Osa and the Orangemen
Copyright© 2025 by Osa Oladapo
Chapter 2
Two days after the attack on their old village, they settle down to make an encampment and begin building a new village next to the river, where they will have plenty of fish and water. A few weeks after stopping, the village is starting to return to a normal daily routine. Osa is helping the villagers by making clean water, and Ekina is watching after the children. Adunbi and Quivina are leading a hunting party to bring back water buffalo that were heard near the edge of the river not far downstream.
The hunting party spreads out to surround the herd of water buffalo, stalking in low profile, crawling on their bellies as they approach. Something startles the herd and sends it charging towards the hunting party. Adunbi summons the power of the earth to raise barriers in front of all the members of the hunting party so they are not trampled by the stampeding buffalo. When the stampede has passed, Adunbi lowers the barriers to see two dozen Orangemen dragging away the carcasses of an equal number of buffalo. The orange men are being commanded by an even larger man, a true giant, with red skin. The giant Redman locks eyes with Adunbi, grins, and shouts in some unknown language, causing the Orangemen to stop and turn around, dropping their prey and charging at Adunbi and the hunting party. Adunbi yells to Quivina to get the rest of the hunters back to the village to protect it, then summons the power of the earth to make his skin as hard as stone. Quivina and the hunting party run towards the village, while Adunbi runs towards the Orangemen.
At the village the people have just finished a fish and fruit lunch, provided by Osa and Ekina, and are collecting scraps to feed to the milk goats; the first of the hunting members of the hunting party return. They report what happened out on the plains and that Quivina and one of the men are trailing behind to put tension on the spring traps that have been set in the woods to defend the village. After stepping out of the village perimeter, Ekina and Osa combined the power of air and water magic to summon a shell of protection around the village. Then they follow the path to where Ekina and an older warrior named Jimoh are prepping traps. After exchanging information, Osa and Ekina follow the safe path through the traps in the woods. By the time the two sisters arrive at the place where Quivina directed them, the battle is over. What they find is a dozen Orangemen lying mutilated across the blood- and gore-covered earth, their brothers’ short spears still protruding from one of them. They also discover the drag marks of each of the remaining Orangemen dragging away two buffalo each. The sister decides to follow the trail in hopes of recovering their brother.
The Orangemen have long legs and fast strides, easily capable of outdistancing the average human. It takes Osa and Ekina nearly five hours to catch up to their quarry, and when they do, they find not a dozen, but thousands of Orangemen. They find a vantage point and do their best to spy on the encampment; despite the late hour, the camp is well lit with many fires and torches. Amongst the Orangemen are many larger Redmen, and seemingly in charge of it all is an even larger man with pallid skin. Also, amongst the Orangemen are yellow-hued females, nearly equal in height to the Orangemen but much leaner and with something akin to fuzz on their heads. These Yellowwomen seem to do all the domestic work but also appear to have authority over the Orangemen around as if they had a superior status. The Yellowmen are a head shorter than the Orangemen, who are themselves a head shorter than the Redmen.
Late into the night, after the Orangemen army has settled down for the night, the fires are burning low, and the torches have gone out, Osa and Ekina stealth their way down to the camp. With only one patrol of Yellowomen out, the sisters stealthily maneuver their way through the camp, occasionally peeking into tents they pass, making their way from the outermost tents to the larger ones near the center as they look for Adunbi.
At the center of the camp are three large tents; one is the command tent, one is the barracks for the Redmen, and one is the dwelling of the pale giant. However, as they moved through the camp, keeping tents between themselves and the patrol, the sisters lost track of which tent was which. Ekina used a spell called whispers on the wind to bring the sounds of each tent to her ears. Doing this allows her to eliminate the Redmen tent by the sounds of dozens of snores. The other two tents are much quieter, with the breathing of two or three people in each. After a brief discussion, they decide that each sister will investigate each of the two tents. They each slip under a side flap and disappear into their respective tents.
Ekina enters the darkness of the tent behind a table; the only light comes from the fire pit outside the opening of the tent. Near the tent opening are two Orangemen sleeping on the ground.
Osa enters the other tent; small oil lamps and candles cut the darkness with a dancing glow. She discovers it belongs to the pale giant and his personal guard of half a dozen Yellowomen and then immediately realizes that she is exposed to their view.
As Ekina’s eyes adjust to the darkness, she can make out several tables and a cage with a dark figure inside it; slowly moving closer, she finds that figure is actually her bare and battered brother, Adunbi.
The instant one of the Yellowomen sees Osa, she shouts an alarm, causing all the others to turn and look and call out similar warnings, which are followed by shouts from outside the tent.
The Orangemen guarding the command tent are started awake; one runs out of the tent, and the other starts to follow but stops and turns to look at their prisoner.
In the leaders’ tent, water jugs and wine casks explode as Osa summons their contents to create three floating shields to block incoming attacks.
In the command tent Ekina takes cover behind the cage holding her Adunbi in an attempt to conceal her presence from the massive Orangeman.
Keeping her back to the side of the tent, Osa is able to limit the number of Yellowomen attackers and direct the liquid shields to block their attacks, creating an effective standoff.
Despite her efforts, the Orangeman sees Ekina and charges at her, but before he can get to her, Ekina configures a blast of air that sends the Orangeman out of the tent and into the fire pit between the three large tents. As he burns, the Orangeman’s screams are so loud he wakens the entire camp.
To read the complete story you need to be logged in:
Log In or
Register for a Free account
(Why register?)
* Allows you 3 stories to read in 24 hours.