Wizard of the Crow

seven times, only to have the word seven echo in the corridors of his mind as if it had a life of its own and was asserting itself. The magic must be working. Seven. The Seven Herbs of Grace. The word kept playing tricks on him. Sometimes the word seven found itself in the middle of a sentence: The Herbs of Grace were Seven. Sometimes at the beginning: Seven were the Herbs of Grace. Seven Grace. Grace Seven. Grace Mugwanja. Grace Mugwanjar

Nyawlra’s other names were Grace Mugwanja. Was this possible? He felt paralyzed with disbelief at the thoughts now forming in his mind. Had the Wizard of the Crow been trying to communicate something to him about Nyawlra? That Nyawlra could be found? Seven herbs of Grace. Grace. Seven. Grace Mugwanja. The different faces of the Wizard of the Crow started floating in the air. He was now certain that he had seen that face before. It was the face of the person who had changed himself into a beggar outside the gates of Paradise.

Kaniuru was so disoriented that he had to hold on to the wall of the bathroom in order not to fall. The man was no ordinary sorcerer. He was one of those djinns reputed to wield potent magic. That explains why he knew all about me even though he had never seen me. He even knew the drama in my heart! That’s why he asked me whether a woman was holding my heart captive. He was upset with himself, now recalling his response: that although it was true that he was looking for her, that had not been his mission in coming to the shrine.

The more he thought about that extraordinary exchange, the more it became clear that the Wizard of the Crow had been trying to direct his thinking toward Nyawlra. The man was as much as saying that he knew Nyawlra. Indeed, Kaniuru himself now recalled that he had once seen this man and Nyawlra talking animatedly on the side street next to Tajirika’s office. And according to Tajirika in the video, Nyawlra herself had proposed the visit to the shrine of the Wizard of the Crow. The Wizard of the Crow was offering his help. He should have taken up the offer.

An idea struck him. The Wizard of the Crow could easily find Nyawlra through the powers of the mirror. The more he thought about the astonishing divining power he had witnessed, the clearer it became that the wizard was the only person in Aburlria who could effect Nyawlra’s arrest. The solution stared him in the face. The government needed to enlist the Wizard of the Crow and his mirror to find Nyawlra’s whereabouts.

Kaniuru would kill several birds with one stone. Nyawlra would be captured. The Wizard of the Crow would get a reward for enabling her capture, Kaniuru s gift of gratitude for the Wizard of the Crow’s blessings upon his life and property without charge for his services. Most important, Kaniuru would reap all the benefits arising from the arrest of Nyawlra. He heard a tune forming in his head.

What are you waiting for!

What are you waiting for!

This is the moment

What are you waiting for!

It was then that Kaniuru went to the phone, dialed Sikiokuu, and heard a most welcome response: the minister was quick to send his chauffeur to help Kaniuru through the morning traffic.

7

“Thank you, my brother,” said Sikiokuu as he embraced Kaniuru and welcomed him into the office.

Kaniuru was taken aback by the sheer warmth of the embrace, implying that they were equals. Already he had felt flattered by being the sole passenger in a chauffeur-driven Mercedes-Benz flying a miniature Aburlrian flag. Never had he dreamt that he would one day find himself sitting in the backseat of a vehicle bearing a license plate beginning with CM for cabinet minister. The wizard’s magic was working in ways he had not expected, and for a moment he was lost for words.

“Take a seat, my brother,” Sikiokuu said, showering him with lavish attention. Kaniuru was by now a prince in his own mind, thanks to the magic of the Wizard of the Crow.

But he faced a quandary. The Wizard of the Crow had explicitly warned him against disclosing what he had seen or heard at the shrine. What precisely did the witch doctor mean? That he should never speak about the Wizard of the Crow? Or discuss his medicine? What would happen if he violated his oath to the wizard? Kaniuru was not about to find out at the expense of his own future. No matter how brotherly Sikiokuu was being, Kaniuru was not about to sacrifice his life for his minister.

Besides, Kaniuru feared Sikiokuu’s possible reactions. How was he, Kaniuru, going to explain his visit to the shrine without revealing that he had gone there to seek the very magical protection that Tajirika had talked about in the video? He feared that he might inadvertently disclose the sources of his new wealth, prospective contractors for Marching to Heaven. No. Sikiokuu must be kept in the dark. He might demand a share and even rights of seniority. No, the sources of his new wealth and the bank accounts would remain a secret known only to him and Jane Kanyori. But how was he going to impart information without placing himself at risk vis-a-vis the Wizard of the Crow or jeopardizing his own interests by letting Minister Sikiokuu know more than he should know?

Once again, memories of the Wizard of the Crow came to his rescue. The wizard had said, Take good care of what you say from now on. What poisons a person goes through his mouth. He knew that in Aburiria the truth could get you in trouble: he must control how much of it issued from his mouth.

It was as if Kaniuru had rehearsed the story, so effortlessly did he now tell how he, after watching Tajirika’s video, had gone to the Wizard of the Crow to verify the truth of Tajirika’s whole story and had pretended to suffer from the same malady of words.

“Brilliant,” exclaimed the minister in admiration of the wiles of his brother Kaniuru.

“You know the most amazing thing about this sorcerer?” continued Kaniuru. “He knew my name, my new employment, everything about me, and he read all these facts in a mirror he held in his hand. Unfortunately, he also knew straightaway that I was lying about my illness.”

“He did?”

“Yes, and to tell you the truth, I was even more surprised by his reaction. He has time for only those with true illnesses, so he dismissed me from his presence and told me never to be seen there again. So I did not leave there any wiser about Tajirika’s extravagant claims. In fact, I did not see or hear anything useful to repeat. What I am telling you now is, therefore, not what I heard or saw at the shrine but rather what I reasoned in retrospect. You see, once I was back at my place, I started contemplating the enormous powers of this individual, and it immediately occurred to me, like some kind of revelation, that the sorcerer might be the one to deliver Nyawlra to us.”

“This Wizard of the Crow seems to be the object of obsession of every Tom, Dick, and Harry,” Sikiokuu commented, a little disappointed. “But I hardly knew that he was a detective to boot,” he added sarcastically.

“Believe me, Mr. Minister, from my brief encounter with him, I can claim that he is every inch a seer. The eye of his mirror sees far and deep,” Kaniuru waxed poetic, only to stop himself upon recalling the sorcerer’s solemn warning. “I regret lying about my illness, for if I had not done so, I would have found out much more. As to what I saw and heard, I have forgotten the details and so cannot repeat them. But my exposure to him convinces me that the Wizard of the Crow is the way to go.”

Sikiokuu kept quiet for a while as he turned over in his mind what Kaniuru had just said. Up to now Kaniuru was the only person who had managed to come up with information that yielded any success in the State’s attempts to crack down on the Movement for the Voice of the People. He had helped to flush Nyawlra out. He had come up with the pictures of Nyawlra as a young unmarried woman and some as the wife of Kaniuru: these were the only photos of the woman that the police had. He had helped trap Tajirika and had been instrumental in securing the pictures of Vinjinia and the dancing women. How, then, could Sikiokuu dismiss outright Kaniuru’s idea, however crazy it sounded? After all, the Buler had told him that he must leave no stone unturned in the hunt for Nyawlra.

“You have told me that this sorcerer deals only with sickness. How then are we to employ him in police work?” Sikiokuu asked skeptically but with a measure of curiosity.

“Money and power,” said John Kaniuru. “Nobody is averse to rubbing shoulders with money and power. Your title alone, Mr. Minister, and your deep pockets, are enough to make the sorcerer feel so elevated that he will give us Nyawlra without a murmur of protest. I told you, his mirror has more power than…”