The Crusaders

It was during the time civilization had not come, during the time and in the era of s*****y, it was already night in a small kingdom, called Mobi, and Gizza, a village girl, remained inside the hut looking after her sick grandmother. The old woman had been very sick and as she lied down, she kept looking at Gizza, her grandchild in the face. "Grandmother, please don't leave me alone in this lonely world. Mother is gone, father is gone too and no siblings. I feel pain , granny please stay with me" Gizza cried on, not knowing what to do. She seemed to have noticed the moment of death hovering all over her grandmother. Though her beauty was remarkable but her tears was hotter than pain in her heart as it flowed down her cheek. She had been closer to her father's mother even while her parents were still alive. Now that both parents were dead, Gizza was forced to look after her grandmother alone. However, she was still in tears when her best friend, Nabel arrived with fruits in a small basket. "I'm sorry, I came late" Nabel, her friend said as she went to sit close to Gizza's grandmother. "How is she?" She asked. Gizza decided not to say a word in her grandmother's presence, so she pulled Nabel outside the hut. "She is dying, Nabel. I will soon be alone in this world". She said amidst tears. "I'm here for you, i will be here always, Gizza" Nabel said as she held Gizza closer in a warm friendly embrace. She thus decided to pass the night at Gizza's hut so as to keep her company and console her and then leave in the morning. Before Dawn, Gizza ran out of her hut with Nabel and saw foreign soldiers had surrounded the entire land, cutting off the heads of innocent villagers to the ground. Everywhere was under siege, commotion of the highest order as everyone was running for his life and right before her, was a soldier running closer with a mighty sword and Gizza, holding onto Nabel's hand tried to run to safety. They decided to fake to have fainted by falling down and the soldier ignored them and ran inside Gizza's hut, probably to search for other villagers who might have run in to hide. At that moment, Gizza remembered her sick grandmother, "My grandmother", she screamed and as she was about to jump on her feet, four soldiers surrounded them up and began to maltreat them, tying them up with ropes. Gizza and Nabel struggled to no avail. She looked up and saw one of the soldiers dragging her sick grandmother out from the hut. She then screamed even harder, Nabel was shocked. Gizza couldn't believe it as well as hot tears gathered in her eyes, and began to flow like ocean. They witnessed as three wicked soldiers forced themselves in her grandmother which immediately resulted to her death. Gizza couldn't scream anymore, she just fainted, as the sight of watching her grandmother being forced was too horrible for her. Nabel cried as she and her friend and other villagers were forced into a carriage and moved away from Mobi. The kingdom was left in the shadow of itself and couldn't retaliate since they were too small. The poor ruler and his Chiefs just watched as their wives and children were taken away by the soldiers. When the soldiers arrived with the slaves in the powerful kingdom of Arika, the soldiers were not merciful to any of them in captivity. They beat the men and forced the hungry weak women into the tents of the tyrant leaders of the army of Arika to be sexually abused. Gizza, who had woken up but refused to say a word, and her best friend, Nabel were among the female held in captivity and forced into one of the tent to be r***d. Meanwhile, the king of Arika sat on his throne, enjoying, feeling fulfilled for over powering Mobi kingdom and held their people in captivity as slaves. His beautiful wife, knelt before him and begged in tears. "My Lord", She began, "Those slaves are so human like us. Please let them go. Before you married me, you promised to stop s*****y in Arika. You're powerful and wealthy already, I don't understand what else you seek". "I seek peace of mind woman., You better let me be. Your only son is weak. You gave birth to him no doubt but he has refused to learn my ways. So save your sermon for your weak son and teach him the ways of men. My powerful father built this land and i intend to make it a paradise before I die. s*****y is money and fame" the king said and dismissed her. Nabel was in tears as she and Gizza was forced out of the tent of the generals. They were dragged into a lonely hut and made to stay there with empty stomach, used and dumped like trash. ******************************* *********************** Prince Davi, the son of the king of Arika stood on the top of his father's palace and had been watching the activities going on in the camp. He was a very handsome prince who had refused to wear his crown as the crown prince of Arika. His mother, the queen, approached him and held on his shoulder. "My son, you need to eat something" She said, "You can't survive on an empty stomach". Prince Davi looked at her and asked, "will those slaves eat too?". "They're slaves" replied his mother. "They're humans" He said before he added, "Alright mother, do me a favour, feed the slave women and children and I will eat" Prince Davi begged. "Son, I will not risk your father's wrath. He wants you to be stronger than you are now" said the queen. "If tyranny is strength then I choose to be weak" he said and walked out on his mother. ********** Inside the hut, where Gizza and Nabel were kept, Gizza refused to utter a word. Her heart was filled with bitterness, with severe pains all over her body. She just kept to herself and refused to talk to anyone, not even Nabel, who was also feeling the pain of the fatal s****l assault on her waist and private part. The experience was so new to them as they were still virgins as at the time of the gruesome attack. Hence, blood was still flowing in between their thighs, as they nurse their bruises and pain. Nabel managed to stand up to check herself when she realized the blood. "They have destroyed us" She said, almost in tears, to Gizza. "Your silence is killing me, please say something, please". Just then, the door of the hut opened and behold, it was Prince Davi and some servants. The servants were carrying some food, he brought for Gizza and her friend, Nabel. He asked them to drop the food. "Go on and feed the other women and children, I will see to these ones" Prince Davi instructed the maidens. They left him and he walked into the hut. Gizza became angrily alert like a lion over its prey while Nabel sat back glaring at him with a non welcoming look. "I mean no harm, please. I am Prince Davi" He said. "You're crown prince of Arika?" Nabel asked. "Yes. But just call me Davi. Your friend looks sick and both of you are bleeding. Let me get you both the medicine man". He said and got up and went about it. "The only kind man in Arika" Nabel uttered. And for the first time since they were forced out of Mobi, Gizza decided to speak. "There's no kind man in this world. All men deserves my grandmother's fate" She said, looking at Nabel, very mean on the face. Nabel was just glad that her friend had spoken, finally, she didn't comprehend what she meant by saying all men deserve her grandmother's fate. Gizza refused to eat the food Prince Davi brought but Nabel was terribly hungry, she couldn't bear it and had to eat. She thought of staying alive than to die of hunger, couple with the fact that, she's the type that don't loves eating. When it was night, Gizza sat upright, her gaze unfocused as she kept repeating the phrase "All men must die". Nabel heard her while in sleep, woke up and placed her head on Gizza's shoulder, "Yes men are cruel, dear friend. What they did to us is wickedness, cruel, inhumane. I'm with you in this" She pledged her allegiance. They say that way till the next day and the soldiers came in and dragged them out to mix them up with the rest of the women, separated from their husbands and children and taken to the coalmine to work. The hungry and brutalized women where given axes and forced out of the camp to work. As the men tried to fight back, they were beaten up mercilessly by the soldiers of Arika and most of them died in the process. ************************* *************************** In the king's room, the queen was restless. She was pacing up and down while her husband, the king was removing his regalia. "Women to mine while men are beaten to death?" She asked, appeared to be very unpleased with her husband's order and dealings over the innocent captives of Mobi kingdom. "Yes women will mine, their husbands are to die" the king responded. "But why so, my lord?" The queen asked. "Why? Because I'm the king, that's why. Women slaves can not grow to challenge my reign but the men...the men are a lot of trouble, a threat to my kingdom in future" He said. "But..." the queen wanted to press further but was cut short. "There's no but, woman! My decision is final! Now I need to rest" the king said and laid down on his royal bed. ******************************************************** In the camp, Prince Davi visited the hut but couldn't find Gizza or Nabel. He asked one of the soldiers and was informed, they had been taken alongside the women slaves to the site to work. "What about the men?" Prince Davi asked also. "Killed and dumped in the abyss, my prince" replied the soldier before he bowed and left. On hearing all that, Prince Davi was enraged as he made his way to his father's chamber. When he got there and entered, he met his mother and father on the royal bed half naked and began shouting angrily, scattering the whole room. The mother was trying to stop him by calling him to reason but the father just sat still with an angry face, staring at his son. At some point, when the prince saw that his father wasn't moved per say, he drew his father's sword from its sheath which was hanging on the wall and pointed it towards his father. The Queen was scared, she couldn't believe the monster that her lovely son had become while the king was motionless, with intense fury in his eyes. They both got down from the bed and his mother raised her hands up in surrender while the father just stubbornly stood, looking so angrily. "Why are you sending those innocent hungry women and mothers to the site to suffer, is your wife, the queen, not also a woman? You're heartless father! And you, mother, the Queen, here you're on the bed of the man you don't believe in his philosophy!" Prince Davi raged. His eyes had become red with anger, burning from his heart. "As much as he's the king, he's also my husband" the queen said, almost in tears, "please drop that sword, my son put down the sword, please". "I hope you understand the consequences of your actions, prince? To threaten your king is an offence punishable by death" said the king. But prince Davi came closer, making sure his father could feel the coldness of the sword on his neck, as though the king's word provoked him more. "You don't deserve to be my king, not even my father" He said before dropping off the sword and the soldiers who had ran in earlier, rushed him and arrested him on the order of the king. The Queen knelt down immediately before the king and pleaded for his Mercy but he commanded the soldiers to take prince Davi away and lock him in a cell to await trial. *************** ************** **************** ******* At the site, Gizza, Nabel and the rest of the women who could no longer say the whereabout of their children worked hard labour for two months. During the months, while others were working, Gizza was also training herself somehow with the tedious task. And the soldiers on guard often laughed at her, seeing it as foolishness. To them, even if a woman train herself and be given all the weapons on earth she can not over power an army of men. They saw women as weak. The news even went to the king that Gizza was training herself but he also took it lightly and said "what can a young lady do to an army of me?". But unknown to them, Gizza had sent Nabel to be whispering the idea of freedom to the rest of the women. At night, they further began to held secret meetings and planned ahead on how to attack the king of Arika and his kingdom. Gizza headed each meeting while Nabel acted as her assistant to mould up the rest of the women. The women hence, soon became stronger, due to the nature of the work at the site and of course, the determining words which Gizza was instilling in them. They were over two hundred in numbers and with such numerical strength they believed they could gain victory against the army of Arika. The idea was to attack the guards at the site, collect all their weapons and storm the palace of Arika, seize the king and destroy the palace. Gizza never disclosed to anybody again that her major aim was to eradicate all men from the planet Earth, not minding how long it would take her and Nabel kept it to herself too. One fateful morning, Gizza and Nabel prayed to their gods, the gods of Mobi kingdom and prepared themselves for the attack. The rest of the women knew that the attack would take place by midnight and they also got ready secretly. Throughout that day, they worked in the site as though they had no deadly plan. As they continued to work that fateful day, Nabel became scared, a kind of cold feet, not because she was afraid but because she was developing feelings for the crown prince of Arika, prince Davi, as his face kept appearing in her mindset. She could not bring herself to harm him or see someone or something that would want to harm him and still be part of it or be calm, because of his kindness. However, scared of how Gizza would react, she fought so hard to win herself back from having such feelings and thought but all to no avail. ******************* In the palace of Arika, the crown prince was still in the cell while his mother cried every day, begging her husband to temper justice with mercy but he was too strong headed to agree. "Woman, judgement must fall on your son, I can't change the law!" He shouted to her on one occasion. "But you're the law, can't you do something?" The queen asked, amidst tears. "Yes I am the law but am not above it, every man or woman, born of this soil, even strangers must abide by the law of our land" he replied impatiently. "But he's only a child" the queen pressed on. "A child who can pull over a sword for his king and his father is no more a child but an ancestor. No more word from you; my decision is final" he said authoritatively and dismissed her from his presence.