₦airaland Forum

Drumbeats

The drumbeats grew louder, they were more perceptible now. The young man was so curious, he quickly sat up and peered into the distance, trying to see what was going on. He saw a great crowd, some miles away, to the left of the coast. They were moving fast, swaying to the drummers' beats. His interest piqued, the young man got up and headed towards the crowd.

He'd been walking for a while when he noticed he did not seem to be getting any closer. He could, however, make out a procession, mostly dressed in blue, who seemed to surround a princely figure who danced with slow, sad, stately steps. Every so often, he would turn and face the crowd, an utter some words, to which the crowds respondsed with a roar. Some boys were performing acrobatic stunts and this contributed to the festive atmosphere.

By the edges of the crowd were a quieter group. This group were escorting an older man who stood, stately and alone, dressed in dazzling tones of a light shiny material. He was observing the festivities and the crowd, and he made occasional commentaries to his aides althuogh they did not seem to be close enough to hear him, but they caught the import of his observations anyway. They discussed these among themselves, and relayed to the horsemen who carefully noted what they said on a piece of paper which looked like baked clay. This was stored carefully in a specially designed bag for that purpose which was mounted on three stands on the horse's back. The older man watched the activity sadly, then turned and headed in a different direction, leaving behind his retinue. They gazed after him and the young man saw more than one of them wipe away a tear, but they quietly rejoined the crowd and slowly, became part of the festivities. The old king kept walking, and the young man was surprised to see a forest in the distance which he had not noticed before. The king was headed in that direction, but in between the festivities and trying to keep pace with the distant crowd, the young man lost sight of him and did not know when he entered the forest.

The crowd was moving at a faster pace now; there was still about a mile between them and the young man. The princely man at the head of the column, had stopped by the coast and it was a while before the crowd calmed down enough to hear him speak. He waved a long stick covered with graceful white feathers, and everyone around him hushed. The young man also paused and waited to see what was next.
The prince seemed to grow taller, the aides brought a long flowing gown which he wore, and a transformation seemed to occur right there. The prince (now king), held a staff which had been retrieved from the water ( the young man could not really say how, perhaps it had been stored there in a vault), and he spoke with authority. The horsemen handed him the paper tablet with the words of the former king, he perused it carefully and handed it back to them for safekeeping. Then he turned to address the crowd.

"Considerable!!!!!" he shouted

The crowd went wild "Substantial!!!!!"

"Powerful!!!!!"

"Distinguished!!!!!"

"Skillful!!!!!" roared the King.

"Great!!!!!" the crowd bellowed in return.

At this point, the drummers rolled in, in full force, and another session of dancing began. The king danced gracefully and the crowd responded in kind, a bit more energetically and with gusto. The king danced, the crowd danced, the young man danced as well, without noticing the crowd had once again resumed it's journey and the king was no longer in his line of sight but at the front of the column, headed somewhere in the distance. He had left behind a little sparkly stone beside the water, it's greenish blue hues glimmered and shone softly in the waves.

The young man decided to set a course for the town he could see far off, and hoped he would get there by evening.