by Mark Omodia
Chapter 5
Abduction
As the moons went by my shaggy hair and full beard grew bigger. I was sitting in front of Morriah's house one day when suddenly, someone covered my eyes.
'Let me guess', I said. 'Morriah is out hunting with Gaiel. Kayne is playing with his mother who is sitting right next to me, and judging from the rather small, furry hands, this must be... Lila!'
'You always get me every time!' she said, giggling as she removed her hands from my eyes and came in front of me.
'That is because you are so predictable', I replied, tickling her sides and drawing her near me as she tried to resist it. She was a lot smaller than Euphina who was about my height. Young and female Morflon were the only one that were my height or smaller, with the exception of a few taller ones. There were also some short Morflon male who were my height or slightly shorter.
'You have lovely children', I complimented Euphina.
Euphina was always demur and sweet.
'Thank you Eric', she replied, pecking Kayne.
Kayne could barely speak. He just sat on his mother's laps facing her as she played with him. He made noise as he tried to utter some words.
'They are my bundle of joy', she continued. 'Nature has been really kind.'
'I noticed you always talk of nature as though it is some kind of deity. Do you worship nature?' I said.
'Who doesn't?' Euphina asked. 'We believe that we are part of nature's great big family. We consider ourselves as nature's offspring. I would not necessarily use the term "worship", but we respect nature. We acknowledge that some things are predestined and others still just beyond our control. That is why we turn to nature. We meditate and sometimes pray to nature because in this forest full of uncertainty and mystery, we see nature as the force which controls the flow of everything and everyone.'
Just then, something hit me on my head. I turned and saw that Lila was throwing something tiny at me.
'Stop it', I said. But she continued. I ran towards her and caught her, holding her hands so that she could not stone me again. I forced what she was holding out of her hands.
'You are very naughty you', I said, examining what she was throwing at me. I noticed they were not stones. They were orange coloured seeds. I never felt more excited in my life. I was so excited I could barely speak.
'What is the matter?' Euphina asked me.
'Where did you find this?' I asked Lila.
'At the backyard', she replied.
'Take me there now', I said.
Lila hopped her way to the backyard with me following keenly behind. Behold, a single cornstalk hidden amongst bushes.
'...Corn!' I yelled 'You have corn!'
'What is corn?' Lila asked.
'This!' I showed her with excitement. 'This is corn!'
I checked around to see if there was anyone else. To my disappointment it was only that one stalk. Luckily for me it still had some cobs. I plucked one cob and broke it into two, the smaller part I planted while the larger part I roasted.
'Do not tamper with this plant. Tell your friends, your brother... nobody should tamper with this', I warned Lila who all the while stared at me as I moved like a lunatic.
But all that didn't bother me as I was only concerned about my corn. It was as though I had found gold. Finally, a little more variety, I thought.
'Is everything alright?' Euphina asked me.
'Yes', I replied. 'I found corn.'
'What are you doing', Lila asked.
'I am planting the corn', I replied.
'Why are you planting the corn?' she asked again.
'So that it would grow and produce more', I answered.
'Why do you want it to produce more?' she asked.
'Go inside!' Euphina told her. 'You are disturbing Eric!'
Euphina made sure Lila went in, but she was also curious.
'Why are you planting it?' she asked me.
'I eat corn', I replied. 'Where I am from, corn is used to produce a lot of things we eat.'
'Well if you are going to eat it, I guess you should bring down the corn you are roasting before it burns to ashes.'
'Oh!' I exclaimed.
I had forgotten that I put the other half on fire. I rushed towards the fire, quenched it and removed the corn. I burnt my tongue as I chewed on the charred seeds. I felt so much relief as for the first time in weeks I ate something other than meat or wild fruits. I offered some to Euphina who reluctantly put them in her mouth. She soon spat them out, her countenance showing utter disgust.
'You eat this?' she asked.
'Not always in this form but yes, I do', I replied. 'Do not worry; you'll learn to like it.'
Euphina spat again, trying to remove every particle of corn in her mouth while I chewed my corn hastily.
It was then we heard voices of a crowd coming towards our house. We ran in front of the house to see what was going on. The crowd stopped in front of our house. Gaiel was with them. He had some blood on him. He also had a wound on his leg. He was with Ozin and Azadus. They were accompanied by a small crowd. Everyone was melancholy.
'What is wrong?' Euphina asked, sensing something bad had happened. 'What happened to you Gaiel? Did you get into another fight...? I thought I warned you to control your temper.'
Gaiel was crying. He was too weak to respond. Euphina rushed to examine his leg which was bandaged. Everyone in the crowd was looking at her.
'Where is your father?' she continued. Gaiel continued weeping. His eyes were red as he had been weeping for quite a while. Euphina began to panic as she noticed all eyes were on her. They tried to calm her down.
'Where is Morriah?'
'We are sorry', Azadus told her.
'What do you mean you are sorry?' Euphina snapped. 'Where is my husband?'
'Calm down Euphina', Ozin tried to console her.
'What do you mean by calm down?' she retorted. 'Where is Morriah?'
'Morriah has been abducted!' Azadus said.
Euphina immediately stood still and in seconds passed out. The Morflon held her before she fell and took Kayne from her.
Euphina regained consciousness a while later. She sat in the sitting room with Gaiel, Ozin and Azadus. I watched them from the room where Lila and Kayne were preoccupied by some female Morflon.
'Do take heart', Azadus consoled Euphina.
'All will be well', Ozin added.
'I was on my way home from a friend's place when I heard Gaiel scream for help', Ozin continued. 'He shouted that his father had been kidnapped. I sent word to Azadus and together with a band of Morflon; I rushed to the scene only to realize it was too late. The abductors were miles away by then.'
'How did this happen?' Euphina asked.
'Come on Gaiel', Azadus said. 'Tell your mother how it happened. Tell her what you told us.'
Gaiel was still sobbing, but he managed to speak.
'We were deep in the forest... a couple of miles away from the square...' he slurred, sobbing. 'We... we were tracking a deer when... out of nowhere... a... a... a dart hit father and immediately sent him to sleep... Before I knew it, Morrs surrounded us... I tried to fight them... they were just too many... They took father and flew away... They shot my leg with their crossbow as I tried to chase them... They got away... they got away and they took father with them!'
Azadus and Ozin comforted Gaiel and Euphina who were both weeping bitterly.
'We suspect that Morr spies are definitely responsible for this'; Azadus said when Euphina calmed down. 'I suspected this would happen ever since he killed that Morr. You see, it turns out that the Morr that was killed was Lord Boas, the King's lunatic brother.'
'Lord Boas had fled the fortress and was roaming about the forest', Ozin said. 'Somehow the lunatic made it to the Alpha tribe. Some Morflon spotted him and began to chase him. He killed several Morflon that night. That is before Morriah brought him down.'
'The spies must have found out', Azadus added.
'Now they
want their pound of flesh', Ozin said.
'I think this is more than that', Azadus said. 'This is rather a show of power. They want to remind us who is king of the forest.'
Euphina burst into tears again.
'Do not worry', Ozin said. 'Morriah is our brother and we would do anything in our power to get him back.'
'Ozin and I will go to beg the Morr king', Azadus assured.
Euphina was shocked at that statement. She obviously disapproved of the idea.
'We know it is dangerous, it has probably never been done... it is even against my better judgment, but Morriah is family. And we Morflon would do anything for family. We would be accompanied by two or three other Morflon. We shall take the fastest route there so that we could reach there as soon as possible. As for you and your children my wife and I would be checking on you from time to time and we would give you whatever you need. I believe Ozin would do the same.'
'Yes!' Ozin nodded.
'We shall also put measures in place to ensure your safety', Azadus continued, twirling his moustache.
'Thank you my elders', Euphina said, sobbing.
'It's nothing', Ozin said. 'Do not worry, all will be well.'