THE LAST KEEPER-Chapter 64: HYPNOSIS

The stare down went on for a long moment with the weird pair not taking their eyes off sagiri for a long moment.

"I should kill them." Kaka said moving forward but a hand on his shoulders stopped him.

"Remember they have been here longer and they don’t look phased by our arrival. There might be traps." Kiuga said and Kaka returned to his position.

"How do you know the freaks?" Kiuga asked, perfectly composed. He always had a cool head in assessing situations.

"They came to the village with scouts to seek me when I was twelve." he answered without breaking eye contact with them.

"They don’t look friendly at all," Maita said with his nose in the air. Just like Kaka, he was spoiling for a fight.

"They are not my friends." Sagiri said sinking low and the weird kids finally moved. The girl blinked and started running to the direction of the inner nonagon without a warning. The boy from the Haku clan ran after her. They were fast and they disappeared into the woods. The four who were standing like a barricade in front of the weirdos remained standing even long after the two behind them left.

"Being brave is good but those four look stupid still holding a standoff against us. They are clearly out numbered." Kiuga yawned as if he hadn’t just slept for four hours.

"That is not the case." N’varu said. "They are not even looking at us." he said and everyone looked closer. The four seemed like they were staring into nothingness.

"What is wrong with them?" Zoliath asked, stepping out of the formation.

"Hypnosis." zazarie spoke and everyone turned to him.

"Those two must have hypnotized them." Bukata added and everyone gasped.

"No wonder she wasn’t blinking. She must be of the Nfari tribe." kiuga finally nodded all the pieces, finally fitting into his head. "I thought that is their secret art and they use it only when against a lethal opponent. Why are they scared of you sagiri the blind?" Everyone turned curiously to look at sagiri but just like them he did not have an answer.

"Maybe they think I’m someone I’m not." he said, losing the defensive position and straightened on his feet.

"How shameful of the Haku tribe to protect a Nfari." Kaka snickered. He was not even bothered by the hypnosis.

"You have been dying to pop flasks, why don’t you go ahead and pop the four." Kiuga said to Kaka and it hit a nerve just like he wanted. He was always getting under Kaka’s skin.

"I have honour, popping balloons of a helpless opponent is not honorable." Kaka snarled about going to chase Kiuga but he faked being in pain and Kaka stopped. He was stretching his self pity so far.

"Let’s wake them." Sagiri said, already heading towards them. before he reached them however the four gasped coming back to their senses at the same time. They wheeled around as if looking for the two but when they did not find them their eyes rested on the team of ten a few feet from them. sagiri could perceive their heavy feelings of confusion then followed by hopelessness, especially from the girl who seemed more scared of the three. They checked their flasks and when they found them unpopped they helplessness grew. They had somehow managed to keep their flasks intact till morning and looked at the group of them with two huge bami clan descendants. They knew they did not have a chance.

"You are finally awake." Kiuga said, yawning again. It seemed the herbs side effects had not completely worn off yet. The Konate students did not even answer. They just stared at them wearily. Waiting for them to execute their attack.

"Let’s go." Sagiri said changing trajectory. The four were not his target. He wanted to catch up to the two and make them explain why they were after him. He was the lead of the formation anyway and the others followed him. just like kaka had said where was the honour of popping their flasks when they were still confused. It was completely dishonorable to fight an opponent who is already down.

Dawn had now completely broken and the team put their goggles away. The team did not encounter other teams on the way. they did not get to fight any team the whole night yet they had encountered two bizarre things and they were more than done with the exercise. Team 25 was the last to break through the woods and all others were already gathered. Those with popped and those with unpopped balloons all stood in neat lines. The sun was already breaking through the horizon when they broke through the tree line. After they witnessed the hypnosis they moved even more slowly. Even the four must have passed them at some point because they were standing on the front line with their flasks intact.

"It seems the cat is out of the basket now." Kiuga said, his eyes stopping at the tamelku twins who were eyeing them with a barren expression. "You better stick to the king of bami in the next round if you don’t want to die." he added and kaka snickered.

"Cadets in line!" Miss Lakiya announced scaling down the gate. She had been perched atop the gate watching the cadets arrive.

"We only had two hundred flasks popped, much to my disappointment." She started taping her head. "Now then, I shall announce the results. It was almost a tie between konate wild and galka war academy. 176 from the Galka War Academy retained their balloons and 134 from konate retained their flask." she announced with little joy. It was as if she wanted only two out three cadets to retain their flasks.

"No one died so I will take it that the half exercise was a success. Now then, those with burst flasks walk on your hands to the dining wing." she announced. "Those without burst flasks. join them you only gained an extra life for the next match. move!" she laughed watching the others walk away. Team 25 did not move however and after they saluted miss lakiya they made a beeline towards captain salka.

"I thought the principal asked you to protect the recruit till the exercise is over. Don’t tell me you are tired already." Captain Salka said, leaning further on the wall. A bow was rightly held in his left hand and a quiver full of arrows was resting by his left boot. It seemed he had been in the woods too to hunt or do whatever he enjoyed doing. Seeing his choice of weapon sagiri was even more sure he was not the one who had finished off the gravescale

"That is not the case, captain." Kiuga spoke first.

"We were attacked by a gravescale deep in the eastern woods." N’varu chimed in.

"You were asked not to go too far. Since none of you is dead then there is no cause for alarm. The outer nonagon district has all wild animals you can think of for your own training. As you know the woods have always been here and the founders just established a wall around and the inner nonagon deep in the woods.

"We understand Captain." Kiuga answered, ready to leave with the rest. Apart from the three no one else knew the gravescale had died.

"The Vorrash is dead." Kaka said and everyone who had not witnessed it wheeled around.

"If you killed it as a team then it is not something to be worried about. I’d say you make a good team if you managed to bring the beast down with only daggers." Captain Salka said, his chest was visibly swelling with pride.

"It wasn’t us. Someone killed it in the most dishonorable way." Kaka said and Salka’s eye brows rose.

"What?" he asked, pushing his back off the wall.

"I went back near the nest to pick herbs for Kiuga with N’varu and Kaka, it hadn’t been long since it injured Kiuga yet it was dead when we got back. The killer did not use a dagger either." Sagiri explained as fast as he could. He had a bad feeling since they found the gravescale dead and he had not been able to get rid of it. It was as if someone had killed it for show.

"Where did you say that was?" Salka asked, his attention piqued.

"Deep in the eastern woods." N’varu answered by pointing with his hand.

"Don’t speak of this. Now leave before I punish you for failing to use the red flare." He seethed already moving. He put an object to his mouth and blew air into it. The death call whistle. He did not even wait for anyone before he disappeared through the gate into the woods.

"It is dead?" kiuga asked at a loss for words. "You went back there to get me herbs near its nest?" He asked both questions simultaneously but no one answered. It seemed all the boys were tongue tied. Even as they got on their hands and walked to the dining room with the exception of sagiri who was still not able to hold a handstand for long, no one spoke.

The ten were the last to arrive at the dining wing. Everyone was woofing down their food to even pay them any attention. They ended up pooling at one table. No one spoke even then as if they had made a silent pact not to talk about the incident.

"Hey?" a soft voice broke the silence and everyone turned around. sagiri was sitting closest to the edge and when he looked up the girl among the four from earlier was standing beside him and looking directly at him.

"You must be the sagiri, the aged student and suffocation chamber protegee." she now appeared less timid. she must have been scared because of the confusion of coming out of the hypnosis. "I am Marana Beshaku of the Bashu tribe." She introduced. Her right hand went to her left wrist pushing the hem of the combat suit back. She wrapped her hand around it before pushing her left wrist tightly to her breast. The tattoo of a Spiral tail wrapping around the wrist was a known marking of her clan and her showing it ’unintentionally’ in greeting was a sign that she was honoring him and something more.

"Sagiri the blind, it seems she considers you a worthy partner to marry." kiuga cheered and the whole table came alive.

"Your praises I don’t deserve." Sagiri said and he meant it. It was his benefactor’s idea to put him in the suffocation chamber and he survived by mere luck. He did not deserve her praises. Her deep brown eyes narrowed and a small smile reached her face.

"Do the two wide eyed kids who hypnotized you usually backstab their comrades?" Maita asked.

"What two?" the girl asked as if she did not know who hypnotized them. Of course that was the use of hypnosis. You take control of your enemies mind for a while and you can choose to modify what they remember. That must have been the case.

"Thank you for letting us keep our flasks." She did the same gesture but without showing her tattoo. Her eyes still remained on Sagiri. "Since you helped me this time I will be sure to return the favour in the next match if it calls for it. pressed her hand to her breast again before leaving.

"Sagiri you have to teach me your charm, she totally wants to marry you." Ulekai groaned in jealousy. "I have never had a girl show me her clan tattoo, I’m so jealousy." he laid his head on the table.

"She only wanted to show gratitude to all of us," Sagiri said wondering why everyone suddenly thought the girl wanted him as a life partner.

"Oh Sagiri the blind, you are more blind than I thought. She showed you her tattoo, "Kiuga said. In some customs and tribes a girl only showed her tribal tattoo to the man she wished to marry. Most of those tattoos were in hidden parts of the body like the lower back, in the thighs and even waist. Her wrist was not so hidden and to sagiri it was just unintentional.

"He is right, the girl just wanted to show gratitude." Kaka was also at a loss for words too not understanding Kiuga’s logic, and everyone at the table stared between the two.

"King of Bami, not you too." Kiuga slapped a hand to his face.

"I have failed," Kiuga shook his head as if he was in physical pain.