stood as you see him now, entirely in stone."

The man-leopard pointed towards a standing figure of a man nearby, unmoving and glistening as if a statue.

"How do you know all this?" Bella asked.

"The spirit of the baobab tree told us," the man-leopard replied. "At dawn, we came upon my brother as you see him now and the dweller of the baobab met us. He told us to be very wary. The sorceress has been coercing many to join her side. Already, she has gained a powerful following from the ogres, the little people, the animal-people, the angry ghost spirits, and the spirits that dwell in the trees and waters. She even has loyal followers among the People of the Soil, the humans."

"She has gathered five of my kin who feared being imprisoned in stone," spoke another voice.

"All who have gathered here are the ones who refuse to join her side but also fear to remain as we are, exposed. We have survived for thousands of years through hiding but that is not enough to protect us anymore."

"Why do you come to me?" Bella asked.

"Ah! Malaika, we saw you when the Great Lion Spirit first brought you to the People of the Panther. The Great Lion himself, he brought you. We have watched you since then because you are his appointed guardian to our people, the creatures that walk in-between the world of flesh and spirit.

"We are asking for refuge and protection now. The People of the Panther fear us, but if you intercede on our behalf, they will provide us with refuge. The sorceress will not rest until she eats all peoples, flesh and spirit, and swallows the whole world in her hunger. The People of the Panther will not be exempt. We will fight with you, but first we must survive till the battle."

"I will do what I can," Bella responded. "Come. You must follow me to speak to the King."

As the gathering moved to depart, the man-leopard cried out, "My brother! He will be left alone to his fate!"

The other creatures surrounded the solid rock figurine. Bella walked towards it, put her arms around the tall figure, and lifted it above her head where she balanced it on her head with arms on each side.

"He will come with us," she said.

The human figures simultaneously burst into movement and animal shapes-leopards, eagles, snakes, crocodiles, lions, and impalas raced together towards the border of Wakanda.

Bucky ran after them, but could not keep up with their pace. He returned home to sit in his hut and wait, full of even more questions than he had before.

Oooooooooooooooooooo

A/N

So, I figured I'd just write the whole conversation in English instead of Kiswahili so it was easier to follow.

Malaika: good or helpful spirit, sometimes takes human form, and comes to help people.