The Ancient Beast (Adere's Mission)

Chapter 65

Adere and Renu reached a spot and they decided to find something to eat before they could continue with their journey. When Adere said this Renu asked, "I do not understand, jouney to where actually. I really think that we are not going to be able to reach anywhere. If we must find your mother it means we need to go out of this forest first. The people that took them must have taken them to a far away or unknown place. As we waste much more time in this forest looking for them their abductors are going away from us the more"

"So what do you suggest?" asked Adere.

"I do not know. Maybe we should simply..." she was still saying when all of a sudden she discovered a strange boy standing a stone throw and glaring at them..She stopped speaking and kept looking. Adere was forced to look her direction in order to see that which she was glaring at and he too saw the boy standing and saying nothing to them. At that moment he decided to go closer to the boy but then Renu drew him back and said, "I do not think it is a wise decision to go closer to that boy. You do not know who he is and I do not think if you should go close to him. Talk to him from here and let him reply you from there" Adere understood what she meant and then decided to talk to the boy from where he was standing, "Hey you little one, what are you doing over there. Where is Mama and Papa?" There was no reply from the boy and Adere looked at Renu but Renu did not know what to say or what to ask the boy if why Adere was looking at her was the reason she was to say a word to the boy.

"I do not know what to say to that boy. You keep talking to him maybe he will reply you" said Renu and then she sat down. Adere decided to go closer to the boy but first he said to Renu, "This boy might be our way of finding my mother and Mori. Maybe we should first make him feel like our friend. I can see fear in his eyes" Renu did not reply but then she was not against his decision to go closer to the boy. Adere then marched forward and before long he was holding hands with the young boy. The boy himself did not need to fear any more for Adere offered a warmth hand of friendship.

"What is your name and what are you doing in this lonley place?" asked Adere.

"I am hungry" the boy said.

*****

In the palace of the king of Agori. He had reached the dungeon where Aboro was supposed to be but then he was not able to find Aboro. The guard who was rushing to ensure that Rira did not expose herself to the king of Agori could not believe his eyes from where he was hiding and looking straight into the empty dungeon. He knew that soon the king would start to call on the generals in the palace. He sneaked back to his post and remained there still wondering what had happened. He saw for sure the lifeless bodies of the guards who were supposed to be guarding the dungeon. Could it be that Aboro was not actually what he intended to be, what he had disguised himself to be? Could it be he waited to be put into the dungeon before he could show that he had not changed at all and that he was still the dangerous man that he was. He was covered with sweat as he thought about all of this. At some point he began to hear sounds and that was coming from the palace announcer. It had been announced that Aboro had betrayed the king of Agori, that he had killed men positioned to guard the dungeon and has escaped with the woman that the king believed was behind Aboro's latest behaviours. The king was angry that night and he struck his hand on the table before giving out his orders,

"I am not going to repeat myself when I say this and so you generals are going to pay attention; firstly I did not know that Aboro was disguising. He was not actually what he had presented himself to be; a man of peace. He is still whom I knew him before now but then he is a bit different because then he was not against me but now with his powers and popularity he has chosen to be against me. Do you all know why I am sounding this way, Aboro is a dangerous man, a fighter, a warlord and a great man known all over the whole world. The land of Agori boasted because he was from here but today he has proven to me that he is no longer mine and I see no reason why I have to continue to make him an offer when he is no longer ready for one; which is why Aboro must be killed. I do not want him captured alive, no, I want him dead and that is the truth of the matter. Anything that has to do with him has to do with those who hate me and for those who hate me what they deserve is your mighty swords. Hunt him down, I say hunt him down and kill that lady that had deceived him all along. I want their heads before me in twenty four hours. I have grown tired of trying to make my fellow man see reasons with me. I have so many things to stand against already and now I can see that Aboro is one of those things"

Shortly after he said this the generals began to give orders to the soldiers in the palace on now they must get prepared and then they began to move the troops in pursuit of Aboro and Rira.

****

Aboro and Rira were running in the forest with Aboro holding her hand and making sure that he did not stop. Rira too did not want to stop as they kept on running. At some point they had to stop an Aboro stood there looking up in the sky. It was already dawn and he did not know what to think. He could not bring his head to think properly but one thing that he was aware of was the fact that despite the fact that the king of Agori would be hunting for them he was not going to get angry with Rira and allow them to have her. He stood there and Rira who already knew that he was going to scold her stood a bit far from him. She did know that she messed up but she was ready to make it right if only she could be told how to make it right.

"You messed up Rira. Now your actions is going to cost you the lives of your beloved people. I thought that you had always told me of how much you love your people. You have always told me that they were the people you could do anything for. Was it not because of those old people of the land of Zinu, the land where you come from that you decided to stand against me and did what no other woman had ever done or dreamed to do? You stood your ground because of those people. You defended them before my soldiers back there in Zinu. You were ready to do whatever it took to ensure their safety but then back there in the land of Agori you stood up just in a second and messed everything up. What were you thinking, I mean what sought of anger do you have? Now everybody is going to think me a man who allowed the god of madness to play with his mind; I mean is it not how it is; that a man woke up one morning and say that he is no longer going to be called a man again because he wants to be a woman only to go and sleep with a woman and end up being caught right there in the act. What do you think people will see that man as? That is what the king of Agori is going to regard me. I am not sure if there is anything else that will ever make me to listen to the things you say. You say this but you do that. I thought you knew better than I did, I thought you knew better..How can you be able to convince me now that you are still the same person that I knew. I did not know what I encountered there in that room in that house back there in Zinu, I did not know. All I knew was that I saw myself succumbing to a voice and the voice made me see lie as a lie, death as death, violence for what it is and then the voice taught me things that are against those evil, those were light, truth, peace and love. What I have decided to live for is as simple as it is. I have nothing else to think of if not the very reason that makes people think me the way that they think. I have decided to do what I have to do, to make amends where amendment must be made. I have nothing to think about anything but if truth must be told you have not given me a better reason to keep believing in you. Tell me what prompted you to do what you did back there inside that dungeon and maybe I can find a reason to believe that I have not been right with the way that I have spoken to you just now"

Rira did not know what to say. She was feeling like crying for she knew that truly she messed up. She sniffed and then covered her face with both hands and then did not know what to say again. At some point she believed that it would be better for her to say something even though she was quite aware that she messed up and that Aboro had nothing to apologise for.

"Aboro, it was not as you thought it. Listen, I tried to make them to understand me but the guards were too hostile towards me. They found me out and I felt that if I did not do anything I would be taken to the king of Agori and if I had been taken to him it would have been worse for me because what would have happened was the king having to question me and might even have me killed for trying to set free a man that he ordered to be put in a dungeon"

"Let me ask you a simple question; what were you trying to do, I mean what were you doing in the dungeon that made the guards to see you in the first place, what prompted your going to the dungeon in the first place? I am beginning to think that you are becoming something else. My mind tells me that you had come to free me, or what was that all about?"

"No!, listen I was not coming to set you free. I was not that stupid. I was actually coming to ensure that you keep standing your ground and not shift or bend for the king's deceptive talks. I did not want to add or remove anything from what I have just told you but when I entered there and the guards discovered me and tried to have me bound I did not know what else to do but to take advantage of the darkness and fight them back.