The Last Oracle Read online

  Toma offered Valeria a hand as she climbed into the elevated back seat of the vehicle, and then he sat behind the wheel. Mick, their English guide, was already sitting on the passenger side; and Zamy, the Zulu tracker, buckled himself into the wire mesh seat. Valeria glanced toward Caleb who was standing with Amy’s family at their Land Rover.

  “Let’s go, buddy!” Valeria said.

  “Oh…okay.” Caleb pouted as he headed toward her. Alex had stopped going with them on the game drives a few weeks before, after he had confirmed her safety. He seemed to be working so often that it caused Valeria to believe that he must be having some financial concerns. She wasn’t worried. From the time she was sixteen years old, she had lived on her own with nothing more than her daily income from selling her floral creations near Central Park to feed, clothe, and shelter herself. If need be, she could do it again.

  But Alex always had money at his disposal, until the day they left all of their worldly possessions to escape the beheading promised by the Council of Delos. Now, he was unable to access those resources. She wished he didn’t have to worry so much.

  “We have room. Can’t Raiden—I mean Caleb—ride with us?” Amy begged.

  “We would love for you to join us. We have plenty of room,” Amy’s mother added in her clipped British accent.

  Well not “plenty” Valeria noted. There was no room for Toma, and Alex had insisted that Toma accompany her. But seeing the hope in Caleb’s eyes, she jumped from the back of her Land Rover.

  “Mrs. Morgan, I don’t think that’s wise,” Toma said from behind her.

  “It’ll be fine,” she said, glancing to him from over her shoulder. Of course, he was already following her.

  Toma scrambled around to meet her. “Mrs. Morgan, I assured Mr. Morgan that—”

  Valeria raised a hand to brush off his comments. “I’ll tell Alex. We don’t need to trouble him with this.”

  With that, she swung up into the back seat of the Smythe’s Land Rover, while Caleb, with an excited grin, slid into the front seat beside Amy. The tracker and guide were pros. They knew how to handle an aggressive animal, and it certainly didn’t require a bodyguard!

  As they pulled out, Valeria saw Toma making a call on his radio. Alex had never been cross with her, but he certainly would not be happy about this.

  “Tattletale,” she muttered to herself.

  She shook off the thought and enjoyed feeling like a fairly normal person…although, since she fell in love with Alex, life was too extraordinary to be considered normal.

  The guide to this vehicle passed Valeria a blanket for her legs and then pulled into the blackness of the African bush. The Land Rover’s headlights briefly illuminated the dust flying up from the road as the vehicle began to move, He was driving faster than typical. She realized that the guide was concerned about an additional delay, risking that there would be fewer animal sightings, which determined his tips.

  Ganya, their Zulu tracker, turned on his flashlight and began shining it into the brush rapidly, left and right, as they drove. When they had first arrived, Valeria questioned the tracker about a set of glowing eyes that she had spotted.

  “Rodents,” the tracker said without delay, or sometimes, “birds.” As rapidly as he had glanced at the glowing eyes, she couldn’t imagine that he’d actually identified the creatures. But the guide would always patiently stop the vehicle and back it up. The tracker would illuminate the creature with his flashlight and, to her surprise, he was always correct.

  Valeria marveled as the sun began to rise, lighting up the enormous African sky. It was nearly black to the west and the palest of blues to the east, with light pink-feathered clouds brushing the blue of the sky, as the yellow and orange orb rose above the horizon, touching the rounded top of an acacia tree.

  Mrs. Smythe leaned around her husband and asked Valeria, “Have you seen the hippos yet? They took us to the river yesterday and it was the most marvelous experience!”

  “Oh, I would’ve loved to have seen them!” Valeria wondered why her guide hadn’t taken them to see the hippos.

  “It really was fantastic!” Mr. Smythe said. “Of course, it is a bit of a jaunt to the river by foot. But you really must see them.”

  Now Valeria understood why her guide hadn’t taken her to see the hippos. Leaving the vehicle was against Alex’s rules. Just then, some static sounded on the radio and Alan, the Smythe’s guide, picked up the mic and spoke into it.

  “Sorry, mate, can’t understand a word you’re saying,” Alan said into the hand-held microphone. Valeria felt relieved, as she was certain that Toma was setting the rules of the drive and that would certainly not include seeing the hippos. A few minutes later, she thought she saw dust rising in the distance.

  “Would you like to see the hippos, Mrs. Morgan?” Alan asked, bringing the vehicle to a stop.

  Glancing to Caleb, who was still heavily engaged in conversation, she hesitated for no more than a millisecond before responding, “Yes, I would!”

  Jumping out of the vehicle, she saw that Caleb was holding hands with Amy. Getting out of the vehicle would mean he would have to release her hand, and he might not get his nerve up again. The boy lowered his brow, clearly torn, as he glanced from Amy to Valeria.

  “Caleb, why don’t you stay here? We won’t be long.” She smiled at him.

  He offered her a guilty nod. Alex would not be happy about any of this—particularly that she had left the Land Rover. The first lesson of safari was that as long as you didn’t stand or separate yourself from the vehicle, the animals perceived the 4x4 and its occupants as a single, large animal. By leaving the vehicle, the danger mounted exponentially.

  Also, hippos were known as the most dangerous animals in Africa, killing more than lions, crocodiles, or even the unpredictable and foul-tempered Cape buffalo. The hippos, with their enormous canines and incisors, were known for being extremely aggressive and unpredictable, and worst of all, unafraid of humans. In the mornings, when the hippos would graze outside the river, unprovoked, they could suddenly charge at up to 18 mph and snap anything from canoes to people in half, without missing a step in their lope toward the safety of the river.

  But Valeria justified that the guides wouldn’t take her to see them if it was truly dangerous. Besides, other guests had gone down to the river and all had been fine.

  The trail of dust on the road behind them climbed higher, no doubt with Toma’s increased speed. She was certain that Toma wouldn’t hesitate to physically stop her if he had the opportunity. Alan threw a rifle over his arm as they headed toward the brush that surrounded the river. Suddenly, she glanced down and froze as she lowered her brows.

  “Alan, umm, I have a question.”

  “Yes?”

  She pointed to a paw print, in the tan dust, that was larger than her hand. Based on the sharp ridges, it was very recent.

  “Isn’t that a lion? That’s huge. It must be a male,” she said.

  Alan glanced down. “Yes,” he said as he grasped her elbow, rapidly moving her back toward the vehicle.

  Toma was now fifty feet from them. He was typically expressionless, but even from this distance, she could see that he was angry. She saw Caleb’s sudden awareness that he had left his post of protecting her in a dangerous environment, and then guilt for having been so distracted.

  “Caleb, it’s fine.” She smiled at him.

  Just then, a loud roar sounded from not so far away.

  Alan turned his head toward the source of the sound as he lifted Valeria back into her seat.

  “Let’s go!”

  Picking up the radio, Alan alerted the others to the location of the lions. Lion sightings always thrilled their guests.

  They drove off in the direction of the roar. Down a trail, they spotted a family of hyenas. That was always a good indicator that lions were near. In Kruger, the hyenas scavenged the lion’s leftovers—bones; due to that, their droppings were white. Their guide had told them that in other
parts of Africa, the hyenas did the killing and the lions were the scavengers.

  The family of hyenas turned slowly to mosey on, leaving one lone baby hyena that was half the size of its parents. As they drew near the creature, Valeria was stunned to realize that the “small baby” was the size of a giant Labrador retriever. This suggested that the parents easily stood at least four feet tall and were possibly two hundred pounds or more. Caleb, sitting in the front passenger side, was thrilled as he looked at the hyena with great affection. Immediately, the hyena hung its tongue out of its mouth and panted, as if anxious for a belly scratch.

  Caleb glanced back at Valeria and she responded instantly, “No! We cannot take him home!” Alan and the Smythes broke into laughter.

  Toma pulled up directly behind them as they turned to cross a deep ravine, and then drove alongside the savannah of tall golden grass.

  The peacefulness was suddenly purged by a lioness that burst through the grass no more than five feet away from them. She let out a deafening roar, which was not the least bit suppressed by the bloody shank of an animal that hung from her mouth. The lioness shook her head violently from side to side.

  “She’s telling the others in the pride that the rest of the kill is hers. It’s a sign of dominance. The others must be near,” the guide said, excitedly.

  As they pulled forward, there were four giant cats sprawled around a bloody spot in the middle where the kill had been. Valeria was staggered to see how close they were to them. Toma’s Land Rover almost bumped up against theirs.

  “Looks like they got a bok,” Alan said. She had already heard that “bok” was Africaans for antelope. She had seen them in all sizes, from the enormous wildebeest, which were considered an antelope, to the tiny twenty-pound dik-diks.

  “The females do the hunting at night. If that kill had been large enough, they would have taken it back to the pride. The females need this bit of food so that they have the energy for the next chase.”

  One of the cats began playing kitty games with Valeria. The lioness got closer and, suddenly, Valeria thought about how the mouse typically ended up as dinner in kitty games.

  “Is this normal?” she asked as her fingers pulled the blanket up higher on her legs.

  “Don’t worry, mum. They do this…sometimes,” Ganya, the Zulu tracker, said calmly.

  The cat’s eyes were enormous amber orbs that never moved from Valeria. The lioness did pretend lunges toward her several times.

  “Cool!” Caleb shouted in an excited voice and Amy giggled.

  “Look at that creature! Magnificent!” Mrs. Smythe said as she adjusted her camera.

  “Are we all right here?” Valeria asked as the lioness moved closer to her.

  “Driver! Move on!” Toma demanded.

  Alan rolled his eyes. He was not about to permit an over-zealous bodyguard to destroy his guests’ pleasure—or his tips. He knew his job better than anyone else and had never endangered a guest.

  From the corner of her eyes, Valeria saw that Toma had his hand on his rifle. It would not be good to shoot this gorgeous creature because it got a bit too friendly. Besides, there was no telling who would die if the shot wasn’t perfect. Still, Toma had been selected for not only his instincts and judgment, but for his ability to shoot accurately.

  The lioness suddenly lunged and stepped onto the edge of the Land Rover toward Valeria. At that moment, despite her nervousness, she heard the clicking on Toma’s rifle and knew he was now poised to shoot this magnificent creature. As the cat rubbed its face against her legs, Valeria realized how small and insignificant she was next to it, and she fought the instinctive impulse to stand and run, knowing that would be deadly. She saw Caleb’s expression—a combination of extreme guilt and awe.

  “Caleb, stay where you are!” she ordered with as much authority as she could muster, with the lioness stepping up toward her. It sniffed her knees and ankles.

  “Mum, they do that to me often and never bite as long as you don’t stand. Do you understand?” Ganya asked. Alan was too dazed to say a word. “Mum! Do you understand?” the tracker demanded again.

  “Yes,” Valeria said warily, trying to find her voice.

  Then, with a slight growl, the lioness moved its face near Valeria’s. Nearly holding her breath, Valeria was stunned with terror, and also by the beauty of it.

  “Mrs. Morgan, I want you to slowly move your head to the right,” Toma said softly, but with authority.

  If she moved to the right, Toma might decide to fire. She didn’t want the lioness to be shot. But she did wish it would move off the vehicle.

  Continuing to snap her camera, Mrs. Smythe leaned forward around her husband.

  “It is interesting how close the animals come and yet we are so perfectly safe.”

  No one else could speak. Without removing her eyes from the cat, Valeria thought about how Mrs. Smythe was on the other side of her husband and separated by two people…or as Valeria thought at the moment, two meals, perhaps having already had a snack. Mrs. Smythe would be brought back for the rest of the pride; add Mr. Smythe’s ample gut to the mix, and they would have a full meal. From the corner of her eyes, Valeria could see that Mr. Smythe’s face had lost all hint of its ruddiness and his eyes were as large as saucers. Obviously, he was thinking the same thing.

  Finally, the creature stepped off the vehicle, and the driver pulled forward as the lioness lunged toward them again. Valeria worried that Toma was about to fire; then the lioness stepped back and permitted them to leave. She drew a deep sigh of relief, especially when she saw Toma replacing his rifle into its cradle along the dash.

  In a mixture of the shout that travelled between Land Rovers and the crackle that came over the radio, she heard, “This drive is over! Return to camp, immediately!”

  As the Land Rover headed off through the dust, Mrs. Smythe was the only one to speak. “That was just thrilling! I shall share it with all of our friends and I am certain they will all wish to partake in this extraordinary experience! It is amazing how safe I felt; as if the animal was in a zoo.”

  Sitting next to Valeria, Mr. Smythe was pale and his voice was breathy. “My dear, I have no idea what you are talking about! I was certain that this young woman was cat food!”

  ∞

  Arriving back at the camp, Valeria glanced at Caleb who bowed his head in shame as he headed toward the lodge headquarters—the only location with Wi-Fi and telephones—where Alex had established his office.

  “Caleb, let’s get breakfast and then why don’t you and Amy play a computer game.”

  He looked uncertain.

  “Come on. Alex will hear about it soon enough,” she said, placing her arm on his shoulder. “It was my responsibility to do what he asked.” The boy shook his head and she saw tears brimming his eyes. “You’re still my superhero…and I’m still whole. Superheroes only come to the rescue when they are needed. Obviously, you weren’t needed right then.”

  Caleb drew a deep breath and hugged Valeria. She could tell he was about to break down so she muffled his hair and tried to lighten the mood.

  “So, Amy, huh?”

  Caleb blushed. “She’s okay…for a girl.” He glanced up at Valeria. “But not as good as you.”

  She raised her eyebrows and sighed. “Yes, well, she’s a sweet girl.”

  He nodded, relieved that he could delay telling Alex that he’d failed to protect Valeria. Sitting at their elegant outdoor table, they feasted on scrambled eggs and bacon. Alex typically joined them for breakfast. She wondered if he was still asleep—although after Toma woke him, which he most certainly did, Alex would not have gone back to sleep. Frankly, she had expected to see Alex in the Land Rover with Toma. Now she was glad Alex hadn’t been there.

  She glanced toward their hut just as the maid stepped out, leaving the door open as she shook out a rug. No, Alex wasn’t sleeping. Valeria glanced toward the lodge office and saw that the doors were closed, for once. Then she noticed that Toma, the Smyth
e’s guide, Alan, and both of their trackers were all missing from breakfast. The trackers and guides typically joined the guests for meals, to share their adventures and answer questions. Valeria hoped their absence didn’t have anything to do with the occurrences on the drive, but she was certain it did.

  She was tempted to go directly to the office and take full responsibility for her actions. Then, in a moment of cowardice, she changed her mind; she would let things cool down a bit first. She needed to go for a walk, but that was forbidden without Toma; instead, she headed back to the hut, opened her Kindle, and read Hemmingway.

  After several hours, she realized that even Hemmingway couldn’t hold her attention today. Her mind kept wandering back to her dream the previous evening and the lioness’s response to her that morning. She took a nap and when she awoke, she realized it was dark again. No one had knocked for the evening game drive. She suspected Alex had called a halt to her participation in the drives. But it was her only opportunity to get out.

  She was surprised that she hadn’t seen Alex at all today, except for a few brief minutes before the morning’s game drive. She had expected him to come by and gently remind her of the rules. She was certain that not seeing him was a bad sign. He had never gotten upset with her, but she had an inkling that this was going to be a first.

  Rising, she went to shower and decided that she would face the situation head-on. As the water ran over her, she fought her insecurities, assuring herself that Alex loved her. Still, something was going on. His prolonged absences were getting even longer. And now, evidently, his work was calling him late at night.

  After drying her hair, she pulled on her underwear and a blouse and, without buttoning it, stepped out of the bathroom. To her surprise, Alex was there sorting through some things on the bureau. He immediately turned to her and his grin expanded into a dazzling smile. She felt immediate relief.

  Then she realized, a minute too late, that her shirt hung open and, although she was covered, it was more revealing than she had ever been with him before. He drew a deep breath as he reached for her and pulled her into him.