Where the Sun Goes to Hide

"Tell me a secret, Beni."

Beni only half-noticed what had been said to him. His mind was caught elsewhere, somewhere scarlet and bloated.

He glanced across at Aminata, and the departing sun glinted off her deep brown eyes, brown like rich soil. Her irises reflected the mangrove and teak trees enclosing their private clearing.

Aminata propped herself up on one elbow, her oiled curls cascading over her shoulders. She gazed out at the sun, beyond the jungle, which murmured with the calls of monkeys and peafowls, elephants and insects, and beyond their quiet village nestled in the valley below. She was smiling, a smile that was cool like aloe. Healing.

"You know..." she said, "the sunset is like a secret. All day she walks, feeding the plants, our skin, our souls. Until she gets tired; then she goes. But where?" Her voice was little more than a whisper now, soft like the flitting of dragonfly wings. "Where does she go? A mystery."

She fixed her stare on Beni; and he decided, a setting sun is only the second most beautiful thing in existence.

"So - tell me a secret, Beni?"

He rose and stood on the flat stone that jutted up within the clearing, where beetles would dance at twilight and the clouds shifted into epic stores of Rama and Arjuna and Radha; the hidden rendezvous where Beni and Aminata shared secrets, but which was itself the secret they shared, the lifeblood of their evenings.

Here, Beni was safe, and the mottled bruises concealed beneath his clothing barely hurt at all, but every moment with her was an adventure, and maybe he would one day be the hero.

As he stood, his mind filled, as the minds of enamored young boys often do, with bravado and mischief, with the anxious desire to impress a darling.

Beni faced Aminata, hands on his hips, puffed up like a troubadour. She regarded him with humor.

"I'll tell you a secret, Aminata - one I've never told anyone. But... Only after you agree to two things."

"What then?"

"Well, first, you agree to never tell a soul. None! One day, I will be a famous poet, and you will be tempted... But beware, doing so would extinguish my flame."

Aminata giggled, and each laugh was like the pluck of a cord within Beni's heart.

"Okay, I agree. Now get on with it, Beni!"

He leapt across to perch on the stone's edge.

"Second: you must follow me now, and allow me to show you something." He didn't wait for her reply but reached over and grabbed her hand. "Quick, let's go! The sun is about to set, and secrets become magic when told under the day's final lull!"

He pulled her from the rock, and together they skipped into the foliage, trading shouts and laughter.

They stopped at the base of a soaring teak. Beni urged Aminata to climb with him, and she did. They hopped from branch to branch, until the Earth became an afterthought, and the clouds seemed to be only an arm away.

They paused to rest, far up, on a thick limb where the leaves parted. The sky was darkening - for a moment, Beni's fear crept in. He didn´t want the night to end. But then Aminata's hand found his shoulder, and he welled up with renewed strength.

Beni gestured out across the vast forest valley towards a stark mountain range that pierced the horizons like the maw of some primordial beast, ready to devour the world.

Beni spoke: "My first quest begins there, Ami, and let me tell you about it. But you must be quiet - there is magic in the air now, both pure and dark, and if you aren't careful, he will hear you."

"Who -?"

Beni pressed a finger to his lips and shushed her.

Then again, more quietly Aminata said, "Who?"

Beni leaned in close.

"In those mountains dwells an evil beast, and I shall slay him. Then, I will remove his claw, and wear it, a talisman against misfortune."

Aminata grinned and clapped softly.

"So that is your secret?"

"No, but remember it. Now, look south with me."

Beni pointed to the southern horizon, where the jungle seemed to stretch endlessly, its mists glowing with golden light, billowing through the trees as if the Earth herself had sighed out a mango-hued breath to shroud her curves.

"What is it, Beni?"

"Past the village, the forest, and the hills beyond, there is an ocean. After I defeat the mountain beast, I will go there, and sail for 11 days in search of an ancient fish. It will come to strand me at sea - but I will daze and coax it with my verse, and pluck away one of its scales.

"The creature will call up a tremendous storm to sink me. However, its scale, along with the claw, will shepherd me to safety, back to shore. I will carry the blessing and protection of eldritch magic for all my days."

"Aren't you afraid?"

A silence passed between them.

"Yes. But not of my journey."

"Of what, then?"

Beni was all too aware of the gnawing aches that were stitched across his body. He sensed the big fear, the little death, the -

"I am afraid of being a flame, snuffed out too soon."

"But enough of that - there is one last thing I must show you."

Beni looked at her, a waggish grin pulling the corners of his mouth.

"Close your eyes," he said.

Aminata shot him a suspicious glance.

"What! In a tree?"

He reached across her willowy frame, hugging her close. Her warmth emanated through their clothing and into his skin, soothing his hurt, quieting the storm. She smelled of tea and mangos.

"I'll keep you safe." Aminata closed her eyes and leaned against him.

"I will tell you my secret soon, but don't open your eyes until I tell you. Do you like poetry?"

"You know I do," she chided. "Recite some for me?"

Beni cleared his throat, and closed his eyes, his heart thumping in his chest, like a pup's tail whumping against packed dirt.

"Love is not seen by the eyes, but felt by the heart..."

He paused. Aminata pulled at his ear playfully.

"Not that old diddy!" She said. "Come now."

Beni howled to the sky. He grinned when Aminata giggled.

He cleared his throat again, and in an elfin voice, recited:

"Her face is a lotus, untouched by the sun,

Her eyes like startled deer -

And my heart follows her as if it had a will of its own."

A stillness filled the air, hung there, sung through by the fingers of the breeze.

Magic, crackling all around them.

"Open your eyes," Beni said.

Aminata did, slowly, her eyes glimmering with rapt attention. Beni hugged her to him.

The fading sun was being cleaved by the world's edge, and its heat seemed to shed and curl into a blush of magenta, and bronze, bronze like the bangles worn by his poor mother, and the thought of her arrested him with a momentary dread. That of the sailor whose craft has become unmoored and is being spirited along the waves towards an ocean storm. But then he saw Aminata, her fierce happiness, her olive skin kissed by the summer light, a living tapestry of mystery, his Muse, the exhilaration of her pomegranate lips, and those calm, brown eyes, and now he too, was smiling, and –

She kissed him.

In the arcane way of women that safeguard great treasures but divulge none, except to a chosen One, Aminata gazed back towards the sunset, wearing a knowing smile, as if nothing had happened.

Beni could only stare stupidly, stare lovingly, his stomach crashing with waves of admiration.

He held her.

When the sun was gone beneath the horizons, and the stars were beginning to pierce the veil of night, Aminata shivered, and sat up.

Beni wished he could've existed eternally in that moment.

But he knew he could not.

"We should get home now," he said.

"You have to tell me your secret, Beni." Her eyes were urgent.

He took a deep breath.

"Okay. At the end of my journey, I will come here. And I will come back for you. A promise, and a secret."

She smiled, then nodded, nuzzling her head against his chest one last time.

"Good. Now let's go home."

They descended the tree and traced their way back to the village. They stepped through brush and bramble like forest thieves. And indeed, they had taken a treasure from the trees and earth that night.

When they reached the point where the paths must split, they stood before each other and held hands.

"Goodnight, Beni." A whisper.

"Goodnight, Aminata."

And then, surprising himself, he kissed her, right above the nose.

She turned and ran, giggling, finally shouting over her shoulder, "Tomorrow, Beni!"

Yes. Tomorrow, he thought.

But first he must survive tonight.

Beni picked his way home, every step growing heavier, every meter calling the pain back into the nasty purple contusions riddling his skinny ribs and stomach.

He was climbing the Mountain, but there was no magic now, no Ekalavya or Arjuna, just a weary boy and an unforgiving jungle.

He finally reached his simple wooden home, night had taken its hold over the world. It was dark. And it was silent.

The Hut was just inside the jungle´s boundary, and a dull light flickered inside a window.

A few steps from the front door, a rustling to his left drew his attention. Beni peered out into the murky foliage.

His throat constricted, and his knees weakened.

Two reflective yellow eyes stared out at him like twin daggers.

They emerged, growing a face, one with a powerful jaw and orange fur slashed through by white and black, the face of the Jungle Mother, the Magi's companion, and a deep, low growl emitted from a mouth of glinting white knives, the Thunder Caller, the Shadow Guardian.

Beni sucked up a breath, too frightened to move. His eyes felt as if they might escape his skull to join the sweat soon to drip from his brow, and -

He blinked.

The Rakshasa was gone.

Beni nearly tripped racing to the Door. He opened it, and went inside.

It was hot and pungent within. The air reeked of sweat and fear and blood, things a young boy should never be able to identify. His mother was sitting along a faded Rug, beside some lounging pillows and a glass vase. She was threading a needle along a tear in a blouse, her fingers trembling. The rest of the Room was sparsely furnished, a few Chairs, and a hardwood Table. A doorway led to the adjoining Bedroom. Her jade-green eye shot to Beni as he entered, eye because the other was so fat and swollen that it couldn't even open. Her worried stare held a warning, but too late, Beni --

"Where the FUCK have you been?" The voice was crude and slurred; his uncle’s, and Beni felt all of his muscles tense, his breath hitching in his throat.

His Uncle crossed from the bedroom doorway, and bent over him like a gnarled tree trunk, corded muscle rippling across fatless arms. And there was a new odor, the Drink, sharp and sour, wafting from dirty pores.

The face that glared down at Beni was flushed and sweaty, starved like a coyote's, the evil dog, and he knew this would be a bad night, no - the worst - and he felt terrified of this man, scared of the Drink and its Antimagic.

Beni wished that his stories were true - that he could, indeed, slay the Mountain Beast. He wished his father hadn't been struck by the heart-curse, the kind that invades and rips a man from his family, unannounced, in the deep of night, so that all they are left with is shock, and the bad man, and -

Cold starlight exploded across Beni's vision.

Magic?

No. It was the first, that was confirmed to him, first by the jolt of pain springing from his face, then by the blows that followed, making time seem to slip away.

"I asked you'm a goddamn question boy! Din'nt I? Din'nt I?" Beni vaguely sensed his uncle stumbling above him, and all he could think was, he doesn't usually hit my face.

As if in answer, a foot tore into his gut, and something screamed in him, a warning that something was very wrong.

Beni rolled over, clutching his abdomen, not sure when he'd collapsed. Everything was happening too fast. Was it the heart-curse? And he might welcome that, now, for there was his uncle, Dushkutta, coming again, fists balled, spittle swinging from his lips.

Beni heard his mother's yell before he saw her, and then she was there, arms wailing down on Dushkutta in defiance. For a brief moment, Beni saw her skin deepen to twilight blue, and her arms were a multitude. She was the Kali, the Mother, the Destroyer, his mother, and she would banish his suffering.

But it was just a trick of the mind, she was just a woman after all - see how the man tosses her across the room?

Dushkutta flung her into a glass vase, it shattered across the Floor and then he was mounting her.

Beni pushed to his hands and knees, his world swimming, his head ringing atonally. He tried to move, but his body protested, liquid fire racing along his nerves.

Dushkutta raised a club fist, and Beni watched as it descended, and thought it was strange how it made such a simple 'thud', and yet still caused all that blood.

Beni's body seemed to move of its own accord, crawling to his mother, the thudding of fist against bone and tissue pacing each step.

His vision doubled and he felt hot, stinging tears on his face, blurring everything. He didn't know how it was that he could see brown and green eyes, yellow eyes, his own eyes, all reflected in one of the long shards of glass on the floor before him.

He took that shard, like a dagger, not noticing how hard he squeezed, the way it separated the flesh of his palm.

He prayed to Rama, crawling.

Prayed to Kali, Shiva and Vishnu, closer now.

Prayed to the Jungle and the Ocean, the Muse and the Rakshasa, the -

He opened his eyes.

Beni released the glass, saw where it emerged from the bloody hole in his uncle's back. Had he done that?

The thudding had stopped. Beni´s Mother was motionless on the Ground and Dushkutta was turning slowly, his face screwed up in comical confusion. Beni was somehow certain he'd made a fatal mistake.

His uncle fumbled a hand along his back, found the shard.

"What... the fu..." He leered at Beni, seeming to move in slow motion. "You worthless fucking worm."

The man ripped the piece of glass from his back, groaning in pain. There was blood in his mouth now, and his breathing had gained a wet rattle.

But it did not stop Dushkutta from lurching toward Beni, the shard raised high. For a split second, it reflected candlelight, and, to Beni, seemed to transform.

...into a claw.

Down it came, the guillotine, and his uncle was also falling, and all Beni could do was desperately lift a hand.

There was a bloom of vicious pain, and Beni knew something would be sacrificed that night, lost forever. His uncle's full weight slammed into him, and all the oxygen of the world seemed to disappear.

Everything went black.

Moments. Hours. Fate.

Beni burst back to consciousness, not sure how long he'd lost it, only concerned with fighting for one sweet breath, one more precious second of life.

His uncle was strangely heavy and still atop him, and his body had never been so agonized before. But-

his mother. He must get to his mother.

Beni managed to roll from underneath Dushkutta. He couldn't stand, could hardly even see.

It took all his will, but he dragged himself over the threadbare Rug, his uncle´s blood smearing beneath him. A Candle flickered across the Room, casting ominous Shadows along the Walls. When he reached her, he saw that her face was a liquid, crimson mess. He tried to wipe it away, tried to do magic, weeping bitter tears, begging her to move, to say something, to stay with him, he couldn't go on alone.

He buried his broken face into her bosom, clutched at her helplessly, sobbing, aching, praying.

"Someone please help me!" He screamed. It was the last thing he could do before the world, and consciousness, slipped away.

Days passed, years maybe.

Nightmares. Visions. Rakshasas and fish scales.

Beni awoke to brown eyes. Brown like rich soil. Brown like almonds.

"Am... inata?" He croaked. His mouth was like sandpaper.

"Shh... Shh..." It was her. He fought to sit up, but she pressed him down.

"My mother! She - " He cut short when he saw the crystalline tears welling in Aminata's eyes. His insides twisted into a Gordian knot.

"She... She's gone, isn't she?"

"Oh, Beni!" Aminata cried, digging her face into Beni's chest. She held his bandaged right hand - he noticed with numb surprise that his thumb was gone.

He laid back and wept.

Then, Aminata looked up at him.

She smiled halfheartedly, and Beni's vision rippled, his heartbeat. Magic, protecting him.

He looked at Aminata. She was beautiful, like aloe. Healing.

"You're safe now, Beni," she whispered against his shoulder."

"And you can rest now. But this time, I will come back for you."

And in his heart, he knew it was true.