The Ebony Guild

It was the largest canoe the boys had ever seen. Odru, Nulo, and Menbe sat on a rocky outcropping surrounded by large palm leaves. Nulo swiped at bugs as he watched wide-eyed as the large canoe came closer and closer to shore. Menbe, who always ate when he was scared, munched on some guava, juice dribbling down his chin. Odru, the oldest of the three at 11, watched intently as the canoe appeared to stop a short distance from the show. He wondered who was on the canoe and why they were visiting their land. Suddenly, a smaller canoe was lowered into the water from the larger one, several metal bodies began rowing the canoe towards the shore. The boys continued to watch as the smaller canoe was pulled onto the shore by the metal bodies. Their metal shone under the bright noonday sun. The metal bodies spoke a language non of the boys knew, One of the metal bodies appeared to be the leader, shouting orders in the strange language and pointing in different directions. Other mental bodies nodded their heads and went in different directions down the beach. They carried long metal spears and had long knives on their sides. What happened next almost caused Menbe to choke on his fruit. The metal leader took off his head! Underneath was a pile of golden hair and under the hair was skin as white as an oyster's pearl. "Ghosts!" Nulo said in a frightened whisper. "They're ghosts!" Odru didn't believe in ghosts, but he couldn't deny what his eyes saw either. The rest of the metal bodies took off their heads and the boys saw that they were all similar in appearance with only minor differences in hair color and height. They were all men and as pale as ghosts. "Why are they here, Odru?" asked Nulo, grabbing his arm. Odru shrugged off Nulo's grasp and continued to look at the pale men. " I don't know," Odru finally said. "But I don't like the looks of them." "We should go to the elders at the village," said Menbe, finishing his fruit. He spat the seed into the dirt. Nulo nodded in agreement. "Yes, let's go back to the village and tell our parents and the elders," he said. "They will know what to do about these strange men." Odru wanted to stay and find out what the pale men were up to but realized he couldn't do anything to stop them if it were something bad. Odru turned towards the brush, gesturing for Nulo and Menbe to follow him. Quietly, they crept through the undergrowth until they found the path leading to their village. They sprinted down the past, pumping their young legs as hard as they could. The first person the boys literally ran into was Odru's older sister, Abbia. She was carrying a basket of berries and was knocked to the ground by the boys. The ripe berries scattered all over the ground. Abbia hurried to pick them up. "I just washed these!" she exclaimed, angrily. "Watch where you boys are running when you're playing your games!" "S-Sorry, Abbia," replied Odru, helping to pick up the berries. "But we aren't playing a game, we were running to tell everyone about the pale men!" Abbia looked at Odru with a raised eyebrow. "Pale men?" she repeated. "What are you talking about?" Menbe, between bites of berries, rushed forward. "There were pale men who look like ghosts! They were wearing metal clothing and carried long spears, walking on the beach!" he said, spitting berry juice into Abbia's face. "Ahhh!" said Abbia, wiping her face. "Stop eating my berries and start making some sense!" "It's true!" said Nulo, placing berries into the basket. "We just came from the shore and saw the pale men arrive in a large canoe. Then they took a smaller canoe and came onto the beach." Odru nodded, putting the last of the berries into his sister's basket. "We don't know why they're here, sister," he said. "We need to tell everyone, especially the elders." Abbia placed the basket atop her head. "What you're saying doesn't make sense, but you should tell father first," she said. "He is at the hut with mother and our other siblings." Odru thanked his sister and rushed off towards his home with Nulo and Menbe on his heels. Abbia watched them hurry off. She dusted off her dress and turned back towards the river. Abbia didn't know what to think about the boys' story. She hoped they were mistaken. But a shiver ran down her spine, giving her an uneasy feeling.