CHAPTER 128

Ruth felt that Faith found it hard to trust her and that's why she was doing things on her own. Faith decided to follow Ruth since she felt that Ruth was still not convinced by the explanation she had given her. She followed Ruth to her room who wanted to go and shower after a long day of teaching the people of Mambo town how to make weapons. 

" Want to go and shower? Let me get you your towel" shouted Faith who wanted to go to Ruth's closet but Ruth stopped her by holding her arm. 

" Why have you followed me here? Are you suddenly feeling guilty for the fact that you do not trust me? " Asked Ruth in a pellucid voice.

" You don't understand I ...." Said Faith but Ruth suddenly interrupted her.

" I want to go and shower. Would you please give me my privacy?" Ruth asked Faith who signalled to Faith to leave.

Faith obidiently left the room because she did not want to have a quarrel with Ruth. She was tired after spending a long time at Purist's matrimonial home waiting for her. Faith decided to go to  her room and was astonished to see  Ryan was seated on top of her bed. Faith widened her eyes in disbelief since in her community it was wrong for a man to sit on top of a woman's bed especially if that woman was not yet married and had no any children. 

" You are highly recommended for your wife to be Ruth and not me. It's a taboo for a man to sit on top of the bed of a woman. I think all cultures must be respected Ryan" Shouted Faith at Ryan angrily.

" I am.... sorry and that's what I am here for. I am here so that you can teach me everything about your culture that I need to know. I want to officially make Ruth my fiancee according to your community rules and regulations" said Ryan smiling. 

" No! You first need to stand up from my bed because it is wrong of you to do this because you are courting my sister Ruth. Second, only the rules of your community will be considered in this courtship and that's what the rules of our land states. Please leave because I have a lot of things to think about" said Faith who signalled to Ryan to leave. 

This made Ryan to feel satisfied because following the rules of Olam community was hard for him. Ryan finally made a resolution to make everything formal and marry Ruth as soon as the war was over. 

Several weeks passed without the war taking place since Martin kept postponing the war dates. This made the people of Mambo town to get tired of waiting and burried their weapons on the ground. This is what they did often when there was no war. Unluckily, Martin and his war team arrived at that instant and stood at boundaries of Mambo town. They therefore kept blowing their whistles which caught the attention of the guards who were guarding at the closer gates to open the gates and find out what was going on. 

" The time of war has come. Ask Ryan and her troops that we are waiting for them here. I am a hundred percent sure that they already put their weapons down since they thought that there was not going to be a war. Go and deliver this news to your weakling of a leader" said Martin. 

One of the guards immediately left to Ryan's mansion. As soon as he arrived there, he found the whole family taking their morning meal which was a snack and fried meat they usually took after breakfast. 

" Sir Ryan, Martin and his troops are whistling outside the boundaries of the town. They are claiming that the time for the war has arrived. What should we do sir? They have only given us ten minutes to prepare ourselves and begin this fatal war" said the guard breathing heavily filled with lots of hesitant.

This was because he entered the house without knocking on the door. He thought that Ryan would get angry because of that but he instead got tensed and started shaking.

" Ggggg....go. Go and inform all the warriors of this town that the war is about to begin. Tell them to undig their weapons if possible because in this war , many of us are going to die" said Ryan. 

" No! We cannot pursue in this war because we have been tricked. Martin has tricked us and this is simply because he felt that we were going to win this war. I cannot do this Ryan. I am going to surrender myself to Martin" said Ruth as tears welled down her eyes.

" No one is going to surrender to anyone. I want this house locked from the inside as soon as I leave. None of you is allowed to leave this place because I am going in this war" said Ryan who took his weapons which were beside the living room door. 

" Wait Ryan! You are not going in this war alone.  I am coming too and so is Faith" said Ruth as she went towards Faith and held her arm. 

This was because she needed an assurance that Faith was willingly going to participate with her in this war. They both went towards Ryan and took two weapons from him. They were both arrows. 

" Can I come along too?" Asked Nelly. 

" No Nelly. I need you to please stay behind and take care of my mama and grandma. I trust you to do that for me" said Ruth who left. 

Nelly locked the house from the inside as Ruth locked the house from the outside. Ryan, Faith and Ruth immediately left to the boundaries of Mambo town. They found out that all the warriors of mambo town had already settled there accompanied by the market women who were dressed in red as they carried bundles of water bottles on their arms. 

" What are you all doing here women? Aren't you afraid that you are going to be hurt? Please go back to your house and lock the doors from the inside as other sent warriors will lock the doors from the outside. 

The market women stood still and tightly held the bundles of water on their arms as if Ryan had not spoken to them. 

" I want all the market women to leave right away. What is hard for all of you to understand?" Asked Ryan angrily. 

" There is nothing hard for us to understand. We are here because it is our choice to be here. We are here to support Ruth in this war of love" shouted Riziki in a calm voice.

Ryan felt it was thoughtless to continue convincing the market women since guards outside the boundary gates had already began fighting with the people of the closer gates. This meant that if they were defeated, Martin and his warriors would enter mambo town and begin fighting with the warriors from inside. 

" Warriors! Our main mission right now is to protect this stubborn market women headed by Riziki. This women are too troublesome to listen to us" ordered Ryan . 

Within a few minutes, they were astonished to fight out that the war outside the boundary gates had ended. This simply meant that one of the towns had been defeated. 

" Ruth! Ruth! Are you coming with me or you want the war to continue? My pride does not allow me to fail today" shouted Martin from outside the boundary gates of mambo town. 

Martin guessed that Ruth was among the warriors who were going to fight against them. Ruth was silent since she did not want to choose Martin's side after all the efforts that the people of Mambo town had gone through all because of her. 

This made Martin and his warriors to break the gates as they entered Mambo town. They started shooting as soon as they entered but were astonished as arrows started hitting on their chests. The arrows were not coming from Ryan and his warriors but from the market women who were on top of the building which was next to the gate boundaries of Mambo town.  

This made Martin warriors to reduce who finally surrendered from the war. He asked his warriors to put their guns on the ground as a sign that they had already surrendered. 

 " What does this mean? Am I finally allowed to get married to Ryan?" Asked Ruth smiling.

" No! The second war is coming and in this war I must go with you back home including my own sister Faith. I don't care about Purist anymore" shouted Martin at Ruth. 

Purist who had come to witness the war came towards them as tears welled down her eyes.

She knew that she was the one Martin was talking about. She went towards Ruth and hugged her filled with lots of sad emotions.

" Mama! Today I have been able to understand that you do not have to be a parent to be a father. I must say that I don't remember anything but I feel your love. I am waiting for the war" said Purist who held Ruth's arm tightly. 

Martin looked at Purist filled with lots of regrets. He only spoke this things to intimidate Ruth because he felt that he could still pursuade Ruth. 

" Purist I...." Said Martin but Purist interrupted. 

" Just go to where you have to go. We need to lock our gate boundaries and rest in peace" said Purist who signalled to Martin to leave.

MARRIED AT SIXTEEN.