The seven beasts were like myths in the land of Greenwich, and their tales were shared only when men had more than enough liquor in their stomachs and were braver to produce such revered names with their mortal mouths. In truth, the seven beasts had what it takes to instil fear in the mind of those who heard of them. Invincible and believe to possess power that makes all the elements bend to their will, their tales had metamorphosis, promoting them from men to demigods. And the fact that no one ever sees them and life had added more spice to their fantasy.Their notoriety came when El Guje was facing some internal conflicts with his uncle who yearned for the crown. El Baddo who was the favourite of the royal mafias gathered an overwhelming army and invade the mafia palace to dethrone the seating king, and El Guje and his wife escaped by sneaking through the route in the dungeon and were labelled fugitives afterwards. El Baddo climbed the throne of the mafia king and ruled only for
Andrea had slept for a very long time and it was of no surprise when she was seen playing her piano and singing along when the rest of the inhabitants of the island were in the bed. A long time ago, a poor farmer was working on his farm with his wife and two daughters when they brought the corpse of his son who had been knocked down by a hit-and-run truck driver. Since they usually leave for the farm in the morning, the oldest of the children always stays behind to cook the meal for the rest of the family, and he was bringing this when he was mistakenly hit by a truck whose brake suddenly became faulty. "Oh, my poor son. The gods are wicked and I will henceforth cease paying obeisance to them," the sad farmer's wife cried out at the sight of her mutilated son." "Ahh! Say no evil about the gods. If this does not happen, who knows what will happen?" The man consoles his wife as sympathizers gathered to bury the dead. "Do not stop me from speaking my mind. The gods have erred me by t
Lights from lamps illuminate the foreigner's headquarters, casting on the guards on duty, as they stroll to and fro.As usual with every night that is devoid of stars, the teeming darkness scared the night birds off, and only the croaks of the frogs disrupt the perfect silence.Suddenly, a loud bang can be heard on the big black gate and one of the guards stationed at that spot peeked through the hole made in the gate and asked, "who are you?" "We are the mercenaries, open this gate." "Where is Aries? I was informed he will be leading you into this island." "We were attacked when we reach Greenwich island and lost Aries during the battle. Open this gate now, we are weary, thirsty, hungry and sleepy." "Please wait for a moment and let me call our boss." All the faces he was seeing were strangers and this was contrary to the instructions given to them. They were to allow the mobs that will be led by Aries and not any kind of mobs in tattered clothing. "Who is at the door?" "Some f
The foreigners were in their usual meeting spot, even before the chicken woke. And their clatter boomed louder in the closed large hall. "Now that the first batch of mercenaries was here, what are the next steps?" One among the men asked. "The first step is to confirm if the men were from Onishi and not mafias disguised as mercenaries. Apart from their words, we have no proof if they are the expected ones or not," the oldest among the merchants announced with a stern look. "I have been calling Onishi's number but it's been accepted by a voicemail machine, and so far, he had not called back," Priest answered back. "We are just getting cautious over nothing. Where will they come from, if not from Onishi? Who else knows of this mission except him," Augur mumbled, lolled his back on the chair and close his eyes to erase the taunting image of Aries as he leave for his last journey. "I will confirm with Onishi when I call. I never bother to ask for any password since Aries will be going
The mercenary who volunteered to exercise his muscle against four guards was a short and thin man with curly hair and a clean chin. And he was seen stepping out of the men in line, walking towards the foreigners who stood staring at him, bowing at them then walking back into the space within the circle that was just made by the country P guards and their newly employed mercenaries. "If the weakest among my men can beat four of your guards, then you will agree with me that we are up to Onishi's story of our courage and strength," the leader of the mercenaries who had introduced himself as Presido asked with an impish grin. "Yes. You had proved your prowess if he win." "His name is Kikuchi and he is the smallest and weakest among my men. Singlehandedly, he killed ten men who attacked his village, and that was what drew us to him," Presido explained as the four men circled the small man in their midst and pounced on him. Kikuchi slipped off the grasp of the closet guard, stepped left
The priest followed the twenty-one mercenaries and Augur to the front of the big black gate that separated the foreigner's land from the mafias' territory. "I missed Aries and wish he is here to go along with you," Priest announced, held Augur's shirt, peered at the mercenaries as they walked towards the truck parked outside the gate, then let out, "you must be careful. I can't afford to lose you as well." "Nothing will happen to me," Augur smiled and answered back. "I missed him too, but I can take care of myself. Be at ease." "I know you can, am just scared. This mission is not as easy as I had speculated." "Nothing good comes easy," Augur let out, pat Priest's shoulder, stepped out of the gate and reached the car side in a few seconds. He hopped inside and the car engine became alive and drive out of sight. The priest offered a silent prayer to the gods he believed in, turned and walked back, and the weight of his mood made his shoulder to be hunched as he disappeared among the
El Ramon had been busy for a while as he need to supervise the blocking of some of the secret routes that had been found out by outsiders. Today, he decided to stroll around the palace, and it was the cry of a baby that caught his attention as he walked toward Andrea's section. "Did you hear that?" He asked the mafias at his back. The men looked puzzled, bend their heads to a side, stood mobile for a while, and then grin from ear to ear at the undisputable cry of a newborn baby. "Yes, your highness. I guess lady Agatha had given birth." El Ramon looked lost for a while as he stare into space, nodded his head, dismissed the mafias at his back and strolled into the passage that leads to Andrea's room. "My lord. I just want to pacify this baby before coming to inform you of the blessing in disguise." "And what makes him a blessing in disguise?" "Lady Agatha is dead, and I can train him up as my first son. Isn't that marvellous to have a male, after I was been informed that am carr
The open space of the mafia palace was filled to the brims with the feet of maids, mafias, and sympathetic inhabitants who came to pay their last respect to the departing soul. It Cries and wails boomed as she was lowered into the six feet of the ground, and songs of adieu were rendered as sands were poured on the remain of lady Agatha.A moment later, the teary eyes of all the people became bright at the sight of a delicious meal, and their cries soon gave way to laughter when several locally made liquors were served in big jugs. When the sun was about to go for recess for the twilight to take over, everyone gathered in front of the podium, and they were seen swaying their head and dancing to the fable narrated by Andrea. Thousands of years ago when the earth is populated by animals and other powerful spirits, a great famine descended upon the animal kingdom and they soon start dying from hunger. When the handshake goes beyond the elbow, the tortoise decided to visit the great tro
The coronation proceeds the following day, and the wedding ceremony takes place three days later. Unfortunately, only one of the two suitors got married, while the other man was chained inside one of the cells in the dungeon. "Tell me how you start the fire that prompt your escape." "I send them out of the house with my continuous nagging and after hearing them lock the door at the other side, I raced into the kitchen, connect their oven to the socket and poured lots of dried papers inside. Then I dragged the cylinder of gas closer, lose it, and then hide inside the large freezer by the wall far off." "You take a great risk. What if you were burnt to death?" "He planned to kill me after all, so I decided to take my fate into my hands." "What happened afterwards." "I had drenched clothing with me, tied it over my nose, and then sneaked out of my hidden places. Since I had been in darkness for a long time, I can see two men searching blindly for me, so I jerked up a heavy rod and w
The dark witches were associated with evil, even before the reign of El Guje. And this was part of the reason why El Ramon was filled with anxiety as he alighted from the vehicle and was followed by his armed-to-the-teeth mafias."This place is filled with lots of bandits. Protect our prince with your lives." This order from the general is quite unnecessary because most of the bandits were probably shivering in their hideaways at the sight of the heavily armed mobs. And except for the sound of the rodents who scurried out of sight, the cock-a-doddle-do of the birds calling to their mates and the chirping of the insects searching for their breakfast, only the sound from the footsteps of the mafias seemed to be the disturbance to the serenity of that expanse forest. Moments later, the group arrived at the entrance of the dark witches' village, and all who set eyes on them scampered to the safety of their rooms. "Why are they running helter-skelter?" "Their previous experience in the
The journey to their destination was fast by driving, and the team arrived in a few hours, disembarked and spread across the deserted mass of land."This is the place where he stand and gawked at the ruin of that building.""Check and look for any item that can reveal the identity of the owner of this place."Apart from the Prince, none of the mafias knew what they were searching for, and this made them unearth several burnt gadgets, showed them to the prince, and then looked more puzzled when he shakes his head sideways in response."Where did this path leads to?""To the end of the island. It is an uninhabitable area of rocky land and a dangerous creek. And if we turn left then we will be heading towards the dark witches' village.""Let's drive there."The men breathed with relief when they were ordered to leave their blind search, and they immediately hopped into the trucks and sped out of sight. The route was barely passable, filled with erosion water and a slippery slope, and th
Only a fool will be sleeping when his or her house is on fire. El Ramon is no fool, and this is the reason why his eyes are unblinking as he welcomed Banjo into his parlour.After the usual salutation, the sleepy-looking mafia was permitted to seat down."You have my ears.""He left the palace, went to his house and spend an hour inside, emerged later and went into Johji Inn. And it was very late in the night when he left the Inn.""He didn't come to the palace, so I assumed he went back to his house.""No. He waddled inside the heavy rains for hours and was followed by my men who lagged some feet away.""Be quick. Where did he go after leaving the inn?""Towards the end of the city.""And then what?""Nothing.""What did you mean by nothing?""He arrived beside a burnt down house, gaped at it for a while, then walked back into Johji Inn and he is sleeping inside the liquor section as we are speaking.""When was the house burnt down?""Just of recent. The ashes were still fresh and s
Zuma ordered more liquors and was drunk than a skunk when the stars appeared for their night duties. After finishing the content in the last bottle in his front, he belched louder, placed his two palms on his thighs and stood up with a grunt. The inn was populated by the few night crawlers, and no one seemed to notice the man wobbling among the columns of chairs and tables, nor seemed to mind when he crashed into a table filled with empty bottles, staggered and fell, and then stood up and resumed his waddling. A moment later, he arrived at the outside of the Inn, breathed out loud with relief and walked closer to the gate side."It's already late, Honey. Come to my room and let me make love to you through the night.""I need a man that can penetrate me through the backside. It's been days since I experienced doggy style.""Spend the night with me for just a few dollars.""Is that not Zuma?""He looked like him.""Hey! Come here...What's wrong with you?"He ignored the invitations o
The two guards attending to the pregnant woman in captivity were having the worst time of their lives."I want the water to be hot and not lukewarm. Please prepare another one for me-. And you, did you call this disgusting morsel a meal? Get it off my sight before I puked and prepare my a flavorful feast with lots of vegetables, fish and meats."The two men scrambled out of sight, and one promptly returned to inform her of the readiness of hotter water for her bathe."Holy Madona! Did you want to burn my skin?.. I need cool water to mix it, please."After fetching two more buckets, the man was appreciated with more scowl and nag as he hurried out of the presence of the bitter woman. "The food is done.""Thank you, I hope it was worth all the time I had spent waiting for it.""Huh!""Oh my gosh. This is worse than the previous meal... Please take it out of my sight and get me a jug of juice as you prepare me a sandwich."After hundreds of errands in a few hours, the two men slammed t
El Ramon fixed his eyes on the outgoing mafia, turned towards the lady on the queen's throne beside him and asked, "why did he lie?""I have no idea.""Are you sure you don't?""Yes, my lord. I don't know why he speaks with false tongue."El Ramon shrugged, stood up and let out, "go back to your room and remained indoors. As I warned earlier, don't accept anyone inside until I allow you to.""As your lordship wish,"Mafias and maids bowed as he strode through the palace corridor, and the grim on his face became less horrific suddenly."I am on my way to see you, my prince.""Here I am. Tell me about the progress.""Nothing yet. All this island was ransacked but we didn't see the subject."" Did you meet Zuma on your way in?""Yes. And he was as sad as doom and hardly noticed my presence.""He lied that he spend his night in his house when I have mafias watching his places and he hadn't stepped there since he left here yesterday.""Why will he tell an untruth over trivial things like t
All Banjo's efforts to locate Andrea proved abortive, and after searching through the nook and cranny of the Inn, he shrugged, hissed and instructed some of the men at his back to go into the town and search for her. All the ladies of services claimed they haven't seen any stranger except for a lady who believed she saw someone in a black tuxedo and head scarf."Where is she?""I have no idea. She informed me she is a new worker here, and I advised her to stand on her feet and look for customers.""Did you see her after?""No.""Did she talk with anyone else?""Not sure. I was picked by a rich merchant and we were together afterwards.""Don't hesitate to inform any mafia around whenever you see her again.""I will. Did she steal something from the palace?""Worse than that.""Any bounty on her head."Banjo nodded his head, stepped closer to the lady and whispered, "she is supposed to get married to my best friend in two days. My friend is dying from her absence, and I had vowed to ca
"Why did you agree to trick me?""Am sorry, your highness. Her majesty made me do it.""Where is she?""I have no idea.""This may cost you your life. Speak now.""Before all gods, I have no idea where she went to. I was ordered to remain indoors and not to attend to anyone until she comes back.""What kind of clothing did she wear?""An oversize black gown, scarf and black net... She was talking to herself and I believe she is on her way to search for Jade.""Gush!" El Ramon exclaimed, cast a killing look on the kneeling lady, shakes his head and announced, "I will be back for you. Remain indoors and don't attend to anyone."The lady was too shocked at his shrieking voice, and the prince did not care to wait for an answer, but breathed out loud and stormed out of his wife's room."Where is Banjo?""At the rear gate.""Call him for me now!"He was still fuming and walking from one end of his palace to the other end when Banjo strolled inside, bowed and let out, "here I am, my lord.""