66 The Capture of Apeleka (1/2)

As Mboya and Kuru Kureri were busy making arrangements on how to get to the Hall of Righteousness that morning, the tribe head alongside the people from Odindi clan had long gone to the clan's general shrine to offer sacrifices to 'Were', the God of their land for what he had done and to appease the ancestors to make the relationship between them and the living stronger.

The shrine was located on the foot of the great Odindi hill about five hundred metres behind the chief's home. The shrine was a large circular piece of land with a radius of about three hundred meters. It was fenced withbricks. At the center was a huge altar.

Standing before the altar was Okwach Gumo, the clan's general seer with a large knife on his right hand. On top of the enormous altar were fifteen heads of immense bulls tied on all their four limbs. Their angry bellows never stopped filling the air as they struggled to free themselves.

Led by the tribe head, the people were singing songs of praise completely ignoring the amuck animals. Ochieng' was beside Apeleka and the tribe head. He was singing with all emotions. He had never seen such a huge number of people neither had he seen a seer making sacrifices to 'Were'.

”'Were', you are the God of our land. You levitate just above us. You bring us rains when we need. You give us food when we lack. You take away pain and suffering from us and ensure we are a happy people. Three days ago we were almost washed away by the storm of war and you saw us through...”

The seer started giving praises to 'Were'. He had barely started when an ear deafening roar echoed. Everyone lifted their heads and what they saw struck them by panic. Into the center of the shrine, an occult creature was flying at a breathtaking speed. Its mouth was wide open exposing long sharp cuspids.

Everyone started running pell-mell with dread. Their wails and screams resounded. Being many, there was no way the people could leave the shrine easily using just the one and only entrance and exit. The tribe head was trying to guide them out but his efforts seemed otiose. Many fell and died because of being stepped on by others. Some men climbed the walls of the fence.

Aaah!

One man's loud scream stopped the people. They turned to have a look only to see the creature garbage down a man's flesh deliciously, its mouth covered with blood. All the people were scared to the core and evacuated the shrine at their top speeds.

After a minute, only the tribe head, Okwach Gumo, Okoth Ang'wen, Nyangini and Ochieng' were left in the shrine looking at the creaturebitterly. The man being eaten was already dead so he could not be rescued.

Ochieng' could not bare watching the scene. Even though back in the forbidden land he had seen the lions eat other animals the same way, it was before he knew his roles as an Ordainer. Furthermore, they were not feeding on humans. He did not know much currently but what he was sure about was the fact that Ordainers had to be altruistic, magnanimous and courageous.

He reached for a sword in its sheath where he normally kept it but never found it. He wanted to give curses when a three foot long sword appeared from nowhere in his right hand. The sword was glowing in red and yellow. The heat it gave off made it appear more like fire than a sword. Ochieng' was taken aback a little when felt how comfortable he was with the sword. He dashed towards the creature in rage.

While he was running to terminate the mysterious creature, the latter lifted its head and was frightened to see someone coming at it with a 'burning sword '

”The Apotheosis Sword. He is the Ordainer!”

The creature exclaimed with eyes widened in fear and turned to flee. It was however too late. Ochieng' arrived before it in a timely manner before slicing it into two. The two parts dropped, darkening the ground with dark blood. Ochieng' heaved a long sigh before shaking his head a little apprehensively.

”What was that?”

Okoth asked fearfully after a long silence. They had gone to stand next to Ochieng' after the creature died.

”I have no idea,” answered the tribe head, ”but from the books I have read in the palace, I guess it must be an aerial monster from the dark world. It is fortunate we had an Ordainer with us, we could have died in the hands of this creature.”

When he finished, everyone turned their heads towards Ochieng', their looks were respectful. This young man had just saved their lives.

”Tribe head, this was just a two meter tall creature, could it kill everyone that was here?” Nyangini asked.

”It is said that their size should not make humans underestimate them. Their digestion power is extremely high and can eat more than a hundred people within an hour but still be hungry, it can also expand to swallow more than ten people at the same time. Where it comes from I don't know but it is stated in that book that only Ordainers can kill them.”