“Athiwe, my eyes and voice,” the queen said while smiling at me. I looked at her with so much concern because I didn’t know what she was talking about.

“What am I doing here?” I asked.

“You’re here because I summoned you, I want you to avenge my death,” she said.

“What are you talking about?” I asked. “Who killed her? Does she want me go and fight with the river for taking her life? How do you avenge someone who drowned, and how was I going to do that?” I asked myself.

“I’m the first queen of the Ndaba village, but unfortunately, your current queen, who was my closest friend, drowned me because of her jealousy,” she said with teary eyes.

“So you’re our first queen! I thought I was hallucinating because you looked like the woman I saw on a picture at the palace,” I said.

“You’re not hallucinating. I want you to go to the palace and avenge my death,” she said.

“This woman can’t tell me to go to the palace and avenge her death, the villagers would kill me if I speak ill of their current queen,” I thought. I couldn’t imagine what the king would do with my precious soul. I was just a little girl, so where would I begin?

“I don’t know if I should help you or not, you know I’m still too young to kill someone, my queen,” I replied.

“Who said anything about killing anyone? I just want you to help me expose Nomvelo. It’s been ten years since I was drowned in this river, and I’m still respected by the waters of this village. I just want to use your body to avenge my death, that’s all,” she explained.

“How are you going to do that?” I questioned her. I was more comfortable conversing with her now. I hoped she would not kill me to get her revenge, because I didn’t want to leave this world yet.

“I’ll use the power of the water to get into your body, then after talking, I’ll come out. My serpent will appear and fight that witch, just in case she defeats me,” she explained further.

“Do you think the people will be able to see you?” I asked.

“If they believe you, then they’ll definitely see me my dear. I also want you and your family to be treated with a lot of respect, and you will also live in the palace if we win this battle. You can think of it as just a little token of my appreciation for you taking on this task,” she said with a smile on her face. She was just glowing with beauty, so I nodded in agreement.

Tell us: Do you think Athiwe should take on the queen’s challenge?