Chapter 10: Kapa Haka: Story of the Ngata Daemons
"I know you said that you don't want me here. Honestly, I don't give a shit. He's the only family that I have left. I knew that for a while now. " said Raven.
Mira did express any reaction. "You can find a tent or a shelter. The Earth Home is for Mahuta and me. Only one bed. Talk to Trina, and she will get you straight."
"Where's Mahuta?" Raven asked.
"It's 'Chief' now. Mahuta in private. Only I call his name public, let alone its abbreviations." said Mira, "He is at the crash. I will let him know you are here."
Raven just nodded. Mira sighed to herself. She hated seeing a woman without her flame. "Look..." she said, "It will not be easy here. But you will get used to it and learn to appreciate it. What happened at Drop Site is not to be brought to Little Creek. You need to shake it and get focused. And if it is a Mahuta problem, you know he is a decent man. All you need to do is talk to him. Let it go. It is late. Sleep with me tonight and talk to Trina in the morning."
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"Sleep is for the safe and secure. Let's keep it going!" Mahuta shouted as he worked beside his people.
"Ae, ariki tapairu!" the warriors replied.
Mahuta and his warriors worked, loaded carriages, and sent them back to Little Creek. During the first return, Mahuta got the message about Raven.
More carriages of salvage and days passed before Mahuta said anything about Raven. Instead, he called for tools and personnel changes. Raven swore the Mahuta was made at her and threw her self into tinkering. The military radios and walkie talkies were functional and disbursed. An antenna was built. An engine stripped from a vehicle was rebuilt and repurposed as the main generator for Little Creek, cutting their oil use down to one percent of their usual as Raven built a hybrid. Half oil, half solar powered.
On the third night, Mahuta finally called for her to join him at the crash site.
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-Crash Site-
"The Exodus came day early. We should find the black box and figured out what happened," said Raven
"Birdy..." said Mahuta.
"Yeah?" she asked.
"I found the black box and stripped it myself before sending it to you. I don't give a shit why the ship crashed. I'm not going up, so that's a problem for the ark to fix before the comedown. My family is right here. I called you to help me with Hydrazine," Mahuta explained.
"Okay..." Raven replied, "And... Little Creek is amazing...Tupuna will be proud."
"Don't kiss my ass. I built it for us. As long as you like it, I'm good. Now let's go bottle some rocket fuel." Said Mahuta.
Raven liked that. No talking, just work. Because she still didn't know what to say to him. And frankly, Mahuta didn't know what to say to her.
Together, they worked quietly and carefully. They bottled eight mason jars before the people from Drop Site arrived. Mahuta then took Raven to do some tinkering to keep her focused while Drop Site scavenged for what they wanted. But Little Creek had practically stripped the site. Three days of nonstop moving. It was Mira called discipline, the very thing she said Drop Site lacked.
When Mahuta felt that Raven was losing focus because of Finn and Clarke, Mahuta addressed it.
"He moved on pretty fast," said Mahuta.
Raven snapped her head towards Mahuta. She saw his big smile, and then she sighed. "Best friend. Even though a cell you learned me inside and out."
"I did. " said Mahuta, " I don't want any drama. So we are going to leave. And I am going to see how well you remember Tupuna's lessons."
" But there's still a lot we can use," said Raven.
"Naw. We have more than enough for our numbers. Let's go."
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The next day at Little Creek was a lax day. Mahuta had pit Mira and Raven against each other. Mira was new, and Raven was very rusty, or so Mahuta thought.
The Tribe watched as Mira and Raven went through unarmed sparring. The two women lost all feminine elegance with the brutish, fast-paced style of combat. Instead, they dawned a new allure as warriors in the heat of combat.
The exchange of fist and elbows, grappling, and knee strikes were all the more thrilling as the camp cheered them on. But Mahuta could see that Raven still practiced from time to time as his Birdy still floated on air.
Mahuta called out to stop the spar, and it seemed that women looked at each other with a new light. That had understood something in the exchange of fist that words could no explain.
"Alright! Everybody get lost!" Mahuta ordered.
When the creek was clear, Mahuta, Raven, Mira went through a light training session as he corrected some flaws in their form and added new forms to complete their skills. By midday, Mahuta had randomly decided to teach his tribe the Haka, a ceremonial dance or challenge. To celebrate or mourn both life and death.
Mahuta told them all the story of the sun god, Tama-nui-te-rā, and his two wives, the Summer Maid, Hine-raumati, and the Winter Maid, Hine-takurua. Haka originated in the coming of Hine-raumati, whose presence on still, hot days was revealed in a quivering appearance in the air. The stories of war, death, life, peace, love, and hate.
As the Ngata tribe watched from all around, he demonstrated an art lost to time. He started his breaths to become big and controlled. The inhale and exhale so defined every breath was like was raging wind storm. His people could feel the energy rising and goosebumps formed on their bodies.
Mahuta's eyes suddenly went bugged, and his tongue shot out. He looked crazed, tyrannical. And when Mahuta finally began to chant, his voice bellowed with spirit and emotion. His body movement with intent and strength. He worked to make his people feel and connect with everything he chanted and did.
Even when they couldn't understand it, he could see the tears in the eyes of his people—The smiles, anger, joy, respect, pride. The Haka reached deep within each of them and pulled something out that was hidden.
And when Mahuta's feet stamped the ground, when he slapped his body and his muscles vigorously contracted. His mana surged, and the world woke to his presence.
Leaping in the air, he came down with a thundering stump. His fist struck the earth, and his head swung twice, conjuring the winds. And then it was over.
For his tribe and his specific time in existence and the struggles they faced. Mahuta made a new chant telling the story of their fall from heaven as a blessing and curse. The love and loss of new and old friends, the battle for survival and prosperity, the conquering of death, the relishing of life. Ending with the beginning of the Nagata Tribe and their will to fight for love and dirt.
And when they learned this Haka, Mahuta saw warriors in each of them. He watched as the fire of their souls changed color because it burned more hot and intense than it ever did since they landed on the ground.
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The next day, Mahuta was wakened with the news that Octavia had arrived seeking refuge. The grounders had released a fever, and the whole camp was sick. She told them that an army was supposed to cross the bridge and attack in less than 24 hours.
Mahuta rushed out with nothing but pants on as he climbed the palisade. Mahuta stood next to the lead guard on shift, then looked down and saw Octavia standing in the woods without a single weapon to defend herself.
"Octavia! You were told that you are not welcome here. Sickness or not, you need to turn around!" he shouted.
Octavia frowned. "I don't know anything about you," she said, "But in the water, you saved me. And when I was free, I pulled your spear from the deer and got it to you. I know that counts for something."
"I am grateful. However, you can be carrying the sickness. If you have a message speak it. If you don't, you can't blame me for sending you away." said Mahuta.
"If you send me away, they will all die. We already lost seven, and we will keep losing. When the grounders cross the bridge, they will breeze through Drop Site and come for Little Creek!"
Mahuta felt a small hand touch his back as Mira walked beside him.
"What do Clarke and Bellamy say?" Mahuta asked.
"They're sick! Finn's in charge! But all he can say is, 'if Raven was here.' he's useless." Octavia replied.
Mahuta looked to Mira and all the people looking back at him. As a strategist, helping Drop Site now would give Little Creek the time they needed to mark their territory. And with his number, in less than 24 hours, no one would dare into his woods.
"You feel like doing something dangerous?" Mahuta asked Octavia.
"If it will save my brother, hell yes."
Mahuta assembled his tribe, and he pulled out his grandfather's fourth book.
"Traps! Traps for boars and bears. Listen to Raven and turn these woods into a death sentence. I need ten people who think they can do the Haka." said Mahuta.
Besides Mahuta, Raven was the only one who knew how to speak Maori. She had to stay and translate the book, and with her skills as a mechanic, Mahuta trusted her not to let anyone kill themselves.
When Mahuta grabbed some supplies, he left with ten people, Mira, and Octavia to the bridge that Trikru would use.
"So, what's the plan?" Octavia asked.
"A welcome ceremony with fireworks," said Mahuta.
Mahuta pulled out two jars of Hydrazine when they got to the bridge, a jug of oil, some rope, and a large can of shrapnel.
Moving more than halfway across the bridge, Mahuta dumped out the shrapnel, placed the hydrazine jars in the can, filled with oil, then placed the shrapnel in the oil. He finally took the rope, anchored it between the two jars. As he rolled out the rope leading back to his side of the bridge, he doused it with oil.
"What the hell did you just make?" Octavia asked.
"A three-prong bomb. Destroy the bridge, kill with shrapnel, and the third you'll have to witness yourself." Said Mahuta.
Mahuta then waited for the grounder army to come. Octavia wanted to wait next to them, but Mahuta told her it would best to watch from the sidelines.
When the sound of war drums began to echo, and Mahuta could feel the presence of an army coming, he and his people started to breathe, and it sounded like a wind storm. Octavia looked confused. She thought Mahuta and his people had gone mad until their faces morphed, and she flinched out of fright.
Soon they stomped in unison. The sound quickly overtook the Grounder's war drums. Octavia was hooked by how twelve people sounded like hundreds. The thundering stumps were joined by hiss and growls . When Mahuta saw the flames of torches in the trees on the other side of the bridge, he shouted ferocious Maori words into the word like a God damning humanity.
Octavia could feel her soul shake as the forest on their side of the bridge seemed to awaken from a long slumber. With Mahuta's warriors, the forest chanted after their chief, and their branches and trunks creaked with the sound of stumping, slapping flesh, and the war cries of the Ngata.
Octavia shakily watched the pattern of Mahuta shouting, and his warriors chanted in tow. Their bodies move like demon's and the world cheered them on. She had no idea what their words meant, but they ignited her and touched a place that existed only in the 100 that was cast out from the city in the sky after being imprisoned.
The grounders were now at a full stop as they watched the Haka being performed by their crazed enemies. They watched as the Maori challenge invoked the rage of the planet and beckoned them to the battlefield.
Anya appeared from the trees with her second in command, a small girl shaking at the sight of the Haka.
As the Haka camp to an end and the Ngata struck the ground while swinging their heads in circles, the oiled rope ignited, and the winds fanned the flame. With the energy of the Haka still present, the bomb explodes, destroying the bridge and introducing the grounders to do death at the hands of the Ngata.
As shrapnel flew and tore through everything. Mahuta stepped forward with a warrior. A mana shield was erected, and everything that passed through it turned to dust. When the clouds cleared and the surviving grounds rose to the screams of their kin. They were terrified to see the Ngata so close to the bomb but untouched.
When Octavia saw this, she finally understood why Mahuta called it a three-pronged bomb. Whatever the Grounders believed in, that faith had shattered or unrepairable cracks because of Mahuta's powerful display.
Octavia suddenly remembered the fear in Lincoln's, her grounder lover's, eyes. When she mentioned traveling to LIttle Creek for Skaiheda's help. Lincoln had seen Mahuta's power before and never wished to walk on Mahuta's land again.
From Drop Site, Clarke and Bellamy stared in awe of the great plum cloud.
"This would feel so much better if he was setting of bombs to save us." said Clarke.
"It just so happens we're on the same side of the bridge." Bellamy added.
"We won't survive without him. And we're down eleven more people. We need to go to Little Creek." Clarke tore her eyes away from the plum cloud
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