Fireflies in the Dark Continent. Chapter 14
- 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
A day of rest was all the company needed, most of the men seemed to recover some semblance of strength. We woke up very early and hit the ground running as early as dawn. By noon we finally cleared the swamps and made it to solid ground.
We were now on the fringes of Iriju. So close that hardly had we marched a full hour from the swamps that we started to hear the sounds of horns blaring and feet shuffling right ahead of us; there was a brief panic among the men that was quickly followed by ranks being hurriedly formed.
We then orderly proceeded about two hundred yards before we saw them. About five hundred burly men in perfect ranks. They carried all sorts of menacing weapons. Some for skewering, others for crushing skulls.
There was a sudden stink in the air as someone’s bowels let go. I guess it was just dawning on most that we were mostly fishermen and red oil merchants. The greatest battle anyone of us had fought was trying to get a fair price for our goods on market day.
The sheer numbers of the men from Oride could not hide that simple fact. Sweat broke out my forehead as orders rang through the air. Our ranks tightened; we were to fight as a single unit.
I and the rest of the rear guard along with Akim and Akinn and about fifty other gun totting men were at the very rear of our formation. Omur Alamsi was located somewhere inside the tight encirclement of bodies we had made.
For once he was silent and his face now wore a tense look rather than a smug smile.
Orders continued to ring through the air and right on cue, about three hundred fire gunners emerged from our ranks, proceeded about forty yards from us and dropped to their knees while taking aim. I remember holding on to my spear as though it held my life.
I wanted to scream and stop the madness that was unfolding before my very eyes but an entire army beat me to the screaming, the events of the next few seconds seemed in slow motion. The ground started shaking as the Iriju army; screaming their lungs out, pounded their way toward our ranks. I looked around for comfort in the eyes of my comrades. All I saw was despair… and her.
My mind was completely drawn away from the battle around me. She was nothing like in the tales. I stood paralyzed by fear and wonder. She was sitting on a tree stump at the edge of the battle field, she was weeping; she had a very long fish tail instead of legs and had three heads with faces all blurry.
I was brought out of my daze by the sound of cheering amongst our ranks. I turned to look; only three of the Iriju soldiers remained and they were being cut down by volleys of thunder and fire as they tried to retreat. I turned to look at her again but Alamda was gone.
Suddenly, there was a loud roar that stopped the cheering among our ranks. Out of nowhere appeared a large mass of men running towards our rear! Most of the men with guns had been deflected and couldn’t stop their advance.
The few with guns found them unreliable in close combat. I was very afraid! Though the mass of men that attacked us were not up to a quarter our size, they were well trained, experienced and angry.
The rear immediately started backing in so as to protect our chief. But our very tight formation meant we had no room to maneuver; the men were confused and got in our way; causing a small stampede and impeding our retreat.
Orders still rang through the air. Some men in fits of bravery, swarmed to the rear, trying brace the impact of the advance; they were cut down easily like bamboo stems. I saw Akinn being pushed against a huge mass of men as he was drifted away from the rest of the guard.
Out of the corner of my eyes I saw a very huge elephant of a man who was almost single-handed-ly breaking through our ranks like an unstoppable force of nature, he was headed toward Akinn.
I shouted at the top of my voice and waved my free harm; urging Akinn to free himself. But he simply couldn’t as the tide of men was too heavy.
The elephant man was in rare form as he dispensed men right, left and center. Out of desperation, I flung my spear toward him, but my aim was way off.
Before my very eyes; Akinn was skewered from behind like a wild boar, his eyes widened with pain and shock as he was impaled by the elephants spear. There was a chorus of thunder and fire and the elephant man was hit multiple times, but that didn’t slow him down even a little bit!
I was overwhelmed with grief and anger. I allowed both to serve against my better judgment. I, skinny, weaponless, and untrained dived in head first to tackle the elephant of a man. Suddenly, something that felt like an anvil hit my head and that is the last thing I remember of the battle.