The Sword And The Lovers

Chapter 6

The guards whom the king of Kojo had instructed to get rid of Chere were seen inside the forest with Chere whose eyes were bound at their front. His hands were bound behind him and his cloths were socked up with the blood that came out of his mouth due to the beating they gave him. They pushed him for the last time and he fell, then rose to his knees and continued to beg them not to kill him. One of the soldiers drew his sword in order to finish him up for their assignment was to kill him and then leave his corpse in the forest of Kojo. When the soldier drew his sword he heard a strange sound behind them and he and the rest looked back to see what or who it was but they did not see a thing. One of them said, "It must be the horses"

"Horses? That was no horse" replied the one with a heavy sword in his hand ready to get rid of Chere's head with it. He turned to look at Chere and raised the sword to strick him again but sound came again and this time a very dark creature with five eyes in his face emerged from the thickest part of the forest and stood stating at them. On seeing the creature the soldiers were shocked and the rest also drew their swords. One of them began to run towards the creature in order to strick him down and when he reached him and struck him the sound of the striking sounded like a metal hitting another metal. The soldier was shocked to the brim as he let go of the sword and shouted, "Run!!!" He too began to run and the rest began to run too, leaving Chere on the ground where he was kneeling. Chere tried to stand up but slipped and fell, hitting his head on a stone and passing out.

The soldier, five in number could be seen running in different directions.

In the palace of the king of Kojo he was not sure he heard the messenger standing before him clearly when he said, "The Seers of Bara land are demanding that you send the corpse of the father of Chere whom you killed back to them. They demand the body in four days and if after four days and you do not do as they have demanded they said they will be forced to come to your palace and strick you with madness" After the messenger had finished he bowed before the king and Onochie dismissed him and turned to the king. Aboli was there too.

"My king, you heard all that the messenger have said and this was my fear from the initial time. I told you that there was no gain in trying to lure the anger of the gods upon the throne" said Onochie.

"Onochie hold it there. I invite no wrath of the gods upon the throne. Those Seers forget their place. They have lost their manners and now have decided to refuse to acknowledge my position and give me my respect and honor as the king of this land. Believe me, they do not speak for the gods. They are not the priests nor the high priest. The high priest is whom I listen to because he is of the gods and he carries their eyes and ears not to some group of confused beings who claim they have eyes of the gods"

"My lord and my king, those Seers are not claiming to have the ears and the eyes of the gods because it is what it is. They actually carry the ears and the eyes of the gods and they see things that normal people like us can not and will never be able to see. They have spiritual powers to make rain and to hold the rain. They also have the powers to strick one with madness and to cure madness" said Aboli.

"You both have failed to learn how to control your tongues before me. You stand before me to praise my enemies. My enemies do not need your praises. You stand with me and do not praise them before me. Now, you yourselves said that these men, these Seers are so powerful but you are wrong. I will then prove to you both that the Seers of Bara are nothing but humans. They are not Seers and I will prove to them that the only ones who can see are the priests and the high priest and they are the only ones that speak for the gods"

"My lord and my king, do not say that. Do you not know that the gods are called the gods because they are not one and if they are not one it means they need servants. The Seers of Bara might not be following the due process in revealing the minds of the gods but they are actually gifted as they are said they are. I would advise you my king to go and dig up the body of the Seer, Chere's father and then hand him over to the Seers of Bara for them to bury their dead their own way" Onochie was the one saying.

"No, Onochie, you fail to understand what I am saying or did you not hear what the messenger said? Their demand carries threat with it and I will not allow that to continue. Do you not also know that if I should allow such threat to go unpunished they will be teaching others to do worse with me. I refuse to be threatened" he stood up and before he could call out to the general one of the men he sent to get rid of Chere ran inside the throne room with only one arm and the other arm torn off and he was almost bleeding to death. He fell on the floor and all eyes were on him. The king looked outside to see who it was that was pursuing him but saw no one.

"What happened?" he queried him and the man began to narrate what happened as they were about to get rid of Chere. On describing the creature one of the elders in the palace said, "That was the Narati; the ancient creature that the Seer call Narati. The creature of justice. My king, you have been wrong all these while, drop your ego and face the truth and the truth is that you have to go to the land of Bara and ask the Seers of Bara to forgive you" as the elder was speaking the soldiers around had already taken away the almost dying soldiers as he told the king he could not tell if the rest had survived the attack of the Narati .

Inside the forest where the Narati was the remaining soldiers kept fleeing from him but it was like he was everywhere and he was everywhere in the forest. One of the soldiers who already stopped running and holding onto the stem of a tree and panting heavily realised that his two legs were now stuck on the ground and unable to move. He tried his best to move them all to no avail. He then knew that the being was coming at him. He looked up and saw it as it came towards him. He began to beg him not to kill him but Narati could not be begged. He looked directly into the eyes of the soldier and the soldier went blind at once. When the soldier realised that he had been blinded he began to shout on top of his voice. The scream that came from him was heard from afar by one of the remaining soldiers and he stopped and listened. He could tell that the soldier shouting that way must have had his guts ripped off his belly and he decided to run towards the opposite direction. He was still running when he realised that he was still at the same spot despite how hard he ran. He realised that he had not made any move despite all the movements he had made by running. He stopped running and looked around only to see the creature standing and leaning on branch of a tree and looking at him. The soldier went down on his kneels and began to plead for his life. The Narati began to approach him and when he was upon him he grabbed him by the neck and raised him up with one hand that his legs could no longer touch the ground. He let go of him and he fell heavily. He could not tell how it happened but his two legs got broken as a result of the fall. He sat there and continued to beg.

Where Chere was lying down it was the screaming of the soldier with broken legs that woke him up. The soldier died at the spot and the Narati began to walk away from his corpse. He then walked up to where Chere was and sat near him. Chere could feel his presence and so he asked, "Who is it?" there was no reply, "Please do not harm me for I am innocent" he put in but there was still silence. He then said, "Please help me" immediately he said this the cloth used in binding his eyes fell off his face and he could see. He looked back at the creature sitting before him and while he was startled and wanted to stand up and run he slipped again and fell with his hands still tied at his back. He remained on the ground and kept begging until he realised that his hands had been unbounded and he got up but not willing to run away from this deadly looking creature that chose to be kind to him.

"Please do not be angry if I ask you this question but I would like to know the person that saved my life?" Said Chere as he placed both hands together to show respect. The creature looked up at him and shook his head, then disappeared. Immediately he vanished Chere began to run. He did not know where he was running to but he needed to run away from the forest.

Inside the grand palace of the king of Kojo he had retaken his seat and confusion was written all over his face.