Shanty sat down dejectedly and sighed heavily. Jude stared at her steadily and then all of a sudden he made a grimace and the lady thought he was being silly.
"The villagers were nice to us and I had thought they wouldn't be" she was saying, trying to start a conversation after they had gone to the village square of the town and had had to meet with some of the people of that town. Meanwhile it was not the same for Jude who felt the villagers were being too timid for his liking.
"They are too timid you know" he said and sat down inside the thatched hut. Shanty chuckled, using her right finger to release some of the food she ate which stuck upward her mouth. "Doesn't that disgust you when you do It?" he was asking.
"Disgust me, how?" she was surprised.
"I mean when you use your finger to put inside your mouth to collect food from upward and downward of your mouth?" he asked and she laughed.
"Please don't be funny. What are you saying?" she laughed again, "I do that because there is no food here and don't forget where I come from before going to the city is same as this place, the people there are almost like the people here. I grew in a family where the father is also a fisherman and he would fish all day only to return with nothing. Whenever I followed him in his boat I get too scared. You see he would catch some of the fishes and when we had to eat them right them right there at the seashore he would tell me to clean my mouth with my finger and water from the river so my mother and the rest wouldn't know that we caught any fish and had eaten them without bringing any home"
"You and your father were selfish I guess?" he jokingly said and she laughed heartily before standing up.
"You see, my father taught me alot of things. Not only did he teach me how to be selfish he also taught me how to steal. I would have been a dead person if I had continued on the path of stealing but because I had to switch my trade to prostitution I could do it openly in this city without having to be disturbed by the government and the people. I am sorry that you had to hear all of that" she apologized but he shook his head and held her hand.
"Look into my eyes my love" he said and she slowly looked up at his face and both of them kept staring at each other's eyes. Suddenly Jude had to blink and said, "You are the best thing that ever happened to me. Your past has nothing to utter concerning this place. There is nothing that can stop what is about to happen in our lives. I am just elated that you are beside me and being beside me has shaped me to do better, to think better and to know better. You are not going to do anything that will hurt us but you have decided to do nothing but the best for us. I think of my family...
"Family?" she cut him in and he paused and hit his forehead and shook his head. "You were too into them to the extent you couldn't become anything else. I am happy that finally you were able to come out of there. Thanks for being the best and choosing to do the best" she thanked him and he forced a smile. Ofcourse she knew that he forced that smile but she was not ready to keep talking about that. She smiled at him and asked, "Tell me exactly what you have in mind to do now that you have gotten used to the right thing to do. I have nothing else to say but there are many things for me to say"
He held her closer to himself and whispered, "Why have you chosen to make my life at it's best. I am so much privileged to have you as my own and only. I have so much love with you and that is why despite the fact that there are many things that are hindering us from enjoying our lives. This is really sad for me" When he had stopped he then discovered she was staring behind him with shock in her eyes. He turned to look and both of them could not believe their eyes. There were men from the village who had come to them and they were carrying weapons in their hands. When they had approached him and Shanty they began to question them.
"Why is it that you and your woman were invited to meet with our Chief but we did not see you. Now in your abscense and refusal to come and meet with our Chief he has become angry with you and has demanded that you be brought to him. Now here is the thing, if you refuse to go with us peacefully we will have to break your legs and carry you and also carry your woman and go to him" When this threat came from them they began to wonder what they meant by that.
"Listen please, no one told me the Chief of this land was looking for me and my woman. We are hearing I for the first time and we are dumbfounded. What exactly are you saying?" asked Jude and one of the men that had come to them who was carrying a dangerous club and leaning it on his shoulder and he looked eye ball to eyeball with Jude and said, "You are insane are you not? you are here in a village that you know not and you do not know you have to meet with the leader of that village first before you settle down in this village? Now that you know can we start going already?"
Jude stared at Shanty and Shanty felt it would be wise if they did not try to fight the men but instead follow them quietly to where they were being asked to go to; to meet with their Chief.
Few hours later they were standing before the Chief of that village. When they stood before him he was not talking.
"It seems your Chief is dumb" Jude said this and one of the men smacked him on the head and drew his sword to strick him but the Chief raised his hand up and then the man didn't strick. The Chief adjusted himself on his seat and three of his wives came out of their inner huts and sat with their husbands. One of the wives however refused to take her eyes off Jude. She remained there as if there was something wrong with her. The husband who happened to be the Chief didn't take notice of this glare but already Shanty did. Shanty tried to discover if Jude knew that someone was crushing on him but Jude was unaware. She sighed heavily and then focused her attention on the Chief who was already talking to them.
"Now here is the thing" The Chief began, "I have heard about you and how you and your wife were disturbing the market people in the name of searching for where to stay to trade. How can you trade in this land when you have no regard or respect for it?" the Chief waited for an answer.
"Sorry to ask, I did not get you at all" Jude was saying.
"Was I carrying water in my mouth when I spoke or you want to insult me further?" asked the Chief. At this point one of the men stepped forward and standing infront of Jude gave him a resounding slap across the face and threatened to ensure that nothing stopped him from landing him another way when to his surprise Jude held his hand and it hung in the air.
"Don't hit me again you moron" said Jude. The rest of the men tried to come to the rescue of their fellow guard but the Chief raised his hand and said, "No don't do that. Allow them to do what they want to do. If our man want to prove himself let him go ahead and prove himself" The Chief sat back. The man who had struck Jude on the face seeing that he had been abandoned to his own fate looked about him before he drew his sword with his left hand, having seeing that his right hand was under the captivity of Jude's strong arm. Immediately he drew the sword Jude jumped away from him a bit. Then the Chief raised his hand up and said, "It is not going to be this way. It is going to be a fair fight. Hand a sword to the stranger someone and let him test his ability" when he said this there was fear in the eyes of Jude for he did not know how to use a sword. He has never used It before. If they spoke about gun maybe he would have done something the villagers wouldn't forget in a hurry but now they are talking about swords and handing him one to fight with he knows nothing to do. He collected the sword from one of the guards that handed it over to him. The sword fell to the ground when he had collected it and there was laughter in the crowd.
"You said you wanted to fight strange one. Now here before you is a fight so fight" said the Chief. Well one thing was sure, Jude wasn't prepared to give up just yet. He was ready to fight for himself and for Shanty. When the fight began and two second to it the guard hit his sword off Jude's hand and it fell to the ground. Jude having lost his sword moved to grab the guard but he swung his sword at him. Jude was able to dodge the blow but not after it had already cut at his arm and he saw his arm bled. He held his arm and Shanty screamed in fear. Just then Jude realised that the only chance he got was to grab the man and disarm him if not he would become his victim. He immediately fell to the ground but he did not entirely close his eyes so he could see the movement of the enemy..The man that had struck him began to move closer to him and when he was close and tried to raise the sword and cut him the last time Jude sprang on his knees, sprawled like a snake and was already at his back, held him from the back and tumbled him to the ground. The man hit the back of his head against a stone and instantly died. Jude stood up and saw he was still bleeding. The pain and the blood was much and he could not control himself any longer. He fell to the ground and closed his eyes and that was how he fainted. Shanty rushed to him and held him.
"Please do something before he dies!" she shouted at the. The Chief got up and said, "And why should I do that. They had a fair fight" Shanty couldn't get him to do what he was supposed to do to save the life of Jude. She carried him and began to drag him to a nearby hut that had been abandoned. He dragged him into the hut and helped him to sit up, leaning his back against the wall of the hut. She stared outside and saw that the King had gone back inside his room and the people had dispersed, it was only a few body guards standing infront of the Chief's hut that remained. She did not know what next to do but remained standing there, shedding tears, seeing that life was going out of Jude.