Andre Martin - Yotkhee

The elders told the adults to go and gather some wood for the fire. There were plenty of tall pines, birch trees, and aspen trees in the forest they had been walking through, so dry dead-wood would be very easy to find. The children were supposed to find stones to frame the campfires, to keep the flames from the grass.

It quickly got dark, and the place was quiet. The birds seemed to be down for the night, and even the frolicsome little wind had taken itself off to get some rest up in his mountain abode, so not a single leaf was stirring.

For supper everyone had their fill of delicious mushrooms, fried over the campfire, and plenty of fresh cold water from the river. It was time to settle down and go to sleep.

«Look!» said one of the elders pointing down the river. «It flows straight towards Ngherm’s land, which is exactly where we need to go. While the weather is good and the river isn’t frozen, we could go down on rafts. Our children can’t walk as fast and long as we need to go.»

«Hear, hear!» exclaimed eager voices on all sides.

«The elder is right!» echoed others.

«This way we will get to the new land much faster!» cried yet more people.

«Then tomorrow we will start building rafts,» said the first elder, raising his hand to ask for silence. «Let’s get some rest now and start the work first thing in the morning.»

The elders decided that in the morning a few of them would walk along the river and see if there was a ford anywhere near so that they could simply wade across. The others would start making rafts for everyone.

The big campfire started dying down, and the red-hot coals cast a warm bright glow on the faces around the fire and the trees behind. The children were the first to drop off to sleep, and their mothers put them close to the dying fires, tucking them under warm animal hides and snuggling down next to them.

«What is there, beyond the river?» the older men around the fire kept asking themselves. «And how many more rivers will there be? What if we come across a tall mountain range?» No one knew, and there were no answers. They had never ventured so far from their land and knew nothing about this place.

As the last deep-orange gleams of the setting sun finally flickered out, a soft dark night descended on the tired travelers. Birds were asleep in their nests, and beasts were quiet in their holes. Not a whisper of wind moved the tiny flames over the glowing coals, and wispy strands of smoke were floating straight up, melting into the velvety darkness, while stars, big and small, glittered up high in the deep vaulted vastness, forming mysterious patterns of unfathomable beauty.

The only sounds in the complete and utter silence of the night were the quiet crackling of the fire and the tiny whimper of Edeine’s puppy. It wouldn’t go to sleep and kept fidgeting and whining, so Edeine started singing softly, gently rocking her little pet in her arms.

Hush-a-bye, my darling sweet,

Rest your tired little feet,

Rest your eyes, and rest your ears,

I will sing away your fears.

Hush-a-bye, my darling boy,

May your dreams be full of joy.

Hush-a-bye, and not a peep!

All your friends are fast asleep,

Dreaming, dreaming, one and all,

Dreams of wonders, big and small.

Sleep, my darling, I love you.

May good spirits come to you,

Tell you stories, sing a song,

Rock you gently all night long.

Hush-a-bye, my darling boy,

May your dreams be full of joy.

The night was so peaceful and quiet, that even the most watchful men who had undertaken to guard the camp at the furthermost fires finally dozed off.

Suddenly Yotkhee opened his eyes. He didn’t even know what had woken him. For a few seconds he just lay there, staring at the dark sky and its bright stars, but then he became aware that something was bothering him. Something was wrong, and he didn’t know what it was.

He sat up and looked around. The campfires were almost dead and gave off only the faintest gleam, so he couldn’t even see the nearest trees. Suddenly he felt that someone or something was moving around their camp, swiftly and noiselessly. What was that?

Bura the dog that had been curled up next to the sleeping Edeine, sprung up to her feet. The grey hairs on her back stood on edge, she lowered her head and kept whining and growling, looking up at the sky and restlessly turning her head to one side and the other.

«These are Nghyleka», a deep low voice said in Yotkhee’s head. «They are invisible.»

«What are Nghyleka?» the boy asked silently.

«Evil spirits. They are Nga’s servants and do his will.»

«What do they want?» asked Yotkhee.

«They roam about looking for weak and lazy people and then report back to their master. Then Nga comes to those people and blows his poisonous breath into them, so that they get sick and die.»

«Why does he have to kill people?» asked the boy, surprised. He closed his eyes so that he could concentrate and hear the voice better. «Couldn’t he simply force them to work?»

«Nga lives on those people. He devours them because he needs their souls to slave for him in his dreadful underworld lair.»

«But I don’t want any of our people to find themselves in evil Nga’s underworld! Is there any way to protect them?»

«Nghyleka roam around the world only at night, when everyone is asleep.»

«How do they know who is lazy and who is not if everyone is asleep?» asked Yotkhee, puzzled.

«Lazy people don’t do much during the day so they don’t get tired out by night.»

«And?»

«And they often spend their nights sitting or lying down near the fire, just whiling away the hours. If they are not asleep, it means they didn’t work hard during the day and didn’t grow tired. So Nga takes them away.»

«I want to protect my people. Please tell me what I can do!»

«To protect the people from inhaling Nga’s poisonous breath, in the morning you should take your reed pipe, think hard of what you want to receive from the good spirits, and start playing. Then the great Minlay bird with her seven pairs of iron wings will come to you. She will raise a mighty wind, and that wind will break Nga’s sick breath and won’t let him take any of your people. The bird will come from the same land where you’re going.»

Yotkhee opened his eyes and saw gigantic transparent shadows tearing around the camp. They were barely visible, but scary-looking, and, as they moved about, the hair on people’s heads stood on end, and all at once the half-dead fires came alive, spewing burning sparks and throwing bright splotches of light onto the trees. The shadows kept rushing among the sleeping people, now stooping down as if to peer closer, now darting off again.

«You will not take any of them!» said Yotkhee to himself with quiet certainty. «My people work hard. No one is afraid of you!»

All at once, the Nghyleka stopped in the air as one turned towards him. In a moment they surrounded him from all sides, and the boy could see them peering into his eyes as if asking: «Who is this? Who is this that has spoken to us? And how could anyone dare not be afraid?»

Fearlessly Yotkhee stared back into the enormous black holes of their eyes and kept silently saying to himself, again and again:

«Go away! You will not take a single person! Go away!»

And the grey shadowy Nghyleka vanished just as abruptly as they had appeared before.

Yotkhee got up quietly and tiptoed to the place where Edeine was, trying not to disturb anyone. The puppy was finally fast asleep, and Edeine was about to doze off too. The boy stooped to stroke good Bura’s head, turned to the girl, and carefully tucked in her blanket.