Ophidia

CHAPTER FIVE (Gloydius )

         Viper tribe was a very peaceful tribe, the most peaceful of all the tribes actually. In this tribe was the smallest town in all of ophidia. The town resided near one of Ophidia's five great seas,called the venom sea(which flowed into the fountain of the Viper palace, and into the Viper pond which had bright red water). The town was called Gloydius. It was the most peaceful town of the viper tribe(it was also very isolated from the rest of the viper tribe). There was almost no crime and there were very few weapons in the town      ( because they were not needed ). Even the people of the town had a tranquil demeanor. Not to say the rest of the tribe wasn't peaceful ,they just weren't as serene.

         However in this town of serenity,was a girl who was restless, who never let her guard down and was

somewhat violent. People in the town were scared of her, so she didn't have friends. She was always

striking her training dummy with a spear in her room. If she's not doing that she would practicing her

Zebra riding skills. Her name was Nima, she had unbraided hair dark hair(girls from the viper tribe

never braided their hair),was about 164cm tall,curvy , had dark brown skin and she was 24 years

old. She was striking a training dummy when her mother interrupted her.

       "Nima !",her mother said.

       "Yes Mama"then she heard a knock at her door. "Come in", she responded.

       "Nima it's time for your lunch ", her mother said as she entered her room." Are you hitting that silly

thing again?"

      "I'm training and you can just bring the food to my room."

       "We have a visitor ."

       "And your point is ?"

       "Get dressed your drenched in sweat",she said rolling her eyes

       "Do I have to?"

       "Get dressed and come to the table in ten minutes ."

Nima changed into a shirt and trousers and did not have on any foot wear. She walked upstairs to the

dining room and seated at the table was a man in a red cloak, who looked about forty years old with a

short afro and a goatee.

      "So this is Nima?",he uttered with a smile on his face. "I have heard so much about you". People

didn't usually smile at her, so she thought something was wrong with him.

      "Who are you and what are you doing here?", Nima asked.

      "Nima be nice to our guest!",her mother snapped at her.

      "No it's alright,my name is Nango humando",he said still smiling. "And I'm here to see you."

     "What do you want with me?",Nima asked.

     "The Gloydius ceremony is coming up - "

     "And ?"

     "I have a son about your age who would be thrilled to go with you." She felt abit shy, but flattered.

     "I'm not interested ",then she grabbed two apples from the table and headed for the stairs. Nango

just looked at her mother, shrugged and carried on with his meal. Then her mother said,

     "Just give me a few minutes and I'll be back soon." Afterwards she followed Nima upstairs. Nima was

seated on her bed when she heard a knock on the door.

    "Come in",she answer. Her mother entered the room. "If you're trying to convince me to go the stupid

ball you are just wasting your time."

    "Nima", said her mother. "Atleast give him a chance." Then her mother handed her a piece of paper.

   "What is this?"

   "It's a letter ,I know you're not good with words so I wrote one saying you'd love to go with him, that is

if you change your mind, if you don't here's one saying no. I also have a dress that would be perfect

for you."

   "Well keep the dress where it is because I'm not going ."

   "Okay but the dress is in my wardrobe. "

   "I told I won't need it."

   "Okay." She then left the room and went back down stairs to finish her meal. Nango had already

finished eating. "I'm sorry about that",she said.

   "She's feisty for a viper",he replied.

   "Don't tell her I told you this, but all her relationships never end well."

   "So that's why she doesn't open up. "

   "Nope but it's one of the reasons."

   "What do you mean?"

   "Let's just say that when you have suffered the way my daughter has, you change from a viper to a

black mamba."

   "Ohh I see, anyway thank you for having me, I'll let Nanta know that she declined my offer and-"

   "No don't tell him that, tell him instead that he should expect a letter from her saying yay or nay ."

   "Very well then, have a blessed day "

   "Musale bwino"(which means goodbye)

   "Zikomo"(which means thank you).

Nima was still in her room contemplating on which note to send . But then she just tossed it on the

bed ,put on her hunting attire. She had on a chromium breast plate and shoulder pads, and peach

leather boots. She carried a scarf because she had a sensitive nose and there was pollen all over the

forest. She carried with her a bow and arrow and a spear incase the arrows would finish. As she was

leaving home her mother asked

    "Are you going hunting?"

    "Yes"

    "Okay, be back by supper time."

    "Alright mother." Her mother knew that the forest was where she cleared her thoughts. So she knew

that she was thinking about the ceremony.

When Nima reached the forest, she covered her nose and mouth with a scarf and stood behind a

tree by the lake with her arrow knocked into her bow string,waiting for a deer to emerge from the

forest. It was taking a long time for any deer to appear. So she decided to climb a tree to have a

better chance of spotting one. Alas nothing appeared whilst she was in the tree. As she was getting

down a deer emerged and she panicked. She slowed down her pace as she was getting down. Then

when she reached the ground, she slowly grabbed her bow,knocked her arrow into the bow string and

aimed. Suddenly the deer looked up and promptly took off. Nima tried to hit it but it was out of range.

     She raised her hands in exasperation, wondering why it ran away so quickly. Then she heard a noise

that sounded like growling from 3 meters behind her. It was a Gowka( a large creature that looks

like a komodo dragon but the size of a bear). When she turned around it roared loud at her. She was

extremely scared but she was ready to fight it. When the monster got closer she inched backwards

until she was a meter away from the lake. She thought about swimming but she knew Gowkas were

excellent swimmers. When the Gowka leaped at her she knew she was done for, but the leap was

thwarted by a spear that pierced it's tail and sort of nailed it into the ground. Then she looked at the

direction in which the spear came from it looked like a boy and he was gesturing at her to climb the

tree he was in. The tree was 30 meters away but she knew she'd make it because she was an excellent

runner. She bolted for the tree when just as she was 10 meters away the it's tail broke loose by

cutting through the piercing and leaving a scar ( imagine someone has their hand pinned to a wall by

a knife and they move their hand downwards to set it free).

      It started to chase her, almost catching up, when the boy yelled.

     "Extend your spear and hold it tight"

     "Okay!", she responded.

     Then she extended it and he grabbed it's other end and pulled her up, set her down on a branch below

her and said.

     "You'll have to climb higher than that. Gowkas can't climb but they can surely jump." So she climbed

onto the branch below him, then the branch snapped, but he grabbed her hand quickly before she

could fall.

     "You should be more careful , never get between a Gowka and its food" ,he said the boy looked about

19 years old, with a small afro ,dark brown skin ,was slim and wasn't half bad in the looks department.

      " uhh are you going to pull me up?"she asked.

      "Ohh right, sorry"he said while hoisting her up. She just sat on the branch without saying anything.

      "Don't you have something to say to me?" He asked.

      "No "

      "You are supposed to thank me"

      "Ohh, uhh thank you"

     "You're welcome " then she looked away and stared at the beast. "You don't talk much do you? "

     "No"

     "Uhh soo how'd you end up here?"

     "I was hunting"

     "Ohh I was doing the same thing"

     "Okay"

     " I was waiting for a girl to send me a note, you see I asked her to the Gloydius ceremony, well my

father asked her for me but she hasn't responded yet. I wonder why she hasn't replied yet. Are you

going to the ceremony?" The second he finished the sentence, she started to wonder whether he was

the boy who asked her to the ceremony.

     "I'm not sure "

     "Ohh okay, but I hope she says yes, she's probably the most beautiful girl in all of ophidia, her

name is Nima, I'm sure you've heard of her. The girl who people are afraid of,but I think she's just

misunderstood. Ohh where are my manners? I'm Nimpo Humando and you are?" She remained

silent,she didn't know whether to tell him that she was the girl he was talking about. "It's okay if you

don't want to tell me your name." She then just nodded as she kept looking down. "Well, the sun is

starting to go down and it looks like the Gowka has found supper." The Gowka was devouring a deer

a few meters away. " I better get going, maybe she sent me the letter, but if she says no I'm not

going at all, I can only go with her. Well I guess this is where we part ways uhh mysterious scarf lady.

Take care." He jumped off the tree and walked away. Nima did not know what she was feeling after

hearing what he said about her. She felt this strange warm feeling in her chest one she hadn't felt in

years.

     "He thinks I'm beautiful",she muttered under her breath with a tiny smile on her face. "Priorities

Nima, I have to get out of here before that beast gets hungry again." She climbed down the tree and

started walking home. As she got closer to the town area she heard noises of people screaming and

wailing. When she got to town she saw Slitheranes attacking her people and gathering as much scales

as they could. Then she saw a female Slitherane approaching her with a bag, but before she could

get her spear. She was knocked out by a Slitherane that was behind her. When she woke up she found

herself surrounded by her people and they were all shackled, lying on the ground. With hundreds of

slitheranes pointing their weapons at them. She heard a voice booming in from behind her. She turned

around and saw this large slitherane male with one eye and fangs that looked like they could cut

through metal.

       "Okay you puny Ophidians, If you value your lives you will pay me 500 million scales. Fail and I will

massacre your entire town." He said with a menacing voice." But to be fair I will give you 2 months to

gather the money is that clear?" The town was all quiet." Hmm, may I speak to your leader please."

Then the town leader, Njoma, Stood up. He was an old man with a white balding afro and white beard.

      "So you're the leader! Very well I'm going to need 500 million scales from your town and I have only

managed to collect 1 million from all of you."

     "We don't have that kind of money ,Sando, I told you the last time you raided our town" ,said Njoma

     "So what you are saying is that you want to die."

     "No we just don't have the money."

     "Very well then come forward Njoma." Njoma just looked down and walked towards Sando. The

slitherane lifted his weapon and sliced Njoma's head off. Everyone gasped in unison. Then Sando

pointed at Nima's mother ,a Slitherane grabbed her and started to drag her towards Sando but she

tried fighting the slitherane but it was no use, he wasn't strong enough. Then just as Sando raised his

weapon.

     "WAIT!!",shouted Nima." I'LL GET YOU THE MONEY!! JUST DON'T KILL ANYONE ELSE,PLEASE!!"

    "And just how do you plan on doing that?"

    "I'LL FIGURE IT OUT! JUST PLEASE DON'T KILL ANYONE."

    "Come fourth young lady." She then walked toward Sando. "Why should I trust you?"

    "You don't have to but if I don't pay you, you may do as you wish." He looked at her and grinned

    "How do I know that you are not just trying to escape?"

    "I'm not and if you want you can send one of your slaves to come with me." Then he grinned.

    " This lady will be your last hope! I am giving her 3 months to give me the money. If she doesn't, say

goodbye to all of your precious lives."

She was allowed to say bye to her mother. Her mother tried convincing her to stay behind but she was

reluctant. She said goodbye to her mother and left on a small paddle boat, with her weapons,food

and armour packed. She was also guarded by one of Sando's female Slitheranes. She paddled as she

passed the slitheran ships that were docked at Gloydius. She wept while leaving her home because she

knew there was no way she'd get that money.