HAMZ MUSINGS: LIBERTY ISLAND

 LIBERTY ISLAND 

17th Century, The borders of Kinchala, a small island in West Africa.

*******

Clink! Clink!! Slash!!! My olden metal manoeuvred it's way, sliting throats, ripping flesh of valiant men, blood trickled with the smell of death...the scent of victory emerging as lifeless heroes of alien descent and of Kinchala soiled the earth in great folds. 

" For Kinchala!" Captain Osula cried raising his sword "For Kinchala!!!" We chorused. We had lost quite a number of our men, but we couldn't... wouldn't give up now. A Kinchala Soldier would never quit in a battle, never! He'd fight until there was no him. Our victory was close now it seemed. We'd lost a fortune at the front yet murdered in great number the traitors. It was almost night fall. We fought at the mercy of our own weakened strength now, left with less than a hundred soldiers from six hundred that we were at dawn. "For Kinchala! Victory is near us!! " I screamed in exhaustion unable to raise my sword completely, If captain Osula couldn't raise the chant of Victory someone had to, me....anyone. "Victory will be ours!" The shattered voices of the men echoed. 

"We should retire now am afraid, our men are dying, we have lost great number already. The fate of Kinchala is at stake.." 

"No Osula!" I attacked, "Not now, not ever! Victory is near ...we have never been this much defeated yet have never given up at the front" Just like Osula, I was enraged, blood-thirsty, I wanted to pull out the hearts of our opponents with my blades, with all of me , I wanted to defeat them to stupour, take them home with chains about their neck where they'd pay grievously to all of Kinchala for Lives they had taken today and in time past. 

"We have so little time captain Kira, message has reached me that the Clates are approaching in great numbers. If we do not return to the village before nightfall the fate of our battle will be untold and the whole of Kinchala would ....."

" A Kinchala soldier never gives Osula! We've been through battles together, you have never given up, you have never retired from battle ground and that is why you are our captain. I am your assistant and its part of my duty to put you back on track whenever you get off!" I said strongly grabbing him by the shoulders. I understood Osula's sayings too, I could see the disappointment and regret evident in his voice that was earlier encouraging at the start of our battle. Osula my freind and superior was an ever vibrant young man, dark skinned as all kinchalites, a handsome warrior taller than I was possessing the physique of a near-perfect man with his head a clean shave except for the middle where a Little part of it remained braided with cowries, the custom style all of our warriors had to follow. He had his wine and water gourd hung to his neck as always and his sword on one hand looking down at himself. "listen, we can't leave now. If we go back to the village, these people will come to Kinchala not sparing a single soul, our children and wives will be taken our homes will be brought to nought and us....we will becone like these lifeless bodies. There's no guarantee that we can defeat these people when they come into the village. We have only but a few soldiers there. Think about our people, The king, and your home too. You don't wanto let them live at the mercy of our foe do you?" Osula was silent, staring down at bodies once soldiers and then up at the few men who had taken up swords with their last strength still in a bid to defeat Clates. Osula taken up swords with their last strength still in a bid to defeat warlocks that never ceased trooping in. 

"For Kinchaaa.... We will fight!!!!" Osula hailed, there was that anger in his face, the way he chanted, I knew his warrior spirit was awaken now. Slash! The sound of Captain Osula's sword from behind and the sight of his victim's blood splashing into thin air, dropping on me ,pleased me. I knew we were back on again to fight, taking every single warlock down till there was no life left in us or a single warlock was not seen. Slash! I heard his sword slit again

" Good to see you again old freind, I hope you like my welcome present " 

Slit!!

"Argh!!!"

No....not Osula, not my captain. I turned at the scream of my freind, looking at the dreadfuls scenario behind me. All along it wasn't the captain's sword defeating a warlock but him being defeated, stabbed. Lohea lay on the ground, with a sword stuck to his chest, wounds from the same sword on his body, head turned to one side. He struggled to speak something as blood poured out from his mouth

"F...f..for...kin...Kinchala..." His voice was faint in pain as he spoke his last. His eyes wide opened and mouth agape, lifeless he remained, a fallen hero. 

" wow...great way to end the war, it's been a while Kira " Tega spoke with a wide grin.

" You! All of you!! You'll pay dearly for this! For taking our land, our lives...you will pay!!!!!!" I screamed with every bit of strength in me.

"Take him away...all of them! We will have them hostage now. " Tega ordered his men. Two clates approached, each one holding me on the arm, I struggled to get off their hold as I felt my hands dragged to the back and clasped together. The sound of heavy metal chain, the cold feel of the chains resting on my hands and the sound of the lock against it. The longer end of the chain was dragged to my neck where they'd placed a metal colar and the chain was strapped to the colar on my neck and another lock attached.

I could see the fire from burning huts in the village as I approached it behind my adversaries while they dragged me by the chains. our homes were been taken down before our very eyes, what we feared had met with us Now. Women, children, men, were taken out of their homes forcefully, tied up and chained, Houses were set ablaze. Folks; young and old who tried to resist met with their end, the stubborn men were stabbed instantly, the women were beaten to stupor and taken advantage of thereafter chained, children were stabbed too. My family, I hadn't set eyes on them since I left home for battle ground but I knew their fate would be just like every other villager out here, under control of the Clates. With our very eyes we saw the fall our land, our homes destroyed, our people murdered in innocence while their blood defiled the fertile land and how they rid us of our freedom in the open while we wailed, screamed in silence at the liberty of our hearts.......

* * * * 

" The master has requested your presence. " I heard a voice say with the rattling of keys. He opened the door and walked up to me when I didn't reply. " I will not have you fiddle with the King's orders!" He screamed. Still I kept mute. The furious guard hit me endlessly and tried to drag me out of the dark dungeon which captivity made my abode in this strange island, Clateland.

"Tell him I want nothing to do with him!" I let out...spitting in the Guards face. Provoked, he slapped me on the face hitting me with his giant boots. If only he knew the tireless hits I received meant nothing, I had become resistant to pain, kicks, hits as much as I felt it. I'd received numerous pain since the day of my captivity and now, all of the pain accumulated had metamorphosed into strength. The angry guard stormed out banging the door behind him. 

"You should have gone to see him Kira" Jana one of my parteners said drawing closer to me bound in chains, " I have nothing to discuss with him, I want nothing to do with him either. I'll sure see him one day and that day will be the last I see him" I replied

"Oh....I hope we all see that 'day'" old Bahul said. He'd joined me here shortly after my arrival . at first they were about a hundred of us in here eighteen years ago when we go get here. Everyday men were singled out, taken to the master who traded them for petty treasures to his clients, made them his servants or used them to his own inhumane motives. When he got tired of any of us, the Person gets guillotined. Sometimes we were all taken out, The unlucky ones were picked, arrayed in blind folds and their heads cut off for no reason. This they did until we became less in number.

****

It was a cold morning and it hurt to breathe. The rest of the guards had gone out to nearby village leaving two guards behind. 

The door creaked open again, one of theguard walked in, I knew what he wanted as each time he came in we all knew someone was up for execution and everyone feared whose unlucky day it was.

"All of you...out!" He said motioning towards the door. With chains wrapped around our hands and neck we struggled out in turns Bahul was first in line, scared Jana was next and me. We got to the usual spot, and The foe stood before us, smiling sheepishly as always. 

"You never get tired of wasting innocent souls do you? " I fired at him .

" Only when it's about Kinchala "

He replied with the evil grin

"You....the scared one..the one in the middle" Tega pointed at Jana who was almost frightened to death already, poor unlucky Jana, if only he knew he was up on the master's list today. He shivered with goosebumps as the guard tied the fold around his eyes. 

" Give the devil my regards " The master blurted. Jana's blood splashed in mid air as his body fell to the ground gushing out more blood. "And you.." He pointed at old Bahul. "To the labour camp!" Bahul was lucky anyway...at labour camps you kept working endlessly on farms, anything. 

"Let me go! Let me go!!" A woman cried not far from us..."I said let me go! Kira!!" The lady called out.

The voice... It was Chuya my wife. She was still alive? I hadn't seen her since the day we got defeated she looked darker and thin now, she was becoming older in physique than she really was. "No!! No!!! Not my wife! Let her go!!" I cried as the vociferous stripped her of every bit of her garments whipping her brutally, a ritual every kinchalite woman who refused to succumb to satisfying greedy pleasures of the Clate men was faced with.

"I'm taking you to the dungeon" He shout in a vociferous tone.

I had always wondered when i'd see Chuya again and now..I did , unable to ask her how she'd lived under these beasts all these times or how our son was doing and where he was. i was greeted This is how we'd lived for eighteen years here in Clates. For eighteen years, our people lived in absolute penury serving the Clates who treated them with hostility, eighteen years these men used our female folks to satisfy the desires of their dirty flesh, our children fed from the crumbs beneath their table and eighteen years I'd been preparing, planning, waiting for the day I'd raise freedom call, the day all Kinchalites would rise for freedom, the day our home will be ours again.

The day is here, I thought to myself. I stood upon my feet and darts silently forward towards the Captain, and romp the chains shackling my hands around his neck and twisted it till we both found ourselves struggling on the floor. For few minutes, we roll on the wet floor, still with my arms clenching around his neck till he finally lay lifeless.

"Freedom is here" I roared as I point to the bunch of keys on the ground.

Chuya race forward, pick the keys up and unlock the padlock hinging the chain of my two hands together. We smile as we took in turn to free the rest of the prisoners...

*******

Fighting the waves for our lands of freedom, the watchman didn't see us escape, and God willing, would never see us ever. The early morning sky was a pool of lavender, a few sparks of last night's stars still flickering, sparking up excitement in our chests, giving us the energy to row, row, row. On and on we rowed, our strength never ebbing and our hearts, staunch and strong. The belligerent waves lashed ruthlessly at us, it's salty contents splashing into our eyes, making them sting and water, and making the sores from our master's whiplash burn. But on and on we rowed.

Someone started a song, and with an almost instant rippling effect, it spread and swelled into a unified roar of emancipation. Freedom was close, and by God, nothing or no one was going to hamper it.

We rowed for days without sight of land. Where was this land of freedom we hope to be? The maps stolen from our masters showed an uninhabited island that was to be our new home. Days turned into weeks yet the horizons never yielded land. No land anywhere as far as our eyes could see. The man who had been singing had fallen silent the day our food supplies got exhausted. Was this the freedom we hoped? Death? Anyway, we preferred this death to going back to the land of slavery.

We picked up our swords and chose a partner, each man trembling, waiting for the signal from the Mujumbu who we now choose as our leader. He stood before his son who has chosen him for a partner, his sword shaking and angling between his fingers. Our eyes fluttered uneasily and our hearts thudded beneath our breasts. The coarse whistle of the winds caressing the foamy swell of the waters was the only thing that could be heard. Our boats swayed sideways and we rocked back and forth.

For close to a little below the quarter of an hour, we fixed uneasy gazes into each other's eyes. Wewere willing to embrace death to going back to slavery yet, we were afraid of striking down ourselves. Our new leader opened his mouth and shut it. He sighed heavily but as he was about to give the order, someone shouted, pointing wildly, waving his hand. 

"Looooook! Laaaaaaaand!!"

That lone shout became a chorus that metamorphosed into unintelligible chants and roars that filled up the salty air around us. Despondence was defenestrated and hope invigorated us. We suffocated ourselves with joy.

True, a green mountain loomed in the mist ahead of us with a crown of soft, silver cloud Some of us couldn't wait for our boat to reach the shores. They dived into the water with a splash and swam ashore. When we joined them, they were dancing and hooting.

Our leader, once we were on land, set the boat afire. The boat, the property of our masters, a memento of all the sufferingwe went through in their hands now crackled in submission and finally, obliteration under the red tongues of fire.

"If they find the pieces of her", our leader said,

"they'll think us dead and never look for us again. We will be free" We roared in concord.

"Tomorrow", he said, calming us down, "we survey the land but today, we make merry". We danced till dusk. Someone saw what looked like water melon with a prickly back and a sharp, sweet-sour taste. Another found a fruit that looked like yam on the outside but yielded sweet, succulent flesh and water once cracked open. We ate and made merry.

Then, we slumped into the cool, sharp sand of the beach, relishing the gentle lulling rumble of the waves crashing on to and retreating from the shore back into the sea.

The cloudless night sky was filled with countless stars, so countless that there was no telling where the sea or sky started. It was the most beautiful thing we had seen in a long time.

Slowly, our eyes closed and our hearts were lifted at the thought that shackles weren't around our necks, nor chains fastened around our limbs.

Written by Esoteric Hamz & Martha Okenyi.