1 Chapter 1

Darkness had set itself completely over the entire village of Okippa, evidence of this was the half-moon that was out and served as the source of light to the young girl who was running in the bush. Her breaths were heavy, but her fear more evident as she ran through the bush as though her life depended on it. She resisted the urge to turn back and see if the men chasing her were still there, even turning back was not necessary as she heard them run behind her too. There was one thing on her mind, it was not screaming, it was to get over to his territory. Unaware of the stone in front of her, she trips as her foot meets it but wastes no time in getting up, as time was not on her side, to her it was more than the essence, it was life! Luckily, time smiles upon her as she makes it over King's boundary.

She stops and gives a sigh of relief as she catches her breath. But that is short lived as she hears the men who were chasing her approaching. She turns around and takes a few steps backwards so as to not be too close to them when they stop before King's boundary. The five men chasing her then come into her eyes view as they stop before the boundary between their territory and King's territory. They look at her and the man in front of the rest of them speaks.

"so you think because you are now in King's territory we cannot touch you, ehn?" he asked.

"King will kill you if you crossover" the young girl replied but this causes him to give her a sinister smile.

"that's if he finds us" he says then motions for the other men with him to chase after her. On seeing that, she starts to run but doesn't get any far as she feels a hand on her leg pulling her back, which causes her to start screaming. Two of the men pull her back and pushes her to the ground. Two of them hold her legs, one holding each leg while two others also hold each of her hands to stop her from struggling. But that does not stop her, as she keeps struggling to get free from their grip.

"today, today, you go see something. Nobody go fit help you" the man who spoke earlier said and laughed as he saw her struggling, then he stood over her. He starts to remove his belt and is laughing while doing it, which causes the other men, some to laugh and the others to smile. The young girl keeps crying and begging them to stop but all her pleas fall on deaf ears. As the first man, sits on top her, they hear some movement in the bush. Looking to the direction of where they heard the noise from, all the men see some men approaching. The man on top of her is the first to flee, followed by the two men who were holding her legs. As the men who were holding her hands were about running, three men from the bushes came into view and grabbed them. They pushed them to the two men to the ground, then J, one of the three men helped the young girl up and pulled her aside. The other two men T and D start beating up the other two men. They stop for a while and look at them.

"you sabi where you dey so?" T asked. The two men are fidgeting and do not respond.

"no be una them they follow talk? Answer jor!" D says and hits the head of the one closest to him. He yelps and then answers.

"um… um, yes" the man in front of D answered.

"where be that?" T asked.

"King's, King's territory" he replied.

"you, you no get mouth?" J asks the other man in front of T, causing him to whimper.

"sorry sir. King's territory" he replied.

"so you know, but you still enter. Wetin carry you come?" T asked.

"we were following that girl oo. We didn't even know that we have reach here" the man in front of D said and the other man nods in accordance.

"what did you want to do with her?" T asked. Both men look at each other confusingly.

"ehn, two of una na. As una talk say una dey follow her" D asked.

"nothing oo. We were just helping her to wear her clothes" the man in front of T replied.

"yes, yes" the other man affirms. T looks at them as they look between him, D and J with fear in their eyes and a glint of hope. T chuckled as he marvelled at the fact that the men thought that they could get away with raping the girl. To him, whether it was an incomplete action or completed one, the fact was that there was an intention to harm the young girl and that was enough reason for punishment under King's law.

"D, J?" T called. But both D and J and the other two men answered "sir" in unison. T, D, and J looked at the two men causing fear to grip them immediately and they raise their hands to their mouth and hold their lips. T turns to D and J.

"you know what to do" he says to them.

"T" D and J said in affirmation to what T had just said.

"where the babe?" T asked.

"behind you T" J answered. T turned around to go meet the girl while D and J cracked their knuckles as they proceeded to beating the two boys. The shouts of pain from the two boys fill the night's air and was the only sound around the area.

"you dey alright so?" T asked the girl.

"yes. Thank you" she answered.

"thank King" T said to her and took her way from the scene and escorted her to her home, while D and J were left behind, beating the two boys.