SULTAN {Preview}

Chapter Fifteen

We sat in a semi circle in Mama's sitting room after Isha and tarawii prayers. Baba sat in the middle while I sat by his right, Khalil who joined us sat by the left with Mama sitting next to him and Qudsiyya next to me. He had his legs stretched out in front of him while the rest of us tugged our legs underneath us, like the way islamiyya pupils do, while receiving Quranic recitation from there Mallams, their slates hugged to their chests. We were ready to listen to his story. Mama insisted earlier on that we let him rest till after breaking our fast since it seemed from all indications, he traveled from a long distance.

Both Mama and Qudsiyya's faces were red and puffy from crying, the former out of gratitude to Allah and the latter out of shock. He sat for a moment, a sad expression on his face before he cleared his throat and began.

"It was a month into our hunting session when news reached us that hoodlums were invading a close by town, kidnapping little children and snatching things from passers by, they also robbed their popular market, rumours also had it that the youths of the town had had enough and so with the permission of their king, they vowed to bring an end to it. Upon their investigations, they gathered that the hoodlums were lurking around in the bushes and so that was their main target, in case they attacked again.

Most of my hunting partners upon learning about this decided to flee, so as to avoid being attacked too and probably being mistaken as the hoodlums since we were in the bushes too and we were also strangers to them. I was among the few who decided to brave up and stay, oh how a wrong decision that was.

Two weeks after some of our men left, the hoodlums invaded the town again, causing a lot of havoc, like they have never done before, the town people have had enough, they sent their youths into the bushes to search and bring home the culprits for conviction, the hoodlums ran to where we were when the youths attacked them, and unlike them, they took us off guard, unawares!" he paused and took a deep breath.

"How I wish what happened that day could be erased from my memory completely, how I wish I didn't remember that part of the past. A serious fight ensued between the hoodlums, the youths and of course we the hunters, we had to defend ourselves, we were not given the chance to explain, how wrong that decision was.

The youths mistook us to be part of the hoodlums, at the end, they won, must of the hoodlums had a chance to escape between the commotion, the hunters too. I was among the few unlucky ones, many were killed, I was shot, and I blacked out ". He shook his head when he said this while Umma's eyes bulged out

"I woke up in an unfamiliar environment, I couldn't comprehend anything happening around me, It was later I got to know that I was in prison, I gathered from the inmates that I was brought their alongside a few others almost a year ago and after receiving treatments for months I didn't recover, and I was not dead either, so I was isolated and being checked on once in a while, up until that day that I finally woke up.

I knew no one, I couldn't recognize anybody, I didn't even know whether any of them were still there, I couldn't remember a thing.

I made a new  friend there in prison. Sadeeq was his name, a Muslim too, I came to find out from him that majority of the towns population were idol worshippers, they despised the few muslims amongst them, and in fact the reason why he was in prison was because the King's son developed interest in Islam and he helped him out by taking him to a Mallam who converted him.

He told me that when the King found out about it, he commanded his son to reconvert to their religion to which he was defiant and so the King exiled him, but not before the son promised his father to await his return.

Sadeeq was imprisoned, the Mallam, killed. He told me that he didn't know he will still be alive by then, that he knew he was still alive by the grace of Allah" he paused and took two pieces of dates from a bowl in front of him and chewed for a while before he continued