13 A TALE OF THE PAST

CHAPTER TEN

The entire village heard of the news, one man planning to fight all warriors of Uma village. Some laughed at the news, some believe that it was a joke. Bibi was in her compound with Adoebe, "What is he thinking" Bibi looked worried she abruptly stood up which startled her friend "am going to see the chief" she ran out of her compound Adoebe went after her.

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She entered the chief's compound, the first person she saw was Alem, she peered at his stud muscles, the sun reflects on his skin making his skin glow, he was stretching and he caught her salivating over his looks "Hello" Alem waved at her, but she scurried away, the rest of his friends saw her receding silhouette, soon Adoebe ran into the compound gasping for air she greeted and ran into the compound, leaving the men standing in a stupor. "Human women are strange" Faiz spoke and the rest agreed. Alem just smiled and continued stretching.

"Are you going to let him fight alone?" bibi said to the chief who was offering prayers to Shango's statue that stood in the middle of his dome, stood up, his second wife walked in she paid her respect to Orisha Shango, Bibi realized her mistake and also paid her respect to Orisha Shango by bowing down to the statue. "Good morning Bibi" the Chief greeted her with a stern look, Adoebe ran in "Good morning Chief" she bowed to the statue and stood up, "Good morning Chief" Bibi finally found her voice, "morning Adoebe and Bibi" he looked at his second wife, "my husband, the physician has confirmed that I am pregnant, so I have decided that I'll go thank the Orisha Yewa and Orisha Oshun for blessing me with a child again". The chief was really happy, "that's wonderful and hurry goes offer some prayers to the orishas", the girls congratulated them. Soon the village bell rang. It is time for the match.

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At the village arena

Kili, Adoebe's fiancee who was also Uma's most powerful fighter was waiting in the village arena, Alem and the rest also reached there, the ladies saw the beauties and were completely smitten by them. "The rules are simple, whoever pins his opponent to the ground wins" the chief announced. Alem walked to the arena, it was obvious that the young man was looking down on him, he chuckled, " looks like am going to ruin that pretty face of yours" Kili threatened him "what? jealous of my good looks now?" He asked kili in a teasing manner "what can I say the Orishas love me a lot" he added as he cracks his bones, Kili gritted his teeth. "Let the match begin" the chief deep voice resounded in the arena. Kili sprinted towards Alem, he threw a punch but Alem dodge, he grabbed Alem's arm but Alem was fast he swirled, turned around, and pulled his arm away making Kili, lose balance, he quickly dragged Kili back he folded his arms around Kili's waist he lifted him and pinned him to the ground. The whole arena went quiet, soon the entire crowd cheered. Kili gashed his teeth, his eyes red from anger the other warriors were still in shock, "I want a rematch" Kili shouted, "sure thing, I don't mind pinning you down again" he smirked at Kili,

They fought again and Alem won, he fought the rest of the warriors and won, the chief was in glee, he has found a warrior.

PRESENT

Bibi made her way to the chief resident, she stopped and looked at the hut where Alem used to stay in whenever he visited, she saw him walk out of the hut she blinked her eyes maybe she was seeing things but he was now smiling at her, "we need to talk" his face suddenly turned serious. "About what?" She asked, a young boy walked out of the hut, his brown skin color was smooth and golden like, his lips were huge but pink and his nose was like a tiny button on his face, the boy was cute and pretty, the kind of cute that makes people fall in love at first sight.

"Are you here to introduce me to your other son?" Bibi said as she chuckled "he is not my son, he is Adoebe's son" Bibi was utterly shocked, tears gathered in her eyes, how did she not notice the similarities, he inherited that huge lips of hers, she quickly ran to hug the boy, but he became scared and hid behind Alem, he clutched to his knees, Alem, pulled him back and crouched down to the boy's level, "go hug her, she's your aunt" he stared and the woman who was crying, but she was also smiling, which confused the boy, "Are you happy or sad" the boy's large brown eyes stared into hers, "this is called tears of joy, can you please allow me to hug you" the boy went to her, she held him to her bosom, she cried her eyes out, "I need to talk to you, it is relatively important", Bibi nodded and released the boy who was asked to go back to the hut. " Tell me", "Kin did not kill Adoebe" Bibi looked at him with a very rigorous look, "then who do you suggest did it" he could see the distrust in her eyes, but he has made up his mind to answer anyway, "Kili" Bibi gasped and fell to the ground.

Somewhere in the village, many warriors gathered in a hut, seated at the top was Kili, "and when do we attack" one of the warriors asked, he smirked evilly "tomorrow".

THE NEXT DAY

Bibi was making breakfast while thinking about what Alem told her, "did Kili kill Adoebe" she murmured to herself, Zaira left with Alem, he left his son behind with them, he and Atika were playing in the compound, the door to the compound burst open and behind the slammed door were Kili and some warriors, they then walked in, " Arrest them" Kili commanded, they dragged the children and Atika and bought them in front of Kili, "what are you doing" Bibi shouted at them "we are arresting you for associating with the mamiwatas" Bibi was shocked they dragged them out, many people gathered around. Adora came forward she may not like Bibi but she can not stand by and watch her being treated like that, "what are you doing, why are you dragging her about. Kili came forward, " she associated with Mamiwatas" everyone gasped, Adora kept quiet defending Bibi will put her in trouble, "All the people of Uma follow us to the chief's residence" the town crier went around the village. The entire villagers gathered in front of the chief's compound, he looked confused he didn't ask for the people, he saw Kili forcefully dragging Bibi towards him, anger surge through him "what nonsense is this" Kili ignored him, "The chief and Atika associated with Mamiwata" the chief and the people were utterly shocked, "how dare you to accuse me" "then can you explain why your third wife is a Mamiwata" the entire villagers gasped looking at the chief then the third wife, "what nonsense, my wife isn't a Mamiwata" Kili smirked at him, "then let her enter the huge bowl of water, the chieftess looked nervous, the women dragged her and threw her into the water, her legs transformed into a fishtail but because of her long clothing they could only see the fishtail, the chief was as surprised as the people. "Kill the chieftess, the crowd started shouting all the people that use to look at her with respect now their eyes are filled with fear and disgust towards her. "let's go," Kili said and the rest of the warriors followed him with cutlass and Spears, while some of the men in the village carried big bowls on their head, it was filled with red poison.

UNDER THE SEA

All of the mamiwatas live in a cave with their family, they were celebrating the birth of a new son, the male mamiwatas are very little, so when a boy is born they all will celebrate it. A merman swam into the cave, he looked a bit weak, "Chief something is wrong" Alem handed the baby back to its mother, he has a golden tail like his children, "what's the problem, our water is being poisoned and all the entrances have been surrounded" the mamiwatas started panicking, Amaka, Alem's first wife, Zaira and Topa's mother swam to him " what are we going to do" she placed her hand on his shoulder looking worried, "Faiz and Ilim get ready, we are going to fight them, you will use the opportunity and lead them to the west sea" the rest agreed, the other mermen carried their weapons and swam towards the shore, the poison has started killing off the fishes, and weaken them, they jumped out of the sea as their tails transform into human legs, they then landed on the soil, Kili smirked evily "Attak" the warriors and the Mamiwata started fighting.

Ilim, Faiz and the women were running west, the warriors wanted to chase after them but the mamiwatas were faster, weapons clashed, sparks flew, Alem kneed Kili in the stomach, Kili backed away he gripped his stomach and glared at Alem, he stood up and swung his cutlass but Alem stopped it with his spear, Alem noticed many of his men coughing out blood, the little distraction gave oppurtunity to Kili he was able to injure Alem on the shoulder, "Alem focus" he heard Kin's voice. Zaira and Amaka left the rest they made their way to Uma village, Zaira covered her face as they made their way to Atika's hut they notice how the village seems to be in total chaos, they knocked on Bibi's door and she opened it, come in she said to them her face looked a bit pale, "am Amaka, Topa's mum are you okay" she asked her voice sounded concern "am fine" Bibi sturtted she gave them water, "where is Topa", " and Atika" Zaira quickly added, "they must be playing someplace", " we have to find Topa" she was about to stand up, Bibi came closer "at least drink the water" Amaka quickly gulped down the water but Zaira didn't touch her cup, Bibi became nervous Amaka noticed this and immediately realize how not right the situation is, "Zaira run" a warrior entered the hut, her mother started coughing out blood, Zaira froze due to shock, "Mum" she starmmerted as tears rolled down her cheecks she glared at Bibi who was crying and apologizing, Amaka stood up and drew out two small knives from the small pouch around her waist and started fighting with the warrior "run" her mother's voice Jolted her back to reality she hesistated and her Mum shouted at her to run again the warrior kicked Jerah in the stomach but Amaka held the man's leg Zaira ran out of the hut, she kept running she was not even sure of the direction she was running to, her eyes became blurry with the amount of tears flowing down her cheeks, she heard how the villagers were talking about the chief associating with mamiwata, she decided to sneak into the chief's resident to save Topa, but when she reached the front of the entrance she froze, a new kind of pain, anger, sadness, so many emotions surged through her, Her father, Jum, Kutz, Laiz and other mermens, their bodies weree hung up in the compound like animals, she dugged her nails into her palm, a hand dragged her through the crowd who gathered to see the bodies, they reached a secluded area and Kin looked at the girl, his face looked pale, he was surely about to die. "Go west, you have to live" he coughed out blood and then fell on his knees, Zaira stood looking emotinless, "Zaira, promise me, that you won't seek revenge, just live a happy and peaceful life" he looked at the girl who looked back at him, her eyes looked dead, she suddenly have a whole new aura, he held her hand "promise me" his voice came out hoarsed, "I can't make that kind of promise" she then pushed his hand away and walked away not turning back, not even once.