32 I Come To Get Justice For Them (1/2)
”Is it safe to leave them just like that?”
Apeleka asked bewilderedly after walking a few distance away from the Twiya clan. Ochieng' did not bother doing anything further after they were done punishing that chief. That was a chief of a whole large clan of Lang tribe for God's sake. Killing him would bring unnecessary trouble to the Lang tribe. The woman he adored after all came from that tribe. But that did not mean the chief could sit on his head. If he dared to, Ochieng' could not mind destroying the whole of Twiya clan or even the entire Lang tribe to vent his anger.
”What did you expect me to do?” He asked Apeleka with a charming smile.
”You should have ended his life.”
”That could bring trouble to the Lang tribe.”
”But I don't care what happens to this wicked tribe.” She controverted angrily.
”Apeleka, at the end of the day, this is your tribe. You can't run away from it completely, east or west home is the best remember.” It is her mother who gave her lectures this time.
They covered the rest of the journey silently. When they got home, Sankale found him a 'manyatta' to spend a night in.
Puuuuu!
The next day, when the sun had just risen, a sound of a horn being blown reverberated in the air. Those who were busy in one way or the other stopped what they were doing to hear where the sound came from. This was in Twiya large clan. Many from that clan quickly figured out that the sound came from the royal 'manyatta'. They made their way to that place in a flash.
Chiefs were noble people. They rarely met the people especially in Lang tribe where they had family heads to take care of several matters of the small clans. Due to this, very few people from the clans in Lang tribe had seen their chiefs. It was out of the norm for an alarm to be raisedfrom the chief's area, therefore, when the blowing of horn was heard, everyone within the clan left their activities to go and take a look.
The chief's compound was filled with people after around ten minutes. The air in the compound was sulky. Many sat on the ground holding their chins, others were weeping. The chief's wives were even crying at the top of their lungs. Though many still did not know what was happening.
After a while, one of the Twiya's family heads walked out of the chief's 'manyatta'. Everyone rose to their feet shooting queasy looks at him. The wailing of people before dissipated. The family head himself had sweat trickling down his forehead. He cleared his throat and in a palpitation voice said,
”The chief was attacked last night...”
What he said was like a stone that dropped into a water body and caused a thousand ripples. The people present were buried in a heated discussion, discussing what only them could understand. If the family head was someone with a weak mental fortitude, he couldn't have been standing there with equanimity at this time. He could have either got annoyed with the commotion breaking out immediately he started speaking or he could have walked away not unable to harbor their impatience.
”Someone he knows did the attack,” he continued after the hurly burly tranquilized, ”I am asking the warriors of our great clan to match forward. We must let others know that our clan is not a clan to be trifled with. As for others, we ask you to go to the clan's shrine and offer prayers to 'Ngai'¹ for the chief to get well. Our able medicine man Lamot is already taking care of the chief.”
The family head then disappeared into the chief's house. It did not take long before the clan warriors were gathered in front of the royal 'manyatta'. The tribesmen walked silently led by their seer and priest to the shrine. They dared not talk about what they just heard fearing that that could cast a dangerous spell to the chief or even the entire Twiya clan.
After the compound was left with the warriors only, a middle aged man around the age of forty walked out of the chief's house. The man was powerful just from his look. The air around him was fierce and the killing intent emitted from his red eyes showed that he had washed his hands with a lot of blood. It was clear that he was a powerful warrior.
”Commander!”