Dominion

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Dominion Page 33

by Nicole Givens Kurtz


  The commander signalled his men and they froze, listening, their weapons at the ready. The air was tense with the unseen. Then suddenly, one of the soldiers screamed. He had been pierced by a dark metal which burst through his chest. The spear seemed to have materialized from thin air, accompanied by a disembodied hand which promptly vanished after the havoc had been wrought. One of the soldiers reacted swiftly by firing his rifle into the spot where the hand had appeared from. Nothing happened. He stopped shooting. The men looked around furtively. Another soldier screamed as he felt a stab at his foot and as he fell to the floor, his throat slashed through.

  The soldiers started firing rapidly and the clearing became a full-fledged war zone. Ghostly men, half seen before they struck, attacked from every direction. The soldiers fired desperately at the half-seen figures, hitting a few but losing four soldiers for every one they killed. Several dark, tattooed bodies of hunters, as well as more bodies of the soldiers, littered the ground.

  The hunters materialized, stalking the soldiers and taunting them. The soldiers backed away without firing, realizing that they were low on ammunition. The commander and his few remaining men were almost backed against their helicopters now. The commander looked almost about to give the command for them to leave. But he seemed to be waiting for word from his other teams. And word came at last. The sound of screaming and shooting from running men came into the clearing, the last ragtag members of the other teams. A handful of men, wounded, and carrying some of their comrades rushed for the helicopter. They were attacked by the hunters who had assumed anjayiyan okan, the chameleon mind.

  Meanwhile, as the hunters were embroiled in their attacks on the soldiers, another helicopter had landed, and the soldiers made their way to a location where almost a hundred women and children of Ife-Iyoku were hidden. It was an abandoned town hall in a section of the town which was now in disuse. Weed had overgrown most of the properties as the people moved to the centre of Ife-Iyoku. The squad of soldiers who alighted in the location of the hall moved carefully with their guns at the ready. They had received correspondence from the other teams as to the manner of attacks they had met and with that information, they had prepared themselves. They put on thermal and infrared goggles. These, along with coordinates and surveillance correspondences, guided them to a building in the center of this abandoned town.

  Two of the soldiers conversed with themselves. Their equipment told them there was something here, but their eyes and senses saw and perceived nothing. They felt their way furtively around. The feel of their hands told them there were things about, even though their eyes told them otherwise. The leader of this team told his demolitions man to set the c4 charges. Whatever was hidden would be revealed when it was brought down. His man looked him askance. After all, the mission was a snatch and grab. But the mission had changed with the slaughter of their men. And they would not return empty handed and without having exerted any retribution.

  Meanwhile, several dozen women and children hid in the hall and the light-weavers maintained the cloak that covered the hall. Ologbon communicated to them nonverbally that they would have to fight their way out of their hiding, if the situation called for it. If the men set off their charges several of them would die, the light weaving spell would end. And they would be taken. She mobilized the sturdier and younger women and older children. They had to drop the light spell weaving which rendered them invisible and create a distraction that would allow them to attack the soldiers.

  The soldiers were setting the c4 charges on surfaces which they could not see but could only feel. And then, in a sudden instance of revelation, the building became visible, and seemed to materialize out of thin air. The soldiers stopped setting up the charges and moved into the building with their guns held out. But before they got into the hall, a blinding white light blazed from the building. The soldiers were blinded—some momentarily and a few permanently. Several people rushed the soldiers with knives and other weapons and some gifted ones with their gifts. The creeping tendrils of vines curled around the building came alive, wrapping some of the soldiers, stifling and choking them. This was the manifestation of the growers. The Lightweavers launched their attack with illusions, distracting the soldiers while others took them down. The Pullers attacked with fire and the elements, drawn from the neighbouring space.

  But the tides soon changed. It was not long before the temporarily blinded soldiers recovered their sight and assumed battle formations. They were a trained military unit, and when they began to shoot at the resisting force, it was with merciless ferocity. The leader of the team eventually signalled them stop. Not one of the women and children of Ife-Iyoku stood in resistance. The soldiers could still fulfil their original mission of capturing the people. They pulled their tranquilizer guns. Several of the resisting soldiers still trained guns on the people who cowered in the building. They shot a few of them with tranquilizers and carried them. Many soldiers kept their guns trained on the rest of the women and children of Ife-Iyoku to ensure that they did not attack in return. Those left behind, who had been unable to join in the attack, were mostly the too old and infirm, and children. As they stepped out of the building, they heard a sound and found a child standing there, fist curled into a punch, and fierce and defiant look on his face.

  It was Ake and he was trying to pull. The soldiers looked at him curiously.

  “Perhaps he wants to join his folks,” one of the soldiers said.

  Ake raise a hand towards the soldiers. One of them raised his weapon and trained it on Ake, but the commander said, “Take it easy. He is just a child.”

  “They are all dangerous,” another soldier said.

  “Perhaps. But I don’t think this one has the skills of the others.”

  “Should we take him too?”

  “No, leave him. We have enough samples.”

  As they prepared to leave, Ake pulled a gust of wind. The soldiers turned to him. The grenade on one of their jackets came away and the pin was off, sparking an explosion which tore through the clearing, igniting the other explosives. The chain of explosions spread and by the time it subsided, not one person in that part of the town, both soldiers and people of Ife-Iyoku, was left alive.

  ✦✦✦

  The commander and his men stood with guns at the ready, watching the soldiers stalk them. They were ready to depart. And then they heard the booming sound and the ground trembled beneath them. The hunters looked to the direction of the explosion, where their women and children were hidden. They rushed at the remaining soldiers in a blood curdling scream, assuming the anjayiyan okan and vanishing before the soldiers.

  The commander signalled his men to cover for him as they retreated and mounted the aircraft. The invisible hunters rushed at the retreating soldiers and the soldiers started shooting. The hunters began to spasm between visibility and invisibility. One of the hunters was caught mid-strike, in the chameleon mind, appearing with his spear against a soldier’s throat, about to run him through. He seemed frozen for a second; all the other hunters seemed caught spasming mid-movement, then the hunter collapsed on the ground, into air. The hunters all dissipated, into the air. The soldiers rushed into the two copters, started the engine and rose into the air.

  Before the helicopter could manoeuvre its way out, a burly figure walked calmly through the throng of dead soldiers on the ground, his gaze on the rising helicopter. He was Oni the elephant man. He walked up to the last copter on the ground, lifted it with his hands and with a scream tossed it at the retreating copters. One of them swerved out of its path, but collided with another copter. The blades of the copters tangled, and they crashed down and exploded in a blaze. The last of the copters sailed away, carrying the ragtag band of soldiers who had failed in their mission.

  ✦✦✦

  Morako rushed to the venue of the explosion. He was the first to arrive and a scene of death and destruction met his eyes. The abandoned town where the people of Ife-Iyoku sought refuge had
been blown flat by the explosion. The bodies of women and children, with soldiers scattered amongst them, lay strewn about. He fell to his knees and retched violently. He had nothing to throw up but bile. Nevertheless, his body protested the horrid sight. He sensed someone behind him and turned. His eyes widened in disbelief as he looked upon Imade.

  “How?” he struggled to mouth but the words stuck in his throat. He stared at her for a while, then picked her up and wrapped her tightly in his embrace. Tears started in his eyes, and Imade cradled his head on her shoulder.

  “I left to join the battle,” she said. “I didn’t believe in hiding out here while the men bleed and die to keep us safe. I only started coming back as soon as I heard the explosion.”

  She pulled back, taking his face and looking at him. “These people need not have died. If they had stood and fought with you, some of them might have died, or been taken. But they wouldn’t all have died.”

  Morako shook his head. “I fear it is too late for that.”

  He pulled her back and whispered, “Truly you are the last woman now.”

  THE LAST

  The remainder of Ife-iyoku stood in the townhall. They were only men; Imade was the only woman in their midst. The Ooni was at the concluding part of his address.

  “I have broken the sacred charge laid upon me by the gods and the ancestors. I led the marauders to Ife-Iyoku. I meant well for us, but I have nevertheless failed in my sacred charge to safeguard Ife-Iyoku. I promised the council of elders I would face judgement once we had successfully repelled the attack. Having failed at that too, it is time for me to face their judgement. I have committed the most heinous crime a member of Ife-Iyoku can commit. I have threatened the existence of the people. For my crime I am willing to face the ultimate punishment, banishment. I will go on exile and join the Mbadiwe. The council may elect another as Ooni to oversee the village activities.”

  “Father!” Morako shouted, unclasping himself from Imade and walking towards his father, his hands held out in desperate plea. “Please don’t do this.”

  The Ooni looked at his son and shook his head. “It is already done.”

  “I have already lost mother,” Morako said. “To now lose you too…”

  The Ooni’s voice was firmer than before. “I lost her too. But you must be strong, my son. Be a man, for there is yet more to be done. The survival of Ife-Iyoku lies in your hands now.” He cast his glance in Imade’s direction. Morako followed his gaze and saw she was his object of reference. She noticed them both looking at her.

  The Ooni tapped Morako on the shoulder. “I know you will do well.” He pulled his son in

  an embrace and whispered in his ear, “We have to survive.”

  Morako nodded. The Ooni pushed Morako back. Reluctantly, Morako resumed his place

  with Imade. The Ooni turned to the other chiefs. They avoided his gaze.

  The Ooni raised his voice and said. “I will leave now. The duty lies on the council to pick a leader and decide other matters relevant to the survival of the remnants of Ife-Iyoku.”

  He took off the beads on his neck and hands and other accessories, the regalia of the office of Ooni. He laid them on the ground and started to walk out. Morako

  He took off the beads on his neck and hands and other accessories, the regalia of the office of Ooni. He laid them on the ground and started to walk out. Morako made to follow him. The Ooni looked at him sternly and said, “Do not shame me, son. I will not suffer your womanly ways on this day. Let me see no tears from your eyes.” With that, he turned and walked away and Morako followed his father with his eyes while his legs stayed back with the remnants of Ife-Iyoku.

  ✦✦✦

  With most of the general issues settled and the final and private deliberations left for the chiefs to dwell upon, Morako and Imade got up to leave. But one of the chiefs beckoned on to Morako and both of them went over to chiefs.

  “We want to speak to Morako,” the chief said. Imade folded her hands and kept waiting. “We want to speak with him alone. We have matters to discuss.”

  “Now?” she said, as though the chief had made an unspeakable suggestion. “Can this not wait, seeing all he has been through?”

  “Do not think to question us, young priestess. That you are the last of the women does not mean your place has changed. If anything, you should brace up more firmly in your place.”

  “And what is my place?” Imade said in a rising tone.

  Morako looked at her warily and she smiled at him. He smiled back, and she left with a huff at the elders and the elders shook their heads at her. They turned to Morako.

  One of the chiefs addressed him. “You and the young priestess have refused to be joined since you partook of the rites of passage, despite being smitten with each other.”

  “It is her decision,” Morako said.

  “You are the man,” another chief replied. “There are ways to ensure she complies with your wishes. Few women with child will refuse a joining.”

  “It is not my way to secure compliance by such method,” Morako said with an almost indignant tone.

  “Well, it is not a joining that is required now,” another said.

  “What is required?”

  “Children. You must get her with child.”

  Morako’s face turned red. “That choice is not mine alone to make.”

  “We do not have the luxury of making choices. We do what nature demands of us.”

  An elder pulled him closer and said, looking him in the face. “She is the last woman. There is no child left in Ife-Iyoku. We are dying. She is the only way we can grow and survive. She is the only means to fulfil our sacred charge.”

  Morako rolled his eyes impatiently. One of the elders noticed it and said, “You have spent too much time with her without doing the things you should. Now you have started to imbibe her disrespectful ways. Do I need to remind you that she is the only woman left and our regeneration must be through her? If you do not want to do your duty by her, then someone else will do it.”

  Morako was outraged, but he said nothing in reply.

  “It is what your father wanted,” the elder continued. “It was his last wish.” Morako was quiet for a while, then stood and walked away.

  One of the chiefs started after him but another chief dissuaded him.

  “We have done all we can. The fate of Ife-Iyoku rests on their actions henceforth.”

  “Then we are doomed.”

  INTERCOURSE

  Imade and Morako lay on his bed and she clutched him in her arms and rocked him gently.

  He whispered, “I wish I was strong enough.”

  “You don’t have to be. You just lost your mother and watched your father leave. It is all right to feel weak.”

  “A man cannot be weak.”

  Imade sniffed.

  “The chiefs…” Morako began.

  But Imade cut him off. “I will rather not talk about depraved old men.”

  He nodded. “My gift is enhanced. I can feel more now. It happened after the explosion.”

  They knew that what they had heard at the townhall was true: the mass deaths of the people of Ife -Iyoku people had affected its gifted survivors, leading to a massive upsurge in their powers. That was why there had been an upsurge in the powers of the hunters when they were in the middle of their mergers and they lost control of the chameleon mind.

  “That was why Oni was able to lift the copter,” Morako continued as if speaking from their thoughts. “He had never lifted anything that heavy before. He felt the jump and acted on it immediately. He was quick to action and decisive, just as a man should be.”

  Imade made no reply.

  “This upsurge is good for people like him. It just means more strength. The hunters need more time and effort to master and work with the new gifts.”

  Imade said in a sleepy voice. “It is too bad that nobody grew a womb from the process. At least that would ha
ve been useful.”

  “As my gift is sensing emotions and feelings, the death of all these people at once impacted me greatly,” Morako said. “I soaked up all the grief and agonies of the living and the dying. That is why I got to the venue of the explosion before everyone else. I could sense the pain immediately it happened. It blew a hole in my chest.”

  Tears gathered in Imade’s eyes. “I had no idea. I should have thought of that. But I didn’t feel any change in my own gifts. Perhaps mine too has increased. Maybe I should try raising the dead, if they have not all been buried by now.” She caught the anxiety in his face and added, “You should not have kept this from me.”

  “I was trying to be a man about it.”

  “But that does not mean keeping these things to yourself and suffering them alone. That’s what I am here for, to carry the weight with you. I love you. You know that, don’t you?”

  “I do. I can feel that too, and I long for you.”

  “Never you forget that, my feeler.”

  “I will never forget,” he replied.

  He was quiet for some time, thinking. Then he tried to shift. She did not budge. She was sound

  asleep in his arms.

  ✦✦✦

  In the morning, Imade woke up and stretched herself. For a while she searched her mind, trying to understand which of her experiences in the night had been real and which was dream. She touched herself and her countenance contracted. A cloud came over her face as the truth came upon her. She stood up and went outside. She found Morako standing, looking far away. She called him several times to get his attention.

  He turned to her and said, “I can still feel the pain from the deaths. It is like an echo reverberating in my heart. It hangs like foul air in my lungs.”

  She waited until he finished, then she said in a voice cooler than her temper. “Morako, did we have sex last night?”

 

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