Nii: Chapter 2

The next day, a badly wounded Akai gave her report to the Asafoatse from her sick bed. 'We were ambushed by Kla (tiger). They took Dedoi. What worries me is that they knew exactly which route we would take'.

Naa listened grimly. Kla was a three woman cell of hired fighters, descendants of a group of Abotri ke Tahuumo lumei ( sages) who lent their martial prowess to the highest paying chief during the dark days of tribal warfare.

She motioned to a low ranking asafo Bii to approach her. 'Get me a hologram disk. I need to contact Larley and Nii".

In Larley's personal training room, Nii lunged at her, his afonanta smashing into Larley's and forcing her back. She swung her right foot at his chest but he spun around it and kicked her chest, sending her into the corner of the room. Before he could get closer, she whipped out a staff from her scabbard and pressed a lever at its tip.

The staff extended into a spear which she swung at him, keeping him at bay. A hologram disk in the centre of the room gave off a faint hum, before a holographic image of Naa was beamed into the room. 'Asafo Bii Nii and Larley, Dedoi has escaped custody with the assistance of Kla. '

'Akai who led the Asafo Bii during Dedoi's transportation was severely wounded and will recover in five weeks'. she continued. 'However we have discovered that one of Dedoi's followers may have tipped Kla off. You two will begin a top to bottom search for the person by checking all records of events that took place yesterday.'

Later that afternoon, after discreetly checking the records, Koi came up as a possible suspect and so the two Asafo Bii headed to his house. Koi noticed them several feet away and fled. The Asafo Bii gave chase when five of Dedoi's followers attacked them with knives and guns.

Larley disposed off three of them with her b)ha and akofena, blocking the thrusts of their knives with her blade and striking them with her b)ha (scabbard). Nii strafed away from the bullets fired at him even as they ripped his sleeves. He sent his afonanta spinning towards them. It slashed their guns before it struck the ground.

He darted towards them, his feet striking the shooter simultaneously and continued the chase up a flight of stairs of an uncompleted building. Koi looked around him and on realising that there was nowhere left to run, jumped off the roof. Before he could hit the ground, Nii leapt after him , slamming into his back and sent them crashing into the glass windows of a nearby clothes store.

'According to Koi', Nii later reported, 'Dedoi and Kla are still in the capital. Her remaining forces will cover her retreat at the last abandoned galamsey mine tunnel, just near the abandoned slum of Old Fadama. She will head to the Gulf of Guinea and lay low for a while. She may return later to take the title of Chief.

'How long will it take her to get there?'

'With her considerable resources, resources. two days at least.' replied Nii.

'Alright', she turned to Larley,' assemble your forces but keep ths quiet. The ban on drumming and noise-making beins tomorrow and I don't want this on the front page of every e-newspapers. Make sure you capture Dedoi alive. The Council wants her to answer for her crimes'.

'At 5:00 pm, Dedoi's brother and several armed groups were marching through the old tunnels when suddenly, Nii, Larley and the rest of the Asafo Bii rushed towards them. Nii blocked the swings of two assailants, slashing through their akodze and body armour, driving them back.

An arrow flew towards him but he deflected it with his afonanta. A woman clad in red in blue drew her bow to fire again but he was faster, slashing through the bow and hit the side of her head with the hilt of his akodze. He sped towards the rest of the group, parrying projectiles and slashing anyone who got on his way, his eyes trained on Dedoi's brother who began to make a hasty retreat with four other men.

He spun around and slashed thorugh a spear that was flung at him from behind. The four men drew out arrows from their quivers and shot them at him but he deflected the arrows towards their bowstrings, tearing them. They then lunged at him from all sides but he blocked their attacks and tackled two with low sweeps of his left foot.

He punched a third once, knocking him out and dodged the attacks of the last using Mim Dzee. He struck him with his b)ha and delivered a spinning kick to his torso. He bloked the swing of the man's ekumapraban and swung once, knocking the akodze out of his hands and felled him with five quick punches to the face.

Panicking, Dedoi's brother drew a revolver from his belt and fired five shots each missing its mark as Nii strafed from left to right. He darted towards the old man, using his afonanta to block two extra shots before slashing the revolver and kicked him against the wall before handcuffing him.

After Dedoi's force was detained, Nii walked towards Naa's personal training room to give her his report. Inside, Naa calmly watched as several Asafo Bii darted towards her on both sides. She swung her afowatsena (tri-bladed akofena) twice, slashing through their blades.

Two akofena blades were thrust at her but she caught them in between her triple blades and turned the hilt sharply, breaking the blades. She kicked two in the chest with her right leg and tacked two others with a low sweep of her left leg. Three Asafo Bii drew out their arrows and fired at her but she brushed them aside with a sweep of her hand and struck them with repeated swings of her spear.

Using Kaklante ke Nomo, she knocked akodze out of the hands of several Asafo Bii and struck them down with Akotoku (the art of open handed, fist combat and its supporting arsenals). She sheathed her akodze and turned to Nii. 'Have you found her?'

'Yes, Asafoatse Naa, Dedoi's brother informed us that she's in Old Fadama'

'Good. We leave tonight'

At 12:00 pm, several Asafo Bii led by Naa stealthily approached the mass of buildings and structures that was once known as Old Fadama, once a slum but in the year 3000, evacuated. It's inhabitants were relocated to New Fadama. Because of the disorganised nature of the settlement, it was viewed as an ideal place for illegal activities and this night, it was an ideal place for Dedoi's army to lay an ambush.

Despite his feelings, he didn't protest when Larley suggested that they break up into smaller groups and cover more ground. As he searched the southern route alone, 8 porcupine quills sailed noiselessly towards him so quickly that he barely had time to draw out his afonanta to deflect them.

A large drum fell in front of him and exploded, releasing several porcupine quills and forcing Nii to take cover behind an uncompleted building. Nii suddenly realised several trip wires had been placed around the building and out of the corner of his right eye, a woman with a Sankofa tatoo on her neck loaded 8 kotoko quills on a crossbow and took aim.

Without hesitation, he darted towards her using Adzenkeklulu to avoid tripping any of the wires and slashed the quills she shot at him. Before she could defend herself, he lunged at her and struck the right side of her head with the hilt of his akodze, knocking her out.

Behind her, he noticed a large tunnel entrance covered with warning signs. He remembered the stories he had heard as a child about flammabe gas leaking out from cracks in the ground and took several deep breaths before entering it. Deep inside the tunnel, he noticed a few light bulbs that flickered on and off.

Behind him, a woman wearing night vision goggles hoisted a large flamethrower, and took aim with the nozzle. The moment she placed her finger on the trigger, he strafed to the right, seconds before a large burst of flame erupted from the akodze. He used Mim Dzee to dodge 8 bursts of flame until he found himself in a corner.

She adjusted the settings to full blast but before she could fire at him, he swung his afonanta at a small crack at her feet widening it. A large burst of flammable gas shot out from the ground seconds before she pulled the trigger, creating a large explosion, the shockwave blowing both combatants away from each other.

Acting quickly, Nii rolled across the floor, dousing out the flames on his wardress. He watched in horror as the woman engulfed in flames struggled to take off the flamethrower. He dove at her , bringing her down and rolled her across the dusty floor, dousing the flames.

A badly burnt and badly shaken woman shivered as Nii walked deeper into the tunnel and stopped at a glass door. He kicked it open and stepped into a large corridor, its walls lined with wooden shelves filled with several akodze. Suddenly a bullet tore through his right sleeve.

Nii rolled to his left, taking cover behind a wooden shelf filled with guns but a bullet grazed his cheek. He rolled to his right, taking cover behind a shelf filled with akofena and steadied himself. He tossed a coin at the ceiling but before it hit the ground, five bullets struck it , tearing it to pieces.

By then, he had already guessed where the bullets were coming from and on all fours crept steathily towards his attacker. At the right corner of the room, the shooter reloaded her pistols when she noticed Nii approaching her from her left. She shot at him but using Kaklante ke Nomo, he deflected the bullets at the triggers, ripping them off.

He lunged at her, but she adjusted two levers on the pistols, releasing two blades from the barrels. Their blades clashed with Nii's afonanta blade and both assailants used Kaklante ke Nomo to attack, block and counterattack each other. He kicked her torso and slashed both pistols in half before using Akotoku to deliver a barrage of blows to her head.

She blocked two blows aimed at her belly and spun at him, her left boot brandishing three blades which slashed his left cheek even when he used Mim Dzee. She continued to attack him with kicks aimed at his neck until he slashed the boot blades. She drew out a serrated afowanta from her b)ha on her back and swung at him once. Even as he blocked her swings, she began to push him back.

The serrated mini blades on the afowanta began to move along the akodze making it resemble a chainsaw, as it began to saw through Nii's akodze. He leapt back away from her even as her blade slashed his chest and belly. He assumed an offensive stance and used Intia Shomo, the complex art of kicking and feet attacks, to kick the akodze out of her hands.

He used ferocious double hand slaps and kicks to force her into a corner where he dealt blow after blow stopping only when she slumped to the ground, unconscious. In a dark lit room, Dedoi placed her machine gun into a large duffel bag and zipped it up. Five monitor screens showed Nii heading for the room. Five others showed Naa and Larley leading the Asafo Bii in defeating 30 of her fighters before heading in her direction.

Dedoi pressed a switch on the left wall of the room and it slid open, revealing a private elevator. She stepped inside before it sealed shut. The doors opened in a well lit room and she stepped out into the platform of an old underground railway station. A few feet in front of her, her personal bullet train waited on the tracks.

Suddenly an akofena sailed through the air, slashing through the shoulder straps of the bag and slamming into the door of the train, nailing it shut. Dedoi spotted Nii, dashing towards her and calmly lifted the machine gun, its barrel aimed at him. A hail of bullets tore through the air around him as he strafed to his right, taking cover behind a stone pillar.

Chunks of stone fell away from it as she walked towards it, determined to kill him. He drew out an arrow from the quiver slung at his back and let off two arrows at the lights, destroying them. As the platform was plunged in darkness, he rolled away from the pillar as Dedoi completely destroyed it.

The train's internal lights shone brightly and Dedoi noticed that Nii was fast approaching her from the right. With one swing, he slashed the barrel of the gun in half. She swung the other half at him but he caught it with his right hand and struck her neck with his foot sending her crashing into the glass door of the train.

A terrified train driver watched as Nii entered the train and solemnly handcuffed the unconscious royal. She began to open the door but an afena's blade was suddenly thrust inches away from her neck. Larley stuck her arm through the window and dragged the driver out.

She drew out a hologram disc and tossed it over to Nii, who snatched it in midair. She glanced at the unconscious Dedoi and the broken glass door. 'Was that really necessary, Nii?'

Nii pointed to the two halves of the machine gun.

'I stand corrected, Nii" Larley remarked with surprise.

Nii placed the disk on the platform floor. A hologram of Chief Naarkie was beamed into the building. 'Dedoi and her forces have been subdued. She is no longer a threat to you'.