Kahale And The Moʻo Warrior

There weren’t always dragons in the valley. At least, thatʻs what my grandmother always told me. In fact, I don’t think you could even call them dragons. Dragons were awesome, these were not. My grandma called them moʻo, mythical Hawaiian lizards that protected fresh water ponds throughout the islands. She said that they pulled men underwater, never to be seen again.

I didn’t see the appeal of it. Dragons had fire breathing powers, letting them burn forests and destroy kingdoms. Moʻo lay in their pool of water and waited for unsuspecting men. Dragons could fly, moʻo could not. But grandma loved talking about them. Said that they came around the same time the ancestors came. I listened to those stories every time she came up to Oregon, but I didn’t believe them.

Because it’s just stories. Tales told to her while growing up in the countryside of Hilo on the Big Island. Whenever she flew up to Oregon, she would often tell stories about the different mythical creatures of Hilo. Menehune, the little people who liked to cause mischief, the night marchers who chanted and walked from the uplands down to the sea, the lapu, ghosts who were unsatisfied with their lives and wander the land of the living, surviving off of moths and insects, and the most popular of them all, the moʻo.

My personal favorite was the night marchers. How cool would it be to meet a ghost warrior?! I loved those stories that grandma told us. But the stories she always fell back on was always moʻo. Tales about the goddess Hiʻiaka and her companions fighting moʻo and other creatures to fetch her sisters lover was a favorite of my brother Keola.

But for grandma? Her all time favorite story to tell is the story of Panaʻewa, the bloodthirsty moʻo of Hilo. According to legend, Panaʻewa lived in a lehua forest guarded by his moʻo subordinates, Kūkulukukui and Kapuakoaiʻa. They would lure innocent people to the lehua grove and eat them alive. It wasn’t until the goddess Hiʻiaka came and killed Panaʻewa that the people of that area finally had peace.

I think this was the only moʻolelo of moʻo that I enjoyed.

This was also the last story grandma told us before passing away.

Due to her age, she got sick in the last two months of her life. My aunty Kalehua took care of her during those months because my dad was a professor of Anthropology at the University of Oregon. He was busy all the time and we never got to see her before she passed. Now all we can do is attend her funeral back in Hilo.

Because we were going back to Hawaiʻi, dad told me and Keola that we were gonna spend two weeks in Hilo before coming home. I was excited because I wasn’t born when my family moved away sixteen years ago, and in the twelve years of my life, I’ve never been to Hawaiʻi. My only memories of Hawaiʻi were the post cards grandma and aunty Kalehua sent me and grandmas stories.

But now I’m finally here! Weʻre currently staying at Grandmas house in Waiakea. We got into Hilo in the afternoon and by the time we got to grandmas house it was early evening. Aunty invited friends and family over to eat. There were so much new people I had a hard time memorizing everyones names. There was uncle Tim who was dads cousin by was of grandmas sister. There was aunty Jane who grew up with dad and aunty Kalehua. Uncle Braddah who was grandmas sisters ex husbands kid who was raised by grandma. Then aunty Kanoe came with her nine kids. And finally uncle Larry, a family friend, came with his daughter Leilani.

While greeting everyone, shaking hands and giving hugs, I couldn’t help but notice that Leilani kept staring at me. I tried to lighten things up with a greeting.

“Hi Leilani, I’m Kahale, my dad is uncle Kekua.” I took out my hand meaning to shake hers.

“...” she didn’t say hello and just kept staring at me, as if looking into my soul.

I got a little uncomfortable and dropped my hand, half heartedly laughing into the side and looking away, trying to find an excuse to leave. Her dad uncle Larry saved the situation by calling out to his daughter, “Eh, Leilani, fix your face!”

Uncle Larry came sauntering over, her beer belly protruding from his overalls. “Howzit my nephew? I’m uncle Larry, your dads best friend, eh?” He said, nudging my dad in his side. My dad let out a laugh I hardly ever heard before and lifted his cup of adult juice in a cheers. “Yessah my braddah, since bebe days we were brothers.”

Uncle Larry had a huge smile on his face and turned back to me and Leilani. “Kahale, this is my daughter Leilani. No mind her face too much, I think she been watching too much of that... uh.... whatchu call that? Those Japanese cartoons.... Anime! She watches too much anime so her eyes stuck like that.” Uncle Larry made his eyes crossed which made the crowd laugh heartily. I smiled until I saw Leilani lose her focus on me and instead stared at her dad, a real faint look of hurt flashed before her face went stoic again.

Leilani decided to head towards their car which was parked out by the driveway, using the light on her phone to illuminate her way. Because grandmas neighbors were few and far between, there were no street light to navigate the roads. When Leilani got close to the truck, she turned off her light, plunging herself and the cars into total darkness.

I asked if she was going to be ok and uncle Larry responded, “Ah let her go. She little bit hard head cause she was close to grandma but she’ll come around.”

And just like that the evening begun. I listened to my dad tell stories of grandma scolding him when he was little. Aunty Kanoe brought up stories of grandma teaching her and her kids to quilt, now aunty kanoe makes quilts to sell at the swap meet. I listened until the later part of the night when my aunty Kalehua waved me over.

“Bebe, you can go check on Leilani? She been in the truck for a couple hours now and it’s getting cold.”

I agreed and turned on my phone light, making my way from the loud crowd to the area of parked cars, the sounds of partying and laughter fading until only the sounds of crickets and koki frogs filled the air. I got to uncle Larry’s toyota and peeked inside, seeing Leilani on her phone with her earbuds in her ear. I knocked on the window and she looked over to me and opened the door, pulling the earbuds out.

“What?”

“Uh, aunty kalehua wanted me to check on you. It’s getting cold.”

“I’m fine. Go away.”

Her rude remarks got me mad and I snapped.

“You know what? I don’t like this attitude! I didn’t do nothing to you so how come I’m the one who has to deal with your attitude?!”

Leilani didn’t even give me a side glance and just continued to listen to her music. Being ignored was even worse and made me even more angry. I reached out and pulled her earphones out and said, “hey! I’m talking to you!”

This made her look over at me and she squinted her eyes.

“What did you say? I don’t listen to little shits.”

“Oh nice one. Whos acting like a little shit? I know you’re talking about yourself with the way you’re throwing a temper tantrum. Can’t handle interacting with others?”

This comment got her mad and she stepped out of the truck, slamming the door behind her. She walked up to me and I involuntarily took a step back. She raised her hand in preparation to punch me but stopped short when we heard rustling coming from the darkness behind us.

She looked back as if she was prey being stalked by a predator. This made me snicker.

“What? Afraid of the dark? It was probably just a mongoose.”

She rolled her eyes and placed her finger on her lips, signaling me to be quiet. I rolled my eyes back, crossing my hands over my chest.

Leilani looked around and stepped ever so slowly, putting her phone light on and shining it around the trees and shrubbery. She then turned swiftly to her right and shone her light on a shadowy figure standing less than a hundred feet from us, making it hurriedly with inhuman speed run back into the shadows, making the surrounding foliage rustle.

Now I was in a cold sweat. What the hell was that? Hawaiʻi doesn’t have any tall animals besides deer and pigs, but those were four legged. This one had an outline of a humanoid. It’s presence made all my natural instincts kick into overdrive and I was just about to run and get help before another shadowy creature came out of nowhere and knocked the light out of Leilani’s hand, sending us both into darkness.

I stood there frozen for a few seconds before I hurriedly grabbed my phone and turned on the light, illuminating the spot where Leilani was and saw her still standing, I exhaled the breath I had been holding for a while before asking, “are you ok?”

She looked at me and started, “yeah Iʻm fi-“

Before she could finish, a claw came out from behind her and covered her mouth, pulling her into the darkness.

I screamed.

At least, I tried. Before I could scream a claw came from behind me and covered my mouth, muffling the fear that came out all at once. It’s claw felt scaly like sandpaper, and it’s breath from behind me wafted to my nose, the smell of rotten flesh hitting me hard and I retched. The unknown figure behind me laughed silently, a low hiss escaping it’s mouth.

“What a niccceee catch. The masssster will be pleasssed.”

From the shadows another figure appeared. Because my phone was still in my hand, it’s upper body and head could be seen.

“Good. Let usssss return now.”

It had the face of a human, save for the scaly skin and the dark red eyes. It didn’t wear any clothes and it’s upper body showed that of a well toned muscular man, I could see what looked like a tail lifting up and going back down briefly.

“What about the girl?” asked the creature currently holding me.

“Sssshe hasss been dealt with. We mussst leave now, Kūkulukukui, or the massster will be dissspleasssed with usss.”

Kūkulukukui? Where have I heard this name before? Oh no.

No no no no no.

It can't be.

If this is true then I made a huge mistake.

I should have believed grandma.