dial episode 34

DIAL
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Sequence 34
. Truth was, that huge man didn’t know me.
My Pappy, a man who had had it tough in the world, and struggled for every scrap of food that ever came his way, until he built his empire, had vowed to himself that his son would never suffer as much as he had.
And so, from the very onset, he had trained me to be a man able to defend myself in all situations. He had taken me to an unarmed combat master, a fearsome man called Wailer, who had taught me the savage martial arts of GojuFist. I had spent years perfecting the deadly craft, and I was a deadly mass of skills as I stood glaring at that huge caricature of a man!
His first intent was to bring the club bluntly on top of my head, but when he raised it above his head I stepped in quickly into his unprotected range and delivered a crunching blow into his heart area!
He made a strangled noise of pain and surprise, and then his legs buckled. He tottered sideways, and fell down on is right knee. Aware that the Princess was looking at me, I raised my foot and kicked the man hard in the chest, and he fell backward with another grunt!
For a split second I saw a flash of surprise on her face, but it was quickly replaced by sheer venom, like a child with a broken toy.
“Who are you?” she hissed venomously. “Get down on your face, now!”
She was pointing to the ground with a stiff finger.
She got my blood running with unadulterated fury. I had never allowed any woman to cow me, and her arrogance and complete disrespect really made me angry.
“I’m not getting down on my face for you, woman!” I said tightly.
“You ugly old hog!” she shouted. “Tambi, get him down on his face!”
The guard on the right came for me, screaming and swinging his club dangerously for my head.
To me, he was as slow as a tortoise. I danced away and crushed my foot into the joint of his right knee. He screamed and dropped, clutching his knee as he moaned in agony!
The one on the left suddenly came at me with his club. He was a little bit more proficient and capable. His movements were fast and measured, but I was still better. I slid from his thrusts easily enough, and as I feinted to the left he rushed in foolishly, exposing his chest area.
I crashed the space between my thumb and forefinger into his trachea.
The pain was excruciating!
He made wheezing sounds as he clutched his neck and dropped on his back, thrashing wildly on the ground as he struggled for breath. His eyes popped, and his tongue lolled out, and for a moment I was struck with real worry for him, thinking that maybe I had hit him too hard and crushed his larynx.
I dropped to one knee, grabbed his throat, and rapidly applied relieving pressure. He breathed hard, drawing in precious air, and then I jumped up and back quickly as the vomit spewed out of his mouth in a wild arc.
The Princess’ face was working overtime with fury as she looked at the last guard.
“If you tell him to attack me, I’ll kill him,” I told her calmly.
She shut her mouth like a clam.
I was aware that the fishermen on the ground were struggling to watch what was going on. Across the river I saw a great agitation, and I heard screams. They were noticing what was happening, and it dawned on me that my actions had indeed caused a great upset in this village with the silly name, perhaps irreparably.
The princess took swift steps towards me, much to the horror of her eight attendants, who screamed and tried to hold her back.
One of them, a fair-skinned slender beauty, actually grabbed the Princess’ arm, but the royal lady spun round and slapped the girl quite hard across the face, causing him to screech and hold her cheek tightly with tears in her eyes.
The royal princess of Etwe-Pe-Kote stood trembling in front of me with maddened fury.
“You frog!” she hissed furiously. “You stupid, stinking nasty little frog! I’m going to kill you for this!”
She raised her hand to slap me, and I looked at her tight face with an equal fury of my own.
“I’ll tell this truth, Princess, if you hit me I’ll beat you up so badly you will never be able to eat again!”
She groaned suddenly, and her attendants groaned too.
Her hand was raised, but as she looked at me and saw the anger in my eyes, she couldn’t call my bluff. Her stunned eyes looked at the three guards on the floor, and suddenly she knew that I might not be lying.
But of course, I couldn’t hit her, no. I never hit women, and I was just bluffing, but she swallowed it line, hook and sinker.
“You filthy old skunk!” she said furiously. “You’ve just bitten off more than you can chew, old man! You’re going to spend the rest of your life in my dungeons!”
“Apuu!” I said softly.
That one got to her!
Oh, yes, that one really got to her.
In her impotent rage she forgot my warning, and her hands flew for me. She threw her hands fiercely, angrily, filled with a hatred that soon began to amuse me. It dawned on me that this beautiful girl, the princess of the village, was indeed an arrogant, spoilt little girl with no respect for anybody.
I moved from her, avoiding her blows with ease, and this infuriated her even further. I was moving back toward the river, and in her incensed fury she threw a kick at me, and as I spun away from her she lost her balance, and she went crashing into the river.
She sat inside the river, her face stunned, looking up at me with eyes so filled with hatred that amused me, and I chuckled.
Maybe I shouldn’t have laughed, but it was such a funny sight that I couldn’t stop myself. And when I laughed, her eyes suddenly fell, and her fury evaporated. A look of sheer misery crossed her face.
It transformed that face.
The tears welled up in her eyes and spilled slowly down her cheeks, and in that moment, in her most vulnerable moment, she was suddenly the most beautiful girl I had ever seen.
The laughter slowly died from my face as I looked at her.
The girls, weeping with horror, tried to help her up, but she slapped their hands away and got to her feet, and then she ran blindly toward her canoe.
I watched her go with her girls and the last guard.
Some men in canoes had gained the riverbank, and they were screaming angrily as they came toward me with a lot of weapons ranging from cudgels, axes and machetes!
Obviously, they had seen my fracas with the princess and her team, and they were coming to protect their own. I knew I was in a shade of trouble because they were many, and I simply couldn’t beat that number!
As it bore down on me, I saw the four fisherment still lying on the ground suddenly screaming with fear and scrambling quickly away from me. The men who had been coming at me with furious and murderous intents also stopped and turned away from me with cries of fear.
I didn’t comprehend why they were running away from me until I saw the eyes of the guard whose knee I had broken staring at something behind me with great horror.
I turned slowly.
Maame Ntiriwaa was standing there with a piece of white cloth around her, and her hair standing high and white on her head.
I almost laughed as I walked toward her.
“They’re running from you?” I asked, hardly believing my eyes. “Why? They were in the truck with you yesterday, so why run now?”
“Because a witch in white cloth with her hair uncovered could kill your loved one instantly if she looked into your eyes!”
I stopped, stunned, shaking my head slowly with wonder.
“They believe that?” I asked, and almost chuckled. “Wow, you intentionally did this to protect me, didn’t you?”
She looked angrily at me.
“Yes, you fool!” she hissed angrily. “I was looking everywhere for you when I came upon you and the royal princess! I hid in the trees and pushed up my hair! Lucky I was still in my white cloth! What have you done, Yao Biko? Now you have put both of us in great danger!”
“That silly girl wanted me to lie down flat on my face, on that dirty ground, for her,” I said softly and shook my head. “I wouldn’t do that for her, or any other girl. Who does she think she is anyway? Does she think that perhaps they use her sh*t to prepare perfume?”
The witch looked at me, stunned, and then when she began to laugh, I joined in, and we laughed heartily.
It seemed to me, quite suddenly, that indeed I was laughing a lot in Etwe-Pe-Koti, and that the horrors of Nana Bosomba seemed, for the moment, rather remote. Secondly, and more pleasantly, I seemed to have found a friend, for the very first time in my life, in this old witch.