March 5, 2015
March 6, 2015
Nyansakrom: Chapter 7
Nyansakrom: Chapter 7
by safohen
There was a a series of loud crashes as the royal storage facilities were raided in addition to the royal archives by Tumi leaving smoke in their wake. An osuani with braided hair gave orders to set alight the buildings once they were done. Watching closely,Abrewanana Adwoa noted that they were done since all the necessary items had been gathered.she rubbed the bruise that an enraged elder had given her on the arm before she defeated the elders completely.’they would have gotten in the way,she mused.’we’re done here,she said loudly,let’s proceed to the rendezvous with the others.
Already she began to notice heavy reinforcements racing towards the village square.almost silently, they swiftly used a secret route behind the archives,escaping detection from the police and the asafo. ‘
'Where exactly are we going to stay now, Ama?,'asked Adwoa. 'Several kilometres from here,beyond the three hills,replied ama,'I believe Agyeiwaa and her team have checked twice to make sure that we do not face any interferences.' 'how soon can we initiate the next strike?", asked Ato, the weapons maker.'As soon as we unpack and make the neccessary arrangements at the grove',replied Ama.
Looking back at the village,a faint smile spread across Ama's lips.'Now we are only two steps away from our goal',she thought.
As she walked through the ruins of her village, Dede was soon reminded of similar scenes she had witnessed during the wars between the various groups before the village was formed. She was pulled back to the present by the appearance of two asafo, daavi and Duku, who both reported that it seemed three mbrewanananom influenced the attack on the village,according to accounts from the elders and other mbrewanananom.' Spread the word that all asafo are to work with the police and the royal guard in helping the civilians to restore the village'she ordered.
'Assist with anything,repairs ,first aid, whatever,you can do' ,she orderd.
Later that evening, Aba and her friends watched grimly as dying fires were put out by the villagers and the sound of hammering echoed in the distance.'they've been at this all day and yet, wondered Aba ,clenching her fist, I can't shake off the despair and sorrow people feel about what has happened here.''it surrounds the village and is similar to the smoke that engulfs it."she noted before shaking her head and continuing to work with the others on a hut. Occassionally, there were sounds of grief and pain,mixed in with the sounds of repairs. Those who were silent stared into the night sky ,their expressions blank. Conversations were made in low tones and some walked slowly,nearly swaying from side to side.The feeling of defeat and helplessness seemed to be felt throughout the village,even into the palace.
Princess Oforiwaa watched the rest of the village from a window that evening. Asafoakyere dede, Safohen edzikyir Karikari and two members of the mbrewanananom council, the heads of the akwansrafo,the police among others stood behind her.After a deep sigh that echoed grief and pain, she turned round ,declining to sit and asked,'sons and daughters of the land,what are your reports on the situation so far?'
Dede spoke first, ‘This morning, I received a report that one of our nkwasrafo(spies) had overheard plans to attack the village from obour prison.’ Two asafo units were sent to the prison but were apparently ambushed before they could even enter the prison!’
The nkatahofour head,Ocloo, spoke,”My subordinate, pokuaa, also informed the asafo that this was the work of Tumi, and that Asamoah and her colleague, Agyeiwaa were in league with them. It should be assumed that at least two other asafo units under his command ,helped the convicts to quickly vacate the premises as well as attack the asafo before they could get there'.
‘What is the state of the prison now?” asked Oforiwaa. ‘completely damaged’ replied Abeiku, head of the village police.’the holding cells,the armoury and the posts have completely collapsed’. ‘The entrance is partly blocked by boulders. Most of the prison sentries,including the warden are currently trapped underneath piles of rabble. ‘we are still working on getting all the personnel out of there”
‘Tumi then set fire to several grass paths, farms as well as engaged in battles with some asafo units, continued Dede. ‘ Fifteen farms are estimated to have been set on fire’. ‘they attacked in a pattern that separated asafo units from each other.’they then attacked the guards at the village entrance and set fire to 20 huts, as well as the asafo quarters, the grand kitchen, the music hut among others.
‘How were they able to move through the village so quickly?’ thought Oforiwaa. Most of the village police were within the gates at that time, couldn’t they have offered some resistance?’ she asked.
‘They were also fighting traitors among themselves, ‘princess, replied Abeiku grimly. ‘according to the reports from my officers, the mbrewanananom , elders and other personalities were attacked simultaneously by Tumi, each one led by an abrewanana!
Daavi, head of the royal guard spoke, ‘In light of these attacks, reinforcements were doubled at the palace. It was noted that no flaming arrows were sent towards it. There were concerns that it was an attempt to usurp the throne. ‘however,…' he paused ,head slightly bowed.
‘ Two royal guards entered the royal chambers and on the pretense of revealing vital information, attacked me', cut in Oforiwaa calmly. ‘They noticed something was wrong moments later but by then I had already used the first step of the war dance to defeat them, she reflected.
‘From what we’ve gathered , those two were regular guards and until that time, they had shown no suspicious or unusual behavior, continued Daavi. Moments later the royal archives were broken into and 20 out of 30 historical tablets were stolen. The archive was then set on fire but on the arrival of other okofour(warriors),it was quickly put out leaving it partly burnt.
‘ Our attempts to follow proved futile since by the time most of the fires were put out, they were long gone by the afternoon. According to reports, the damage to the village will take weeks to repair, even with the combined might of the royal guard, the asafo , the local police and other bodies.’
‘I see, Oforiwaa said, ‘ call off any units that attempt to pursue the fate keepers.’our primary focus is on finding out exactly what happened and rebuilding the village…for now’.’the royal guard will assist in reconstruction works , along with the other security forces. Those unable to get shelter for themselves will be sheltered in the palace. ‘all royal resources, be it money, furniture, food will be supplied to the people at selected posts'.
‘Captain Abeiku, she ordered, ensure that any possible riots, disorderly conduct and robberies are dealt with quickly.’ You are authorized to borrow as many resources as you can to do this.
‘Nkwasrafo captain ocloo, are there any signs that the surrounding villages are bracing themselves to launch an attack on us?’ Oforiwaa asked.
‘No, there aren’t any signs of such activities from those villages. ‘however our military might may have been diminished by this event and our borders are less secure than they used to be’ replied Ocloo.
‘Let us know, if there is the slightest hint that they will break the Great Settlement pact’,said Oforiwaa. ‘the last thing we need now is an attack from another village’.
After all but Daavi had dispersed, Oforiwaa asked,’what is the situation on my parents’ safety?” ‘according to the nkatahofour, they were supposed to have returned this morning from talks with Annankrom but on hearing of the attacks, the royal guards with them insisted that they remain in the shelter in one of the rainforests they were traveling through.’ replied Daavi. ‘They are all safe and sound.’
Oforiwaa sighed in relief.’ This disaster happened when they left for trade talks and left the village in my care’, she later reflected.’ Its now my duty to resolve this issue and make this village safe again’ she decided as she left for her private chambers to rest, but not to sleep.
At midnight, the fate keepers arrived at a shelter in the midst of a forest.’Agyeiwaa was right ,after all, noted Abrewanana Adisa.’ The abandoned royal shelter seems big enough to serve as a temporary base for us.
‘Heii, Agyeiwaa!, barked Oti, why is it situated so far away?’ because of that, we’ve had to walk from afternoon to midnight. ‘Couldn’t you pick one that was nearer to the village and save us the trouble of trekking here?”
‘Oti, replied Agyeiwaa , this was the only abandoned royal shelter that has not fallen into decay or being turned into a den of thieves. It took me two years to find it without allowing pokuaa to discover what I was doing or why.’
‘You should be more careful, Oti warned Araba grimly’. I will not tolerate any more silly mistakes that will make things more difficult for us’.
I..I’m sorry, Asafo vice captain Araba, it won’t happen again’, said Oti. ‘ I have to remind myself to be on her good side, he warned himself, she is extremely ruthless,. and if I’m not careful, she might render me comatose just like her former captain'.
‘ Pay attention to your surroundings’, Nkwasrafo, araba warned. ‘My warning to Oti extends to you too ’she warned.
Seeking to break the tension in the air by Araba’s behavior, Ato asked Ama,’how did you know about these royal shelter things and what are they for?’
‘Whenever the royals had to take a long journey, they had these structures built beforehand to rest before and after their arrival in the next village replied Ama. ‘Adwoa,Adisa and I learnt about them during our travels with the previous royal family as their temporary counselors.
‘Oti, Araba and Agyeiwaa will help you to move the weapons and other supplies into the chambers’ , said Adwoa quietly.
As they began to sort themselves out, Adisa said to Ama, ‘It will take us a day or two to be fully rested and prepared for the next attack’. ‘The supplies are in good shape and the quarters are tidy and neat, just as I planned.
‘Good’, Ama noted, ‘it would have been disappointing to arrive here to find it dirty and run down” I’m a bit impatient to find our new recruits and complete our fighting force.
‘At dawn, Pokuaa and her team mates walked on a forest path, flanked by her 3 remaining teammates in silence. They reached a building surrounded by three large trees and situated next to a river.
The same river the founders of the village spies had first met each other. In the early years of the village, they had spotted several warriors plotting against the village from that same spot . They had then reported this to the asafo who soon apprehended them.
The organization had evolved from five women who had spotted threats against the village to become a large force, acting as the eyes of the asafo and preempting threats before they occurred.
‘And now, one of our own attacks the village along with that dangerous group” sighed Agyeiwaa. ‘I have a lot of explaining to do.”
Even the guards at the gate seemed to be in a pensive mood. ‘They probably had their homes burnt down , just like me’, she mused after exchanging greetings with them. They walked down a narrow path that was mostly dark except for the torches that were placed at each end of the passageway. These became more numerous as they finally reached a large bamboo gate engraved with the adinkra symbol for intelligence.
‘Wait here’, she ordered the others before tapping on the gate three times. There was a creaking noise as the gate swung wide open. She walked through it and pushed aside a mat with a similar symbol engraved on it. The high council of the village spies sat on several raised platforms above her, their straw hats shading their faces. As Pokuaa walked towards them, she noticed the gate creaking open again. Her captain walked past the mat and joined her as they finally stood before them.
‘So despite your strict supervision, both of you were unable to detect Agyeiwaa’s alliance with the Tumi for more than two months” one of them noted.
‘You two also failed to note that two units of our spies were colluding with her and preventing Pokuaa and her team ,of which she was a member , from getting to the fate keepers in time’ noted the head of the nkatafo).
‘I know this may sound difficult to believe,’ said captain Asabea quietly, but we were not being negligent. ‘There was no room left for error in all our operations against Tumi, I made sure of that. The two ‘bushfire’ units were strictly supervised and assessed every week , given their role of passing on information from one end of the village to the other.
The head turned to Pokuaa,’ Your colleague has created a lot of problems for us. ‘For someone so close to her, how could you not see this coming?”
After a long silence, Pokuaa replied, ‘She was my colleague but in the past five months, her behavior and all her actions showed no clear sign of betrayal to our cause ‘. If I had to hazard a guess, I would say that she received sufficient mental and physical training to maintain her deception completely for that period of time.’
The head spy consulted with the members and their designated abrewanana for an hour.
There was a faint rustle of clothing as the council members returned from the consulting room . As the captains rose from the mat, the head spy spoke, ‘Asabea, see to it that our borders are watched closely. ‘We do not need any foreign interference now’.
‘Stand by for further instructions, captains, the head said. ‘We have decided not to dismiss you both considering the influence of those three women on our spies.’ ‘That will be all.
As the sun rose over the hills of the village that morning, the mbrewanana council members had Aba brought before them. ’ Your request, Aba is most unusual, said one of them.’15 of our number are seriously injured. Three of our best members have betrayed us, taking 15 of the asuafo with them. The other asuafo have all left, as far as I know”.
'On top of that , we currently have no Abrewanana present to guide …’. She was cut short by the rustle of the mat covering the entrance being pushed aside . ‘My apologies for the disturbance, sisters, said a figure in a sing song voice that walked towards them’. ‘I, Abrewanana Serwaa of the 10,000 proverbs ‘,she said ,’humbly requests for your permission to act as this dedicated young woman’s Abrewanana.
Already she began to notice heavy reinforcements racing towards the village square.almost silently, they swiftly used a secret route behind the archives,escaping detection from the police and the asafo. ‘
'Where exactly are we going to stay now, Ama?,'asked Adwoa. 'Several kilometres from here,beyond the three hills,replied ama,'I believe Agyeiwaa and her team have checked twice to make sure that we do not face any interferences.' 'how soon can we initiate the next strike?", asked Ato, the weapons maker.'As soon as we unpack and make the neccessary arrangements at the grove',replied Ama.
Looking back at the village,a faint smile spread across Ama's lips.'Now we are only two steps away from our goal',she thought.
As she walked through the ruins of her village, Dede was soon reminded of similar scenes she had witnessed during the wars between the various groups before the village was formed. She was pulled back to the present by the appearance of two asafo, daavi and Duku, who both reported that it seemed three mbrewanananom influenced the attack on the village,according to accounts from the elders and other mbrewanananom.' Spread the word that all asafo are to work with the police and the royal guard in helping the civilians to restore the village'she ordered.
'Assist with anything,repairs ,first aid, whatever,you can do' ,she orderd.
Later that evening, Aba and her friends watched grimly as dying fires were put out by the villagers and the sound of hammering echoed in the distance.'they've been at this all day and yet, wondered Aba ,clenching her fist, I can't shake off the despair and sorrow people feel about what has happened here.''it surrounds the village and is similar to the smoke that engulfs it."she noted before shaking her head and continuing to work with the others on a hut. Occassionally, there were sounds of grief and pain,mixed in with the sounds of repairs. Those who were silent stared into the night sky ,their expressions blank. Conversations were made in low tones and some walked slowly,nearly swaying from side to side.The feeling of defeat and helplessness seemed to be felt throughout the village,even into the palace.
Princess Oforiwaa watched the rest of the village from a window that evening. Asafoakyere dede, Safohen edzikyir Karikari and two members of the mbrewanananom council, the heads of the akwansrafo,the police among others stood behind her.After a deep sigh that echoed grief and pain, she turned round ,declining to sit and asked,'sons and daughters of the land,what are your reports on the situation so far?'
Dede spoke first, ‘This morning, I received a report that one of our nkwasrafo(spies) had overheard plans to attack the village from obour prison.’ Two asafo units were sent to the prison but were apparently ambushed before they could even enter the prison!’
The nkatahofour head,Ocloo, spoke,”My subordinate, pokuaa, also informed the asafo that this was the work of Tumi, and that Asamoah and her colleague, Agyeiwaa were in league with them. It should be assumed that at least two other asafo units under his command ,helped the convicts to quickly vacate the premises as well as attack the asafo before they could get there'.
‘What is the state of the prison now?” asked Oforiwaa. ‘completely damaged’ replied Abeiku, head of the village police.’the holding cells,the armoury and the posts have completely collapsed’. ‘The entrance is partly blocked by boulders. Most of the prison sentries,including the warden are currently trapped underneath piles of rabble. ‘we are still working on getting all the personnel out of there”
‘Tumi then set fire to several grass paths, farms as well as engaged in battles with some asafo units, continued Dede. ‘ Fifteen farms are estimated to have been set on fire’. ‘they attacked in a pattern that separated asafo units from each other.’they then attacked the guards at the village entrance and set fire to 20 huts, as well as the asafo quarters, the grand kitchen, the music hut among others.
‘How were they able to move through the village so quickly?’ thought Oforiwaa. Most of the village police were within the gates at that time, couldn’t they have offered some resistance?’ she asked.
‘They were also fighting traitors among themselves, ‘princess, replied Abeiku grimly. ‘according to the reports from my officers, the mbrewanananom , elders and other personalities were attacked simultaneously by Tumi, each one led by an abrewanana!
Daavi, head of the royal guard spoke, ‘In light of these attacks, reinforcements were doubled at the palace. It was noted that no flaming arrows were sent towards it. There were concerns that it was an attempt to usurp the throne. ‘however,…' he paused ,head slightly bowed.
‘ Two royal guards entered the royal chambers and on the pretense of revealing vital information, attacked me', cut in Oforiwaa calmly. ‘They noticed something was wrong moments later but by then I had already used the first step of the war dance to defeat them, she reflected.
‘From what we’ve gathered , those two were regular guards and until that time, they had shown no suspicious or unusual behavior, continued Daavi. Moments later the royal archives were broken into and 20 out of 30 historical tablets were stolen. The archive was then set on fire but on the arrival of other okofour(warriors),it was quickly put out leaving it partly burnt.
‘ Our attempts to follow proved futile since by the time most of the fires were put out, they were long gone by the afternoon. According to reports, the damage to the village will take weeks to repair, even with the combined might of the royal guard, the asafo , the local police and other bodies.’
‘I see, Oforiwaa said, ‘ call off any units that attempt to pursue the fate keepers.’our primary focus is on finding out exactly what happened and rebuilding the village…for now’.’the royal guard will assist in reconstruction works , along with the other security forces. Those unable to get shelter for themselves will be sheltered in the palace. ‘all royal resources, be it money, furniture, food will be supplied to the people at selected posts'.
‘Captain Abeiku, she ordered, ensure that any possible riots, disorderly conduct and robberies are dealt with quickly.’ You are authorized to borrow as many resources as you can to do this.
‘Nkwasrafo captain ocloo, are there any signs that the surrounding villages are bracing themselves to launch an attack on us?’ Oforiwaa asked.
‘No, there aren’t any signs of such activities from those villages. ‘however our military might may have been diminished by this event and our borders are less secure than they used to be’ replied Ocloo.
‘Let us know, if there is the slightest hint that they will break the Great Settlement pact’,said Oforiwaa. ‘the last thing we need now is an attack from another village’.
After all but Daavi had dispersed, Oforiwaa asked,’what is the situation on my parents’ safety?” ‘according to the nkatahofour, they were supposed to have returned this morning from talks with Annankrom but on hearing of the attacks, the royal guards with them insisted that they remain in the shelter in one of the rainforests they were traveling through.’ replied Daavi. ‘They are all safe and sound.’
Oforiwaa sighed in relief.’ This disaster happened when they left for trade talks and left the village in my care’, she later reflected.’ Its now my duty to resolve this issue and make this village safe again’ she decided as she left for her private chambers to rest, but not to sleep.
At midnight, the fate keepers arrived at a shelter in the midst of a forest.’Agyeiwaa was right ,after all, noted Abrewanana Adisa.’ The abandoned royal shelter seems big enough to serve as a temporary base for us.
‘Heii, Agyeiwaa!, barked Oti, why is it situated so far away?’ because of that, we’ve had to walk from afternoon to midnight. ‘Couldn’t you pick one that was nearer to the village and save us the trouble of trekking here?”
‘Oti, replied Agyeiwaa , this was the only abandoned royal shelter that has not fallen into decay or being turned into a den of thieves. It took me two years to find it without allowing pokuaa to discover what I was doing or why.’
‘You should be more careful, Oti warned Araba grimly’. I will not tolerate any more silly mistakes that will make things more difficult for us’.
I..I’m sorry, Asafo vice captain Araba, it won’t happen again’, said Oti. ‘ I have to remind myself to be on her good side, he warned himself, she is extremely ruthless,. and if I’m not careful, she might render me comatose just like her former captain'.
‘ Pay attention to your surroundings’, Nkwasrafo, araba warned. ‘My warning to Oti extends to you too ’she warned.
Seeking to break the tension in the air by Araba’s behavior, Ato asked Ama,’how did you know about these royal shelter things and what are they for?’
‘Whenever the royals had to take a long journey, they had these structures built beforehand to rest before and after their arrival in the next village replied Ama. ‘Adwoa,Adisa and I learnt about them during our travels with the previous royal family as their temporary counselors.
‘Oti, Araba and Agyeiwaa will help you to move the weapons and other supplies into the chambers’ , said Adwoa quietly.
As they began to sort themselves out, Adisa said to Ama, ‘It will take us a day or two to be fully rested and prepared for the next attack’. ‘The supplies are in good shape and the quarters are tidy and neat, just as I planned.
‘Good’, Ama noted, ‘it would have been disappointing to arrive here to find it dirty and run down” I’m a bit impatient to find our new recruits and complete our fighting force.
‘At dawn, Pokuaa and her team mates walked on a forest path, flanked by her 3 remaining teammates in silence. They reached a building surrounded by three large trees and situated next to a river.
The same river the founders of the village spies had first met each other. In the early years of the village, they had spotted several warriors plotting against the village from that same spot . They had then reported this to the asafo who soon apprehended them.
The organization had evolved from five women who had spotted threats against the village to become a large force, acting as the eyes of the asafo and preempting threats before they occurred.
‘And now, one of our own attacks the village along with that dangerous group” sighed Agyeiwaa. ‘I have a lot of explaining to do.”
Even the guards at the gate seemed to be in a pensive mood. ‘They probably had their homes burnt down , just like me’, she mused after exchanging greetings with them. They walked down a narrow path that was mostly dark except for the torches that were placed at each end of the passageway. These became more numerous as they finally reached a large bamboo gate engraved with the adinkra symbol for intelligence.
‘Wait here’, she ordered the others before tapping on the gate three times. There was a creaking noise as the gate swung wide open. She walked through it and pushed aside a mat with a similar symbol engraved on it. The high council of the village spies sat on several raised platforms above her, their straw hats shading their faces. As Pokuaa walked towards them, she noticed the gate creaking open again. Her captain walked past the mat and joined her as they finally stood before them.
‘So despite your strict supervision, both of you were unable to detect Agyeiwaa’s alliance with the Tumi for more than two months” one of them noted.
‘You two also failed to note that two units of our spies were colluding with her and preventing Pokuaa and her team ,of which she was a member , from getting to the fate keepers in time’ noted the head of the nkatafo).
‘I know this may sound difficult to believe,’ said captain Asabea quietly, but we were not being negligent. ‘There was no room left for error in all our operations against Tumi, I made sure of that. The two ‘bushfire’ units were strictly supervised and assessed every week , given their role of passing on information from one end of the village to the other.
The head turned to Pokuaa,’ Your colleague has created a lot of problems for us. ‘For someone so close to her, how could you not see this coming?”
After a long silence, Pokuaa replied, ‘She was my colleague but in the past five months, her behavior and all her actions showed no clear sign of betrayal to our cause ‘. If I had to hazard a guess, I would say that she received sufficient mental and physical training to maintain her deception completely for that period of time.’
The head spy consulted with the members and their designated abrewanana for an hour.
There was a faint rustle of clothing as the council members returned from the consulting room . As the captains rose from the mat, the head spy spoke, ‘Asabea, see to it that our borders are watched closely. ‘We do not need any foreign interference now’.
‘Stand by for further instructions, captains, the head said. ‘We have decided not to dismiss you both considering the influence of those three women on our spies.’ ‘That will be all.
As the sun rose over the hills of the village that morning, the mbrewanana council members had Aba brought before them. ’ Your request, Aba is most unusual, said one of them.’15 of our number are seriously injured. Three of our best members have betrayed us, taking 15 of the asuafo with them. The other asuafo have all left, as far as I know”.
'On top of that , we currently have no Abrewanana present to guide …’. She was cut short by the rustle of the mat covering the entrance being pushed aside . ‘My apologies for the disturbance, sisters, said a figure in a sing song voice that walked towards them’. ‘I, Abrewanana Serwaa of the 10,000 proverbs ‘,she said ,’humbly requests for your permission to act as this dedicated young woman’s Abrewanana.
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