Her romantic rebellion

Upfront and upclose was Reina to the berry plants in the musty field laned and smoothly bordered down the citrus plantation owned by the Galadimas - her fiancé's family. She leaned her fondly pointed nose close to the flirting leafs that shoved and plated the coloured fruits as she was still sensually flamed by the innocent scent addressing from the vineyard even after she had being working in the plantation for over a year and engaged to Abdul Galadima for over a day now. In her bask of deep excitement, Fatti called out her name and she unnaturally dropped the berries that she had pruned into the basket weaved from jute and hemp. Reina smiled back at her friend who had being a worker in the plantation long before she moved from a small village in Taraba state to the Galadimas in Gbadarinka - a small town in Yobe state. She engaged Reina in a skimpy conversation as it was news all over the plantation about the oncoming marriage of Abdul; the eldest son of Galadima. With the shades of smiles covering Fatti's face, Reina could barely hear the words from her friend "Reina, I heard the news" but she sarcastically kept dumb and played numb as she replied "What news". Fatti couldn't relate to why she was still trying to keep an unboxed secret as she insisted "I don't know what hurts the most; hearing the news from someone else or you still trying to deny it" and when she couldn't hide the Fritz anymore, Reina dropped the native hamper she held in her left arm and said "Am not denying anything, am just surprised cos I hadn't told anybody but yes! Abdul did propose to me". The two ladies squeaked uneasily and uncontrollable with laughter as they hugged each other and Fatti comforted her disappointment with the fact that she would be the first to get the full gist of how he proposed as she implored Reina to let her in on all the details whilst they walked down the plantation; rugged with green shrubs.

Chop! Chop! The cook chopped the red chili, diced the carrots, sliced the onions, grated the long pieces of Irish potato and stir fried them with a pinch of little vegetable oil. The sound and smell of the oil sizzling and heating in the pan from the kitchen vaporized as Abdul switched on the shower and the tiny threads of water bursted against the polished flesh of his bald head, trickling down his body while his hands were against the shower cubicle. Reina bade Fatti bye as she had escorted her to the doorstep of the big house in which she was residing with Abdul. He was still in the shower when Reina came into the bathroom and slipped out of her kaya dress as she joined the beard, six foot-one northerner with the premise "You are under arrest". With a hunch of surprise and a hit of excitement he responded "What are my charges". Reina entered the shower proper with her hands curled around his neck and her distinctly coloured nipples bailing at him like an officer taking a lawbreaker to the precinct as she said "One, for starting the fun without me", this juggled a smile to his face as she continued "and two, for telling everyone about our engagement behind my back". Abdul who felt no wrong telling his friends reacted "Wasn't I suppose to share the good news" and Reina chanted a little disappointingly "Yea, maybe with your guy friends, not the full community. My girlfriends were supposed to hear it from me, now they all know about it". The young man realized his irrefutable crimes as he said "Guilty as charged. How long is my sentence, Mrs Officer?". Her face stared cold as she drove her hand down south his naked body and whispered close to his dried broken lips "As long as it gets", prompting a quick romance under the feathering feel of the showering water droplets.

Shettima (The cook) was serving the rice dish on the dinner table when Reina and Abdul came for dinner in the cool of the evening as the engaged two uncovered the ceramic plates and started eating. Not longer than a few minutes after, Abdul got a call as he halted the intake and wiped his mouth with an amazon coloured napkin saying "Hello" but he soon got drowned in the conversation as he lost conversance of his immediate happening and rose up with a disturbing rush. "What's going on", Reina confronted him whilst he was in a hurry to leave and he told her "Am not sure, the line was breaking but something is wrong. I'll go check it out". She chose to stick with the opposite of what seemed and pretendedly continued to eat as she was unsure of what to think. Shettima's daughter ran into the dinning and stopped by Reina "Aunty Reina" as she stood up from the dinning and lifted the little girl up, "How are you Waziri". The two started eating and playing as they verily enjoyed the meal but soon Reina noticed the unusual quietness in the house and she asked Waziri "Where is your mum". This released a worrying reply from the young child "I don't know; she left to get something from the market square". Although the time of the day was appropriately when the market square had closed and the fact that Shettima went to the market was quite worrying but she claimed ignorance to all these as Reina and Shettima's daughter were taking their plates to the kitchen when Shettima struggled through the door, drenched in her blood as she held the portion of her belly where she had being stabbed. The ceramic plate untouched Waziri's hands and she screamed just at the same time as the plate shattered against the white squared floor tiles. Reina rushed into the living room and saw the young girl crying with her bleeding mother. She ran to them and tried to apply pressure to the wound but Shettima kept chanting "Cattles, Herdsman. They are killing everybody". Reina shushed Shettima as she told her to keep breathing while she tried to keep the cook alive but the nursing was quickly fruitless as Shettima had lost too much blood. She died in Reina's arms but she kept on trying to prep her back to life and resist the truth that she was dead especially for the sake of Waziri who was old enough to be devastated by the whole scenery of her mom dying. After the ravening outflow of tears, the thought of Abdul out there, flashed her mind and she slowly unbreak herself from what was happening and left Shettima with her daughter for the outdoor to look for his husband.

A group of herdsmen and armed bandits had invaded the plantation with crowds of cows and flying bullets from their Avtomat Kalashnikova - 47, the cattles basically leveled the array of green fields to the ground leaving behind dungs and lifeless bodies. Reina got to the field where she saw dozens of the plantation workers, some charred with gunshots and others marred with matchetes as the cattles muzzled the leaves and trampled on the dead bodies. Reina sorrowfully looked for her fiancé as she carefully searched and checked through the bleeding bodies lying on the floor in the thickening shadows of the setting sun. Finally she saw Abdul who had being badly bruised, Reina ran towards him as he was already giving up the ghost. She placed his weight on her clenched thighs as she knelt on the composted grass, begging him to stay with her as she could feel his soul floating skyward away from him. "Breathe, breathe. You would be okay", this were the words she altered before one of the herdsmen came to her with a long gun and said in Hausa "Am doing him a mighty favour" as he pumped a bullet into Abdul's chest. With the river of tears in her eyes she could rarely see the face and barely get the right nerves to react to the heartlessness of this young man. She lurked in hateful disgust but could only see the wickedness of the man and the voice that trailed the gunshot; If only her cries could bring Abdul back. After spending an emotional amount of time she witnessed the nomadics and their flock take their triumphant exit as she dragged herself back to the house with patches of bloodstain on her clothe and a bag of tears underneath her lids. When she got to the house, the door was thrown ajar, the window shutters were bruised and every object in the house was downside up including the bodies of Shettima and her daughter who had also being killed. With the mixture of all this misfortunes in a comely order, she confronted the reality of still being alive since she had lost every one. She slowly dripped her eyes away and dropped her bum on the floor as she stared away onto the wall. The local vigilantes soon came into the house and took away the two bodies as Reina was left in the house with the whispers of the dark words humming from the walls just as her fiancé's killer had said before shooting Abdul. She soon fumbled into her room against the questions and the talks of the vigilante men who were trying to engage her in an interrogation. Reina opened one of the closets at the side of the mirror and brought out an old bottle of gin that Abdul had kept there away from his father who insisted on making Abdul an alcohol addict like him. She popped it open and stared lustfully at the label that flagged the bottle as there was no caveat, visible enough to stop her from drowning in the liquor. She filled her belly with increasingly gulping amount of this colorless liquor until she passed out. From sunset to sunrise she slept with no intentions of waking up and the few times that she did, it was to grab the bottle and rekindle the alcoholic sobs until she drunkenly passes out again; this she did over and over. After a few days of this iterative and unsubtle highness, Reina's mother visited her as she felt the need to bring her only daughter back to her feet after the unfortunate incident. The young mother slipped both half of the white silk curtain to their respective end as the glory of the red early morning sun bestowed on her face. Reina quickly turned her face to the other side with a grumbling moan. The mother unwrapped Reina of her bed cover and she realized that it was her mum, so she said "Mum! What are you doing here?" but the mum replied with unprovoked anger "Are you really asking me that? After what was done to you". Reina had always played the independent as she still did not regard her mother's concern "Am fine, am not a kid and I really do not need anybody nursiThe mum giggled and said "Oh! You are definitely missing it, am not here to nurse you, life has knocked you down and am here to get you back on your feet and back in the ring". She ushered Reina into the shower where she had her scrubbed and sponged like she was still fourteen.

The herdsmen attack on the Galadima plantation had gotten a lot of press as the incident was the pilot of the preceding many, which warranted a council meeting where the emir of Yobe met with the elders and the leaders of the major climbs, clans and tribes of the state including the Fulanis. The emir sought out to reason with them, so they could find a lasting solution to the siege "A fortnight ago, a group of bandits raided the biggest plantation in the state, with machetes and knifes they slaughtered the workers and let their cattles feed the fields to the ground. While this treacherous act is a show of how selfish, criminal and foolish some of us are, on my honour it will certainly not go unpunished. As the emir of the state, out of justice and fairness, we are waiting on the police report to know for sure the people behind these attacks". Madala; the leader of the Fulani tribe stood up with a verbal interrupt "Well, wait no further. I was the one who sent the men to the Galadimas", his stinking bravery left everyone's mouth out wide and deeply furious as he continued "For centuries and throughout ancient history, this region became distinct for its pastoral herding. Then the world was free, there was regard for the wellbeing of these poor animals, all the graze lands have being converted to houses and industries and we are left with no place to go and nowhere to graze" but the emir replied "Look around you, we are in the second millennia and all this animal welfare excuse for your terrorism only existed in history and that is where it will remain". Madala kept a stoned face that hadn't flicked for some seconds now as he walked towards the emir saying "I can take all this because I know you wouldn't rule for much longer". The emir spat on his face as he grieved "In this age and time, you only have access and rights to lands and farms you own - any other is invasion", the saliva coughed with some catarrh was still rolling across Madala's face when he said as he wiped his face. The emir confidently continued "For the sake of the kingdom and the little prospect of peace left in it, I would let this go but just know that you have drawn the line". Madala grabbed his native head band as he said "I don't like metaphors. If you wouldn't give of us back our lands to graze and you really want all this to be over, then you would have to stop us" and he left the meeting furiously.

Reina and her mother were at breakfast where she hailed her mother for the delicious meal "Mum, this is really delicious" and the mother smiled and added as she stuck her fork on the fleshy scrambled eggs that was by the side of the coconut rice that she had prepared "It reminds me of when you were little, you were very choosy, it irritated your father a lot. The only time you finished your food was when it was coconut rice". This teasing memory made the two of them smile as Reina added "With catfish. Coconut rice with fried catfish". The two were definitely enjoying themselves as a badgering present makes the past a very pleasant place to visit and the mother dropped her cutleries uttering with a cleared throat "This might be coming too soon but I think you can't continue to stay here in this house, you have to move on with your life". Reina didn't like the arrow head shading the conversation as she revoked "I knew it; I knew you were here for a different reason. Mum must it always be about what you want", but the mother felt otherwise "It's not about me, it is about you. Am I wrong for trying to protect my daughter" as she said this Reina aggressively took her plate to drop in the kitchen but the mum felt insulted "Young woman don't walk out on me, am not done talking", the mother sternly chanted. Reina stopped walking with her plate holding her hand as she said "Ofcourse you are not done talking, let me guess; you want to tell me you've found another husband for me". The mother who realized her discovered intentions were a little bit too demanding for the grieving widow rose up to her saying "And would that be a bad thing to do for my only daughter who had being wasting away her days with alcohol". Reina forcefully dropped the plate on the ground as she said with grave emotions "You are a self-serving woman", although the insults were quite harsh to the mother; she still comforted her ego as she whispered to herself "Maybe, I did deserve that". Reina was now facing the kitchen sink as she turned the tap head and she bursted into deep tears "I loved Abdul. He was everything, a man should be" but the mother came to her with comforting hands and rather cold words "Am sure you did love him just as much as you could love another. Hassan is an honorable man; he would gladly welcome you into his family and his ranch". The fact that Hassan stayed in a ranch suggested that he was a herdsman and most likely a Fulani, this thought rashly disturbed the mind of Reina as she never thought her mother would be insensitive enough to propose a marriage to the same type of people (Fulani Herdsmen) who killed her husband, so she turned to face her mother with a carving knife held against her mother's belly "I can't believe you", she cryingly said to the mother but with her daughter pointing a knife at her, she rolled down stones of saliva down her gullet as she counted her words carefully "Being herdsmen in their ranch does not make them bandits. With all this entire crisis happening, this is the only way to be safe, this is the only Reina Stared away from her mother with the knife still pointed at her as she said "Leave, please leave my house", the mum looked at her for a while and then turned away and left. As she was taking her luggage out of the house, Reina said to her "Forget you ever had a daughter" and she left the house with so much disappointment and pity for her daughter.

The owner of a very big plantation came to the emir, asking for weapon fortification as he felt the herdsmen would be looking to strike back after the emir's outburst on their leader and he doesn't want peas in pod situation to that of the Galadimas "Your highness, in the light of the recent happenings. I beg for your favour, that me and my workers may be given the permission and weapons so that we can repel any banditry in my plantation" but the emir replied "It is very civil of you to bring this intentions to my notice but you must know that, violence does not solve violence and weapons in very plantation worker's hand in the long run would be bad for the state. Nonetheless, it will be insensitive of me, not to give my people a sense of security in such trying time like this. In other words I will see to your request, I'll have machetes distributed to the workers and some gun men would be there to man the plantation". Monguno whose son (Hassan) Reina 's mother had earlier asked Reina to marry, owns the biggest ranch in the whole of the northeast but behind this lawful and philanthropic business outfit is a Fulani native who fuels the ongoing agricultural banditry against the peasant farmers and their farmlands. Monguno was with the leader of the Fulani clan after the sour meeting with the emir. Monguno was sitted in his king size chair as Madala mumbled complaints to him "The emir was very strong in his opinion" but Monguno roamed uneasily on his chair and said "That wouldn't be a problem, whatever refuses to bend gets broken". Madala added "He is ready for a war against us and he has the backing of the state and the police", Monguno still felt they had the upper hand "Maybe, but we've got the people's attention and they are afraid of us, if we keep up the fire, the full region would soon be at our beck and call. Worry not, my friend"

With the rain unremorsefully pouring down to the earth, the fields looked greener than ever seen and the Gbenu plantation saw workers manning and cultivating the fields in their wellingtons and rain coats. The day quickened with misfortune when a group of herdsman rode their cattle into the plantation and staged an attack. But for the weapons provided by the emir and the gun men he placed around the plantation that were able to repel the siege with firing shots from their oozing machine guns. In no time the bandits were killed and the ones left were chased to the market square as their flock were either killed or captured. The emir immediately advantaged the situation to send a strong message as he coined a festival for that day as the killed cattles were cooked and prepared for beef in the market place. There was an unusual form of joy across the place as the market women and men left their goods and stands due to the victory over the terrorizing menace of herdsmen and the emir used the festival to announce the banishment of the Fulani tribe and their cattles from the state except the ranch owners.

Reina was still in the house oiling her leg; a preparatory act for most northern wives before going to bed as she placed the right on the stood in front of her with her fair and smooth thighs radiating from the mirror she was in front of. As her gaze came back unto the mirror, she saw Abdul staring at her from behind and she turned back as Abdul said "My love". The sight was too much for her to behold as she stuttered "You! You are dead, it can't be" but he replied "No am not, I will remain until you do me the mighty favour". Reina was getting more confused as she went close to him "What favour?" Abdul ignored the question as he smiled and said "You've never being this beautiful". Reina tried to unfollow the imagination tweeting in her head as she closed her eyes and then opened it; still Abdul was still in front of her saying "What are you still doing here, mourning". Reina replied him "Where should I be?" Abdul stretched forth his hand to her as he said " You tell me " but when she reached out to him, the instance of their hands touching clubbed him away with Reina left with the anxiety and the thought that she had being talking to herself. Suddenly the voice of the man who killed her husband rang in her ears with the words "Am doing him a mighty favour", she turned round to see the one behind the voice clouding the room but there was none but a voice that slowly faded away in a subtle fashion.

Reina's mum was outdoor seated on a very short stood as she repetitively flossed the clothings back and forth against her palms in the foamy emulsions that developed from the blue tub, when she felt a tickling vibration clipping against her skin in between her breast as she had kept her mobile phone there with the wrapper she was in keeping it in place. She dropped the cloth and swiped her hands free of the soap bubbles as she brought out the phone and answered the call in Hausa, clueless of who was on the other end of the conversation "Sannu, wanene wannan?" Reina kept quiet for a while then she said "It's me mum, its Reina". The mum who was quiet angry and disappointed at her for the way Reina talked to her the last time, mumbled quietly "Ohh!" Reina was squatting with bare legs on the floor boards and her back against the wall as she expended the coil cords with the headset of the telephone to her ear "I'm sorry for the way I spoke to you the other day" but the mum tried to shush her "No, I over stepped my boundary, don't worry about that." but the fair lady fused contrarily "A'a, ba daidai ba ne. I had no right to talk to you that way. You were only trying to protect me". Then the mother said "Apologies accepted" Then Reina started to cry as the mum continued "Common, darling. Now you are making me feel guilty". All of a sudden the telephone conversation simmered as she could not hear her daughter's voice over the phone so she asked "Reina, are you still there?" but Reina took a deep sip of breath in as she said "You know you are right". The mum frilled by the new line of talk so she questioned "Right about what" and Reina continued "I should really move on, get on with my life", the mother was surprised as Reina had being very negatively sensitive to this discussion some days ago but she was happy, all the same "You don't know how happy I am to hear that". Reina continued "Abdul is gone and maybe is time for love once again", she could hear her mother's giggle over the phone as she left the tub outside, happily into the house.

The banished Fulani herders roamed and flocked across the treacherous and dry lands of the Sahel with broken foot soles and thirsty cattles for the republic of Niger. They remained in hopelessness as the sight of long distance of anti-green fields constantly stroke them with regrets and remiss for their stunted fight and misinformed aggravations against the farmers and the state. Despite the fact that Monguno was the one championing the herdsmen agitations, he was careful enough to keep his face out of the foreground as he was celebrating his first son's traditional marriage to Reina; the kinsmen were in front of the ceremony with local gin served in skinny calabashes as they washed the musical performances in wait of the groom and the bride. Not long after, a group of young yarinyas – pretty northern girls, all dressed alike in Fulani like white tops flagged with red, green embroidery and wrapped in tight ankle length white prints walked into sight making nosy sounds, acknowledging the presence of the bride who was clothed in a very beautiful gown of gold and sheltered with a uniformly punctured and transparent scarf which she held with her fair hand, artistically polished with a black substance the northerners called Lali. The mother held her hand into the presence of the kinsmen as her father joined the duo as they bowed to the kinsmen, at that instant; the talking drummers started playing witnessing the entry of the groom with the entire Monguno family in their babaringa dresses and on their black horses except for Hassan who rode on a brown one. All the other horses stopped as the brownie moved Hassan a few step forward and he highlighted to the ground with his father. He went to Reina and uncovered the veil and looked closely and deeply into her stern eyes for the first time. Both parents gave their blessings and the party started with the drums of tuwo shinkafa opened as the commoners and spectators filled their belly whilst they listened to the native folk symphonies from the rented cultural bands that were sweating as they played the oddly fabricated musical instruments. Monguno soon climbed his horse in a bit of a hurry as Hassan approached him "You are leaving already?" and the fat father replied "There are matters of pressing urgency that I need to attend to" but Hassan still wouldn't accept such excuse for the clumsy and short appearance of his father on his marriage day as he said "On my marriage day?". Monguno's loss of patience fastened with an inpatient stare, saying "Aurora gore Ni, We are at war. The people, the government have pushed us out of our lands. I wouldn't sit back and watch it happen. The father then drove the horse away from the ceremony. Like everyother wedding in the north, after the wedding comes the bedding as the drunken groom took his wife to his hallowed chambers. Reina unlocked the door and Hassan stumbled into the room with so much grim on his face. Reina went to the bed and dressed the sheet and the bed cover so slowly that it was obvious she didn't want sex from her new husband as she soon felt his hand, slowly grip her neck. The surprise that came with the touch rippled shivers down her spine and bumps across her skin as she stopped laying the bed and maintained a fixed stare away from him in fear. Hassan randomly ripped her dress, a tear at a time with cunning breaks in between. The sound of the silk linen coming apart raised her beats with feelings of gross body insecurity but the herder was too drunk to sense any of that as all he wanted was a hole to keep his boning cock. The upper part of her gown had being crossed out diagonally leaving her smooth kinky left breast bare and unattended to as her eyes was filled with silent bitterness and she just wanted it to be over with. Hassan struggled with the other part of the dress that was tightly fitted to her skin, so he kissed her bare back and shredded the cloth with his clenched teeth. With her breasts now without shade, the first son of Monguno pushed her into the poster bed with her face against it as he cushioned her rebound from the mattress with the clip of his thighs against her butt. He shoved her closer and uncovered the young lady who was without any form of underwear, he unbuckled his trousers with strong groans which were either a result of the huge doze of liquor which he had or the crave for her cute well-shaved vagina. Soured tears kept on crawling down her chick with repeated rocks and pleasure less rolls.

The horse's hooves aggressively tethered against the dusty grounds at the border with the four foot's stumps just a second apart from each other until Monguno's horse neighed to a stop at the sight of the black skinned and tribal marked Nigerien military men with guns resting on their left arms and walkie talkies on their right. Monguno remained on top of the horse as he told the soldiers he wanted to see the man who's in charge. After repeating the statement twice the soldiers remained unmoved as if they did not have an understanding of what he was saying, and then he repeated the same statement in Kanuri "My name is Monguno and I need to see Maimuna". They quickly responded with apologies "Ina gafara", directing him on his horse to the base. Monguno entered the border house that looked like a post office in the middle of nowhere where a plus sized lady who was the captain in charge of the border was sitting behind a wooden desk with a kente scarf neatly tied round her braided hair and her body-fit wear essentially expressing her big boobies. The Nigerian was ushered in by a soldier who said to her in Fulani "Captain, this man is here to see you" as Monguno grabbed a seat. The captain asked him "What can I do for you", he stared at the macho soldier standing by his side; scoping the area as he said "My name is Monguno, am a herdsman and also the owner of the jedhi ranch in Yobe. For a while now, there's being a big hunt against herdsmen in Nigeria especially the local Fulanis both from the government, the people and the farmers. As a result of the recent clashes, the rulers and the emir decided to banish the Fulani herdsmen from the state. As I am speaking to you, a lot of the herdsmen and their cattles are headed here". The conversation was becoming so irrelevant to the woman, so she said "Look I don't bloody care about what is happening in your state, so am going to ask you for the last time; what the can I do for you?". Straight to the point he went "We need weapons and arms to fight for what is ours, Shotguns and 47s would be very useful against the pistols of the policemen and the machetes of the farmers and commoners". After sinking in the Nigerian's want and need, she slowly voked "And what if you lose. What if you are not able to defeat them, what if" The herdsman affirmed "The Fulani tribe has the numbers in Yobe and now that they are rejected by the state and hunted by the farmers, they've become hopeless and vulnerable. With the weapons, I would be giving them a chance to fight for what they believe in. As a former military officer and the owner of one of the biggest ranches in this part of Africa, no amount of policing or army would be able to resist the rebellion". The captain was quite impressed with the level of confidence he commanded but she urged to differ "Ok, so let's assume that you do succeed, what's in it for me". Monguno had a face like he didn't know how to answer the question when he said "Cattle?" because the captain was into the cattle business. The sound of getting cattles from the Nigerian was music to her ears as she ordered the guard there to excuse them. Now that the two of them are alone, she rekindled the cattle conversation "Cattle! Go on", with her keen sense of interest Monguno replied "Yeah, you would get a chunk of the herds" but she wanted to make sure they were on the same page of the same book as she said seriously " How much exactly is a chunk?". Monguno stared at him in a bit of disbelief saying "3%!" but she felt it was small as she said "7 %". He was still trying to strike his stand to the bargain as he maintained "5%" and then she seemed a little angry with her tone raised " I might have given you the impression that this is a negotiation but it's not, 7% or you go back to wherever you came from", she said. The treats were terribly overhead for the herdsman but before he could respond there was a large noise approaching from outside as it seemed like there was an attack so the captain quickly grabbed a knife and held it to his neck as she voraciously pronounced "Abin da ke gudana?", one of the guards quickly rushed in and told the captain that it was the herdsmen from Nigeria trying to cross the border. The captain left Monguno alone and told him to take the cattles and their herders back to where they came from as she promised the weapon's arrival in a few days.

A group of herders were discussing during their lunch break when Reina came to them with a jar of wine and a couple of glasses. She served Hassan first; whom she was still a bit afraid of and Hassan instructed her to serve everyone else. With her head lowly placed she served them and when she was done, she went to Hassan who indecently grabbed her butt as he jokingly made her to seat on his thighs "What is better than marrying a pretty face like this one", he said. The other guys smiled carefully as he continued "We were just talking about our worst experiences as herdsmen, so Kabiru your turn". Kabiru looked at the glass wine from which he had just drank and then stared at Hassan and continued "I was still a free herdsman then, I wasn't in a ranch. I was manning the flock of my grandfather in Karasuwa, while they were grazing, one of them fell into a very tiny gutter, and so tiny I wondered how it managed to squeeze himself into it. I called some persons to help me bring it out but nothing seemed to be working, we tried for hours. It was getting dark and I knew I had to make a choice. I shoved the carved stick that I was holding into his ass and behold the mighty cattle jumped, rode or flew out of the ditch; I don't really know how he did it". The funny story got everyone laughing their spleens out except Reina who was glum with so much humility and absolutely nothing to contribute, not even a smile. Hassan took a long stare at the ground as he said "My turn. It was several years ago, during the dry season. It was the worst I had ever seen; sometime in May. All the fields in the plantation were withered, there was no green anywhere. Even the wells were dried up. So my dad told me to take a couple of the cattles grazing outside the ranch. I really didn't understand the geography or the route outside the ranch but we were just moving. All of a sudden, i just noticed the cattles were hurrying in a particular direction as they had seen a small farm about three and a half plots away. Before I got on the farm, almost half of it was already consumed, I knew it was wrong and unlawful but there was no way that I could stop the mindless animals. While I was standing in confusion of the mess that was happening, I had a sound behind me. Out of fear and anxiety I went close to the sound with a grip on the handle of the dagger underneath by trousees; my father always made sure we ranched with some security. This old man bursted out with his brown boned teeth as he swung a plank close to my face. With the bitterness he was expressing, it was easily, a matter of life or death. As he took the next swing, I hinged his arm down and punched him to the floor. Even while he was down, I could see the undying threat in his I pierced his chest, I can't remember how many times and I stopped". Reina whose bum was becoming uncomfortable on his husband's thighs still had a long face due to the knowledge of the kind of people she was sitted with. With the reverence, the other guys had for Hassan; they didn't know how to respond to his talk as their face remained clumsy. Hassan broke the mood as he added humorously "It reminded me of my first sex, once I balled in; I didn't look back and I never stopped. Oooooohh! It was some nice sex. ". Reina felt this was insensitive especially because they were all laughing as she rose up and wiggled away into the ranch house. With the consistent closure each half of her butt made with one another her husband boastfully whispered to the guys "Guys! When I die, bury me in that bum bum". Whilst Habib; one of the workers in the ranch was feeding the flock of cattles, three of them escaped from the ranch into the streets close to the road. Habib tried to lead them back to the ranch but the people who saw him thought he was a pastoral Herder (An occupation which had banned from the state) and some of them approached him and assaulted him without even trying to understand what was actually happen.

Later that same day Hassan entered the ranch house and found Reina crying on the black stood of the grand piano but she tried to retrieve the mood when she noticed his presence. Hassan confronted her still "Reina! Are you crying?" but the wife swiped her tears with the base of her palm and pretended like she wasn't yet he knew what he saw and he probed further saying "Did anybody hurt you? Tell me". She kept on shaking her head at his basking questions and then she finally said "It's you. You are the one hurting me." This revelation was not only surprising to him but also embarrassing as he said "Me! Is it because of what I said out there in the field" and it seemed like the more he talked the less he understood his wife as she said "It's about everything, the way you look at me. You just want to believe that I don't have opinions". Hassan drank the half-filled glass and then dropped it on the piano desk as he realized he hadn't being treating his wife the way he should and the stream of tears from her eyes was enough proof. He looked away from her and said "Am hearing you but it seems like am not just relating with what you are saying". Reina pulled his gaze towards him as she said "True but you are my husband now and we are one. You have to see things the way I see them", Hassan then apologized as her hands steered around his chest "You are right and am sorry for everything". The atmosphere became more positive as the duo were wrapped round each other and he said after a long time of quietness "Does that mean our first night together, you didn't" and Reina replied as she understood he was asking if she enjoyed their first sex " No I didn't. How was I supposed to, you didn't even look at me, you just ripped my wedding dress like I was a cattle. It was pain without pleasure". Hassan said sarcastically "Halima would disagree with you" but Reina didn't know who Halima was and didn't understand as she said "Halima?" As the husband explained "I was 19, maybe 18. I was feeding the horses at the basement of the ranch. While I was at it. I just felt uneasy like someone was spying on me and I looked round and I saw Halima sneaking on me. She smiled at me and I looked away, ofcourse she was much older and she was confident enough to start the seduction. Her screams and moaning made even the horses uneasy. I could feel every part of my body inside her and she was at the top of her voice but she wanted more. I guess you are not really like everyother girl" and she quickly affirmed with her irregularly coloured finger nails lurking round his neck "Yeah, am not like everyother girl you've being with. I am your wife". Hassan nodded and uncovered the roll of piano keys as he asked "Do you play?" but she replied "Not really". She sat upright and gently tapped the first eight keys and that was all but his husband laid his fingers on the right half of the piano tiles and the sounds produced was so beautiful that they smiled at each other with so much care in their eyes and the romantic ambience created made them irrespective of the natural difference and reference that they both share. At the end of the symphony and sweet memories that came with the melody, he said to Reina "You have a lot to learn". She rose up and pulled him along as she said "speaking of learning, why don't we head to the bedroom, so you could also learn a few". Hassan took a sip from the glass of wine no quicker than she pulled him away from it and they went towards the bedroom. Reina was already steps into the bedroom while Hassan was about to enter when he stopped and held her face saying "I know you grew up as a worker in a plantation and I've also noticed your soft spot for the plants and flowers, so I made a garden for you at the backyard". This was very thrilling to Reina who sobbed in happiness and then kissed him. One of the workers in the ranch ran into the house and hurriedly told Hassan about his younger brother who was being mobbed trying to lead some of the cattles that went astray back to the ranch as they thought he was a Fulani herdsman. Hassan sharply withdrew from the sensual moment that Reina was about to take to the mountain and took a pistol which he had hidden at the back of a wooden portrait on the wall. The eldest son of Monguno dashed out of the house without notice of the spooky emoji on the face of his wife.

Habib was still being lynched on the road when his elder brother Hassan released a bullet into the air as the people skewed away from the bleeding boy. Hassan ran after one of the guys and made sure he vultured on him just as much as they had pounced on Habib. He soon let him go and went to his younger brother to make sure he was ok as he took him back to the ranch.

Reina went to the market to get some flowers for her small garden plot back home. She betrayed all the beautiful lilies and roses that flanked the floral store and went for a very rare species. When she handpicked one of the purpled plant from the bunch stack together in jar of cultured solution, she brought the wild flower to the centre of her nostrils and closed her eyes as she sucked in a deep breath like she was listening to the canning scent that dripped from its specked leafs. "That is a very strange choice my daughter", the old florist said as he kept on pruning the hibiscus at the tail end of his shop. Reina asked the man for the price but the man looked at her with choking disbelief "What you have there is a poisonous beauty". She didn't want to disrespect the grey bearded man but she wanted him to know that she was aware of all the properties of the Sudan grass she was holding as she kept a straight look at him. The old man questioned no further and sold just the amount that she needed. The pretty lady went across the market back to her house where she overhead Hassan talking to one of the close workers of his father about their plan of taking over the state with the help of the Nigeriens in the oncoming peasant war. The heaviness of the information which she had just heard made her take the back entrance into the house to avoid being sighted by her husband. After the long talk, Hassan entered the house to his bedroom where he met his wife slightly covered by a slutty native wrapper. He stared at her from toe to her actively posing nipples where his eyes got stuck. The impromptu sex was the perfect alibi for Reina who didn't want any inkling to her eavesdropping on her husband. With portions of her naked company, she drove him out of the grave issue that was bothering him into the sexual healing of the 80s. The chiefs and elders were rounded in a meeting where the emir was just done addressing an issue that was tabled before him. After the matter was trashed, Reina intruded and warned them about the imminent attack of the nomadics as she had overheard. After her talk and plea that came there was a very sharp silence that preempted a burst of laughter from the emir who was soon joined by the round of elders, council members and clan leaders who couldn't allow the emir laugh alone. She had no choice but to leave and allow them continue their shaming laughter. The leaders and the rulers of the state easily wanted to believe they were significantly abreast of the banditry; ignorant of the foreign alliance that was being made by Monguno as the captain introduced Monguno to Shakiri; the ruler of the nomadics in south Niger where a pact was undertaken with the Nigeriens as they intermarried and webbed cultures together. The vagabondage of the Nigerians left them at the mercy of their bordering neighbours who fed the Fulanis and their cattles with the hope of getting a portion of their unnaturally fat livestock after the peasant war. One of the traditions that the Fulanis had to tolerate and vegetate with the people of Niger was their untamed and wild sexual activities; the Fulani men had to sleep with the very young Nigerien girls. Monguno was having a conversation with Shakiri about how they planned on attacking and claiming the state in Nigeria when a herd of young girls, barely clothed were brought in for his pleasure.

The stink continuously stung Reina in amazement as she was staring at a dead cat lying by the side of her little garden when the leader of the Bade tribe who was at the same meeting in which Reina was laughed out of, came to her and said "beautiful garden". The man came to discuss what she had said at the council meeting as he was one of the leaders that at most believed her and at the least didn't want to take any chance. The man wanted all the details about the nomadics from her and after which she let him in on the plan of poison she had to defeat the Fulanis and the Nigeriens as they talked about the dead cat that had just eaten one of the poisonous flowers that she had bought from the flower shop.

Six hours earlier, the day just proved Friday when a chunk of Muslims casually dressed in their colored Jalamias with their heads tightly capped as the outline of the Taqiyah pressed uneasily against their naturally perm northern hair. They flagged the mosque in smooth uniformity for their scheduled prayers; their heads remained bowed against the earth leaving a bow stretch across their back with so much silence clouding the crowded temple. From the sight of the tipping feet of the man directly in front of him to the growing thread of heads that spanned his eye sight when the trembling speaker spake "Allahu Akbar", Bandu - The leader of the Shuwa tribe turned to his head to the left in unism with every other worshipper when he noticed Monguno's presence a rough distance away. In completion of the tasleem, the crowd now turned their head to the right as Monguno stared back at the agitated Bandu who had his eyeballs at the corner of his eye-white, trying to see if Monguno was looking at him or even aware of his presence in the mosque. As soon as the prayer was over, Bandu quickened to the exit to escape from the Herdsman whom he had sighted. Monguno's arms from nowhere grabbed Bandu by the shirt and walked him carefully away from the crowd trying to march out the narrow French door. "Listen to me. Hours from now, there would be the Barakau festival; an event that would start the peasant war and the Fulani takeover. You are the father of my daughter's husband and that makes us brothers. Make sure none of you are at the festivals". The man who was very eager to leave thought Monguno was done talking so he tried to walk away but the herdsman drew him back by the arm and said "Do you understand me" and then he let him go.

Across the various farming tribes and clans that had being mobilized against the threats of the nomadics, Salsa bags and jute baskets carrying Sudan grasses were brought into the various farms and plantations, planted in every pocket and corner of the green fields. As weeks went by, the Sudan grasses grew quickly and vagrantly from the tuber plants and legumes that were mostly grown in Yobe. Reina was observing and sniffing the poisonously subtle Sudan grasses at the back yard when she heard the faint sound of talking drum ski and local flute harmonies but she could even hear more viably the sound of natives and the workers in the ranch running to the palace square where the Barakau festival was being held. Reina pushed in haste to join in the festival which celebrates the bumper harvest of the farmers but the macho hands of his husband drew him back as he smiled feverishly and slowly dragged her into the house with solemn kisses "Why don't we make the festival, one to be remembered;". Reina loved the sound of this as the two of them staggered blindly into the kitchen. Hassan said whilst he lifted her against the flat table "I know you wanted to see the festival but when am done, you would be glad you didn't". She was placed on the ceramic court as Hassan pulled her skirt up and her panties out of place as he stared in anticipation of what was about to happen, saying (in Fulani) " Am doing you a mighty favour". She remained faceless as he trotted his face into her pubic triangle and had her thighs tightened against his side face. As the melodies from the native drummers and harpist became more defined, her suck for the reiterating pleasure traveling through her nerves at peaky seconds and re-originating at the eyes of her teased clitoris filled the fallen cutleries and utensils in the kitchen with dusty shakes. While the Fulani herdsmen marched south with their army of busty cattles, angry Fulani and armed Nigeriens; the crowd's stumping cheer at the cavely dressed wrestlers in the festival remained worthy. Hassan ripped every shred of clothing she had on leaving her bare for the nomadic entrance into the state and his husband's repetitive penetrations. The cattles soon flocked the major roads and farms in the state as the Nigeriens rode slowly on horses behind the Fulanis and their cattles to start the peasant war. At the height of the sensual collusion, the crowd of people at the square parted in chaos as tonnes of newly castrated and vexed cattles with mucus dripping from the nostrils ran into the festival through all the entrances. Reina's hand was wrapped around Hassan's neck who was deeply and strongly sexing her wife as she had her lips close to his ear like she had something to say but all that was heard remained the choking stampede, screaming commoners and the heart of the ruler and the elders pounding vigorously as the nomadics slaughtered the people with matchetes at the festival and the crowd drawing towards the canopy under which the rulers were guested. After a few slaughter, Monguno drove into the square on his black horse. He rode to a stop in front of the elders and started preaching the practice of taking over the state and recollecting what was originally theirs. But the mishap soon turned a new course as Reina dragged him to the bed and rode on his husband like a Benz while the cattles started falling to the ground after they had being poisoned. The cattles fed on some of the fields that had being flocked with Sudan grass with the sight of the heavy animals gaping lifelessly to the ground, Monguno left grip with the confidence with which he was threatening the royalties and the guards grabbed him by the neck and killed him. About two quarter hours earlier, the nomadics and their cattles flocked through the plantations and fields; north of the Dapchi market; it was this same part of the field that the leader of the shuwa tribe flooded with Sudan grass as preparatory measures for the peasant war. The Nigeriens soon felt so powerless when they saw the cattles falling by hundreds at their sides and by thousands in the front. Their intentions got twisted and their motives tangled with the overwhelming misfortune faced in the country as they retreated their men and their weapons back to Niger and the Fulani were left to fight the peasant war by themselves. The Fulani quickened out of the negative impact and fought with the little form of weapons they had; how fast the peasant war ended?

Reina kissed him unstoppingly after the orgasmic moment they just had as the face of the man looked pleasurably stoned and filled with mighty tiredness with too little strength to move his eyes. Without any sign of imminence, Reina took a knife, she had kept at the bedside cupboard and stabbed Hassan twice in the chest and left the knife deep in the second spot as she said confidently "You know, I had married before. I was married to Abdul; he was a farmer, a very big farmer just like his father. Abdul's love was like milk to my bones, feather weight to my burden. He loved me extraordinarily like it was nothing special". The dying husband struggled to scream but the stream of blood from his hairy chest and feud from her furious conversation was irrespective of the skipping and gaping sound stammering out of his mouth. "He got a phone call and he had to leave the house and he got caught in the Herdsmen clash on the plantation on his way back. We were having dinner. He was matcheted several times, the blood stain on his clothe was blackish, plenty worse than yours. I held his fainting head in my arms and begged him to stay alive but he could barely keep his eyes open. Then you came and shot him twice. You killed my husband and you smiled, my eyes were blurry with tears but the grave emotions left my senses at its height. I remember the words that came out of your mouth". Reina stabbed his neck and shushed him as she said in his own words "Am doing you a mighty favour".