The ignorant ones among men say, why does the great invisible one veil Himself, does he fear?
But say unto them; neither does the great invisible one veil himself nor does He fear.
But His similitude is unto like the night when it draws over the deep forests, no one dares to approach it, but the strong of heart.
-From the Risalah of Mahmet, chapter 5, verse 39-41.
I
It has been two days since the meeting of the huntsmen with the village chief. The chief had instructed the huntsmen to treat the briefing as top secret, never to divulge what transpired to anyone, not even their family members. While this order is being obeyed by most of the village guards and huntsmen, it didn't spare the rumours of foreigners having discovered the village from circulating among the villagers.
"Is it true what they are saying?" Sarah said finally one morning after two days of intense worry.
"What are they saying." Replied Mikhail, hesitating from taking the next sip from his cup of tea. He tried his best to act like he wasn't trying to hide anything.
"Do you take me for a fool? I raised you, do not forget that.
"I have no idea what you are talking about." He said, putting his cup on the table, obviously too troubled to be able continue drinking. He couldn't handle trying to lie to his mother.
"Forty-five years of living in this village and not once has anyone talked of sightings of foreigners, even as a rumour."
"Maybe that's what it is then, only a rumour." He said instinctively.
"Your hunting schedule has changed since your meeting with the chief, you go early and come back at near midnight."
Mikhail sighed deeply, looked up with hands on his waist and said, "Yeah, what they say is true, the village has been discovered."
Sarah stood up abruptly, downright flushed and said slowly, "Do you know what this means?"
"Yes I know it's bad, but…." Sarah interrupted him.
"No, I don't think you understand the gravity of this development, our exposure changes everything. You have to tell me everything Mikhail, what did the chief tell you? Sarah said emphatically.
"He said they had weapons, the likes of which were used before the lightning of Zeus of struck." Sarah nearly swooned but quickly regained her composure, Mikhail grabbed her hands quickly, said, "are you alright mother?" as he allowed her to sit slowly.
"I have always had the fear that this day would come." She said distressfully. "He asked you to fight didn't he? She said fixing her gaze on her son.
"Yes mother, he did."
"You cannot, Mikhail, you absolutely can't."
"What do you want me to do mum? You know I can't run."
"Yes you can, you have to hide."
"You know what they will say about me, they will call me a coward."
"That's a better fate than your secret being found out. You know how the village treats strange things. You may be killed or banished, sent to the wolves or God knows what more dangerous evil lies beyond the village."
"I can't mum...." He continued while pacing worriedly, "all my life I have always wanted more than this, I wake up every day detesting the mediocrity in this village, I am not able to be who I am."
"You think you are ready for what is coming, Mikhail? I don't think you realise yet what our exposure means, do not tell me you truly believe you and the village guards can handle these foreigners."
"We have a plan. We can beat them."
"I cannot convince you can I?"
"At least try to understand, for the first time in my life I feel like I have a purpose."
"I can only pray that what will transpire in the next few days will be in your favour."
II
It was a sunny day, and none of the huntsmen could be sighted in the village, and there were few guards present. It was assumed that they had gathered in the palace square. The villagers had grown very suspicious for some days now, there have been fewer and fewer movements in the streets since the huntsmen started seeing Hermon. The huntsmen have been undergoing training by the guards of the village, trainings involving physical combat and use of knives, swords and arrows. The plan of Hermon and his men is to ambush the foreigners after a period of undetected surveillance. It has been approximately five days since the huntsmen started training with the village guards.
"I am not going to lie to you by telling you that you are well prepared for this mission, lives are obviously going to be lost, but it will be a worthy sacrifice, for your village and family." Hermon said, addressing the troops which numbered six hundred and composed of both village guards and huntsmen. All formed a line consisting of twenty-five rows, and each armed with the weapon he is most skilled with.
"As you know," Hermon continued, "there are rumours about what has been transpiring in this square for the past five days in the village, so it is only safe to assume that the enemy knows that they have been discovered, however, they do not know of our plan. So you pay special attention to what I am about to tell you, and make it top secret. I and the captains of the village guards have been monitoring each and every one of you during your training and a list has been made of those who would be fit for scouting and surveillance. Come forward for briefing if you hear your name." Hermon signalled to Senior captain Dara, leader of the village guards to hand him the list." Those present on the list were twelve and included Mikhail and Simi. The others were commanded to resume training while the phantoms, as they were called were called into a private chamber in the village for briefing.
The chamber consists of a large round wooden table, large enough to accommodate all seventeen members present in the room. Besides Hermon, the senior captain and the twelve phantoms there were three other captains present. Senior captain Dara did the briefing.
Dara began, "These men, the outsiders are still present in the forests. We know this because none of the scouts we have sent to fetch information about them has returned."
"What happened to them?" asked Lola, one the huntsmen.
"It is assumed that they are either dead or taken captive." Said Dara.
"When did you send them?" asked Mikhail.
"Four days ago." Replied Dara.
"How many did you send?" asked Egar, who was also present in the room.
"Three." Replied Hermon himself. "I know what's on your minds." Hermon said after taking a glance at some of the phantoms. "If our scouts don't stand a chance how could you, right?" Hermon added.
There was silence in the room but the worried looks on the faces of the phantoms told a lot of things.
"Well we have a plan." Hermon said, nodding at Dara to explain what the plan is to the phantoms."
Dara removed a map of the village from under the table and asked everyone to gather around, then began.
"The reports of sightings of these foreigners came from three villagers who reported to have seen them near the trees of Ungala in the Westland, right around here." He indicated on the map using a marker. "It takes approximately two days to get there. Our scouts were instructed to approach them through the trees of Harere which lies eastward of the trees of Ungula." He said while gesturing with the position on the map. "And that was our mistake, we shouldn't have sent them through that route because the trees of Harere itself lies east of the village. We underestimated them, they must have been anticipating any attacks or surveillance from that direction. Our plan is to go round Southeast of the trees of Ungula, we will survey them from the South, through the trees of Antana and eventually ambush them through that direction as well."
"Well, they obviously know we know where are, now that they have seen our scouts, and anticipating our move." Said Lola.
"Yes, which means this mission will be carried out at night, when there is no light. We know this land more than they do which gives us an advantage. The aim of the mission will be to ascertain their numbers and know what kind of weapons they use."
"Any questions?" said Hermon.
"What about the ambush?" asked Moses, one of the village guards."
"We shall refrain from talking about that, because we don't want to jeopardise the whole mission should anyone get caught and interrogated. We shall brief you on the next mission should this one succeeds." Said Dara. "The twelve of you will be divided into three groups, each occupying different spots in the forests, I and the other captains shall lead each group, each group will separate at the hill of Hamun near the trees of Antana. Our division will increase the chances our success. We begin the mission at noon tomorrow. We meet at the lake of Tam to avoid any suspicions. You can now join the others in training."
III
The training lasted till six in the evening then everyone dispersed, each heading to his or her home. Simi and Mikhail headed in the same direction as usual. Both were weary from the training, and excited for the mission tomorrow. Neither has done anything of the sort before, and the thought of getting killed or caught made them very anxious. Mikhail has become very skilled with the dagger while Simi with the bow.
"Are you going to tell your mother?" Simi said as they journeyed on the road.
"I have to. I mean I'll be gone for some days; she'll worry more if I didn't tell her."
"Yeah for sure." Said Simi who then took a long worried pause.
"Is something on your mind." Mikhail asked after noticing her downbeat demeanour.
"Yeah it's just…. I mean, do you think that we could pull this off?"
"You mean the mission?"
"Yeah it's our first time you know, doing something like this, we aren't even properly trained for this."
"Hmm." Mikhail breathed. "Remember the story of Simon the kind?"
"Yeah the first village chief, I do."
"He led the very first people that settled here from the other side. If anything he didn't plan it, he didn't know that the lightning of Zeus Was going to strike and neither did the people who followed him. They just knew what they had to do. I think the same thing is going to happen to us. We don't know what tomorrow brings but tomorrow comes soon enough.
"You know sometimes I think you are too mature for your age." Simi said smiling.
Mikhail grinned. "Let's try to be on the same team tomorrow."
"Ok." Said Simi.
"This is me." Mikhail said indicating that they have reached his house.
"Yep, I'll see you tomorrow."
Mikhail approached the door only to find out that the door was unlocked. He felt puzzled. "Why would mother leave the door unlocked by this time of the night." He thought. He entered the house and found it unusual, the floor was littered with all sort of things. "This is so unlike mum." He thought and started cleaning up. "I know what's happened. She's worried sick about me, she must know the mission is close…. What do I tell her?" He asked himself. When he had finished cleaning up he went straight for her room. The door to her room was slightly ajar, slowly he leaned and peeped. He saw her, kneeling and arms raised. She was whispering something but he could tell it was prayers. A sudden feeling of grief and guilt overwhelmed him. "I am the cause of her pain, if only she would understand, I have to do this." "I see that you are back." She said in a low tone as he entered the room. The room was lit by a dim oil lamp which reduced the vision of almost everything in the room into a silhouette not excluding the two figures in the room.
"I am." He said as calmly as he could, trying to sound undisturbed.
"I know I cannot stop you from dong this…. You will not listen no matter what I say."
"I know this this dangerous…." "Stop." She cut him off.
"Listen carefully to what I'm about to tell you…. "She said as she stood up and approached him. "I want you know that the events that will transpire these past few days will change thing radically. I'm not telling you to run from it…. She took a small pause, then continued. "Whatever happens, I want you to know that no one in the world can escape pain and suffering, and most times people with the greatest responsibilities endure the most pain."
"You make it sound like something terrible will happen." Mikhail said with a worried expression.
Sarah approached him abruptly and took his arms in hers. "You have to promise me something Mikhail."
"Yes of course mother, anything."
"You must keep going no matter what, even if ill fate befalls those whom you love you must never blame yourself."
Mikhail tightened his grasp of his mother and said "Don't worry mother, everything will be alright."
"When is it?" She asked earnestly, looking into his eyes.
"Tomorrow." Said Mikhail.