He wrapped his wet hand with a leather handkerchief and squeezed it.
Someone touched Anarungu’s shoulder. In the darkness, he recognized that gentle, light touch, so he didn’t jerk away, didn’t budge.
“Mama.”
“It’s okay, my nestling. Mama’s here.” Gnelsey gently hugged her son, helping him with his hurt hand. She led Anarungu toward their shack as he snuggled against her body.
“It hurts…” He nestled against her warm maternal skin. It was warm inside the hut. She wiped him off, applied a healing herbal salve to his arm, and tucked him into bed.
Anarungu’s teeth shook from cold and coming fever. “Don’t go, Mama. Please, don’t leave me alone.”
“I’m not going anywhere, my nestling,” whispered Gnelsey softly, kissing his forehead. She threw off her cloak and lay down beside him completely nude, letting his head touch her breasts. He brushed his cheek and mouth against his mother’s breasts, the warm skin and nipples, and soon the pain dulled.
“I am proud of you, Anarungu. You broke the Blood Bird curse. You saved our tribe.” She gently stroked his hair and caressed his skin, as if he were newly born. She held him closer against her soft chest. “Why, out of all the women in the tribe, did you choose me?” Gnelsey whispered, barely holding back tears.
He shivered with cold, staring into the darkness and feeling the warmth of her dark chest. It was like he was a child again. It was so wonderful to feel a mother’s love once more.
“It’s not a curse, mother. It’s berries… berries are the reason men can’t have children.”
“Hush, Anarungu. You are beginning to rave because of your wound.” She snuggled him warmer, running her dark nipple along his cheek and mouth.
“I know you’re angry with me, Mama. I’m sorry I broke the curse with you. I’m sorry I’ve put my child inside you. Your body is too beautiful. You’re too beautiful. I couldn’t help myself. I was in love with you my whole life.”
Gnelsey remained unusually silent, resting his head against her neck. He fell asleep, trusting his mother to protect him through the night, just as she had when he was a child.
===
“Anarungu must become a man, Gnelsey,” Anarungu’s father declared, standing in the middle of the hut with his spear, gazing into Gnelsey’s young face.
Was it a dream? A memory as though from a past life.
“Anarungu is too young to participate in the hunt. You know how much he is afraid of lynxes. I won’t let him go. You’re scaring our son.”
Little Anarungu ran into the hut and wrapped his arms around Gnelsey’s waist. “Mama, I want to stay with you.”
“It’s okay, Anarungu. “She stroked his head protectively. “My nestling will stay with me,” Gnelsey said confidently.
“Then maybe you should bear me more sons?” the chief said calmly, stepping closer without even glancing at his son.
“I’ll cut your balls off if you dare. No man dares to order me around and force me to have children against my will. I nearly died giving birth to Anarungu, and I’m not going through that pain ever again. Be grateful we have Anarungu. I love our son more than anything, and I don’t need anyone else.”
The chief approached and ruffled the boy’s hair. “Sooner or later, you’ll have to give birth again. Your body is made for it, Gnelsey. You can’t fight the nature. It will find a way eventually to put new life inside you. ”
“My body was created to care for and love my only nestling, not to satisfy your animal desires.”
The chief left the shack. Gnelsey sat down and placed her hands on Anarungu’s shoulders.
“Everything will be all right, Anarungu,” she said, stroking the back of her son’s head. “Mama will always be with you. I don’t need anyone else but you. Remember that. I love you.”
She was so pretty. Even though it was a dream linked to his childhood, he couldn’t resist kissing her on the lips.
She smiled. “Well, well. I know you love your Mama, but you can’t kiss me like that. Only your Papa can kiss Mama that way. Do you understand, Anarungu?”
Anarungu nodded.
“Good. Now, let’s go find your friends.”
===
Something soft brushed against his face. Anarungu recoiled in fear when he opened his eyes to see a lynx staring back at him. But it was just Peacock, apologizing for being absent yesterday.
“They would have killed you, little one,” Anarungu said, stroking the animal with his left hand.
“Shoo, beast. The Chief needs quiet,” Gnelsey said, waving her hand at the beast. Peacock grinned playfully, hopped over to her, rubbed against her legs, and then curled up to sleep in the corner.
“Are you feeling better now, my nestling?” she handed Anarungu water, her breasts hovering over his face. There were distinct dark circles under her eyes.
“Have you been up all night?” asked Anarungu, taking a sip.
“I needed to keep an eye on you, my nestling. You were trembling, and all you could say was how much you loved me,” she gazed at her belly. “I was sick again. The tribe must know that the Curse has been lifted. I’ll go… I’ll fetch more water.”
She stood up and hurried to the exit with a small bucket.
Anarungu slowly pulled out his right hand. What used to be his right hand now looked like a stump.
Limping, he made his way out of the hut to the water.
Anarungu could still vividly see Gnelsey’s face from the last night, prepared to watch her only child die.
“The old man said he didn’t want his daughter to suffer? To see her endure pain just because she’s loyal to her tribe? I’ll make her suffer for her betrayal…”
Anarungu’s mother sat on her knees, gently touching the water as it flowed over her dark skin, starting from her neck, then her chest, and finally running down her belly.
Gnelsey hardly moved, noticing her chief approaching. “I was just about to go back to the hut,” she whispered.
Her eyes were red with tears. His heart clenched at the sight.
“Don’t cry, Mama.”
“I almost… I almost let my nestling be killed. I am a horrible mother.” She gently touched his chest and held his right hand tenderly. “What have I done? Please forgive me, Anarungu. I’m begging for your forgiveness.”
“Forgiving you isn’t something I can promise.You’ll have to answer for what you’ve done to me.” He studied her face. “But you’re not crying because you almost let me get killed, are you? Maybe the consequences don’t matter to you. You’re crying because your nestling is the one who broke the Blood Bird Curse. And you’re his wife–the woman he broke the curse with.”
Gnelsey turned her back to the water, fixing her hair. “I shouldn’t have become a mother again… I can’t… I didn’t think I would again. I thought what we were doing wasn’t serious. I never thought you’d actually put a child inside me. If I only knew I would never let you finish inside… How did the spirits allow this?” she whispered. “You are my son.”
He smiled. “My love for you is stronger than any curse. You are my wife. I told you we should start choosing a name for our firstborn, didn’t I?”
She stood abruptly, knocking the bucket of water to the ground. “No! That’s not possible. This is wrong, Anarungu! I don’t want to be your wife! I don’t want your children. You are my child!”
He grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “If it was wrong you wouldn’t get pregnant. Don’t you think? Father gave you too much freedom when you were his wife. Things will be different with me. You’ll do whatever I tell you. Didn’t Elder say you were loyal to our tribe? Then prove it. Be a good wife and obey what I ask you. Obey me, Mama. You and I are going to rebuild the tribe’s population and there’s only one way to stop me – kill me.”
Fire gleamed in her eyes. It seemed to him as if, for a moment, she thought about it. About killing her own son.
“You’ve grown to be a monster, Anarungu.”
Anarungu smiled quietly, reading her thoughts, and kissed her.
===
That evening, all the Blood Bird people gathered at the heart of their settlement. Anarungu heard singing, the sounds of drums and dancing.
But it was quiet inside the chief’s shack. He looked sadly at how silly the spear looked in his left hand. “Come, Peacock.”
The crowd respectfully parted, allowing Peacock and the Chief to pass through. Gnelsey stood by the chief’s chair, waiting for Anarungu, who let out a sigh of relief before taking his seat.
Jarkish with a spear in his hand appeared nearby to protect his chief.
A gentle breeze tousled Anarungu’s hair as he surveyed the expectant faces before him.
Everyone waited for him to speak. He looked at the dozens of faces before him, knowing they were all doomed to die because of the berries. They will leave no offspring.
“But not me.”
“The spirits have heard us,” Gnelsey spoke. “Our pleas have been answered, children of the Blood Bird. One of the women is finally pregnant! The curse is broken!”
The tribe erupted in cheers, their joyful cries echoing through the air.
“You didn’t tell them who got pregnant,” whispered Anarungu.
“Why should I? I don’t want everyone to know,” replied Gnelsey.
The tribe was in a non-stop frolic. Some men and women were making love right there, trying to repopulate the tribe. Anarungu watched in silence.
He had killed Naragasa.
He had avenged his father’s death.
He had become chief.
He had protected the tribe from Blue Lynx.
And most importantly, he impregnated his own mother.
This felt more like a dream than the one he had this morning.
Gnelsey covered her chest with her robes and nervously gazed up at the night sky, deep in thought.
Perhaps she was trying to figure out what she should do next?
“Anarungu.” Tatar’Atu walked over to the chair. Jarkish let him pass. “I heard what happened. I should have been there…”
“No, you shouldn’t have,” Anarungu replied, raising his hand. “The fact that you weren’t involved is enough, Tat. Go, enjoy your life.”
Tat lowered his head. “Thank you, my chief.” He wanted to leave but hesitated. Another question troubled him.
“Is it true that Gnelsey is the first pregnant woman? Did you really break the curse with your own mother?”
Anarungu gave him an angry, exhausted look. Tat lowered his head and walked back into the crowd.
Amid the joyful shouts, Anarungu noticed the eyes of those who weren’t in a celebratory mood. A frail, battered old man with a stick looked up at him from the shadows of an old hut. His dim eyes flicked between the chief and Gnelsey.
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