The Angkhora Warriors

Part 9: Old Monk

She had not eaten for days. When she saw the journeymen with dumplings, she could not resist it. She was hoping that the cloud over the moon would camouflage her. But one of the men had noticed her hiding under the leaves. She continued running. The man caught up to her as she tripped over a vine. When he noticed her weak and shaking on the ground, he stepped toward her slowly with his sword raised like someone about to swat a fly. She braced herself for the blade.

As he was about to swing, rainbow powder drifted into his eyes. A heavy sound of flapping filled the wind as the swarm descended on the man. The man swung his sword, but the mass of butterflies avoided each attempt. He started coughing and choking. Blood streamed from his nose, mouth, and eyes, and he fell onto the ground in spasms.

A second man jumped into the clearing, and he too was blinded by the poison cloud. He dropped his blade and rubbed his eyes. Screaming in pain, he rubbed harder, blood started to stream down his face. He too coughed and choked and slumped onto the ground.

The butterflies circled near Dinda. When she held her hand up, Purple landed on the tip of her finger. "Thank you..." she said. A few more landed on her shoulder. "You are all I have now."

I have lost all my loved ones.

She waited for the butterflies to fly away from her, but they had no intention of leaving any time soon. They clung to her tightly, even when she stood up. She thought they would leave her once she started walking again, but they didn't. They only clutched to her tighter as she walked through the dark forest.

There were many times she wanted to go back to her hut to see whether there was a possibility of anyone alive. But Purple stopped her and nudged her to stay in the forest.

Through an opening in the canopy, the moonlight revealed an outcropping of rocks. Dinda examined the area around the rocks to ensure that nothing was lurking, ready to pounce when she got close. But there was nothing there. She looked around for a moment and found a nice flat rock to lay on. "This is perfect," she said to herself. Then she stretched out and got as comfortable as she could.

After what had happened, she had become suspicious of everything around her, confused by the whole ordeal—the curse, the betrayal, black magic, Undead.

The butterflies released themselves from Dinda's body and dispersed into the night air. She waved goodbye to them as they flew away in different directions. "Thank you for your help," she whispered. She watched them rise, expecting to see the butterflies disappear into the dark sky. But instead of vanishing into the night, they simply found resting spots nearby, close enough to Dinda so that they could reach her quickly if she needed them.

"You're staying?" she asked, before she drifted off to sleep with a smile on her face and a feeling of protection.

The next morning, when she woke up, she was surprised to see that the butterflies were still by her side. She noticed that they were perfectly still when she first opened her eyes. But the more active she became, the more movement she saw from them, as if they were somehow in tune with her consciousness. A loud rumble erupted from Dinda's stomach as she thought about a warm breakfast. Purple dashed in front of her face, flying in one direction and then back to her again.

"Are you trying to tell me something?" Dinda asked as she followed Purple.

It led her through some undergrowth then stopped and fluttered around a wild mango tree. When Dinda looked up, she noticed several large mangoes hanging from the tree. She gingerly pulled a few down and sank her teeth into the largest one. She carried several handfuls of the mangoes back to the rock cropping and stuffed her bag full of them.