Be not hasty, Nam Child, we must make preparation in the correct manner. And he drew her back and led her gently away.
A little further on, there was an ancient San camp-site amongst the sheltering rocks. The thatched roofs of the shelters had collapsed with age. O'wa burned them to the ground, for disused huts harbour snakes and vermin, and the two women rebuilt them with saplings and freshly cut grass.
I am hungry. Centaine realized that she had not eaten since the previous evening.
Come. H'ani led her into the grove, and they filled their satchels with the fallen fruit of the mongongo trees.
Back in the camp, HaM showed Centaine how to strip off the outer layer of flesh and then to crack the hard central nut between two flat stones. The kernel looked like a dried almond. They ate a few of these, to take the edge off their hunger. They tasted like walnuts.
We will eat them in many ways, H'ani promised. And each way they taste different, roasted, pounded with leaves, boiled like maize bread, they will be our only food in this place where all killing is forbidden. While they prepared the meal, O'wa returned to camp with a bundle of freshly dug roots, and went aside to prepare them in private, scraping and chopping with his beloved clasp knife.
They ate before dark, and Centaine found the meal of nuts unexpectedly satisfying. As soon as her stomach was filled, the effect of the day's excitements and exertions caught up with her, and she could barely drag herself to her shelter.
She awoke refreshed and with a sense of unexplained excitement. The San were already busy around the camp fire and as soon as she joined them and squatted in the circle, O'wa, puffed up with nervous anticipation and self importance, told them, We must now prepare to go down into the most secret of places. Do you agree to the purification, old grandmother? It was obviously a formal question.
I agree, old grandfather. H'ani clapped softly in acquiescence.
Do you agree to the purification, Nam Child? I agree, old grandfather.
Centaine clapped in imitation and O'wa bobbed his head and from the pouch on his belt brought out a buck-horn. The top had been pierced, and O'wa had stuffed the horn with the chopped roots and herbs that he had gathered the previous afternoon.
Now he picked a live coal out of the fire with his fingers, and juggling it to prevent it burning his skin, he dropped it into the trumpet-shaped opening of the buckhom. He blew upon it and a tendril of blue smoke rose in the still air as the herbs smouldered.
Once the pipe was burning evenly, Ofwa rose and stood behind the two squatting women. He placed his mouth over the pierced tip of the horn and sucked on it strongly, then blew the smoke over them. It was acrid and sharply unpleasant, and left a bitter taste in Centaine's throat.
She murmured a protest and began to rise, but H'ani pulled her down again. O'wa kept puffing and exhaling, and after a while Centaine found the smoke less offensive.
She relaxed and leaned against H'ani. The old woman placed an arm around her shoulders. Slowly Centaine became aware of a marvelous sense of well-being. Her body felt as light as that of a bird, she felt she could float up with the spirals of blue smoke.
Oh, H'ani, I feel so good, she whispered.
The air around her seemed sparkling clear, her vision sharp and magnified so she could see every crack and 4A crevice in the surrounding cliffs, and the groves of trees A seemed to be made of green crystals. They reflected the sunlight with an ethereal radiance.
She became aware that O'wa. was kneeling in front of her, and she smiled at him dreamily. He was offering something, holding it out towards her with both hands. I It is for the child, he told her, and his voice seemed A to come from far away and echo strangely in her ears. It is the birthing mat. His father should have made it for him, but that could not be. Here, Nam Child, take it and bear a brave son upon it. O'wa leaned forward and placed the gift upon her lap.
it took long seconds before she realized that it was the gemsbok skin over which O'wa had worked so long and so intently. She unfolded it with exaggerated care. The skin had been scraped and tanned to the pliability and softness of fine cloth. She stroked it and the fur felt like satin. I i Thank you, old grandfather, her voice came from far away, and reverberated strangely in her own ears.
It is for the child, he repeated, and sucked on the buckhorn pipe.
For the child, yes Centaine nodded and her head seemed to float free of her body. O'wa gently exhaled a Stream of blue smoke into her face and she made no effort to av old it, rather she leaned forward to stare into his eyes. O'wa's pupils had shrunk to glittering black pinpricks, the irises were the colour of dark amber with a fanlike pattern of black lines surrounding the pupils.
They mesmerized her.
For the child's sake, let the peace of this place enter your soul. O`wa spoke through the smoke, and Centaine felt it happen.
Peace, she murmured, and at the centre of her being was a wondrous stillness, a monumental calm.
Time and space and white sunlight mingled and became one. She sat at the centre of the universe and smiled serenely, She heard O`wa singing far away, and she swayed gently to the rhythm and felt each beat of her heart and the slow pump of her blood through her veins.
She felt the child lying deep within her, curled in an attitude of prayer, then, unbelievably, she felt the tiny heart beating like that of a trapped bird, and the wonder of it engulfed her whole being.
We have come to be cleansed O'wa sang. We have come to wash away all offence, we have come to make atonement Centaine felt H'ani's hand creep into hers like a fragileboned animal, and she turned her head slowly and smiled into the beloved old face.
It is time, Nam Child Centaine drew the gemsbok skin over her shoulder. It required no effort to rise. She floated above the earth, with H'ani's little hand clutched in hers.
They came to the opening in the hillside, and though it was dark and steep, Centaine went forward smiling, and she did not feel the coarse volcanic rock beneath her feet. The passageway descended for a short distance, and then levelled out and opened into a natural cavern. They followed O'wa down.
Light filtered from the stairway behind them and from a number of small openings in the domed roof. The air was warm and moist and steamy. The clouds of steam tly from the surface of a circular pool that filled rose gen the cavern from side to side. The surface of the pool seethed and bubbled softly, and the steam smelled strongly of sulphur. The waters were cloudy green.
O'wa let his loincloth fall to the rocky floor and stepped into the pool. It reached to his knees but as he waded forward it deepened, until only his head was above the surface. H'ani followed him naked into the pool, and Centaine laid the gemsbok skin aside, and let her skirt fall.
The water was hot, almost scalding, a thermal spring welling up out of the matrix, but Centaine felt no discomfort . She moved deeper and then sank down slowly on to her knees until the water came to her chin. The floor of the pool was coarse pebble and gravel. The fierce heat of the waters soaked into her body. It swirled and eddied about her, kneading her flesh, as it bubbled up out of the depths of the earth.
She heard O'wa singing softly, but the steam clouds closed in around her and blinded her.
We wish to make atonement, O'wa sang. We wish to be forgiven our offences to the Spirits- Centaine saw a shape forming in the steam, clouds, a dark, insubstantial phantom.
Who are you? she murmured, and the shape firmed, and she recognized the eyes, the other features were obscure, as those of the old seaman she had sacrificed to the shark.
Please, she whispered, forgive me. It was for my baby.
Please forgive my offence. It seemed that for a moment there was understanding in those sad old eyes, and then the image faded and vanished in the steam banks, to be replaced by others, a host of memories and dream creaand she spoke to them.