Chapter 4: Exchange for Bread

Everybody was in the village, from a day old baby to the oldest adult. They were all watching the men who were displaying their magical powers.

All their worries from earlier were nothing. It was still better to see the village men all alive and well despite the weird fire around them.

“Bread!” Ginika suddenly exclaimed with excitement when his eyes fell upon the taskmaster’s wagon. “I can’t wait to have a taste of that delicious bread of the taskmaster.”

“We should hurry,” Dodo said and took the hands of Gini and Zahra.

She tried to beat pass the bodies, which obstructed their road and vision, but the men and women, seemed too distracted to pay any attention to the children.

“There,” Ginika pointed.

“The taskmasters wagon?” Dodo asked with confusion.

“Not just the wagon, we would have a clearer view if we climb to the top,” Ginika said confidently.

“You must be out of your senses,” Dodo scowled, “I don’t want to add any more pain to my family.”

“Hey, come on. We would only watch the first dance and climb down before anyone can notice us.”

“The answer remains no,” Dodo said, her arms crossed over her chest, looking at him challengingly.

Ginika turned to Zahra, but his face reddened with anger when she smiled apologetically at him.

“Fine. Stay here and see nothing. I will climb that wagon, with or without your consent.” He said and hurried towards the wagon, which was a stone throw from the point they stood.

***

‘What were they thinking, telling me what to do?’ Ginika scoffed at the way Dodo had looked at him.

He held one of his dreadlock—the one that always rested on the bridge of his nose—and tugged it so hard that they almost pulled out from his scalp.

Dodo and Zahra could be annoying, but they were the only true friends he had in the village.

Not that he didn’t get along with other children, he just likes keeping his circle small. That way, he could ascertain who his true friends really are.

His blue eyes settled on the touch, which candled the village square. The wagon was a perfect place to hide from his parents.

He could imagine the looks on his mother’s face when she starts searching for him in the crowd. Those light blue eyes that hung on the black colored skin.

He hissed and shifted his weight on the wagon. He needed time and space.

People kept telling him that he was special, but they, at the same time, treated him like a problem that needed fixing.

His father was no better.

He would shout at him or chastise him in matters that other parents would overlook in their children.

As Someone whom everyone said was unique, Ginika thought he should be treated specially even though he couldn’t see what was so special about him.

The sound of the drums and the wooden gong that echoed through the night brought Ginika’s wandering thoughts back to his body.

Some bare chest men from Oru were displaying their magical powers. They were three seers, and all of them had a snake and a basket which they used to tell the future.

“Tell me your name, and I will tell you the name of your unborn children and what they would become,” The first man said, and the people laughed when he threw his snake into his basket and ran out of the stage.

“I had powers to do magic,” The second Seer held up his snake and rested it on his neck. “But now, my power has failed me,” He continued and laid down on the floor, pretending the snake he carried had beaten him to death.

Some men from the crowd came and carried him away.

Ginika laughed with the crowd.

He searched the numerous heads, hoping to find Dodo and Zahra, but it seemed as if they were drowned by the assembly, it was almost impossible to pick out there features.

The cold wind danced on the leaves of the palm trees, disturbing the tongue of fire that rested on the touches.

Something flared with the light, something dark and spotless, whose radiance could not go unnoticed. Ginika shifted his gaze away from the men in the circle, to the opposite end, some paces away from the yellow touches.

That was when he saw him.

Crimson colors held the cuff and the collar of his uniform, and his black skull cap matched the stripes that walked down the sides of his blue shirt and pants.

The lights flickered again as if pricked by the tong of the wind. This time, Ginika’s eyes broaden when he saw the face.

Before now, he could have sworn that the taskmaster was a man, but the makeups, coating the hard cheekbones gave her away.

She looked middle-aged, hard jawbones in a skin color that could be compared with that of a beach. Her broad shoulders hanged over her body, making the uniform she wore look like an effigy of red and black.

All the chiefs and elders in the Kingdom were either standing, squatting, or sitting on the floor. Even though she was the only one seated on the wooden stool, the discomfort of these elderly men did not register in her mind or expression.

“My life was saved once,” the last Seer was saying, “But what life is there if I die of hunger and starvation? I became a slave of the masters to feed my family and children, and my pretty snake too. All hail the emperor. Long live the emperor!”

“Long live the emperor,” The people cheered in delight as the last seer took his snake and walked out of the stage.

Ginika spat with hate, ‘your god is your belly, you gave your life to this ruthless people in exchange for bread.’ He thought to himself disdainfully.