A Tale of Five Bandits - Episode 1

 

A decade later and Sewa still suffered nightmares from that tragedy. Every time she closed her eyes, she heard them. The screams of her village people as they were massacred; could still smell the rotten stench of burnt flesh, the wails of children turned orphans crying for their parents, and the laughter of the invaders as they plundered their homes. The memory of her family’s rape and butchery burnt into her memory.

 As she grew older, she finally understood the reality of what had been done to them and that only fuelled her disgust and rage . It made her lust all the more for revenge; to watch the faces of those defilers when she shoved her sword down their throat.

A month after the massacre, she had wandered far and wide, aimless without no sense of direction. She fed on lizards and rats when her food finally ran out. She would have died of cold and starvation had she not been rescued by a group of bandits who were chanced to meet her as she was dying by the roadside. At the moment, why they saved her, Sewa could not tell but as days went by, they fed and cared for her without inquiring her on; who she was or how she ended up in that state.

When she was recovered a bit of her old self, she discovered they were all strays, just like her. Some of them lost their homes and families to invaders and others were sold by their families for money

All episodes of this story can be found here >> https://www.ebonystory.com/story/a-tale-of-five-bandits

. That was why they had pitied her and had taken her in, in the first place.

Feeling a sense of belonging, she shared her story with them and they offered her a place among their ranks. She partook in their exploits and robberies, using her size to her advantage. Whenever they heard of a wealthy cohort travelling a particular route, they would lay a trap using her as a decoy.

Sewa would lay helplessly on the road acting as a girl dressed in rags, desperately in need of food and water while the others hid. As she stalled the horses, the others would ambush the affluent traveller, running away with all the goods and riches they would carry.  They got by with what they robbed and often shared their spoils with beggars and destitute communities. 
During her time in the mob, Sewa honed her skills in swordsmanship and archery, through training and years of experience in battles against rival gangs and troops hired by wealthy travellers for protection. Her name eventually became a topic on everyone’s lips. They had nicknamed her Wolverine because she was small and deadly just like the animal itself. Her feats told at the village squares to children who gathered to listen. The story of a petite girl in man’s clothing whose blade struck as fast as a snake and whose arrows never missed its target. Rumours about her spread like wildfire; some believed she was a demigod, some said she was a man and that no woman, puny as they were, was capable of her feats while others simply insisted that she was nothing but an exaggerated myth.

Two year ago, Sewa learned that the entire kingdom was aware of the massacre that took place in her village and had decided to turn a blind eye. Even the King, who her mother so much believed in, didn’t even try to address the issue. To them, it was just an unfortunate incident that should be left in the past. Only the present and future mattered.

Fuelled with rage and bitterness, she decided to take matters into her own hands and left the gang on a hunt for the men that plundered her home. Now, all she lived for was seeing the look on the faces of those murderers as she ripped their insides out.

 She was disappointed to learn that the numbers of those mercenaries had dwindled over the years. Some were killed in latter battles and others succumbed to diseases and illness. Nevertheless, she took pleasure in ending the lives of those that remained, hunting first and foremost, the ones that raped her mother and sister.

She found the first one in a brothel with a smug look on his face searching for a woman to satisfy his lascivious needs. She acted as a prostitute, seducing him and leading him to a remote area, finally ending the night with a dagger in his throat after she reminded him of his transgression. The second was killed with an arrow piercing through his skull as he stood to hug his jocose child who was welcoming his father’s return after a hard day’s work. She took her time with the third and last, dismembering him alive as she told him the story of her survival since the raid.

They were her first victims and Sewa spent the last two years hunting the others that took part in the incursion. She had managed to squeeze out, from the first three, the names of the men that partook in the invasion.

Now she walked through a small village looking for the next victim.

Read " Resuscitated Hope " by the same author ( Obinna Tony )

. She attracted a few glances as she strolled through the crowd of beggars and diseased villagers coughing out blood and mucus. The village smelled of faeces, vomit and withering flesh. She clasped eyes with bony children clutched tightly in the arms of a dead woman who she assumed to be their mother.

 
“What had happened here?” she wondered.

She dropped to one knee and offered the children a loaf of bread. Their eyes lit up in gratification as they accepted the bread, devouring it within seconds. From the corner of her eyes, she spotted a scrawny bald man licking his lips and crawling towards the children. She turned her head and stared daggers at him. The man, feeling a shiver down his spine, retreated from her murderous glare to his corner.

She spotted a tavern and hurried to it. If there was any information to be found, it would definitely be in such a place. As she entered the dram-shop, the chattering boozers went mute. The place became as silent as a graveyard. She felt eyes inspect and assess her figure.