A Tale Of Five Bandits

Read Story: SEASON 1 EPISODE 15

Durojaiye rushed over to Sewa’s side, rolling her over so he could see her face. His heart rose to his throat when she gritted her teeth and squeaked out in pain as he turned her over.

Monifa withdrew her arrows from the corpses and studied their tips, “She must have broken a rib or two. Hurry now, carry her back to the village perhaps the herbalist could do something about it”.

Duro nodded and wrapped his hands under her head and knees, raising her gently from the ground, “Hold on, you will be fine soon” he comforted her as she moaned in pain.

As he carried her and prepared to leave the forest, they heard the moans of the assailant struggling with intestines.

Monifa glanced at him and cocked her head “This one is still alive but he will be dead soon

. The beasts and crows are going to have a feast”.

Taking sharp breaths and gnashing her teeth, Sewa pointed to the dying man “Wait, I need to ask him something. Take me to him”, she said sorely.

Duro hauled her to the man, his surprised eyes shifting back and forth between the man and her.

“Who sent you? Your boss kept talking about a man. Tell me?” she said.

The dying man coughed and barfed out blood

. He seemed not to notice their presence. The only thing that mattered in the world to him was holding back his insides.

“Answer!”, Duro shouted at him.

The man jolted abruptly as if surprised to see them standing beside him. He groaned in pain as blood and intestines escaped through his hands.

“Answer me”, Sewa moaned.

“A…a man. He…” he trailed off, heaving heavily, “He hired us…he said we should find the one called Sewa…and to dispose of her”. The man coughed out more blood, his grip on his belly weakening “We kidnapped the girl and threatened her to bring you here or…or else…we would kill her along with her family” he stuttered in pain.

“Who is this man?” Sewa demanded.

“We don’t know…He paid us…handsomely. That was all that mattered. The…only strange thing was that…he wore a red mask”.

Sewa’s eyes lit up in shock. Duro didn’t miss the look on Sewa’s face “What? What’s wrong?” he asked.

Sewa went mute, gathering her thoughts and contemplating her next action. The dying man sighed heavily and the light went out from his eyes.

“What was he talking about?” Monifa asked.

Sewa offered no response, lost in thoughts on how she would deal with this new predication.

“Answer me! If there’s someone after us, we need to know”, Monifa hollered angrily.

Duro turned and flashed an angry glare “Leave her be. Can’t you see she is injured? What she needs right now is care”.

“Fine, take her to Ajala but we are resuming this conversation when she is better”, Monifa shot back.

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An hour later, Sewa lay on a mat with her companions standing around her, looking down at her pitifully as she moaned in pain. Duro sat by her side praying to the gods for a quick recovery.

“Don’t exert yourself too much for now. You’re lucky that you escaped with just one broken rib”, he said as he rubbed a viscous substance on her injury, “This will heal you no time”.

“The herbalist finally proved himself useful”, Leke said staring at Monifa.

Monifa hissed and squatted beside Sewa, “Now, are you ready to talk? Who is the masked man?”

Sewa fixed her eyes at the ceiling, not sparing her a glance.

Nevertheless, Monifa continued “Whenever there’s a problem.

. We face it together. Every-one of us because this isn’t a solo mission, we are all in this together. We are a group”.

Sewa turned her gaze at her and bared her teeth, “Don’t assume wrongly, I only joined because I wanted that pardon. If I wanted friends, I could have settled down in a small lively village and stayed there”.

“Stop acting like a child!” Leke barked “If Monifa had released that arrow one second later, you would have been dead!”. All eyes landed on Leke, filled with surprise. Leke was never one to lash out in anger. “To you, we might be nothing but as long as we are still a group. We look out each other. Act that role at least even if you have to fake it till the end of this assignment. I’m not going to lose anyone else again”. He said bitterly.