"Ini istrinmu? Cantik sekali!" Is this your wife? Very beautiful!
Harto's grandmother takes my hands firmly in hers. Her grip is unnervingly strong for her age, her eyes shining bright with mischief.
Better prepared for her this time, I accept my status as Harto's "wife". I just don't like it very much after the stunt he pulled at the dance.
She pats my hand and urges me to sit down across from her. Her attendants bring her water, feeding her with their own hands, spooning up rice and softened chicken. "Nama dukun. Nama dukun." The name of the witch doctor.
"Yes?" I lean closer as she smiles, leaning back in a daze. "What's his name?"
"Barong dan Rangda." She whispers. "Dewi Sri. Hainuwele. Nyai Loro Kidul. Ratu Adil. Silawe Nazarate."
I don't understand. What is she chanting?
She continues smiling as she waits for her attendants to give her more food and drink. As they wipe a cloth to clean her hands, Sultan Raharjo takes a seat beside me, close enough for our knees to be touching. I move slightly away, and he blinks a few times in surprise. "They're deities." He has his hair pulled back in a simple bun that makes his gaze and proud stare less intimidating. To visit his grandmother, he dons a gray beskap, an airy button-down shirt, and a sarong, or a batik cloth that ties around his hips. He leans closer, but it's just to pluck the flowers from my hands and hand them, one by one, to his smiling grandmother. "She worships the old gods still. The old gods of Jiwa."
I think back to what the witch doctor was chanting. "Jengges. Gendam. Something then... then... Susuk." I turn to Nenek Wulan, grandmother Wulan, whose stare has gone cold, her hands quivering.
"Those..." she rasps in struggling Rahasian. "Are. Curses. Bad names for a bad man." She shakes her head, visibly disturbed. I go to fetch her more tea to calm her. "Names of Rangda."
A thought occurs to me.
Kaliya said that the name of the witch doctor was Rangda's greatest enemy.
Maybe he was named after one of the old gods?
Smiling, I run my fingertips over the back of her hand to ease the nerves away. "Nenek Wulan." I nod encouragingly at her. "Tell me about the old gods."
***
Readers,
Hey, she has a hunch! Ms. Sherlock over here!
-Sophia
YOU ARE READING
A Princess for the Witch Doctor (Legends of Rahasia Book 3)
FantasyRUMPELSTILTSKIN RETELLING. "I challenge you to find my name, princess. Three tries." Light flickers beneath the recesses of his mask, the wooden fangs and shadowed eyes. "Think you can beat me?" *** A witch doctor, user of dark magic, terrorizes a...
