Supi Ami: Chapter 1

The time was 7:00 pm. The place was Akoo, a new nightclub in the city of Cape Coast, Ghana, where the attack had taken place. An attack that had left half burned bodies in its wake. The medical unit of the asafo companies were attending to the wounded.



Supi Ami, the eighty year old leader of the ten asafo companies in the city watched the closed circuit television footage again. It showed a woman dressed in the red and black garb of a priestess beat twenty people half to death with her cermonial staff. Then she set the club on fire, sealed the doors and left.



The look on her face sickened her. The priestess' face showed no remorse, only pride in her actions.



'So do you know her, Supi?' a soft voice asked.



The voice belonged to her Supi edzikyir, Fafa. Young, overzealous and ruthless, she had dreams of becoming the Supi someday and making the asafo as powerful as they were in the old days. Ami had made it her personal mission to keep an eye on her.



'Priestess Nayele. She's the leader of a new group of priestesses that have decided to cleanse this city of sin.'

'So that's the reason she nearly burnt the club down.'

'Fire acts as a sort of cleaning agent in most religions. In the past, when someone committed suicide, they burnt the person's hut down as an act of purifying the area.'

Fafa shrugged. 'From the reports I heard about this place, the drunken fights, the gambling, and at times downright indecent acts, I'll say she nearly purified this place'.

'Wow' Ami said drily to herself, 'What a wonderful Supi she would make.'

Ami briskly left the room to get some fresh air and froze. Across the street, where the people had gathered to stare at the nightclub, Nayele stared directly at her. Then she slowly turned around and began to walk away.

Ami gave chase, shoving the people aside as Nayele began to walk faster, heading straight into one of the city's parks. Ami followed her in and paused. The asafo were still a long way off from catching up to her. Nayele stood in the middle of the park, waiting.

Ami approached her carefully, watching her surroundings for any signs of other priestesses, None. She drew out her afena and assumed an offensive stance. 'Nayele, in the name of customary law, you are under arrest.'

Nayele sunk into an offensive stance and lunged at the Supi with her staff. The Supi sidestepped the attack, sliced the staff in half and struck her face with the hilt of her afena.

Nayele sunk to her knees and Ami shoved her face into the dirt, binding her with a traditional set of chains. Fafa reached the spot where the priestess lay and helped Ami escort her to the first asafo company, where they bound her with more restraints and marched her to the chief's palace.

As they marched to the entrance, Nayele flashed Ami a brief smile before being herded into a large efiase (prison) on the palace's premises.

'What's she so happy about?' wondered Fafa.

'Nothing good'. Triple the guard. Keep her away from the chief's court until we're certain it is absolutely safe for her to appear before her for judgement.'

At midnight, )henemaa Hawa, the first albino in a long line of chiefs, listened quietly to Ami for thirty minutes. 'You think she's here to kill me?'

'Its a likely scenario. Showing her face shortly after committing a heinous crime, attacking me without any backup, knowing fully here she would be brought here to face your swift judgement'. I humbly suggest you allow me to keep her detained for over 72 hours'.

'That's against the law'.

'An exception can be made in her case. We think they may come for you because of your condition.'

Hawa smiled faintly. 'Nayele's priestesses will not attack me because of my looks. They think I have failed the ancestors in making too many modern changes or at least allowing them to take place. Maybe they are right. Maybe all these changes have been too great, leaving the people's traditional sense of confidence and purpose shaken.'

'You've done your best' insisted Ami. 'Purged the asafo's ranks of deviants like Nayele and her ilk, as well as the state executioners. Modified customs to improve people's sense of worth, regardless of gender or tribe. Built schools, hospitals, infrastructure, that generations unborn will use to better themselves, long after we're dead.'

'You are a role model, my chief' concluded Ami. 'No harm will come to you, not while I'm alive.'

Deep in the heart of a large sacred grove, ten priestesses armed themselves with machetes and arrows. A grey haired priestess watched them quietly. They knelt before her and she touched each of their heads.

'Go in peace, my children .'

'Yes, High Priestess )konore' they roared in chorus.

The attack began at 2:00 pm. The other asafo, those lucky enough to be minimally injured would say it had been nightmarish. One minute, they had been lying on their raffia mats, the next minute a priestess was in their sleeping huts.

Unprepared, and terrified, each asafo company struggled to fight against a priestess who was in their hut, beating them half to death. In the first company's sleeping hut, Ami planted her sandaled foot on the intruder's face, felling her. She ordered her asafo to spread out, help the other companies and watch for other intruders.

In the second Asafo Company's hut, the asafo watched in horror as Fafa repaetedly punched the falling intruder, her lips twisted in a macabre grin. Eventually two other asafo gathered the courage to pull her away from the priestess.