CRADLE OF THE GODS

Chapter 5

It was night. The men camped somewhere and lit a bonfire. They were silent, each man lost in his own thought. Their gloom was palpable. Ibe who was nursing Orewa began humming a tune. Ehiedu was tied to a tree. He wailed and ranted like a drunken man.

"I will break free!" he yelled, "You know I will! And when I do, I will kill you all! I will open your innards and spread you like bush meat!"

He began to laugh. Then he began to cry.

"Please let me go", he begged. "I'm starving. Okay, at least give me some water to drink. I'm dying of thirst."

He moaned.

"I say we kill him and put him out of his misery", Ibe said.

"We will do no such thing!" Okoh rebuffed.

"Look at him", Ibe said

"Can't you see he is in pain? He will not last another day in this forest."

"Perhaps the forest has gotten into your head as well", Biose said.

"You have also been acting strangely."

"Gods of our fathers!" Ibe exclaimed. "...yet I am the one tending to Orewa's wounds! Why don't you tend to him since you are so sane?"

Throwing the herbs at Biose, he continued; "Go on... I thought as much. All talk and no action."

"You want to see action right?" Biose yelled as he sprang to his feet, brandishing his weapon.

Okoh tried to calm Biose down but Biose flung him aside.

"You want to make peace", Biose sneered. "You could not even keep the gourd safe!"

Ibe tried to hit Biose, but he was brought to the ground. Biose sat on him and began lacing punch after punch on Ibe. Okoh pushed Biose off Ibe. They both rolled on the ground and began to wrestle.

The fracas ceased as they began to hear whispers around them.

"Do you hear that?" Ibe asked.

"Perhaps there are others in this forest", Okoh said.

"Show yourself!" Biose yelled.

The whispering stopped. The men stood uneasy, clenching their weapons tight with eyes wide open as they looked around in horror.

"Ehiedu is gone!" Biose suddenly exclaimed.

"What do we do now?" Ibe asked rhetorically.

"You stay here with Orewa", Biose said.

"Okoh and I will go look for Ehiedu. He could not have gone far."

The men ran into the darkness holding torches. They had not gone far when they saw Ehiedu who was running aimlessly through the forest and pursued him. Ehiedu noticed them and hastened his pace.

Suddenly, Ehiedu came to a screeching halt as he saw several eyes in front of him. It looked like several people (or animals) were staring at him, but he could only see eyes glowing in the dark and no bodies. He also heard whispers. The whispers got louder as the number of bright eyes increased and came nearer to him. He slowly walked backwards and the eyes also slowly inched closer to him. Biose and Okoh also beheld the sight. They all walked slowly backwards. Ehiedu caught up with them.

"What manner of sorcery is this?" Okoh asked.

"I should never have volunteered for this mission", Biose said.

"Perhaps Ehiedu was right. We might all die after all."

"Not if I can help it", Okoh said.

Okoh threw his torch at the "eyes". They were set ablaze. The whispers turned to screams. At first it seemed like the creatures were hurt by the flames, but they soon appeared to be strengthened by them. They became more aggressive. The fire gave the eyes a humanoid body. They were tall and very slender. They were also very flexible and they floated in the air like clothes or long ropes hanging down a hook. Okoh, Ehiedu and Biose ran for dear life with the creatures in hot pursuit.

The forest was lit up as the creatures spread all over the forest in pursuit of the men. They caught up with Biose. Okoh and Ehiedu had already run into a nearby stream when they noticed that Biose had been caught by the creatures. They watched in horror as the creatures passed through Biose one by one until he became like them. Okoh and Ehiedu just stood in the stream, shivering as the creatures turned their attention to them. By this time, they were surrounded. They braced themselves for the worst as the creatures walked slowly towards them.

It came as a surprise and a relief as the creatures suddenly fled when they reached the stream. Flashes of fire spread across the scene as the creatures dispersed.

"They are afraid of water!" Ehiedu said

"No", Okoh corrected him. "It was their reflection in the water that made them flee."