The Empire in the Eastern Sky

Chapter 4

Water dripped down from above and hit the side of my neck. I flinched and opened my eyes to a strange unfamiliar interior of a house I never seen before. The walls are stacked horizontally to a low thatched ceiling. Water seeped through the ceiling weaves and it trickle down on me. I was lying face down on the bed. I tried to move away but I realized I was wearing nothing except a damp rough piece of cotton. I gathered the makeshift blanket around me and lifted my body up from the mattress which was made from kapok by the musty smell of it. The coarse blanket fell around my shoulder and something fell off. I looked down and found a dried up leaf with something sticky at one side. I looked over my shoulder and found my back was covered with these leaves and it adhered by a sticky substance. I smell rhetorically fallen leaf and frown at the sickly sweet smell.

"You're up already?" A low voice came right next to me. An old woman with a lot of beads all around her neck was watching me through her weathered eyes. But the eyes was so sharp and intimidating that I lowered my gaze and nod in respect.

"Peace be upon you, grandmother." I said and it came out hoarsely. The woman didn't respond but she kept her gaze on me. I gripped the blanket tighter. "How did I get here? Where were all my clothes? Where is my sister?"

The woman didn't answer. The silence grew between us and I took the moment to scan my surroundings. Despite the humidity from the rain, the hut was stuffy and an acrid tang of incense caught my breath. I coughed and saw that there's a tray of all sorts of thing on the floor beside my sleeping pallets. Smoke wafed from a small pot and there were dried herbs and powdered spices in small claypots. Large leaves stacked at the side of the tray with another pot of dark honey weighing on top of them. There were also a pile of gambir, areca nuts and betel leaves tucked right next to the old woman. 

"Are you a witch doctor?" I asked warily. My grandmother had warned everyone including me against seeking any help from these forest witch. There was always a price attached to their gifts. Dimly I realized it was the first time I woke up without being in an excruciating pain. I refused to take my eyes off the woman else she would curse me with her talents.

The old woman grinned and her orange-tinged teeth flashed in the darkened hut. My blood run cold when the old woman barked in laughter and the noise echoed her eeriely. 

"Where is my sister?" I repeated the question while ignoring the bomoh's crackling laughs.

"He should have let you to die as you should be. Aren't you grateful to be alive, girl? "

"Who is he?" I asked suspiciously and the woman grinned again. Then she inhaled from long pipe and the tabacco smell mingled with the incense smoke. 

"Grandmother?" Another male voice came from the outside and I saw a boy hiding at the entrance of the hut. I realized that it was a raised hut when the boy climb over the stair and sat at the edge of the doorway. I tugged the blanket even tighter. 

The two then erupted in a language I never heard of. I could only watch the exchange happen. The grandmother was ignoring the boy and continued with her tabacco while the boy was loud and seemingly voracious. Curiously, I studied the newcomer who was older than I expected. He was tall and lean. His dark skin made his eyes and his teeth brighter. His hair was cut to his scalp but it look coarse and fuzzy against his scalp. I couldn't tell his exact age but his voice seemed to be deeper and older than his looks and I guessed he was a lot closer to my age than I expected.

Then their eyes focused on my direction and I edged away from them. They were back at their exchanged but it seemed to me that the grandmother was giving me an even more hostile look than she did earlier.

The boy's grandmother gave me a hesitant look. "Will you do it?" 

"Do what?" I asked while being completely bewildered by the conversation between them.

"Marry him, of course."