"Behold I have made thee small among the heathen; thou art greatly despised."
(Written).
(Edited).
***
The female frowned upon herself, hating how she looked like someone who had just come back alive from the grave. She looked at the familiar surroundings of her cell, wrinkling her nose at the stench emanating from it. Her friend hadn't visited her all this while, and for a second, she thought if something had happened to her.
‘What if they'd captured her because she's my friend?’ The female reasoned. ‘Maybe they thought that she knew about what I had been doing all along? But... she didn't... Did she?’ The method of comforting herself with the fact that her friend is well and maybe she doesn't know what is happening to her didn't sit well with the young female. After staying in the cell for gods know how long, she had begun to consider what her Ma had said about the female.
“Guess like you didn't know? Your little friend was the one who told us. Think about it, who else knew about your secret? No one, am I right?”.
Her mind bristled against the words that the conniving witch of a mother had said. But thinking about it, she knew that her friend didn't know about it, no one knew apart from herself.
So now, the main question is; “how did she find out? Even if it wasn't her, who else knew about it?’
The female knew that she had made sure she kept her tracks undiscovered, so how did someone know? The girl's mind flashed back to when her friend was constantly persuading her to tell, why the female had been coming back home late from the stream at the border of both opposing clans.
‘Did she follow me?’ She asked herself. Her now muddy eyes trailed down the chains binding her hands and legs, then to the bone she had carved some moments ago, noticing that she had made little-to-none progress to the shaping of its desired key-like size. Her widdled arms now lay by her sides from exhaustion, and she frowned at herself for not achieving the wanted shape she had in mind because she was too weak to carry on.
Not only that, the bone was strong — too strong — as she had to use all her might to strike the stone against its uneven surface.
After her Pa had gotten her deflowered by those pestilence guards, she hadn't seen them — Pa and Ma — ever since. She wished that they'd come to visit though; she wanted some semblance of their banter to ring against the cold walls of her cell, filling up her mind.
The silence was daunting — taunting — her. Sometimes, she heard voices in her head and wondered if she was slowly going insane. There was little to do in her metal cage and the feeling of suffocating closure clung to her body at times, sending her mind spiraling. Maybe she was indeed slowly going crazy.
‘I bet that they would like to see me this miserable,’ She mused to herself, her mind tracking back to her parents. ‘Hardly could they be called that though’ she laughed out loud, as if there was an inside joke to her musings. Anyone who would come across her would be disgusted and would also pity her current predicament.
The female closed her eyes and sighed a long dragged-out breath, seemingly wanting to meld with the walls of her confinement.
Trying to calm her raging thoughts, she breathed in and out continuously, each breath taken between an interval of three seconds. When the method didn't work out well for her, she resulted to using those thoughts to her favor of sleeping.
Oh yes! In case you hadn't noticed she had had trouble sleeping as of late, maybe for some days now — or weeks — no one knows, so what she had decided to be doing anytime she wanted to sleep was to think about random things with her eyes closed, and then even out her breathing until her consciousness gradually submerged below the drifting darkness in her mind.
The female, with her back relaxing against the cold muddied walls of her cell, slept peacefully. Well, that was what someone would think of, if they stumbled upon her. Her brows twitched whilst she was in deep slumber, and sweat clung to her body as it dripped down her skin. The sleeping female moaned in discomfort and adjusted her lying position, with her eyes still closed. It was unknown what she was thinking, or rather, dreaming about.
Her thoughts drifted in and out of consciousness, and she struggled to maintain her state of rest while being lucid at the same time. It seemed that she later won over being conscious as she went back to sleep, her slight snoring being the only thing that was noticed, coming from inside her metal cage.
*~~~*
A few days later, it was like a routine for the female.
Wake up, carve, eat (if there's food given to her), laze around, sleep again.
It went on like that over and over, and sometimes, her routine timetable would change when those pestilent men — guards — would come around her cell and play with her body like she was some ragdoll. Most times, they would come in groups, while other times, they would come individually, and this made her wonder if it was normal for them to do these kinds of things to a female. Maybe it was for them, and regardless of whatsoever reason why they did this, it wasn't right.
‘When I'd be done with this useless Kingdom, I swear to deal with them next'’ She thought distractingly, remembering what they did to her, as she played with a pebble that was lying on the floor by her side.
+~|~+
Days passed by and by like a blur. The people of the different tribes went around their daily activities of waking up as early as 4 a.m. to prepare for their businesses. Market sellers, both men and women, had mainly woken up at their usual time, startled when they heard a metal gong reverberating around the small town, disturbing the silent air that transcended over it.
Every man and woman awake had to keep quiet to grasp what would be said when they heard the metal gong ringing out, and they all shared the same confused thoughts of what the issue would be this time.
The town crier, as early as when the people usually got up for work, had already begun to transfer the message from the Igwe, by sounding out his metal gong.
Kom kom ko-kom kom-kom.
The gong rang out, and then a man shouted, “People of _____ Kingdom, the Igwe have requested an audience with everyone from each tribe, to arrive at the town square regarding the issue of conflict between a female and her male along with their involved tribes. The female would be tried at the town square by the Igwe, for her crimes committed against her tribe. Do make sure that you are there early tomorrow, by 11 a.m. Do not make the Igwe wait by coming late”. After he was done talking, he ended it with the cry of the gong again.
Kom kom ko-kom kom-kom.
The town crier continued this, relying on the same message by the King over and over, as he transversed from one clan to another by passing their clanal border. He didn't stop, making sure to go through all the streets of every clan to send the information. Only when there was the break of dawn, by 6 a.m. did he stop, and he went back to wherever he came from.
By the time he was done, those who were still sleeping had already woken up and had been privileged to hear the news from the horse's mouth. Business had already begun moving, stores had already been opened with their eager owners waiting to earn their source of living that day. As the market boomed, people flooded in and out of the large area of stores facing one another, the topic of gossip? What had happened between the female and her male.
Her former male.
Rumors flew from wide and far, each tribe seemingly absorbed with what they had heard, and the people's bodies oozed with energy wanting to know the outcome of her trial.
Different persons had different thoughts on the issue of what would happen to the female. While some were buzzing with the energy of badmouthing the female, some also pitied the female, and the others were just neutral - only wanting to watch the "show" at the square and go back to their normal business.
The vitality bubbled up a notch across the Kingdom, as one could practically feel the excitement of what was bound to happen, in the air. Even some of the children who were oblivious to what was happening could feel — practically taste — the energy, and they wondered a little if there was an event coming up, one that they wished they would all be participants in.
•*•*•
The town crier's words reached the ears of the male's clan, and when the male heard what the messenger had said earlier that morning, he only rewarded the news with a stoic face, yet the fast beating of his heart made up for it. It was unknown what the male was thinking, and not that it mattered though. It would mean another thing if he showed any signs of caring for the female when he was facing his Clan Head.
It would mean another thing indeed; that he cared. And knowing that it would be used against him and the female if they found out, he didn't want that for the female.
His eyes traced every move of his Clan Head, almost like he wanted to imitate him. With this knowledge of "imitating" his Tribe Head, he sighed in his heart, partly out of his deep regrets towards the female for what he had put her through, and the other towards what he was going to have to do.
He had to be quick about it, but not too fast, to not arouse suspicion.
He was simply bidding his time.
******_******
So now we have a sneak peek into the male's thinking. What do you think the male is planning? Thoughts on what you think about him?
As I was writing this chapter, I really started to pity the young girl. I mean! She didn't deserve all this.