Leona had woken up early not because of the wedding excitement, but she had had a bad dream where her wedding day had turned into a nightmare. She tried by all means to cast it out of her mind, but the horrible occurrences kept playing on her mind. She was afraid to tell her mother as she did not want to unsettle her about it; after all, it was just a bad dream, nothing more.
She had dreamt that the evil spirits had come to Goza and had killed everyone that she knew and that she was the only person in her family left – everyone else had been sucked dry by the evil spirits, including Tamura. She had woken up with a start around 4 am and she could not go back to sleep again. Fear gripped her and she could not wait for daybreak so that she could check on her family to see if they were safe.
By mid-morning, fires had been started, animals were being slaughtered and all sorts of delicacies were being prepared for this big day. Tamura was anxious as his relations had not yet arrived from Nengara. He had sent word inviting them. Mama Haga, Mabige and Beko were also in attendance with their child. Everyone was so excited to see the baby as they had not yet seen him since his birth.
By midday, the whole area was abuzz with activities of all sorts. Mama Kama had decorated the prayer room to perfection and it looked like a blooming garden of all sorts of flowers and leaves from the woods.
The scent from the flowers was heavenly. She had made sure that prayers of last night were held in her living room as she did not want the children to touch the flowers in the prayer room and displace them before the big day. She was fussy like that. She had taken a long glance at her handiwork when she had finished arranging the decorations, took a deep breath and walked off with pride. All this was to impress the king, never mind the bride and groom or anyone else for that matter. The king’s opinion was all that mattered to her.
The bridesmaids and groomsmen emerged from the king’s palace looking beautiful in their outfits. The girls looked like angels while the young men looked smart and clean cut.
Tamura had chosen his cousin, Fanu, to be the best man and had Chega on standby to step up from being just a groomsman, just in case Fanu failed to arrive for the wedding on time.
He wore a similar suit size as Chega, so a swap would not be difficult. Tamura had chosen Fanu, Chega, Baka and Tyza to be his groomsmen, the younger boys were now eleven years old. Fanu and the whole Nengara arrived for the wedding a few minutes before people started going into the prayer room to Tamura’s relief. Fanu ran inside quickly to freshen up and get changed into the suit that waited for him in Tamura’s house.
Chief Wambu, his uncle and his wives and children walked proudly to their designated seating area. They had all scrubbed up and wore the best of their clothes they could find. Tamura was well pleased to see them and didn’t think much about what they wore, rather he felt proud that he was not on his own and his whole family had come in their numbers to support him, tatters or not. The only downside to it was that his uncle stunk like a brewery as usual and he believed he must have been the one who slowed the whole group from getting to Goza earlier that morning. His long-suffering family never complained as they were ashamed to even mention his shenanigans to anyone, or maybe they were all too used to him in that state than they cared to count.
He shrugged that aside as he was determined not to let anything spoil his special day. When all the people were settled in the prayer room and pleasantries had been exchanged, they all stood up to welcome the bride. Leona came walking slowly covered in a veil with her father on her right arm and her mother on her left. The bridesmaids had gone in before her holding their pretty bunches of fresh flowers. Leona had chosen for bridesmaids, Mara, Shula, Kioma and Mama Mula as the chief bridesmaid.
As she walked in, Tamura looked at her and could not stop grinning and he even shed a tear with emotion at how beautiful she looked even under that veil. He felt like he had touched the sky and was overwhelmed with love for her. Leona looked absolutely beautiful in her gold and white gown which her mother had made with passion. She looked like a princess out of a fairy tale. Leona threw Tamura a gentle glance, eyes beaming and she had a smile painted on her face, which outshone the veil in brilliance.
Chapter 32
The Hour of Doom
Late afternoon, just after the vows had been exchanged and Tamura and Leona had been announced as husband and wife to loud cheers, drumbeats, ululations and clapping.
As people had just been led out to eat, suddenly, there appeared a dark cloud that seemed to fly across, above the compound and people stood still in their tracks with shock and confusion. Those inside the prayer room were trying to go outside to see what was going on while those who were outside were trying to get back inside for cover. There was commotion everywhere, voices were screaming, shouting and there was confusion as people ran in every direction to find shelter.
All of a sudden, there appeared dusty creatures swooping down and lunging at people gathered at the wedding. It was at that the same time screams could be heard from those who were being attacked by the evil spirits. They had arrived screeching
