The Ancient Beast (Adere's Mission)

Chapter 10

The man, Edu's father was not bothered by the words of Adere and he was not ready to allow his words make him change his mind about what he had already decided on..His son Edu looked at him for the last time and then off he went away with the rest at once. They headed straight to the forest, leaving the man standing there and looking at them.

"I have said it before and I am saying it again that it is no longer a thing of fear because I have come to realise that there are those who are not ready to do what needs to be done but if by any chance things like this keep enduring I will then know for sure that the time said to arrive has finally arrived. I will go to the palace and tell of what my eyes have seen" The man after soliloquizing left his hut.

Right into the forest Edu looked around and sighed. He did not know what to do because to start building a camp inside the forest could only mean one thing; it meant that there had to be many things to be used, like the bamboos and the thatches, the specials woods and the the mattresses. He was not sure where they would get the cloths for the tent and these things bothered him so badly. Adere walked up to him and stood by his side, knowing what was on his mind. He asked him, "Are you going to keep thinking about me and my people and this can make you loose your mind if care is not taken. What I am saying is that it is better you decide already what you want to do instead of the things you would not want to do. I have begun to notice that even though things did not work out the way that we intended we are not going to let things go dangerously wrong the more. These people here are already aware of the situation of things, they are aware of what is staring them in the face but they are not afraid to embrace it, they are no longer scared to face their fears. When you look at them you will know of what I am talking about. They are fortified already and they are willing to do what needs to be done..What others would not know and would never get to know is what someone is feeling exactly inside of them but that has not stopped men from comforting men and being able to succeed in doing so. You are doing great for us and it means that you can do even more..What it would seem is that despite the fact that there are those that are not in good terms with the rest there is only one way to get it all done. Let us join hands together and let us join heads together and keep on doing what is good"

Edu smiled but Adere was aware he was only faking the smile. He placed his hand on his shoulder and they saw one of the ladies walking up to them where they stood. She was one of the Zinu people that escaped with Adere. Adere saw how beautiful she was and he knew that Edu too saw and recognized that beauty. Adere decided to go to his mother that same moment that the lady walked up to them and stood before Edu. She had wanted to say what she wanted to say while having Adere standing there but seeing that Adere had gone she did not want it to look like she only came because of him. She stood before Edu and cleared her throat; her name was Renu. She was so beautiful and so fair. She looked directly into the eyes of Edu and said to him, "I want to say thank you for your sacrifices for me and for my people. You gave us another chance to live and we are grateful. I have not had the opportunity to say thank you personally but now I am saying it and I believe that you will take it as I bring it to you with nothing on me. Thank you once again" She was about to leave but Edu stopped her and asked, "I did not get to know your name, what is your name?"

"My name is Renu and yours...sorry I already know yours, I think your father called you by your name, Edu. I wonder why he chose to treat you the way that he did. I do not want you to feel bad. I would not know what Adere is thinking but if I was asked I would say that I should not disown your own family because of strangers. You should go back to your father and to your mother. This we are suffering here is our own suffering and we have no right to put you in this. You have to go and leave us" she sounded while avoiding his eyes. Edu could tell that she was shy but he was not ready to abandon them just yet.

"You still have not gotten the major thing now have you, the name Adere was mentioned in my ears and since that day I became not just a friend to the bearer of that name but I became a brother to him and he to me. What you are asking me now to do is to leave my own brother and go to my father. The question is not whether I would want to choose my brother over my father but the real question is whether my father would want me to keep my brother. He did not think about it all and that is the very thing that has begun to make sense. He does not love me and I have nothing to owe him. Let it be as he said it; disowning me. I do not want you or the rest of you to bother about anything. I do not want you to care about anything except to make life better for you and for the rest of you. You came with your parents?" asked Edu but the lady shook her head. Edu sighed and did not want to go on asking her where her parents were. He simply held her hand and assured her that everything was going to be alright. At that moment it was no longer a case of who wants to make things work out but who wants to stay to help make things work out.

Adere was sitting with his mother and he kept looking directly to her face. The woman niggled and asked, "You stare at me as if you re the god of security. I know that you are worried about us but my son there is one thing which I must make you to understand and that is the fact that there is no one you can be able to protect if the gods do not want to protect that person and there is no one that you will be able to protect if there is no god before them to help with the protection. Go ahead my son and do not bother yourself about me. I will always be fine. I know the stage we are at at the moment and that is the stage of building a tent. I will be up and supportive during the building of the camp; the tents. You can now see that you have nothing to worry about. Most times when I keep staring at your face I think of your father whom I knew took it upon himself to strick down the man Aboro. He could not have been able to kill that evil man and having said this it can only mean one thing; that your father is dead. I can feel that he is dead and I know that you must have felt it too. Your father did not want to listen to me at that moment that he was about to die. I could say to myself, why would he choose to fight that ma Aboro knowing that he stood no chance of defeating him. He wanted to die and that was why. I am not ready to think about all of that because now that I have you I have joy" She was almost weeping and her son held her and comforted her.

From where Renu was standing with Edu her eyes went straight to where Adere was seated with his mother and both of them holding each other and she felt a rush of pity for them. She wanted to leave Edu as he stood there talking to her but Edu did not seem to want her to leave him yet as he kept on coming at her with questions and questions. At some point Renu thought it better to tell him that she was no longer willing to continue with the conversation and so she said to him, "I can understand that you are humour filled person but I am getting tired of standing. I would like to go occupy somewhere where I can have some rest. You too need some rest because if we are going to start building a camp any moment from now then we need some rest before that or do you not think so?"

Edu was embarrassed that she did not feel glued with the conversation with him but he did not want to show his disappointment instead he smiled.