by Penn Fawn
“So, you’re one of those who was against the deforestation,” Aswad asked with measured timidity.
“I am,” Akua replied, and the room fell silent for a few seconds.
“If we were going to be taken out, hopefully, that would have come by some kind of natural disaster. Like, I don’t know, being hit by a massive falling star.”
The guests were all ears.
“We adapted well to this place and, with the training of the wolves, learned to keep the ghouls at bay. But at some point, talk about expansion or natural progression, I believe is what they called it, began surfacing,” Akua continued.
“We were not out in the open free to roam the land as they do, and there were those here who wanted that. They believed we were entitled to it, so they urged us to organize and think about forming a village. One by one, we began cutting down the trees and building homes until we got to the point of what you see here today.”
“All sounds fairly normal, I’d say,” Aswad timidly added. “A normal part of evolution and development.”
“It’s madness,” Akua replied. “We’re not so feeble-minded that we don’t know the consequence of it and what it means. We’re not fools. Entitlement? Entitled to what? Strangers on another man’s land are entitled to nothing. Nothing but some humility, or whatever the people of that land may be kind enough to grant him.”
“We’re entitled to defend ourselves though, entitled to desire self-preservation,” Aswad said.
“You think they didn’t know we were here somewhere in this general area?” Akua asked.
“I don’t know,” Aswad replied.
“Bet you they did,” Akua said. “What they didn’t know was the exact location and just how many of us there are. They probably thought we were just a few and therefore not worth combing the area to weed us out. Make no mistake about it. They would prefer if there were none of us here at all.”
Aswad listened.
“So, to what end is this feeling of entitlement?” Akua asked.
Aswad, unsure of what he should say next, said nothing.
“A hell of a lot of trouble, right?” Akua said.
“From what I now know? Yes,” Aswad replied. “Very grave trouble.”
“Right,” Akua added. “And, that’s where we stand today. On the brink of some dire trouble, all due to our normal evolution and development.”
They thought about what he said.
“I must go now,” Akua added. “Sleep well. Tomorrow I will be here shortly after dawn to direct you to where you are to begin your training.
So said, so done, Ossouna noted to himself as they departed with him early in the morning. While they went about their business, the leaders gathered at the same meeting place where they held their meeting yesterday.
Oba, who was eager to get to the chief reason for the morning’s assembly, kept his greeting short.
The representatives noted a particular urgency in the tone and manner in which he spoke. It was like he would have preferred the reason for calling the assembly had already been addressed.
“Let’s get to stating your positions pro and con,” he said. “Do please keep them brief and to the point, so we can put this to the vote as quickly as possible. I don’t have to remind you time is not on our side. Whatever your decision, it will take some planning and precious more time to implement. By a show of hands, who wants to first have the floor, please.”
Zaeim was first to raise his hand.
“Go on, Zaeim,” Oba said.
“After having the balance of the evening into the night to pour over this, my opinion hasn’t changed. I still side with what Oluso suggested,” Zaeim said.
He looked to his left, and Oluso and his eyes met.
“Fine,” Alpha said, “so long as you and whoever else here who feels this way realize you’re talking about getting into a war.”
No one replied.
“You do realize that is what we’re talking about, right?” he added.
“Of course, we do. Or, at least I do,” Zaeim replied, and their countenances, on the whole, grew grim.
“It’s not a war,” Oluso said.
“No?” Alpha said. “What is it then?”
“It’s self-defense,” Oluso replied. “Whether we take the fight to them or not, we’d still be doing this for our self-preservation.”
“Still a war,” Alpha said.
“Is there no other way?” Dalia asked.
“There is the only other option you already know about,” Oluso replied.
She didn’t reply.
“But do you really want to start all over again? Do you want to continue trying to keep an extra-low profile by hiding out in these bushes, fearing to ever let that you exist be known?
“There was a time no one was more in that camp than I was,” Oluso said. “No more. I’d rather live on my feet than go hiding and crawling on my knees in the bush like I’m not a man, but rather some kind of wild animal.”
She looked at him.
“These issues we’re dealing with now, they were coming,” Oluso added. “It was only a matter of time. Again, I am not going to go run and hide. I never was one who wanted to live forever anyway. It’s unnatural, and besides, I’m not afraid to die.”
“It’s not about hiding,” Dalia said. “It’s about trying to preserve ourselves to fight another day, a day when we are better equipped to resist them.”
“And, when might that day be?” Oluso asked. “We don’t have the luxury of all that time. It’s too late now. Now that they know so many of us are here, they will search every inch of this and the surrounding territory to weed us out. If we left at this moment, we would only get but so far.”
“It’s not too late,” she replied. “There is still time for those of us who would like to evacuate. If we know anything about them, we know they’ll probably avoid the surrounding forest, especially those areas known to be infested with ghouls. They would not want to waste their energy and resources facing them. They will come across the plains because there are acres of forest on either side of that.
“I say we cross the river and proceed in a westward direction parallel to its bank. This way, they will be on the other side, plus there will be a forest between them and us. Their kin to the north have several acres of forest between the riverbank and us.
“It is unlikely they have been notified or will be involved because as far as they would have been told, we’re supposed to be on the other side of the river.
“If they were notified, I doubt very much they’d plan on toting rafts in the hundreds if not thousands through the forest, so a large body of them may be transported to the other side. My bet is it’s just their southern brethren who will bring this fight to us,” she added, and her words commanded full attention from everyone.
“After crossing the river, we should proceed close to the bank at all times to keep as much land as possible between us and their northern kin.”
“Sounds like you thought over this pretty thoroughly,” Mbou said.
“How could I afford not to given how critical this matter is?” she replied.
“What she said is speculative. We have no way of knowing if they’ll come across the plains. They will come in numbers and be mindful of straying too far from the river banks for want of water to sustain themselves and their animals. They may elect to come covertly through the forest with the intent of slaying whatever they encounter on their way here. Man, beast, ghoul, whatever, then establish this area as one that’s free of men once more,” Oluso said.
“But all of our assumptions and alarm is based on thinking they will choose to get here in the most expedient manner. Is it not? And, that would be across the plains. Or, are you altering your tone solely for the sake of maintaining a position other than mine?” she asked.
“If they did come through the forest, it will take them an eternity to get to us. That should buy us enough time to go in the opposite direction from which they are coming, plu
s we’ll be on the other side of the river too. So, there is time, my friend,” she said. What surprised many and had them thinking more deeply about it all, Oba included, was not as straightforward as initially believed.
“Now that Dalia mentioned what she did, and coming to think of it, it’s likely there can be yet another possibility,” Mbou said.
“What’s that?” Alpha asked.
“The Shetani needn’t hastily come here at all. They can take their time, slowly move in closer to us until they have established a secure supply line, then make their move to lay claim to the area,” Mbou replied.
“We cannot chance thinking they will take that approach,” Oluso said. “And, anyway, if we do, in the end, we may still all be slaughtered. It’ll just take them a bit longer.”
“No argument here,” Dalia said. “The sooner we act, the better, and the time to act is now,” she added, and Oba felt very grateful for her input.
“If I am to draw my last breath and it is during a battle, I wish to do so on the lands to the north and far west of us. I will face or accept my end trying to free our people held in bondage in the mountains beyond the Valley of Death. That is my will and testament. I wish to try and unite with the men from the west, who as you know, have also expressed a desire to free our brethren and thereby increase our influence, territory, and range. Despite this recent turn of events, that is what I have a mind to stick to and pursue, so help me, God,” she added.
“Go to Yagan?” Oluso said. “That’s what you propose? It is a barren wasteland.”
“And, what does that matter?” Dalia replied. “It’s way more than that. It’s where the Shetani dare not approach for fear of sinking into the surrounding marshes. They don’t know the way through it.
“Their only other option is to approach from its northern end over the mountain, which is something they would not do. The land between it and our brethren is too much for them, plus there are enormous expanses of sinking sand in that region.
“And, of course, there’s more,” she added just before Oluso could get a word in. “What you called a barren wasteland, as all of you here know, is precisely what has given our brethren there a chance to survive.”
She meant another way of approaching Yagan, and that was from the vast expanse of land to its east and west. What was more unlikely than the Shetani coming over the mountain to its north was their considering approaching it from either side of the wastelands which flanked it.
The lack of resources there, the scarcity of food and fresh water would be sure to kill any approaching party who did not know better. This was not, however, enough to kill any of them given the curse.
Regarding that curse, their kin, just like those who perished in the valleys of Sanctuary, did not consider they could never die for want of nourishment all bad. Well, at opportune times, they didn’t. After all, it was what gave many of them what they considered an advantage over the Shetani.
“Aside from our traders, no one has ever cared to go there,” Oluso said.
“Now some do,” Dalia returned.
“The place is hell. They don’t call it suicide city for nothing. Only the Valley of Death is worse. They share the same characteristics and features. Its location, their location. I don’t have to go into any details about it with you, and to get there as you know is no easy road,” Oluso said.
“Our options are limited,” she replied. “While only a small number aside from our businessmen has ever cared to go there, now my constituents will, and I needn’t remind you that I’m here to represent them.”
Oluso did not reply.
“I’d wager many others will now not only consider going to Yagan but opt to go there too, given the extremity of our circumstances.
“You’ve heard my position. I will say no more,” she added.
Nyeusi was not pleased when he first heard about Yagan. He didn’t like knowing there was anywhere in which the immortals found refuge. His opinion changed after witnessing just how drab a place it was.
He found out after consulting the necromancer, who granted him a peek at it through his stone.
It was from it that he saw and questioned its owner regarding whether the skies above were often overcast. A blanket of clouds seemed intent on perpetually covering the area, and many a time, their colors appeared dark and foreboding.
What pleased Nyeusi most, however, was when the skies turned orange. This meant it was likely a certain kind of rain was going to fall. Just like within the Valley of Death, it rained blood when it rained under orange skies there.
Nyeusi was also pleased to learn their life was one in which the immortals lived in the caves of the hills and mountains.
There was no luscious green forest to soothe one’s eyes anywhere near the location. Nyeusi felt this suited a creature who in the main, and if the truth be told, did not value such things, to begin with. It only purported to.
There were no sounds of birds chirping merrily, no sound of crickets making a racket, or any sound that suggested proximity to living things.
Those who first witnessed the orange skies, then the falling rain, always dreaded whether any tinge of that color was as a sign of what none liked to see. The entire sky later becoming blanketed in orange, then the ensuing red rain.
There were no beautiful rivers or running streams, or anything that suggested a thriving, vibrant ecosystem, features he felt were befitting, given the penchant of its inhabitants for destruction.
He considered the sheer barren, dark, and desolate nature of the surroundings must have been a contributing factor to why so many there took their lives with such frequency. Yagan, he concluded, was not too bad a place for them after all.
Alpha took the floor next.
“My constituents are divided,” he said. “I was not personally assured of what position to take, but right now I feel inclined to side with Dalia,” he said.
“Yagan has never been the subject of an attack, and I don’t suppose it ever will. Nyeusi, or so I assume, is happy to have us be where there is nothing to endanger or destroy,” he added.
“This isn’t saying anything you don’t already know. What’s new is my telling you it appears the time has come to do not what we would like to do but have to. The time has come to go, not where we would like to be, but have to be. That is, provided we want to survive.
“Are these your sentiments, Dalia?” he asked.
“They are, and I couldn’t have expressed them any better,” she replied.
A familiar sound only a crow could make was heard. They looked up at the sky with a mixture of emotions. All there knew their chief long-distance messenger had been dispatched to Yagan. Was it Jogoo, and if so, what message was he bringing?
The crow flew as purposefully as any bird does when on a mission. He headed directly toward the assembly and flopped down right near Oba, his owner, and trainer, who quickly removed the message tied around his leg.
The curiosity became near unbearable. “What does it say?” an exceedingly curious Zaeim asked.
“In a word, they want us to join them,” Oba replied with a stone-faced expression, and the bird sang or uttered a couple of phrases in that harsh tone only a crow can make, then it flew away.
Oluso was also stone-faced. “I’ll die here,” he said. “I’m not going to live a life on the run.”
“If you’re patient, there will be better days in which to fight, Oluso,” Dalia said. “And, that could perhaps mean a return to reclaim here.”
“You want to go, so go then. Your mind is made up, and so is mine. I will not live like a rat within the confines of a dark hole or burrow. For us, that is called a cave, and Nyeusi would have us live like that if you let him.
“If you are to believe what has been said, that is what he and his kind fancy for our brethren in those mountainous regions where they hold so many captive and will fancy for us. I am a man, not a beast or vermin or a plague, and I will strive to live like a man. I have made my case and will sa
y no more,” he replied.
WHILE ON THEIR WAY to where they were to be trained, Ossouna, Aswad, and Keita informed Akua they were skilled at using the bow and arrow. Therefore, he thought it was best to give them close combat training and teach them how to fight using the swords his men used out on the plains.
He had them begin by using slim poles, which were about the length of the swords they used, then he had them apply the offensive and defensive measures they were taught using the blades.
At the end of that session, curiosity got the better of him.
“So, you’re archers, eh?” he asked.
“Never thought of myself as that,” Ossouna replied. “But, like I told you earlier, I or we are very comfortable using the bow. All of the men where we come from are.”
“I hear that,” Akua replied, “but I’ll tell you this, why don’t you show me what you can do?” he added, and a broad smile appeared on his face.
Ossouna looked at him, and a smile appeared on his face, although he was not sure what Akua was grinning about.
“Who do you mean?” Aswad interjected. “Just him or all of us?”
“All of you,” Akua replied, still grinning.
Aswad looked at Keita then at Ossouna.
“No problem,” Aswad replied. “I’ll show you.”
“What do you want to see?” Ossouna asked.
“I want to see how good your marksmanship is,” he replied. “Come with me.”
“Okay,” Ossouna said, and Akua took them to an area well known for its traveling wildebeest population.
Once there, Akua bid them crouch and hide in the grass.
They focused on stragglers, those animals that strayed from the thick of the herd.
It was a situation with which his guests were well familiar. The chief difference was they used to go on this kind of adventure when they desired meat.
Akua bid Ossouna take the first go.
“You first,” he said. “Let’s see what you can do.”
Ossouna stealthily rose from a crouched position and released a poison arrow that lodged into a straggler wildebeest’s neck.