Death's Drum

[WP] The drum beats boomed on all day, but it wasn't till nightfall that we found out what horrors were marching to them.

*****

When we finally heard the drums, we were sitting in the village square, at the end of a festival week.

The Prince had taken a new wife: Chief Emeka's daughter, Ada. Ada was a real damsel. I, as well as most of the other young ladies in the village. We all helped prep her for the wedding: coral beads, local face painting and the clothes.

It was emotional: full of tears and hugs all around. We were with her during the ceremonial parade around the village. Dancing to our hearts' content, the beads on our waist shaking and producing a nice melody as we shook our seemingly spineless backs, our waists 'breaking' as we danced.

The sweet on our body formed a sheen that made our curves stand out, the clothes we wore leaving something to the imagination.

Everyone knew that the girls who danced best did it to be noticed by the men they liked. I was 17, and I was liked Dike, the son of Chief Dili. He was nice, a great hunter and we met a lot out in the field, where my father's farm was right beside his.

I was dancing for him, and when I saw him in the crowds, I added some extra flair to my waist shaking, eliciting a cheer from him.

My blush warmed my cheeks.

From the afternoon there was a feast, and we all gathered in the village square. My village was small - barely 100 people including women and children. Discussions, stories from the older members of the village whonwer emarried, advice, and more food than I would have ever eaten in a day.

We were all full, and even us girls had managed to sneak out some kegs of palmwine, which we gulped down.

Maybe it was our dulled senses that cleared out minds, and we realised that the drums hadn't ended. No, we realised that even while we were dancing to the drums of Ikem and his band, another set of drums were being sounded.

It was when the King's guards remembered they had been sounding since morning. We hadn't noticed. It was the last day of a seven-day wedding festival. We were all in a frenzy. We were all happy. Nobody had noticed anything.

Until now.

Our next mistake was ignoring them. No one noted the tempo of the drums. No one noticed they were war drums. We all continued to the night, and by then people were full, tired, sleeping or engaged in sexual activities.

The cacophony of moans made us girls giggle and we tried to go and snoop whenever we could, of course being careful to avoid being caught by any of the adults. That would result in some stern discipline.

Finally, when I was sleepy, when the girls sat beside the fire, the boys on the other side, and only the brave ones from either group venturing to the other side to talk to their loves, of coirs eliciting cheers from the rest of us...

They attacked.

I was moving over to Dike, making sure my waist swayed, when the arrow whizzed past me. I froze like a deer in headlights, turning to the direction of the shot.

It was a whole army. An army that was twice the size of my entire village. They came with torches and knives and weapons, crashing in, attacking and rounding up all civilians at the centre.

There was nothing we could do. Only the guards and a few men were able to act as a weak opposition, but they were all killed. The King, mighty and brave but a bit tipsy was beheaded in our presence.

After they were done taking what they considered valuable, they went about killing all the older members of the village. I screamed and cried my eyes out as my parents' throats were slit right before my eyes, and I watched Dike cry as well.

My dad used to say that real men did not cry. But here, there were no 'men', there were no 'women'. Just victims.

"Group the youth by sex. We'll see what's worthy of keeping and what needs to be done away with. The rest of the men should reduce this disgusting settlement to ashes," the enemy leader said.

Giving a war chant, a great majority of the army went about torching Hines, the acrid smell of burning raffia and other items filling out nostrils.

"As for the men, chain them all up. We'll use then in the fields. The women..." He said, now stopping in front of me, frooing my bosom with a callused hand, he ripped away wmthe cloth covering my breasts, baring them to the cold air and the scrutiny of his men and others at the site. "...they'll be useful to us on cold nights and merry days!"

The men laughed out loud, until a voice screamed.

"Don't lay your dirty hands on Ijeoma!"

I turned. It was Dike.

He was kicked to the ground immediateky, but there was a fearsome look in his eye as he looked at the enemy leader.

"Oh, and what do we have here? A lover, trying to protect his little flower? She must be special to you. A virhin, perhaps?" He scoffed, now punching my nipple painfully.

I winced.

Duke dashed forward in a mad frenzy, shocking the men around him. He attacked the enemy leader, who managed to evade his attack, but left his back wide open. In a heartbeat, Dike gripped him from the back and flipped him over his shoulder.

I heard the crack as the enemy leaders collarbone broke.

The rest of the warriors immediately subdued Dike with hits as the leader stood.

"Ah, so you're not all weaklings? This one is a good wrestler too, eh? I'll tell you what. You earned yourself a good deal here."

The smile on his face looked malevolent, and he was wincing audibly - that fracture must have hurt a lot.

"...if you can sleep with the girl right here and now, well let you both go."

"What?!" Duke shouted, looking at him. He then looked at me, but I nodded 'no'. I couldn't do this here, not now, not under these conditions. T

There was going to be a...

"Five seconds..."

"I'm not doing it!"

The evil smile widened as the man approached Dike who was still lying on the ground. One of the man instantly ran his spear through Dike's waist, pinning him to the ground.

His screams were horrifying, and the girls around me cried. Somewhere, a part of me died. A part of me that knew what was coming next, and still prayed that all this was a nightmare, and that I would wake up.

But it was clear it was reality when the laser went behind Dike, knelt on his back and raised his head up. "This village is full of weaklings. Disgusting, little weaklings. You had the vamhance to save yourself and your girl from this horrible fate, but you were to weak willed. When we're done breeding with your females, we will bring up a strong people, perhaps even a nation, that will be capable of doing things like this..."

He placed a knife at the side of Dike's neck.

"... without flinching."

Stabbing it in, deep, he ran it all the way to the other side.

My head was held in place by one of the men, and I saw as Dike's eyes widened when he was stabbed in the neck. How his eyes rolled back in his head and he gurgled as his throat was slit. How the air in his exposed windpipe bubbled and wheezed blood.

The man then took a machete and chopped off his head before throwing it in the fire like it was nothing.

"Rejoice, for it is a new dawn for all of you!"

*****

I went for a Vikings sorta theme here, just that it's set in an African Village in the Savannah. The names are from the Igbo tribe of West Africa. I also knew it was going to be quite a bloody one, so I hope you're into that stuff!

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