waekina | the gift of dread

As Oramun went into consecration, down south by the lake a new decree was being enforced. All men had to serve Kak’idhim. Agasto Iknunii had just returned from his expeditions beyond the horizons of the great lake. It is said that the chief had returned with a gaze so bloody and a thirst so deep for conquest. “It is only natural that masters are served,” he said leaning toward the obvious superiority of his nation.

" 

Take a message to Oramun:

Tell him to offer his land to Kak’idhim. 

Tell him to send men to serve in my land and in my court and on my ships. 

Tell him to send his wife as well, I have heard of her beauty and I want to behold her myself. 

Tell him that Kak’idhim seeks not to start a war, only that should Oramun stand against me, I shall cut him down.

"

So filled with hubris he walked around his seat looking at his council's face and to him, they screamed proceed. So, he proceeded.

"

Take this message to his wife:

Tell her I command the strongest army in these lands. 

My power and influence here and beyond knows no bounds. 

Tell her I have been to countless battles and struck down more men than I can recount. 

Tell her I want her by my side for I seek a bride. I will satisfy her womb with a son, an heir to Kak’idhim for I hear Oramun possesses not a functional seed. 

Tell her I possess so much wealth, as vast as the fish in Oramun’s beautiful river.

Let her know that the fate of those little villages Oramun calls a nation rests upon her soonest acknowledgment for I seek her urgently. 

Tell her to come now.

I Agasto Iknunii, ruler over all land, say so.

"

 

At once, a young rider set off on the lengthy journey. Two more were sent bearing the same message two days apart. Three market days it would take them just to get to Oramun, even on a horseback.

Now Agasto Iknunii came from a long line of wealthy men, men with power. He took over from his father who for establishing Kak’idhim as a nation in its own regard was credited. He had a fondness for the water, a trait he passed onto his son, and a love for the freedom brought by wielding power. So for the one hundred seasons he ruled as chief, he amassed wealth and built up his town so that it became just as powerful as Lansia. When Agasto took the reins of his father’s creation, he sought to create an army that even Lansia could not match and he succeeded. However, even with this might he could not dare clear the fog.

He needed land so badly because Kak’idhim has grown so rapidly that it had become filthy. The paths could not carry the traffic through them made only worse by the toilets that fragranced the town when the winds changed. Toilets were dug near houses and wells near dung pits. The paths were so small it was too difficult to move across the town. Then came the unending bouts of illnesses. 

Though these illnesses were considered a punishment from the gods bestowed on a man for his wrongs, Agasto knew he needed more order in his nation. The conflicts grew in number day by day and the nation was on the brink of chaos. Kak’idhim had to colonize Oramun and its bountiful lands. It had to.

*******

 About one moon later a drowsy rider walks into the chief’s compound. Nobody is bothered to inch toward him or even tend to him. At the entrance of the chief’s hut is Ajei still weary as ever. He notices how beautiful she is and assumes correctly. He disembarks his horse and walks toward this woman and asks for the chief but she just stares back at him.

“Who are you, young man?” she asks, finally.

“Nino, a messenger of the chief Agasto Iknunii to the chief of Oramun and his wife Ajei”

She just nods and then proceeds to ask what message the chief of the south had for Oramun.

“I seek your husband first,” he retorts. 

Ajei looks at him for a moment and then points to the chief inside the hut. The young man ushers himself in and goes on to relay Agasto’s message to the chief.

He does not respond.

Nino then turns toward the door and speaks to space to capture the attention of Ajei but she too does not move. He goes silent for a while and then relays Agasto’s message to Ajei regardless.

When Ajei heard Agasto’s words, she was filled with contempt and with rage for she was still grieving. She stormed toward the young horseman pushing him to the wall of the chief’s chamber. She screamed at him and then broke down into sobbing.

“So this is what it means to get pregnant in this season of dread?”

She lifted up her face and cleared her throat. Tell this to Agasto:

"

Tell your disturbed chief that he is still but a young boy to me. I doubt he can satisfy me even on the days that I am sick or just tired. In fact, I doubt he can satisfy any woman from Oramun. My chief, my husband has the sturdiness of a horse and the strength of bulls – I seek no other.

This wealth he brags of; the opulence he boasts about is not his even. His father made that wealth and then handed it down to him. How then does he call himself a man when he brags about another’s success as his own? 

Now, if his father himself could not sire more children besides the one disgrace that is Agasto, even if his own life depended on it, is he then any different?

Tell him that I am not deterred let alone concerned by this worthless attempt at winning me. If anything, this is such a show of disgrace from the so-called mighty chief. He knows not even to seduce a woman! 

Shame!

Tell him to master his armies and come for we shall be prepared. If it is a war he seeks, a war he shall get! Shame on him! Shame on you for coming here with such news! Shame on Kak’idhim!

Tell him while you relayed your message I was sipping from my bash. 

I Ajei of Oramun have said these words.

"

Days later another messenger arrives in Oramun. He is killed and his head is handed to the third messenger. War had been declared. The season of dread has just birthed another gift – the gift of dread.