THE BEAST SLAYER

Obieze kept glancing at his brother with deep concerns as they marched into the deep forests. It was almost as if Kamdili read his mind "What?" He asked, "What is it, why are you looking at me like that?" "I want you to stop fighting with Ziki please, the more you fight him the more he gets stronger and soon enough he will begin to see your weak point like what happened today." Kamdili stared long at his brother, "You talk like a real fool, you are not my blood, now get behind me before amadioha strikes you dead."They trekked until they could hear the running streams, "we are almost closer to river Ngene everybody, I saw something, lower your torches."

Everywhere went silent except for the gentle breeze and the fresh smell of trees and wet soil. Just then, a twig snapped and something moved stealthily, it had horns. The boys squatted in fear only for them to realize it was a male deer that seemed to have gone to refresh itself in the river. Slowly Kamdili whispered "It has seen us but it's aware it might be in danger. Quick, who has an arrow, we can't outrun it, I'm sure it knows where to sprint towards if we chase it." One of the youth with a smallish body frame crept to Kamdili slowly, "I have an arrow here." and he placed an arrow in its quiver and drew it. "Please don't miss out, our lives depend on it," Kamdili said to him. He drew the arrow and everyone held their breath. "Think of the team's glory boy," Kamdili whispered as the boy released one shot and the animal squealed and staggered and started to run, the boys stood up and gave it a chase till the animal ran out of breath, staggered, and fell.

It sprang up for a fresh run but Kamdili closed in with a swift swing of his machete dealt a deep strike at its skull and the animal lay twitching. Kamdili the glory stealer bent down and gently broke the arrow lodged in the chest of the deer and he threw it away quickly. When other boys closed in, he turned around and asked "Who shot the arrow?"

"Me" replied someone still in the crowd

"You who? don't you have a name?" Kamdili hissed impatiently

"My name is Arinze" the boy with a smaller body frame shoved everyone off to stand face to face with Kamdili.

you! Kamdili sneered, am surprised you joined our company it's no surprise that most of you are all weaklings anyway.

I mean what would I do with all of you, Kamdili kept pressing issues to anger most boys, who had begun to murmur angrily among themselves.

silence! Kamdili barked, and everyone flinched including his brother Obieze.

"Well you missed, Arinze, your arrow didn't meet the target and if not for me we will all go home without a game" Kamdili pressed on, "Did you see how I severed the head of this beast? It was a clean sweep, it was perfect.

Stop lying" Obieze spoke up "I saw the arrow meet its mark, the family of Arinze are good archers, they never miss. Maybe the arrow is lodged somewhere." "Amadioha strike you dead." Kamdili interrupted his brother "You should be grateful I'm your brother and your team leader, you are nothing without me.

I killed it and it remains so, anyone here who has a contradicting theory right here should speak up so I can make a good example of that person."Everybody withdrew, even the archer who was sure he hit his mark remained mute."Very well then, victory is ours, lift this beast let go quickly, we are now real men." Despite Kamdili's being a bully, he is quite a good leader Arinze thought as he admired him and came forward to pat his shoulder "Well done leader, you did well." The boys lifted their kill and went off singing a victory song.

Ziki and Somto marched on discussing the maiden dance. "Somto I heard Ofunne gave you her stone, this is surprising, so the both of you have been seeing each other in secret, you fooled us, you sly fox. Somto chuckled and other boys started sniggering."But it is true, Ofunne at the very sight of Somto turns aggressive, initially, we all thought she will approach Kamdili because they both are a perfect match."

Somto smiled "don't mind her, she is pretending not to like me, she won't last a day with Kamdili he will just kill her."What went wrong between you and Kamdili?" Somto pressed on.

"Nothing, he is just a bully and he thinks so highly of himself, he is so unfit to rule and his father knows this."Suddenly, out leaped a magnificent beast; a young male lion, perhaps he lost his way with his pride of lions. He launched forward in a massive attack other boys' took to their heels, screaming but Ziki swung his machete and missed the lion, it drew back and surged forward, the beast was desperate to kill.

Ziki poked the face of the beast with flames and it roared in pain, it swung his paws and scratched Ziki's shoulders, and as Ziki fell backward the lion – convinced he had his prey – leaped forward. As if luck was on Ziki's side, his hand touched something, it felt like a rod he raised it quickly and the beast leaped right into a spear and met his end. Ziki had single-handedly killed his third beast, it is neither a wild boar nor a leopard, and this time he killed a lion. He has surpassed his own father Uwago the leopard killer.

Somto and other boys ran into the panicking warriors who claimed they heard the unmistaken sound of a roar."Where is your leader? Where is Ziki?" Ekene, the youth leader asked, "We were attacked by a lion and we ran." a boy spoke up.

"Cowards!" Kamdili hissed he was standing near his game with other boys behind him. "How many boys are missing?" The chief security Mr. Ekwueme Obiora spoke up and for the first time, he was noticed by the boys.

After the count, three boys were missing Ziki, Somto, and Obele the smallest member of the youth. Everybody wait here while we go in and search. The chief security with kamdili and other boys remained in the market square, while the youth leader Ekene and some selected warriors went into the forest.

Kamdili started making jest of the whole situation, calling his brother a cry baby "Well don't worry all hope is not lost, if the warriors hopefully find what remains of Ziki we will have a befitting burial little brother, don't cry, look on the bright side you can still dump Nneka and finally marry your true love Adanna."Will you shut up, evil child!" Mr obiora chipped in. It wasn't long, a victory shout was heard, warriors dancing around, singing "Lion slayer! Leopard killer! Who is greater! Then his father! Ziki is the one, he is a lion killer! The sight was so glorious as Ziki marched into the market square with a lion on his shoulders, Somto was limping beside him and the warriors dancing.

The whole youth came and lifted Ziki shoulder high and started marching home, it was dawn already, and women and children started coming out slowly to see why the men are making noise, behold it was Ziki with a dead lion. It was just too much of an occurrence because it was the first lion ever killed in Umuenyi village. The town crier simply rose to announce an urgent meeting in the village square. Adanna gently arose from her bed "Mama, what is the commotion about, why is there noise? Are the boys back? Was anybody killed?" The mother smiled at her "Nne, you made the right choice of a man, It is Ziki, he did it again, he killed a lion this time." Adanna couldn't hide her excitement anymore "Where is he? Where is my love." "At the market square one."She dashed out of the house running straight to the market square. It took a moment to realize Obele's family the house of Agu were weeping and mourning their lost child, and a search party was conducted to look for the boy. The meeting was brief the king came in and gave his congratulatory speech praising the youth for stepping into manhood and the sharing of the deer and lion meat continued, the head of each animal is presented as a reward to the boys who killed it. Kamdili got the head of the deer while Ziki got the head of the lion, the youths were praised for their bravery and everybody dispersed to their various home. On their way home, families kept talking about Ziki and his hunting skills, "This young boy has surpassed all hunters in Umuenyi" a woman known as Ugochi kept talking loudly to anyone who gives her a listening Uwago was beaming with smiles and tapping his son's shoulders he had never been so proud in his whole life, "How do you feel about killing this lion?" Ziki smiled instead of answering the question he replied: "Father, I gave Kamdili the beating of his life, he won't dare me again, as for the beast I slew, I give credit to you for training me to be a great hunter."Uwago beamed and nodded in approval, "My son is slowly becoming a man." Adanna was walking by Ziki's side holding hands with him. There is a lot to talk about at home, she is thrilled to hear the part Ziki beat up Kamdili. Kamdili was in a sulky and foul mood, so I get the head of a deer and Ziki gets a lion, does this mean the gods have ruled a final verdict that Ziki is the next king? He pondered for a while his thoughts were interrupted by Kosy, "My love you are still the greatest, don't let anything discourage you."At noon, Obele's corpse was found and brought home by the search party, indeed Umuenyi will mourn the loss of a boy who embarked on a journey to manhood but never returned.