ZUNA: THE LION BEHIND BARS

The s*****y

s*****y was a thing that the Zagadans heard about only from tales and seemed far away in the distant land of impossibility. Their elders told them of villages and kingdoms that were invaded by wicked men far away from the western part of the world in decades past. Some of them took it as a tale while others listened to them as a story for their leisure time. But the present was speaking differently as they began to experience the reality of what they had heard from the tale in the nearest days past. Due to the shock of their capture, some women and children fell ill while others started dying. The enemy villages cared less and brought out new policies to which Zagadans should live by. Some of them were sent to the two enemy villages while the rest were left in Zagada under the cruel supervision of the men from the enemy-villages. The death rate continued while the men were put under hard labor.

Kona, the mother of Zuna was sent to the enemy village to the north of Zagada while her husband was sent to the enemy village to the south of Zagada. Zuna was left in Zagada along other young boys. They were told what to do, when to wake up when to eat and how to live in their own land. The supervisors made life difficult for them but despite that, they were still better off compared to their parents taken to the other two villages. The two enemy villages on the north and south side of Zagada fed the Zagada slaves only once a day and poorly. Kutala was the village head of Shuta on the northern side of Zagada while Zakula was the village head of Tukala on the southern side of Zagada. Kutala, led by lust, took some of the Zagadan married women as concubines while Zakula concentrated on the young girls who were not yet married. The Shutans and Tukalans were given total right by their village heads to meet with any lady from Zagada and get all kinds of satisfactions they desired. Such was the fate of Kona the wife of Bula, Zuna’s mum. She was taken in the company of other women to Kutala’s house in Shuta where she served as a slave. As his manner was, whenever he, Kutala wanted to meet with any group of women, he would ensure that they were quarantined for two weeks and fed properly. Some of the women refused the meals and care and were flogged and kept in his prison. Kona couldn’t imagine herself lying under another man when her husband was still fully alive. She vowed to stay straight even at the point of death in resisting the demands of this wicked leader. When they reached Kutala’s sitting room, they were given new clothing to put on and ordered to go for a bath. They all bathed and dressed well. As he came in, he spotted Kona’s beauty and couldn’t resist. He ordered her to be taken into his chamber. The guards dragged her and took her in. on reaching the room, she seized a knife which was hung on the wall and pointed it to Kutala. Smilingly he spoke softly to her that he wanted to just have a talk with her and nothing else. She stood on her ground and demanded to be released alongside the other women. Kutala deceitfully agreed to her request and ordered his guards to let her go. As they were about coming out of the sitting room, some guards who had already followed the backyard came to the entrance of the sitting room with a large net which was used to capture her and the women. Kona was the first to be flogged and was locked up in the prison of the village leader. She groaned under the pangs of the whip but was deeply happy that she was able to make a move. The other women were proud of her courage and encouraged.

As each day passed, the Zagadans plotted how they would overthrow their enemies. But it always came with fears and confusions because of the duality of their enemies. If they were able to conquer the Shutans how would they be able to defeat the Tukalans and vice versa.

The heat of the s*****y continued as the Zagadans were tortured and overworked with little and poorly prepared meals. The young ones in the land of Zagada were fed twice a day with good food but were also over labored. The two rulers ordered that the young ones build a mansion in the land of Zagada were they would use as the headquarters of their kingdom. In process of time as they dug the grounds to get sands and stones for building, one of Zuna’s friends came in contact with some hard objects neatly arranged under the deep soil. Three of the objects were removed and carefully examined. Not knowing what it was because of it crudeness, a black smith was told to heat the objects. On heat, he discovered that the more he heats the object, the more it glowed. Then a goldsmith from Shuta was called and when he continued the work on the objects, discovered they were pure gold. Filled with joy, the two rulers commanded all work be stopped and all man powered be channeled to digging the gold. In less than no time, they dug a moderate chart filled quantity of gold, they were rich! They all celebrated and kept the Zagadans in much labor in order to see that no gold was left under the soil.