The Herald of War

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SEVEN days after Ógù unreasonably killed our nanny goat, our town was struck with a heavy tragedy that stirred aggressive emotions.

Some group of women, worried that their children hadn’t returned from Okirikiri River where they had gone to wash their clothes and fetch water, had gone to the river to look for them.

It was already dusk by the time they set out for the search, and they had a foreboding that something bad must have happened to their children.

When they got to the bank of Okirikiri River, the gory sight that they beheld confirmed their fears: all their male children were lying dead, in their own pool of blood, on the bank of the river, and their female children were nowhere to be found!

Who must have done this? It was clear that the tragedy was not masterminded by spirits or the gods because blood and open wounds were not associated with death orchestrated by these beings.

And why were the girls kidnapped and the boys killed? Whoever did this must have something up his sleeves.

The women marched round the entire land of Obodo Nta, naked, carrying their slain children on their hands. In my town, when women protest naked, the issue is seen as a very serious one, and it is said that their curse in that state of mind is the most potent of all curses.

Seeing these women carrying their slain children with unusual strength and marching ceaselessly all round our town evoked a feeling of pity and vengeance in me. I knew that they would never rest until the blood of their children’s killers was shed, too. More so, their daughters’ whereabout was paramount now.

But, who must be responsible for this atrocity? I suspected either of the four towns that bordered Okirikiri River: Egbe, Wetaya, Ndorondoro and Setuo. My suspicion of their culpability in this tragedy was hinged on their past unhealthy disagreement with us. They must have learnt about our new procreation arrangement that was aimed at increasing our numerical strength, and were hellbent on nipping it in the bud. If not, why would they kill only the boys?

Three days later, a letter picked up on the bank of Okirikiri River (and which was held in place with a chunk of rock to avoid the breeze sweeping it away) by one of the men we had assigned to man the river, confirmed my suspicion. The letter was written in an awkward, familiar handwriting, and it read:

IT IS EITHER YOU SURRENDER YOUR LAND TO US OR WE KILL YOUR DAUGHTERS LIKE BIRDS AND USE THEM AS OUR MEAL.

The beasts in us were unhinged, and no one could stop us from drawing their own blood!

★★★

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This is an interesting story and I have been following.

But the daily updates are usually short

I will try and readjust.

Chikezie1245:
I will try and readjust.

Ok.

Also, instead of creating a new thread for different chapters, you can put everything in a single thread.