A Princess for the Witch Doctor (Legends of Rahasia Book 3)

Chapter Seventy-Three

I wake up surrounded by heavy palms bearing low-hanging, softened fruit. The air is thick, so damp it feels like it saps strength just to breathe. I dig my fingers into wet earth, feel the damp seep through my clothes.

I throw mud from my hands, wipe it from my cheek.

Damn, now Zahra's cloak is ruined...

"Didn't expect to see you here." Kaliya turns around. I see her, or at least, one of her many copies that exist throughout all time and space. She's plucking aimlessly at her lower lip, revealing the serpent's tattoo running along her lower jaw. The tattoos that snake round her wrists and ankles, the cutoff trousers and black jacket from animal skins, looking like she should be burning up in this heat. Naturally, the heat doesn't affect her.

Why would it dare?

"Your mother must have sent me." I reply, staring up at what little sun filters through the heavy treetops. "Are we in Jiwa?"

"Yes, and no." She gets to her feet, simultaneously helping me to mine. "Here, little human, follow the path."

I look down at the beaten earth around me. The path looks little more than randomly strewn rocks and branches. But, if you look hard enough, it gets easier to recognize the constant wearing down by human feet. The sandal-shod and bare footprints. The places where humans wore the earth down to a softer circumstance.

We emerge from the palm trees and into the midst of village life, a kampung. A center of life. Sharing ikat bolts of cloth, batik fashions and kebayas. Men wear peci hats or, if they're older and married, they don beards. Some youths go hairless. One even admires his reflection in the basin he's carrying. Woven baskets filled with rambutan, and a steady stream running past the forest. The chatter of creatures with wide eyes and human-like hands, monkeys, as they wander from the forest, only to disappear in shadows again. A small pig snuffles at the edge, only to be chased away by hunters.

"What do you mean we're in Jiwa, but not really?" I ask, glancing over at Kaliya with her half-shaved head. She winks at me and sticks out her tongue.

"Well, darling, we're in the past." She takes me by my shoulders and spins me around, resting her pointed chin in the crevice between my shoulder and neck. "Look there." She breathes, her words tickling my ear.

My eyes follow where she gestures, and I see a young woman calling to a young man, about her age. They possess the same dark eyed and angular features. Both are stunning to look at, like living works of art that I could be in awe of all day. "Saudara!" She calls to him. "Saudara, saya sudah mencuci bajumu!" Brother, I've finished washing all your clothes!

"Cepat! Kamu malas!" Faster, you are lazy!

"Who is she?" I ask, admiring her great beauty. Long, black hair. Strong eyes and a proud chin. The sway of her hips as she hangs clothing to dry. But her hands, they're scarred from overwork. Her brother, the hairless youth caught admiring himself in the fountain. He's handsome, but his clothes are far better than his sister's. I can't help but hold back a scowl at him. "And why is her brother a jackass dressed in nice clothing?"

Kaliya smiles, handing me a heavy tome. "I'm surprised you don't know."

I glance down, rifling through the pages. "It's a book of fairy tales..."

"Yes," she replies with a grin. "And this is Bawang Putih and Bawang Merah. Garlic and Shallots. Like the Cinderella story from Idriola."

How is this relevant... I thought there was no use to fairy stories.

"But, you said we are in the past, and that was just a fairy..." I gasp as soon as I recognize the young woman, and my stomach nearly empties its contents as my head gets crushed with vertigo.

So, help me, gods, I gasp, that woman is Nenek Wulan when she was younger. And her twin in the story, it's her twin brother. Not an evil sister.

An evil brother.

But then I nearly vomit at the next realization.

Gods, I was admiring her, but now she's an old lady... that's... that's so strange.

I wonder how Kaliya manages it.

"You're telling me she was the source of inspiration for that fairy tale?" I can't contain my disbelief. "She was Cinderella? She was Bawang Putih?"

Kaliya just smiles. "Yeesh, for a gifted girl, you sure are slow."

***

Readers,

Time travel is always fun when the plot gets twisty.

Also, my favorite part was Arni lowkey being like "hm, what a hottie" before realizing it was Nenek Wulan from the past.

Also the clip is from an old movie about Bawang Putih, Bawang Merah with beautiful actress Latifah Omar.

-Sophia