SEVEN (7)

IMAGINOS

141 OFFICE, LAGOS, NIGERIA

And how many were there", asked the clark again.

“i said seven", Okon replied annoyed. It was not fond of Okon to call on the 141's for any maritime help, one reason was because they spend most of the conference time boasting about how good they are at their job and the most annoying part which Okon disliked them for was reapetedly asking a questions.

“yeah you said seven before", the Clark said, “but we have to ask this questions over and over again so you we don't get anything wrong. For all we know you might be undergoing emotional trauma due to the loss and its our job...".

“will you keep quiet and do the blasted job?", Okon ordered not moving from his position, “and by the way there is no loss, we have not confirmed any death.

The clarks long speeches had bored him for a long time but he had tried to exercise patience. Now he is talking of emotional trauma he thought to himself. He did not like this type of business and so did Tunde, thats why tunde sent him over in his stead.

The Clark cleared his throat, adjusted his tie and went back to his computer.

“according to your reports, they disappeared from this point?", the clark asked trying, this time, to reduce the amount of words he used.

“yes, towards the shores of Ghana", Okon answered still sitting on his chair with one hand across his chest and the other holding up his chin. “i guess they had attempted to get to the Gold Coast".

“you mean Ghana?".

“no Kenya, you i***t", Okon said this with a reckless abandon. He had endured what he considered toture for

too long and he was already fed up. He brought down his hands looked, into the eyes of the clark, got up and began leaving.

“were are going to sit", the clark asked after him in his most calm voice.

“i am leaving before I do something stupid".

“but sir we have not started anything yet, this case is really big and you are leaving?", he got no reply.

“sire that's not the first ship to disappear at that point, many others have, and many international body are into it", he paused to see what impact the word would make on his client but it did not seem to work. “we can link your comany to them, they can help you ..".

The door was opened and after three seconds it was slammed shut again.

******

MAGIN, GOLD ISLAND.

“we know it's your field, but that does not give you the right to try to murder us", Emeka had said this looking fearlessly at the maginos.

in their minds Fedo and everybody including Emeka was still trying to phantom the mystery of the axe which Fedo held. One minute they were talking, and the next an axe appeared from nowhere.

“i have explained to you that they are harmless", the leader of the Maginos said, “they only attack potential thieves that are prone to plundering, not harmless, poor and hungry people.

“and who told you we are poor?”, Fedo spat at the Maginos. The question made them to fall into deep laughter. Except from their leader, the Maginos were engrossed In hysterical laughter. This infuriated Fedo that he thought of throwing the axe at one of them.

“boy?" the leader address Fedo stressing the word, “you don't come in hear with such ego. you need to understand that this is not your former world, here, everything is different and no one is permited to brag about their past".

“What do you mean", Sandy asked him.

“you might be rich in your former life, but here you start with only the piece of clothing you come with".

“wait, what is happening?", Vincent asked confused, “is this heaven?, are we dead?".

“no definitely not", the leader answered turning to look at his entourage to signal them to stop laughing. “this is not heaven, this is real life and you are not dead".

“but how did we get here?" Ify asked. They were beginning to relax and believe the maginos.

“no one ever knows how they got here" he replied her, “everyone of us has a story of a shipwreck and that's all we remember. except one...", he started the latter sentence rather late, stopping Ify from trying to speak.

“...the great Kofi. in his own account, he left his small boat and tried to see how far he could swim, and then he found himself here".

“but what is this place?", Fedo asked.

This time a small boy that tended to one of the tigers took it upon himself to give the answer. He raised up his small bow and shouted at the top of his voice “This is Gold Island", the men around shouted for joy with their deep voice.

“and you are in the kingdom of Magin", this time the voicea rent the air more powerfully.

“The land of all possibilities", the leader added and all went silent.

“o-k, when you said Gold Island do you mean the land is blessed with plenty of gold", Osas said demonstrating as he did. His crew turned to him in surprise, and their faces were like, we are probably going to die and all you think about is gold?.

“i don't mean that", the leader replied in his noble tone, “but what we have is more than silver and gold".

“wait, when you said we are not permited to brag about our past did you mean we can't leave?", Fedo asked with anxiety in his voice. The leader just bowed his head and locked his fingers together in front of his chest, but no reply came.

“so what is going to happen to us?", Vincent asked.

“what are we to do?" Ify asked.

“how can we get back to our normal liv...", Sandy was asking but was cut short.

“stop", the leader commanded,

“you have too many questions, and I can't give you all the answers. if you seek to know what is happening to you then follow me.

At that he turned and started walking away and all his people with him. It was at that moment that the nerves of Fedo and his crew calmed. And for the first time they noticed something strange about the Maginos. They were neither n*****s nor white. They were a people of many races. Some were like Asians, some African some white, some brown and so on. They leader of the Maginos was European and the young boy with the tiger was African.

They did not seem to notice any of this at first probably due to the thoughts of a life threatening danger. They looked at themselves confused and then a thought hit Fedo.

“are you people English?", Fedo asked. His question made the Maginos leader and his group to stop and turn to face them again.

“no we are not", the leader replied him, “i am German".

“but how do you understand english?", Sandy asked. They others nodded In agreement to the question. The leader laughed humming.

“here, every one can understand any language. To me I am speaking dsucht but you hear me speak English. and also your english is duescth to me".

“hmm, that makes sense", Chuks said for the first time.

The leader turned again and move away with his group.

“what do we do?", Fedo asked his friends.

“i say we follow them", Chuks said. Everyone wondered why someone who had not said anything for along time would bring up a rash idea, but no one had any other idea. Their only chance of survival could be this Maginos, and the night was also fast approaching.

After five minutes of silent thinking and rethinking, they finally decided to come down from their safety. They helped each other get down and started following the trail of the Maginos slowly. They feared an ambush and knew they could be set up so they moved quietly, carefully and gently.

Soon they saw the Maginos far away in an open field. Fedo and his group stood for some seconds wondering how the Maginos managed to move that fast, they thought they might never catch up with them but as soon as the Maginos spotted them, they waited.

They all ran to meet up with their new savior but soon slowed down remenbering the tigers. The sun was setting and soon Ify and Sandy were riding on two tigers. The men laughed as the both was scared to hold the fur of the tiger for stability incase they might anger the tigers, even though they were told it was ok.

It did not take long for the civilized people to realise that the Maginos were hospitable and friendly. Fed asked the leader of the Maginos to explain to him how he and axe appeared in his hands.

the average aged man patted him on his shoulder, looked into his eyes and said, “tommorow i'll take you to see the king".

©Stories of Ease

Godwin Samuel