Witi Ihimaera - The Parihaka Woman

She saw a star burst in the darkness. And now, look! It was creating a pathway through the dark.

‘Come, Hope,’ Erenora prayed. ‘Do not forsake me. Oh, star, brighten my goal. Let me not falter. Strengthen me in my resolve, Amine.’

Erenora did not know that the government had decreed the release of Te Whiti and Tohu and, therefore, of all other Parihaka prisoners. Piharo must have feared that questions would be asked about Horitana’s whereabouts. It would be only a matter of time before the authorities traced him to Peketua Island.

This was why Piharo decided to send an assassin.

The next morning everyone was subdued. Rocco was groaning with a terrible headache. He heard Marzelline calling for him, ‘Papa? Where are you?’

She was on her crutches and, when she saw him walking unsteadily from the barn she gave a cry of distress. ‘Oh, Papa, are you all right?’

At breakfast, Marzelline was also apologetic to Erenora. ‘Sometimes I can be a bad girl,’ she said. When Erenora rewarded her with a smile of forgiveness Marzelline’s mood immediately lightened.

Rocco was still feeling under the weather and staggered away to retch his guts out. When he returned he said, ‘Eruera! What did I do last night?’ He appeared to have no recollection of taking her in a passionate embrace, but he did recall showing Erenora the letter and taking her into his confidence. While Marzelline was busy in the kitchen he whispered, ‘I must go to the cave this morning,’ he said, ‘to prepare the prisoner’s grave. I am not feeling very well. Ach! It has to be done.’

‘Perhaps I can help you,’ Erenora suggested. ‘Would that make it easier for you?’ Had all her attempts at creating trust between them paid off?

Rocco hesitated for a moment, then nodded. ‘Bring two shovels and a lamp.’

Erenora could hardly believe the turn of events, or conceal her impatience. Once breakfast was over, she ran to the barn to collect the grave-digging implements. Rocco was waiting for her at the door of the cottage.

Just before they left, Marzelline gave a huge cry and flung her arms around Erenora. Her eyes, so blue with the sea and sky, brimmed with tears. ‘Eruera! Eruera!’

Erenora looked at her, uncomprehending, but held her tight and stroked her long, silky hair.

‘I have a feeling I will never see you again,’ Marzelline said plaintively. As Rocco and Erenora left, she waved from the doorway, waving, waving until they could no longer see her.

‘The day turned wet and merciless. All the way across the island, the weather was stormy. Ka patupatu taku manawa, my heart was pounding with fear, joy and trepidation. I could not believe that very soon my quest for Horitana would be over. What would I do if it wasn’t him? It had to be him!

‘I was carrying the two shovels and Rocco the lantern. As we leaned into the driving wind, Rocco shouted instructions. “The prisoner is chained but his hearing is acute. Do not step too close to him, and on no account are you to utter a word to him. When I tell you to dig, do so.”

‘We came to the top of the cliff. From there I could see the wild ocean roaring through the passage. Seabirds were riding on the stormy winds above, crying across the clouded vault of the sky. Rocco motioned me towards the cliff where I saw the steep set of steps. Oh, wilful Fate! If I had been behind him, I could have pushed him and he would have pitched headlong in a long helpless fall to the sea far below. But the opportunity was lost … and I would have to bide my time.

‘Halfway down the steps I saw the entrance to a shaft. A sense of dread overcame me when I saw the door, which had a grille in it. As Rocco opened it my heart heaved with anticipation and fear. I swayed, almost fainting.

‘“Come inside,” Rocco said.

‘For a moment I was overcome by a gust of foetid wind that came up from the cave. I went through and, on the other side, rested against the wall of the shaft, waiting for my vision to adjust to the gloom. I saw that Rocco had cut a staircase to enable our safe descent. “How cold it feels,” I shivered. Rocco, oblivious, had descended.

‘Taking a deep breath, I followed him. The steps were dangerous and wet. Moss lined the sides all the way down. With shock I had a hideous realisation: I had come to dig the grave of my husband. If I did not succeed in rescuing him, it would indeed become the place where he would be laid in the earth.

‘“Stop,” Rocco ordered. We had reached the bottom of the staircase where there was complete blackness. The unbearable stench of animal urine, excreta and putrefaction almost suffocated me. Every now and then came the low boom and hiss of the sea and the crunch of pebbles shifting in the eddying currents, but no amount of sluicing by the sea would ever cleanse the underground latrine. Then Rocco lit the wick in the lantern. It flared in the dark …

‘And I saw the prisoner.’

Erenora stifled a cry. The rumour was true:

Te tangata mokomokai.

He was chained to a post in the middle of the cave. Was he man or beast? His head looked like some corroded thing and he was cloaked with …

Erenora gave an involuntary gasp as the cloak moved . She saw then the tuatara that clothed the prisoner’s body, holding on with their claws, their bellies pulsating against his skin. As soon as they saw the light of the lantern, they began to slip away from him until the floor of the cave was seething with more than a hundred tuatara, like a grey, writhing carpet piled at the prisoner’s feet.

‘Vielleicht ist er tot?’ Rocco muttered. ‘Perhaps he is dead already?’ He lit a firebrand on the wall to give further light in the darkness. He bade Erenora follow him across the floor of the cave.

Their footsteps were loud on the gravel. The tuatara slid away from the sound.

‘Was this the moment that I should kill Rocco?’ Erenora wrote. ‘I raised my shovel to strike him down but …’

The prisoner spoke in the darkness. His voice was muffled. Erenora could not recognise it.

Who has arrived to visit me?’ He sniffed the air. ‘Ah, it is my old friend, my gaoler. But surely you come out of time?’

Erenora’s heart filled with aro’a. She could not resist giving a small cry and, immediately, Horitana was alert, straining at his chains. ‘Who is that? Gaoler, who have you brought with you? Why won’t you speak to me?’

Rocco motioned to Erenora to back away beyond the reach of Horitana’s chains. He kicked at the floor of the cave until he found a spot where the gravel appeared soft. ‘Eruera, dig,’ he ordered.

At the sound of the shovel, Horitana rushed toward Erenora. His chains prevented him from coming further and he gave a cry of pain. ‘Who are you? Speak to me, please, let me hear the sound of a human voice. Take pity. Speak. Korero mai.’

Erenora went to respond but Rocco put a hand over her mouth. ‘No. Keep digging.’

And Horitana exhaled a deep sigh. ‘At long last, death? I thank you, gaoler. But am I not to have a final meal before you kill me? No?’

The tuatara were circling back to him. ‘It sounds as though I will be leaving you all soon,’ he said to them. ‘Who will look after you when I am gone?’ He called to Rocco, ‘Hey, gaoler, I will save you all your labour. After you kill me, leave my body to be feasted on by my friends.’

Suddenly, Rocco gave a cry. ‘O, armer Mann.’ He threw his shovel to one side.

‘I had been wondering how I could overpower Rocco,’ Erenora wrote, ‘when I saw him turning away, his back to me. This was it.’

With a hoarse, guttural moan, Erenora raised her shovel. Screaming for release, she brought it down on Rocco’s head.