DANUSHIKI

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Several fair soldiers soon circled Ziali with ‘sharp shiny’ objects, as they tried to maintain their balance in the muddy surface. The next moment he released the dead fair soldier from his grip and thrust his spear forward. The point of Ziali’s spear sank into the chest of the fair soldier, who had accidentally fired and killed his comrade. The spear’s head was yet to come out through the other side, as the fair soldier’s rifle dropped to the ground while he shouted in agony. While Ziali pushed his spear through the screaming fair soldier, he heard another rifle exploding again. This time it was he who felt extreme pain, alongside the flow of something warm from his right side. He slowly released his grip from the spear as blood trickled from the edge of his mouth. The next moment, he saw images of Nahre when he ‘cornered’ her in the bushes, before she eventually became his wife.   

The men seemed to be ‘satisfied’ as they watched the savage atop their comrade fall lifelessly to the ground. While some of them cursed Ziali, he stared at the ‘sharp shiny’ object hanging on the waist of the last man he’d just killed. The next moment, faint sounds of explosions could be heard in the distance. With one last effort, Ziali pulled out the dead soldier’s sword from its sheath and slashed through the spine of a fair soldier. Ziali barely felt the last gunshot on his head, or the fearful blood-curdling scream of his last casualty, as he dropped to his knees. He stared at the blood stained sword which came out through his body, before falling to the ground for the last time. 

Several other fair soldiers continued past the corpses of Ziali and their fallen comrades. They treaded carefully in order not to stain their boots with blood. After preparing his rifle for another shot, the soldier who’d shot Ziali on the head, stood erect and spat on in Ziali’s corpse. 

“Bloody savage…onward…”, he muttered, before proceeding with his other comrades to continue the m******e.

Inside the ship that had carried General Whyte, Percy McGregor sat in the General’s study with his legs crossed. He had on a small table four small pieces of paper which had small amounts of brown soil on each of them. They were several other objects made from steel, glass and wood. Amongst them was a large instrument made from ten magnifying glasses without their handles.

He soon placed a pinch of soil under the large instrument and waited for a while. Thirty minutes later, he removed it and smiled with satisfaction as he relaxed in the General’s chair. All the cries, screams and explosions in the deeper part of the island didn’t bother him as he thought of General Whyte as a genius. At thirty-three years of age, he was yet to see such amazing results in any location in the Empire. He’d scooped the four soil samples from four separate locations that morning, while in his nightwear, as the soldiers assembled on the shore. The results from his concluded tests simply left him in awe, while a satisfactory smile slowly appeared on his face.   

“All hail the Queen”. He whispered, followed by a whistle as he flipped through a small book about the physical and chemical properties of diamonds.

He rubbed his eyes before picking up two long sheets of writing paper to write something which could be equated for a report. Although the fertility of the land was undisputed, he wasn’t bothered about that. What thrilled him was the ‘overwhelming’ deposit of diamonds the island possessed. This was the only reason he’d jumped at the idea of leaving Her Majesty’s busy agriculture department to join General Whyte’s voyage. He knew that if he filled his jacket pockets with this stones, he’d never have any reason to work at the agriculture department again. Instead, he’d be thinking of buying a comfortable mansion with a stable, orchard and two or three carriages – like the type Her Majesty used.

He sighed at the thought being ‘transformed’ from a lowly earth specialist to an Earl, a knight or even a Lord.                                                                                                                        

A Shaingwan warrior ran wildly toward General Whyte with a Shaingwan sword in his right hand. He was clothed in red, which he wore over something that resembled a skirt. General Whyte felt amused for a brief moment as he saw the way he wrapped it round his torso, and tightened it around his neck. He only saw him and the rest of his kind as primitive savages. With one calculated movement of his blade, the hand of the warrior, with the sword in its grip, was sent flying through the air. This was followed by a fountain of blood which sprayed ceaselessly from the warrior’s severed elbow. The poor warrior grunted and fell to his knees, as he watched his fellow warriors falling, bleeding and dying around him. Less than five seconds later, a gun exploded in the direction of his chest killing him instantly.

In the center of Shaingwa, Darjer and his family stood with many other inhabitants. All they could hear in the distance were agonizing screams, strange male voices and explosions from guns and cannons. Nobody had seen Sharkoti. This was highly unusual, as they expected him to address and encourage the warriors. Darjer knew the gods and goddesses had predicted the coming of this day, but whether the Shaingwan warriors would be victorious, he couldn’t tell. Though they were frightened, the elderly men refused to show it, as they all knew their warriors were bound to be defeated by the fair soldiers. The reason was very simple: they were all required to assemble at the sacred grove for spiritual fortification and protection before going to battle. The only exception to this requirement was the recruits who’d just been ‘released’ from Cobra Land. Darjer wasn’t surprised when he saw smoke arise from various points in the distance. He knew several houses were going to be burnt in the process, but he silently prayed and hoped lives would be spared.

General Whyte nudged his stallion with his knees pulling out the second sword from a sheath, which had been attached to his saddle. Thereafter, he rushed in frenzy towards a group of Shaingwan warriors. General Whyte could easily pass for a bloodthirsty mercenary than a General in Her Majesty’s army. Minutes later, sweat and blood (of several Shaingwan warriors) masked his face, as he and his men pushed on relentlessly into the island. They slaughtered whatever looked like human resistance, or resembled a warrior. He and the soldiers passed through several farms, and ignored several frightened women and girls who shuddered at their presence. General Whyte reasoned that the women and girls would come in handy when the ‘hard’ part of their work was done.

About five hundred meters from where Darjer and most Shaingwan ‘civilians’ stood, Sharkoti knelt near the opening of his personal chamber. He was undaunted by all the screaming and explosions in the distance, while perspiration flowed down his spine. What he saw on the metallic shield before him didn’t please him one bit as sweat drops appeared on his head and face. His heart beat rapidly as he saw the image of a twenty-four year old Shaingwan warrior. Few seconds later, the warrior transformed into gigantic forms of a king cobra, a golden eagle and six blue whales. The shield which hung on a wooden surface proceeded to show him blood – soaked battlefields and dead bodies of Shaingwans in several places.

Wiping perspiration off his face, the ‘revelation’ concluded with a hoarse voice assuring him of Shaingwa’s victory in the end. He closed the small chamber and thought about the young man he’d just seen. There was something familiar about him he couldn’t explain He believed that he must’ve seen that face somewhere before hunting, farming or…

The next second, Sharkoti was lifted up by a powerful force, and suffered a blackout the next moment. The last thing he thought about before the explosion was his wife hurrying to the center of Shaingwa.

General Whyte dropped his two swords on the ground, and alighted from the stallion while looking suspiciously ahead of him. He soon fell to his knees and placed his ear to the ground. This was followed by an order he shouted, which halted the ‘activities’ of the fair soldiers. The remaining soldiers manning the cannons soon spread themselves and began to load the cannons with cannonballs. General Whyte felt the ground again with his right ear, as his stallion grunted. This time there could be no mistake. He was was c**k sure they were coming in their direction.

“Fire”, he shouted as he lay flat on the ground. The Shaingwan warriors ran towards the General and the soldiers, with all sorts of weapons. This ranged from poisoned darts and arrows to cutlasses, swords, battle-axes, daggers, spears, artificial claws, wooden cudgels and long chains fitted with iron balls. Two meters behind General Whyte and the soldiers lying on the ground were three hundred fair soldiers on one knee taking aim with their rifles. General Whyte closed his eyes as several cannons boomed around him. He felt like shouting as the ground shook like an earthquake, while his stallion neighed in fright.

His heart was overflowing with joy as he heard the agonizing and blood-curdling screams ahead of him. After three rounds he ordered the cannons to halt, while the soldiers taking aim with their rifles took over. The resultant effect was bloody as several Shaingwan warriors fell to their deaths. Some warriors were on the ground bleeding profusely, while some were still trying to crawl with all their might towards General Whyte and his army.

“Hold your fire”, General Whyte shouted as he looked through the smoke. He waited for his soldiers to finish off the wounded warriors who’d been crawling towards them, while he picked up his two swords. He pointed in the direction where the cannons and rifles had wreaked sufficient havoc, before mounting his stallion once more.

“For Her Majesty’s Empire”, he shouted, and nudged his stallion. The next moment, General Whyte and over two thousand fair soldiers charged forward. They seemed to be infuriated by the resistance to their getting the much sought diamonds. In the distance, they were three hundred Shaingwan warriors who were still alive, but were either missing a limb, an eye, or were bleeding profusely. This made the job of the soldiers easier as they simply stabbed them to death with their swords and bayonets. Some warriors had their throats slit with daggers. Some of the fair soldiers even went through the ‘trouble’ of shooting the heads of the injured warriors with their rifles at close range.

The entire atmosphere reeked of blood and gunpowder, while the sun’s rays penetrated through every nook and cranny of the island. Satisfied with his ‘preliminary’ victory, General Whyte sheathed his two swords and stopped the stallion at a T-junction separating the farmlands from the residential areas. He knew the diamonds were there in the ground, and any other place they were kept by the savages. Before digging for diamonds, he knew a lot of work had to be done first. For instance, the inhabitants had to be ‘taken care of’ by instilling fear into them and telling them what was expected of them. 

General Whyte knew there were bound to be casualties on the part of his soldiers, but he cared less about it. As far as he was concerned, he believed the most important thing was getting the diamonds. While wiping blood off his face, he called Colonel Gabriel Anderson to give him some orders, as the soldiers began to go on a house-to-house ‘inspection’. The cannons had done irreparable damage to several houses, while bodies of dead Shaingwan warriors could be seen on several footpaths.

“All the women, girls, children and old inhabitants are to be left unharmed until I say so”. General instructed Colonel Anderson.

He began to fan himself with his hat which had streaks of blood and dirt all over it. The next moment, he jumped off his stallion and began to stretch his body.