Ulong Dagger

The seed of love in the midst of the jungle

Paijo woke up hearing people talking outside. In a state still lying he yawned wide, stretch the body and then rubbed his eyes.

"Where am I" her inner self.

He looked around trying to recognize where he was.

His bed just now was a mat that was spread out on the floor made of large wooden bars of arms arranged quite neatly.

Slowly his memory recovered, he remembered last night maybe around four or five o'clock they arrived here, somewhere in the Bahorok forest, as he had heard from Laksmi.

The window of the room had not been opened yet, he saw sunlight sneaking in from the sidelines of the wall which was also made of wooden bars.

On the other side of the same room he saw Parman still asleep with his mouth gaping, his snoring sounding low boisterous. At first glance his voice was like a sawing person.

Still feeling sleepy, but the voices outside invite curiosity. Paijo was about to get up, but suddenly "my brother's brother (my leg)", suddenly his legs cramped.

He sat back down, with his hands holding the top of his feet where his fingers were, then pulled back, the cramping immediately stopped. Sorting it for a while until the tense leg muscles relax. Then he walked out limping.

"Bruk", he forgot that this building is a stilt house.

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Ulong and his two friends arrived this morning with horses and booty from Meneer Jan's house, arriving for a while to avoid company patrols in the streets.

In addition, in some places before arriving in this village the terrain can not be traversed on horseback. Horses must be led so as to slow down the journey.

Siti and Laksmi welcomed happily seeing her friends arrive. Some men come to help bring down the innate from the horse.

" Thank God you're safe" Ulong said." Where is the Son and Nature?" tanyakanya.

"They haven't returned Long, maybe in a moment" Siti replied.

Ulong handed a horse harness to a man and walked with his friends.

Ulong walked closer to Laksmi's side, from the side he saw the beautiful face of the heart was fixed.

Laksmi blushed and said "thankfully Brother has come home, Laksmi has not eaten anything to wait for Brother".

Ulong smiled, "then let's eat together"

Back at Paijo who limped out of the stage house.

"Bruk", Paijo was knocked over from the stage house right in front of Ulong.

"Ma.sorry" said paijo".

Ulong held back a laugh, "where is your friend?" tanya Ulong tried to hold back the amused feeling. According to Ulong's estimation, Paijo might be the same age or younger than him.

"Still sleeping sir" Paijo replied without daring to look at Ulong's face.

"Ooh, come on, let's accompany us to eat" Ulong said.

Ulong was about to pass but then stopped, he said,

"Eh. Call me Ulong, I'm not a kebon master" Ulong said with a smile.

Siti giggles at Paijo's behavior.

Ulong walked towards the soup kitchen, his friends and Paijo followed.

Some of the women in the common kitchen smiled at him.

This public kitchen is a roofed building but without walls, in such a design to keep the cooking does not faint because too much smoke inhaled from firewood.

"The butterflies are eaten by horses, I think the braids are apparently barnacles. Very delicious aroma of Mak sasuran cuisine, may I try a slip" said Ulong berantun.

Surgeon (Zubaek) the middle-aged woman who heads the kitchen smiled and patted Ulong on the shoulder.

"Today for a while" asked Ulong to Mak Surgeon to stay a little away.

Mak Surgeon had considered his own mother, the successor to his biological mother who died of illness when he was a child.

"This is a little gift for Mother, said Ulong.

Ulong took out a pair of earrings from his pocket, in his grip the earrings in the hands of the Surgeon.

Mak Surgeon smiled haru, looking at the handsome face of Ulong, his tall and stocky body. If his son was still alive it should have been as old as Ulong, unfortunately the child and her husband died defending their land from the company that tried to seize it.

"Thank you long" he said with teary eyes.

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Ulong and friends sit on flat rocks on the bank of the river enjoying the food served by Mak Surah and his team.

It was still early in the morning, probably around nine o'clock when viewed from the fall of the shadow.

Breakfast that morning was a wooden yam cut into pieces, eaten with a side dish of cork fish caught in the river.

At breakfast they exchanged stories about what happened last night.

The people who were there were shocked to hear the story of Siti and friends who met the giant Snake waiting swamp.

They had not expected such a creature to exist in the swamps that Ulong and his companions had crossed.

"That makes me worried about the safety of the Son and Nature if they ever meet the snake, such a creature is difficult to guess what it wants" said Siti with a worried expression.

Paijo just listened carefully.

" The son is Siti's biological sister" Ulong explained to Paijo.

"Ooh" Paijo nodded with a serious expression as usual when he listened to people talk, then he gave a thumbs up.

"So Siti was no partner" said one of the men Paijo did not know while laughing.

Siti silently pretended not to listen, she was still worried thinking about her sister, Son.

"Hopefully they are safely here" said Paijo sincerely.

Siti glanced at him and smiled.

After eating they sit for a while, some people look to pass by with various activities.

Ulong looked around, how beautiful this place was. Under the cliff where they were sitting at that time about seven meters distance there is a rocky river, the water is clear even though the current looks quite swift. Then on the opposite side visible expanse of coral stones of various sizes fill the river bank.

Across the river across the expanse of coral rocks there is a vast forest enveloping the hill line and connecting up to Aceh.

For many years this place has been the hiding and resting place of Ulong and his friends because of its strategic location. From here they can reach the Dutch gardens in Binjai, Langkat, and Deli Serdang.

At first there were only fifteen people, but refugees one by one came here and settled to seek refuge, because this place is very safe and very remote from civilization.

And now this place is more like a village with a population of about two hundred.

The company will never be able to reach this place. It was so heavy that they had to go through.

Except maybe if they do a large-scale operation, even then they can only reach this place without being able to find the guerrillas.

Because the forest everywhere will make it easier for those who live here to escape.

Suddenly there was a loud noise of people in the southern part of the village, Ulong and friends stood up and rushed to the fray.

"Son" cried Siti excited as she saw her sister then approached the son who was standing, on the elusnya the head of the son who was taller than her. The son was ashamed of being treated like that.

After all he was a soldier, but he did not dare to protest against his beloved brother. The only family he has.

They were four years old, Son nineteen while Siti was twenty-three.

Next to the Son some people are seen to help memapah Alam, seen the shoulders and legs of Nature bleed.

Ulong examined the natural wound, the wound was quite deep but did not hit the blood vessel.

He told the people who were using Nature to take him into one of the huts.

After that he asked Surgeon to find some plants (to treat wounds), and sawang (spider nest) to bandage so that the torn parts of meat and skin can be reunited.

Putra wanted to report the results of his duties but Ulong advised him to sit down and have breakfast to recover his strength.

While eating Putra explained that they managed to carry out the task of burning tobacco plantations.

It was just that the plantation was so vast that it took time. Finally they were forced to face some of his tiles meneer Jan who had arrived there.

Five of the tile men succeeded in their collision but had to be paid with wounds on the hands and feet of Nature because some of the tile threw a spear and hit it.

Ulong nodded at their stories, he saluted and was proud of the courage of his two friends, also concerned.

"Duty is duty, as I teach you, but you must also remember your salvation is your responsibility".

"Other times when things are difficult, avoid it, our struggle is still long and we do not know when it ends, we still need brave and tough men like you" Ulong said.

The son was silent and nodded, he had so much respect for Ulong that he regarded as his own brother.

They were silent for a moment, permeating Ulong's words just now.

"Did you meet a giant snake in the swamp?" asked Parman who had joined to enjoy breakfast at the same time lunch.

"There's nothing there", replied the son, "Giant snake, what is it like?" tanyanya's confused.

Siti told me about what they experienced when they crossed the swamp last night.

The son looked surprised to hear the story.

"When we ran into the swamp there was nothing, not even a single follower of Meneer Jan was there, even though I was worried if they were waiting there because of the condition of Nature who was injured".

"It is fitting that I take Nature on a raft like we planned, that too without any obstacles at all" he said.

"It could be that Meneer Jan's people saw the giant snake and thought you couldn't cross the swamp until they left" Ulong guessed.

Ulong gazed far away, praising the greatness of the Lord, grateful in his heart for His partisanship so far to them, the persecuted group.

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A week passed, Parman and Paijo felt very comfortable living here. Understandably since arriving on the island of Sumatra only this time they feel like an independent person.

Free to do what they feel is necessary. Free to make choices.

Moreover, those who were here all fared the same as the two of them. Away from civilization, from the hometown, from the family, all because of greedy invaders who want to take advantage of this country.

Parman and Paijo feel as happy as they are with the people here, and feel they are his family.

They also began to help the activities of the people here, gardening, fishing, hunting etc.

Just that Paijo was surprised several times to cross paths with Siti, somehow Siti always lowered her shy face.

Paijo said this to Parman and his answer was surprising.

"Siti seems to like you Jo"

The heart of Paijo seemed to stop, "She was flabbergasted", Siti who was so mighty and so calm faced with a giant snake, and was so calm, like him who is just a nomad and made into a work lecturer roda (the fine language of slaves).

"I mean Siti, who brought us here" said Paijo because he was not sure the direction of Parman's speech.

Parman did not answer and moved away, "was taken to speak and fled" Paijo thought.

It turns out that Parman left because he saw Siti coming at them.

"Well, can you ask for help?" ask Siti, "Eh.. i. are you?" replied Paijo while slightly bowing.

Deg nah why Paijo's heart so deg-deg an, remembered he said Parman just now.