Synder-Ella - Episode 25

“Excuse me, sir!” They both shouted at the man who was riding on the donkey and who obviously was surprised to see them.

They were still running, getting out of breath until the finally caught up with the man.

“Sir, good afternoon sir, please, we need your help.” Henry started, panting heavily.

The man frowned, he was a lanky man, his thin lips were obscured by his full mustache which extended below the jaw and disappeared into the bush of black beards covering his chin.

“Who are you people and where are you coming from?” He asked, looking at the distance they must have been running from.

“It’s a long story, sir. We were captured and we escaped.” Henry explained.

“Captured? Captured by who?” He asked.

“We don’t know them.” Synder replied, “but we escaped and now we can’t find our way back.”

“Wow! You are somewhere close to a  dangerous forest and, this place is not good for you. Different animals walk about in the night. You are lucky to be alive. Where are you headed?”

“Towards the city,” Henry replied. “Any city at all that is close by, from there we can find our way back.”

Synder frowned, why didn’t he just give him a specific name?

“Well, the closest city to this place is Lagos state and that is still several hours away

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. You can’t go anywhere today because there is going to be Oro festival tonight and all the neighboring towns and villages must stay put. No one must go anywhere. ”

Henry and Synder exchanged glances. “Oro Festival? What is that?”

The man smiled, “I see, you have been staying in the city all your life. Anyway, it is a traditional festival, there are some that believe in it while others don’t. It is a kind of deity and on each day of the celebration which will be for seven days, it is starting today and everyone needs to be indoors in the night, anything from 7 in the night is a taboo, the 7th day is the grand finale and no one must go out, especially the women, it is a sacred festival, if a woman sees oro, she will die and you are actually close to the oro forest right now.

Read " Ichabod " by the same author ( Tobi Loba )

. As a result, no one can travel to this area within 7 days until the 7 days are over. You won’t be able to get a bus to anywhere and no bus would be going anywhere as well.”

“But please, we have nowhere to go, can you please take us in until the 7 days are over?” Synder pleaded.

The man looked down at her from his donkey and smiled, then he steadied his ride and climbed down. “You are a brave young lady, come on, climb, you are free to come to my house and stay, after tomorrow, we will find out how you can go back to where you have come from.”

Synder smiled and with the man’s help, she climbed on to the donkey.

“Are you okay?” Henry asked.

“Yea. I am,” she said, sitting comfortably as the donkey rode forward, leaving the men behind as they walked.

“So, why did you come here anyway?” Henry asked the man as they walked along.

“I came to check if any of my traps caught any animal but so far none.”

“You are our hero and I will make sure you get well paid for this kind gesture once I get home.”

“You don’t need to, I am happy to help two strangers who escaped death or whatever you must have faced when you were captured.”

“So this oro thing, is a yearly thing?” He asked.

“Yea, it is.”

“It’s outrageous.”

“Well, we have to respect the deity of the land, don’t we. You are free to stay with us for the 7 days. I have a brother who usually visits the town every week, once he comes, he can take you where you need to go.”

Henry smiled, “even better.”

**

“Wow! I can’t believe that my car is still here!” Katrina said as she went through her car.

They were now back at the place where the kidnap had occurred and her car was still intact. Zichat watched her from where she sat behind the wheels in her own car.

“Oh my God! Mykinds of stuff are all gone!” Katrina cried when she realized that other stuffa she had brought for the competition had all be taken. Now, she had nothing, not even the one in Synder's bag.

“You were lucky to still meet your car here you know,” Zichat said. “Can you please hurry, I think I can still remember the way they took them.

Katrina found her phone in the place she had kept it and sighed, “thank God! At least I have my phone. Whoever stole my dresses was smart, they knew they would have been easily traced if they had my phone.”

Quickly, she unlocked it and dialed the number she had memorized from the ‘other’ phone, then she called the number, putting to her ears.

“Hello my queen, It’s the lady that spoke with you earlier, I want to come to the palace, I am so hungry and I need a warm bathe and a change of cloth before I continue on my journey and if it pleases you, I will need some guars as well...okay my queen, please forward the direction to me...thanks my queen.”

Zichat was tired of waiting, her stomach rumbled and she badly needed to eat, she had been resting her head against the wheels before but then she remembered she had seen the body of Katrina’s driver somewhere around there two days back and now she couldn’t see it again. Quickly she raised her head,

“Hey Kat, what about your...” the question died in her throat as she could neither see Katrina nor her car, instead, she saw she was already speeding away...

“What the hell! Where is she going?” She said, turning on her own car to follow her...”that bitch!”

SO, SYNDER AND HENRY ARE IN GOOD HANDS, I THINK IT'S OKAY FOR ZICHAT AND PETER TO MEET AS WELL RIGHT? WHAT DO YOU THINK?