The High Priest

As soon as silence descended the coliseum, a large door leading to the arena where Ochieng' was opened. Following which, a man walked in slowly. Ochieng' had expected to see another Black Fiend but to his astonishment, the fellow moving towards him was absolutely human. He was a man in his forties. He had small eyes on a square face. His nose was also small and nicely rounded at the tip. His lips were large contrasting his small eyes and nose. The wrinkles on his face betrayed his age for he looked older than he really was. He had a small rounded red mark on his glabella. He wore a black robe which covered his entire body. From his right hand hanged a necklace made of strange beads. The hand could be barely seen. He held a long golden stick on the left.

Immediately he climbed onto the platform where Ochieng' and the enforcer were, all the Black Fiends in the coliseum stood and bowed to pay their respect. The black robed man nodded slightly in response.

"Your grace, I am glad to welcome you here. Kneeling down is the Ordainer, I put him in your hands." Immediately the Black Fiends sat down, the enforcer bowed to the High Priest humbly before saying with a smile.

"You did well enforcer, you really did well." The High Priest nodded.

After that, the enforcer was asked to join the audience. On the platform, only Ochieng' the High Priest remained. The silence that covered the entire place indicated the anticipation of the event that was yet to take place.

"Brothers and sisters from our beautiful Crimson land, I am glad to see you all here, to celebrate the victory of our Lord, the Creator." The voice of the High Priest echoed. What followed was roars of acclamation from the audience.

"For a long time," Continued the priest after the crowd quieted,"The One from above has been sending his people to come and destroy us, we the most beautiful work of creation. They have succeeded for thousands of seasons. Because of them, we have been forced to live in fear, daring not to go and see the rest of the world..." The priest stopped to take a few sips of water which had been brought by a female Black Fiend.

"That is true..."

"We must let them know that we are superior."

"Stupid humans."

A commotion broke out among the crowd. Every face was full of indignation.

"Our Lord thought that enough was enough and it was best to finish this once and for all. He therefore sent the six mistresses to Keniya, to bring us the so called Ordainer. Here he is and he is now ready to help us deal with humans."

At this point, the High Priest paused before putting his right hand on his back. He then walked ponderously around Ochieng' thrice while looking at the latter with a puffed up expression. The coliseum was also shaking because of the loud claps of applause from the Black Fiends.

Ochieng' who was on his knees was in his own world. The fate of Keniya was in his hands and whatever decision he made would a blessing or a curse to his people. At the moment, all he was thinking about was his beautiful girlfriend, the lady he had been looking for for more than two months now.

'If I come out of this safely my dear, I will stay by your side till the end of time and nothing will ever separate us.' Swearing beneath his breath, Ochieng' shed a tear.

"We are going to start our ceremony and I ask everyone to be quiet."

After about five minutes, the priest cleared his throat before instructing.

He asked the enforcer to free Ochieng' so that the ceremony could begin. Once every preparation was done, Ochieng' was made to stand facing the priest. If one was keen enough, his eyes had turned a little bit red and his look was quite serious. He was doing what he had done before with Achola Nyakune when he arrived at Odindi clan. He had obtained the ability from the horse. This time, he did not have to use the powers by chance for he knew how to control them. Furthermore, what he was currently doing was being done without even the High Priest knowing.

Information flowed from the priest's mind to Ochieng's. Without even realizing it, the priest was busy reciting the relevant verses. Ochieng' was really struggling to suppress the laughter that almost went past his lips every now and then.

"Okay, for you to be ours completely, we are going to put you through three trials..."

Ochieng' was so busy trying to organise the information he had obtained that everything the High Priest said swept past his ears. It was until he heard the priest saying such words did his consciousness come back to the ceremony.

"Are you ready?" The priest asked looking at Ochieng' impassively.

"I am." Ochieng' nodded.