Boris was moved by the death of Akib. Both of them became so emotional that they embraced each other.
"Akib is dead. We should just go on, after all we only met here," Gawal said pitilessly.
"Why are you like this, Gawal? He saved you. Akib died for all of us," Pony noted.
"He didn't die for me, Pony. He had killed himself when he said he was here to die.
Let's go forward, comrades," Gawal roared.
The deaf and dumb man didn't help at all. He was more concerned about his boat. He had entered his boat and work had started in earnest. He seemed to have been used to this kind of thing.
"You should be strong in this kind of journey. Akib was just a passage and he had done his part. Let's leave him and go ahead," Gawal said.
"Without a burial? Gawal, who made you the master here?" Pony rebelled.
"We should at least cover his face. He's a good guy," Boris reasoned with what Pony said.
"Okay, let's do it fast. We need to catch up with the other guys."
The boys who went ahead had waited for their return. They didn't know how the deaf and dumb man was able to relate with them on this. When they saw them dealing with their dead, they decided to continue their own journey.
Gawal and his friends moved the corpse out of the way and covered it with some soil. There was no time to attend to it properly. As soon as they were done, they aimed to go.
"Oh!" Pony sighed when he saw Akib's staff. He took it and laid it by the owner's side. Then he joined the rest on their way.
After some minutes, Gawal returned. He took up the staff and hid it under his long coat.
"You won't be needing this," he said and then he hurried away.
Grandma Betty's garment, though out of her jurisdiction, still had connections. She had known that something terrible had taken place. She wore a worried look and stood before her large mirror beside the window to find out what the problem might be.
"Storen-da, molen-da, unadar-da! Rusten-da lasvandin-daf, pullendruf," she recited strange words.
Her words were her inspiration. As she used the invocation to detect the real position of the matter, she could see him on her glass. But it wasn't a long display before the show ended at the wall of Eskamay. Her magical mirror could not see into the world where Akib had entered.
"Akib is in grave danger, Betty," Maron spoke after she saw Betty's failure.
"I knew this kind of thing would happen. Akib's just a novice." Betty started to shiver as she spoke.
"Try the pot," Maron suggested.
"Akib has to live," Betty said while she reached out for the pot.
Laying her hand on the long spoon, she stirred the sticky content with heavy effort. Fire erupted at the bottom suddenly. The coming in of fire was like a blast of gases and it almost pushed off the pot, but Betty didn't care, neither was Maron disturbed. She continued to stir energetically. The sticky liquid soon became light under the heat and then stirring became convenient. But Betty kept on working under emotional stress and her tears dropped into the container.
Maron didn't understand much of this, but she knew Betty had the ability to do some powerful magic with it. Worried that it was taking longer than she expected, she called out to Betty.
"Betty, any luck?"
Maron heard no response, so she knew there was truly going to be a real problem.
"This is weak!" Betty said.
This statement was borne out of her loss and it contained all that was needed for her downfall. Wanting to ask what Betty meant by what she said, Maron was caught up with the noise of cracking from the lofty seat of Betty. Betty was breaking down what she had built over the years. She pushed off the pots around the large one with loud bang-bang sounds.
Maron was confused too, but not like her master. She was frustrated about not knowing what could be going on with Akib, but her reliance was on Betty. She really felt pity and helpless in this circumstance.
"Take it easy, Master Betty," Maron said.
Before she ended that statement, she saw Betty turning over the large concoction upside down.
"Beeetty!" she cried. The content was coming directly over her head at boiling point.
Luckily, this didn't come for her—it only poured in the narrow space below her feet.
"I'll build another one!" she groaned.
"Where am I?" Akib found himself inside the boat of the deaf and dumb man.
Looking around, darkness was all over. He lifted his head to discover they were in open water.
"I thought I crossed this," Akib said quietly.
He shifted his body, feeling pain all over. He wondered what could have happened to him. He looked out to see the direction from where someone was singing merrily, though in a low tone, but the breeze wouldn't allow any hidden word at this time. He was a man with his back to him. He could have won a jackpot.
Akib, this time, felt cold and his body was reacting to the weather. His bag was no longer with him, even his staff was gone. He still had on the garment, a pair of jeans, a T-shirt underneath, and his hard footwear. He was hungry and weak.
The boat got to a place where some crocodiles raised up their heads. They had known the time for feasting, and this time was just for extra. Extra feed from the boat master could be pleasant.
"Don't worry, I'm happy for you," the boat master screamed with joy in his voice.
The crocs acted like they heard what he said. The water was troubled as waves splashed into his face. They weren't in trouble; they were expressing their happiness. Then one of them swam to the boat and tried to hang itself to the edge, though not for long.
"Hey guys, don't be in haste, I'll give him to you whole," the boatmaster cajoled.
Akib was amazed when he saw his face. This was the same fellow who took him and the other boys across the water with a faulty engine. But the same boat had been working.
The boatman had his plan for Akib and the rest of the passengers. He had intentionally disconnected one of the wires that supplied current. At that time, he had pretended to be a good man and acted as a man who could not speak nor hear what they said to cover his evil intention. He wanted to feast the boys to the crocodiles.
He was not pleased when Akib brought the boys to safety. When Akib fainted, the boatman had registered his vengeance through carelessness and what he thought of happened. To him, he was highly pleased and so had come in the night to steal the body.
The croc beside the boat was at the front, everyone's head ready to receive extra supper.
"You!" He pointed to the croc which had a ring on its nose. "I saved you then. See how big I have fed you," the boatman joked.
The boatman heard footsteps. He turned around to see Akib coming toward him.
"Aw what? You're dead—you're not dead?" He said several words at the same time.
Akib had intended to get to him and give him a push, but his plan failed. His body held him down.
"You can talk?" Akib stated.
"Yes, I can," the boatman said, reaching out for the paddle beside him. "I can both speak and hear, but you people have been the fools."