CHAPTER 12: UNREQUITED LOVE
They arrived at the building as Regina remembered to her memory.
It was going to be a hard fight. But they had to avail the chance of saving those children.
They stopped the vehicle far away to not get spotted. Adana brought out the advanced weaponry for the guards. It was guns. Regina was curious whether Adana and her team could work it out or not, had she seen them practice.
Adana laid out the plan. They were going to surround the building at first. After the fire had begun, she and three other skilled ones would try to go inside as the first wave. They had to be alert at all times.
Andrew and Regina tagged along behind. Upon Adana's signs, the guards on the walls were taken out. The Fire had been set ablaze.
Adana and the guards charged inside as many men appeared from the rooms in the building. There were sparks and flashes in the dark night. Regina stood scared with Andrew as the silent dark world screamed in booms and shatters. A detonating spill continued for a while. It silenced into wails and cries of men. Regina and Andrew went inside to see all the men lay dead on the floor. Adana's team had skilfully and artistically learnt to use the guns.
In the first room, two guards of the first wave had died. Sadly, they went ahead. In a room, they heard Adana, calling for help.
Regina rushed towards her. Adana had been shot on the shoulder. She was weak but could make it. She only needed a support to lift herself up.
"You have done it Adana!", proudly went Regina. Adana smiled wearily. "I am sorry our people have put you through this", said Regina sobbingly. "Don't worry. I am fine,", said Adana.
"Omar, the friend of Sheikh Otieno was behind this. The guards have captured him upstairs. The rest of the team is out looking for the locked up kids. This was a traffickers camp. They were selling organs of these kids to the black market. Most of the kids have unknown origins. Sheikh Otieno was the one who helped Omar in his evil plans in our village".
"You have done well my princess", said Andrew, proud of her. "The teams will be coming soon. We should wait outside".
"Andrew! There is something I would like to tell you". Both turned to her anxiously. "I am ending the truce for our people. Our people have never ever been into such dangers. Your arrival has imperilled our sacred bonds and sadly, I can not keep it much longer". Regina nodded as she sobbed, "I understand very well. Your sacrifices were great for us. We should move on with the survival skills that we have learnt". Adana felt relieved as the concern was mutual. But not as much mutual.
"You can not do this", said Andrew. "The truce must last. The Naraba people deserve peace". "But that does not mean at the cost of our people's lives", said Adana weakly. "But it can stay like this at the cost of one life", said Andrew growing strange. He pulled out Adana's dagger from under her sleeve. Regina pushed him away as she understood where he was going. "No! You do not understand! This is the only chance. The hanging sword over the truce must leave". Saying this, he pushed the dagger into Adana's chest. Wearily, she lost her vigour in moments.
Andrew took it out in a paranoia and threw it out of the room's window. Regina sat still, lost and absorbing the situation about what had just happened. She rushed at Andrew and punched him with all the strength her body could support her with. Andrew tried to calm her down, "Don't give me all the guilt. She had to go. She was a threat to our people if not to hers. We needed peace at last".
"All of them were right. We truly were a different species of human. Our material greed can never be quenched. This will be a facade of peace", said Regina sitting down, sobbing on Adana's body as Andrew left the room to find the other guards.
He soon returned with the guards, crying loud why did his love have to die. The guards felt special remorse for his feelings. None of them could believe how Lady Adana had succumbed her war against these people. She had been on worse missions and had emerged victorious. Maybe it was nature's course for survival, they said.
The three bodies were put in the bus as they sadly moved onto their way with the kids retrieved and Omar captured.
They arrived at the village in a melancholy. Ada was standing, waiting and at once rushed at them. She hugged everyone on their success and applauded the safety of the kids. She saw Omar coming down in chains behind Regina. She thanked Regina as she stepped down the bus lifelessly and went towards her tent. Ada had not understood the situation until she heard Andrew's cries.
With her heart pounding, she rushed inside the bus. She wailed loudly, hugging her dead sister laying in the seat. People started to come out of their tents after hearing the unusual noise at the middle of the night. Their happiness upon seeing their missing children soon faded as three martyred bodies were about to go feets underground, to their final resting place.
One of them was Adana. The unparalleled warrior who could never be defeated as a combatant. Love was what had poisoned her. Of everyone in the world, only Regina knew this ugly truth as she shifted sides lying on her rug desolately. She could share it out at once and had Andrew pay the price.
What laid at stake was the weak bond that had finally begun among the people of both sides. Brought together by grievous experiences, all the sense of belonging could be wiped out. Having breathed the same stale air of the city, she had no option other than to deceive her loyalty to the Ubuntu.
The next day followed. Sheikh Otieno had run away into the wilds. His body was found devoured by wild monsters. He had met a his set demise.
All the villagers had gathered around to bid farewell to Adana. Her funeral was a marker of a sad reality. Did mankind really deserve to live anew?, thought Regina, sitting at the funeral, with raw life inside her. This was not the peace she ever had in mind. Peace used to be an innocence. It used to be mark of happiness and delights. It stood until any loathsome outrage had wreaked havoc. But here it was, that loathsome outrage. Still, everyone chanted of freedom. Of future prosperity. Of labelling this as a sacrifice. Only Regina knew this was a murder. This malfeasant abomination stood in fact as a new step towards the everlasting struggle of peace. How ironic.
Weeks went by. Life continued. Regina started to go along. Sebastian studied hard and became an intelligent gentleman. He stayed by his grandpa and helped him in his affairs. Andrew kept his dark secret locked in his chest. He soon joined the transporters and was mostly on the road. If Regina ever was going to spill out the reality, he wanted to make sure he had an escape.
with the flow. People continued building their village. Shambas were spread out onto the many grasslands where people began growing their food. The values and philosophies of Naraba made tall claims as more and more people began to come to the sacred land. Many runaways of the Aziz tribe, including Siyanda and her son Jabari, found their way back home. Jabari had brought his 3-D printer and started up his shop in the village. Innovators and philosophers came from far and wide to experience the life of the Ubuntu and the creative uniqueness and uniformity in its order. Ada and Grandpa Vince paved the ways for welcoming developments as years passed by.
Finally a day had arrived where Regina and Ada met on top of the umbrella tree. They looked out into the distance and saw a lush green forest where once there stood the great buildings of Naraba.
A new fire for life had been kindled. Regina looked at the sun as she thought to herself, how long can this fiery bird last? It had grown new. Well this form stay with it till eternity or would the natural order of human transgression devour it midway. Only time could tell and she had not an eternity to live.
"You know it still feels like a dream now", said Ada.
"Why, has not all the struggle felt too real", laughed Regina.
"It has. But thinking that it all started with a random walk into the wild is quiet a challenge".
Regina giggled and said, "Remember we used to live in huts when we first arrived here. It was so unbelievable. I had never imagined we would be able to save ourselves and the environment".
Ada smiled saying, "And look now, the place that had been a wreck has now come to life again", turning at the forest. "And what have we done to this place!", joked Regina, as all of Naraba lay filled with densely packed cottages and barracks and the people chatted loudly in a distance and what once had started in a mystic silence was now a centre of hustle and bustle. Regina looked hilariously at Ada saying, "Shall we move again?".

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