• Prologue
• Chapter 1 & 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4
• Chapter 5
• Chapter 6
• Chapter 7
• Chapter 8
• Chapter 9
• Chapter 10
• Chapter 11
• Chapter 12

Chapter 13

I woke up to the sight of Elim gazing down at me. It was not a pretty sight, I could not immediately figure out what he was saying but he seemed very angry for whatever reason. His face convulsed with rage.

The morning sun was barely come out of hiding. Horns were blaring ceaselessly  as I reached out desperately as if to grab something with both hands. Every part of my body hurt

I stirred and had barely fully regained consciousness when two heavy loads of cold murky water crashed against my head sending spasms of pain through my body. I raised my hands up as if in surrender, as I raised my head from the floor.

My head felt extra heavy, I could also feel the heat of the gaze of multitudes laying on me.I was caked in mud and filth from head to toe. The mud had even entered my eyes. 

I had passed out right at the very edge of the camp; where the mud and slime was very thick.  I rose up with much help. Murmurs and scornful eyeballing followed my every move as I made my way through the mass of bodies.     

I made my way to where my tent was supposed to be. I scanned the marshy floor and unsurprisingly found my sleeping gear still there; it was a mess and caked in mud.  

It seemed impossible to find clean water to wash with. I had to make do with a not so murky pool I found at the edge of a clearing. My entire body was infested with leeches. 

I de-leeched, washed myself and gear, hardly had I finished putting on my wet battle clothes when Akinn and Akim came from nowhere and told me that I had been awarded the honor of being in the rear guard with them.      

Apparently, everyone had gotten it in their heads that I had been trying to sneak off in the middle of the night ahead to Iriju to warn of our advance on the capital. Being in the rear guard would mean that I would always have to be around Omur Alamsi, and henceforth I could easily be watched

We packed up camp and began wading through the swamp. We continued through the wet marshes for days, and only stopped at night to rest. The sobbing voice haunted every passing moment. But I decided to ignore it.

On the morning of the fifth day of our travels nobody answered the repeated calls of the horns. Even Omur Alamsi was nowhere to be found. After what seemed like hours of repeated horn blaring, the horn blowers were scolded into shutting the hell up. That day, we rested.