Naeku

Mother whispered into my ear that the bright-skins were not the first of their kind to walk our lands. I'd always thought them a fable, mythic in their entirety carrying off the cattle-rustlers father had defeated in the bowels of their giant boats. They dragged along in perfectly straight lines, hands and feet bound in chains that clanked with every step; scratching at each other, at the black skin that caressed on their heavy steel. 'They deserve it...' she'd said. 'Now stop looking down...'I brushed the beads tied to my left ankle across the oiled skin of my right. It tingled.'...You need to carve the image of the kind of people we have become into your heart. 'But aren't we good mamma?' I looked up at her. She was so short but each time she spoke I felt the weight of her words raise her higher than Natik, the tallest Moran across our entire hamlet. 'What shines in the darkness can also turn black in the brightness Naeku.'I had tried to understand what she meant at the time, but my cousin Kiserian's laughter, drew me away from thought as she pulled me towards the beautiful hilltop to watch the sunrise like we always did. The cold dew strewn on the grass-blades brushed against my feet, as we ran across the hillside the first of the day's rays caressing softly against my face.Women carrying skin-sewn bags of fermented milk sidestepped as we ran across the length of the outer part of the manyatta; the community's home. It didn't feel like they were moving so as to evade our charging.It felt more like admonishment masked in fear... fear of the retribution they would face in speaking out against the daughter of our Laibon: our leader; a daughter born of an outsider.

My name is Naeku, and this is the story of how I died.

The days that followed were good to us all. Young flock running around in the Kraal where they had been for the past two months following the rustling. Children's laughter mellowed the hot unrelenting afternoon heat. It all felt so peaceful. I watched the horizon waiting for father's return. He had left to search for the new place we would build our manyatta's and call home. Lekuton, my brother, had been away taking his Moran customs in the forest. Mother had told me that they would both arrive at the sun's setting. So I sat there; in the searing heat of the day and waited for them. I watched the strings of clouds fade in and out of existence. Flies flew in the slower than usual, almost as if they too felt their energies dwindle in the intensity of the sun's rays. One of them fell at a few inches away into the shadow from knees. I watched it flick its legs around its face then clean at its wings. It was always so fascinating to watch how all the different animals cleaned their bodies. Then as the thoughts flitted around in my mind, the fly slid its seemingly fat body towards a piece of goat dung that glowered hot with a complete day's baking. I laughed thinking about just how everything takes long baths; especially father's other wives, only to get dirty again... an endless cycle.

I never noticed the darkness creeping in behind me. Never noticed the dark edges of a shadow feeling across the mud wall behind me; it happened so fast, almost like a blur.

A hand crept up from behind and covered my mouth. It was so rough. Mine slid off its skin in my pointless struggles as I tried to pry it away. Another hand went around my waist and pulled me back into a hulking figure. I couldn't move, couldn't scream for help...Not to scream in terror; because I knew exactly what was happening. I was being taken from the homestead, stolen as the customs dictated... for marriage.

It had happened before. But Lekuton had chased after them and brought me back, as was also customary if the abductors happen to be caught. The prize was a bride if you managed to get away. Thereafter, a bride price would be formally negotiated. However, Lekuton had been against it for a long while. He argued that I was too young even though I was about the right marrying age. No one could have questioned his opinion since he was next in line to become Laibon, well except for father and he was always so busy with all the community affairs.