17 - Take

"What do you think now of Hava?"

"You can see from my view now that he had been brainwashed by the apes."

"But that doesn't really make a sense you know. How possible will it be for the ape to brainwash him?"

"That is what I can't understand. I can't really."

"I don't think I really believe in that. Though something is obviously not right."

"Let's not talk about this now. We shouldn't argue about it. I'm sure we'll find a solution sooner or later."

"That's not the point. I guess we really have to think of a way out of this and a way to find our means of getting Hava out."

"You know that that ain't possible. We all know that."

"You would have to take out a whole lot of them. Goodness knows how many they are in numbers. I bet with you, I don't have the heart for those monsters."

"Don't say that. We all knew what we signed for when we came here. Let's not start doing the Had I known shit."

"There's a verge we can all go you know. Even no matter the level of oath taken or whatever."

"I'm not having this conversation with you."

They all finally walked out of the cave. Out of Seven, only three of them were able to make it out of the abode of the Manganis alive.

One of the men was dead, one took his own route, he wouldn't go with them. He was the man with the strange view while they were arguing on what to do and what not to do with Hava. He was the bush philosopher.

Technically, two of them had been abducted by the Manganis. None of the till-that-moment-survivors knew what would be made of the fellows.

Amongst the three of them was the leader. He was no longer a leader to them anymore. Not that he would refute his stance as the leader. Rather he wouldn't be accepted any longer by the men.

Since he couldn't save them from the claws of the Manganis, how do they owe their lives and safety to him?

As a leader, he was expected to take them back home. If a leader leaves the village with twelve men, he was supposed to return with the twelve.

If he failed in doing so, he ceased to be the leader. But if he sacrificed his life for the followers and had himself killed or abducted by the apes like the Hava, while few of his men returned, he would be given an utmost respect in the land.

The leader of the six, now two, had failed his role but would not admit that. He wouldn't take a trash hurled at him.

He wanted to continue bossing around. Being a leader and giving orders is quite suiting and refreshing, but he couldn't keep up with its requirements. What to do?

They walked towards the base of a tree to rest. Some of them were suffering from the blows of stones hurled at them by the apes.

The leader looked around trying to figure out if anything of odds was around.

He said finally,

"We shouldn't be sitting here."

"Who are you to say?"

Another man retorted. He didn't even look into the eyes of the leader. He was looking at the top of a tree few metres away from him. That was a hill of disrespect.

Another culture of the Curtish people was that, speaking to someone who is the leader demands looking into the person face in affirmation of truth or looking down because you honour and respect such.

But when you speak and look sideways, it meant the person had gone out of your route of honour and was plying a gaunt path decked with dishonor and disgrace.

"Cougars could be around here. Plus I'm hungry. Let's keep moving."

The third man, who seemed to be weakest of the three said.

He had spoken in indifference to the qualms between the two: the leader and the fellow with some strands of beards below his jaws.

The leader walked up to that fellow who had disrespected him, and was leaning on the stem of the large boabab tree.

He got to him and decked him hard in the jaws that the fellow swung over and went down on his face.

The other fellow who was supposed to come in between stepped aside to watch them exchange both their rages and fists.

He looked at them for a while then began to head south of the forest. He didn't care whatever the two did to themselves.

He kept on walking. He was famished. That was all that mattered to him.

Plus, the fact was, none of them had the guarantee of surviving in that part of the woods. Sooner or later, they would die.

He was looking for the best tree to pluck a fruit from, probably when he was done eating he could return to them and talk some sense into them. Probably take some fruits too.

He walked few metres away and stopped abruptly.

He didn't know why he did stop. Nope! He did but wished he didn't know.

He wished he could rewind the haughty hands of time and return to where he was with the two fellows fighting and urging them not to fight anymore.

He was regretting his actions at that moment. He hated what he was seeing.

But he was glad that twasnt seeing him. He could use his sixth sense.

He began to retreat. He looked closely again to be sure.

There was a Cougar behind a tree, with its face buried in, obviously, a prey.

He needed to walk back quickly before running away.

He retreated slowly till he was at the end of the stretch where he could take a turn and run.

He was glad that the Cougar didn't see him.

But as soon as he turned, an acorn dropped from the height of the branch on his head. An onomatopoeia!

The Cougar raised its head. He started running away.

He didn't know how he could outrun the Cougar. He didn't look back.

He ran as quickly as he could till he got to where the two fighting folks were.

He didn't even stop to call out the words,

"That cat, that cat."

He said running.

The two stopped immediately. The fellow with the tiny beard was on the leader feeding him brown leaves.

Then they heard growls and thuds few metres away from them. They looked.

A heavy Cougar with protruding belly swinging towards their way.

You want to imagine their enthusiasm mixed with shock and crazed velocity.

The leader couldn't remember the numbers of times he fell to rise.