The halo breed episode 15

THE HALO BREED
SEASON 1
IN THE HALOS
The Author
EPISODE 15
Michael Badu Arkoh brayed out his old laugh harshly but without mirth.
Now the people around the table were very scared, and the prince could see several of them murmuring fearfully.
“As long as the Golden Elemental Totem is in your father’s forehead, he would not totally die, even if his throat was slit until it had moved to a new Keeper!” Representative Mavis Tease said, and her face was filled with terror. “Prince Daniel, if you say your father died in your arms, then the G.E.T. should have passed out to you before his last breath!”
“Stop your nonsense!” Prince Daniel scre-med as he pointed a stiff finger at the SLOD. “I told you Gus Kukah murdered my father! Maybe he took that bloody totem before I got there!”
“The totem chooses its keeper!” the SLOD scre-med. “It will never part from its old keeper until the new keeper was accepted! If Gus Kukah had it, then he was meant to wear it, and our dear King Baffour chose him, and the G.E.T. accepted him!”
And behind the prince, Kobby Obeng heard his mother’s words of admonishment, and suddenly he felt a great cold creeping up his spine. They had all heard rumours of the elemental totem as they grew up, but it had seemed like just a myth, one of those fantasy tales that had no merit!
He had heard about ten different stories about what the totem was, and what it symbolized! So, what was happening now? Had the old king somehow given it to Gus Kukah, the innocent man they had murdered?
Had they killed the only man in whom the safety of Densua, had been reposed?
“I do not believe you!” Prince Daniel shouted. “I will come into my kingdom, and none of you is going to stop me!”
Michael Badu Arkoh stepped around the desk and walked in his old, wobbly gait towards the prince. His wrinkled face was filled with wrath as he looked up at Prince Daniel.
“Every fifteen years, the king of Densua – whoever he is – descends the steps of the palace down below to the Tenements! There, he uses the Golden Elemental Totem to tighten the gates of Hades! You’re supposed to have the totem, prince! Do you know what I think?”
Prince Daniel looked at the old man with furious wrath, and for one wild moment, he felt like drawing his sword and stabbing the man to death.
“I think that sometime before his death, our beloved King Baffour gave the totem to Gus Kukah!” the SLOD continued. “And the king was murdered, but definitely not by the hands of Gus Kukah! After that, the only warrior who had led the warriors of Densua into war successfully and defended Densua with his blood was hunted down and pushed into the Pale Lands where no human dares! Now, you people have chosen this prince as the next king! May it be so, and enjoy yourselves for fifteen years! After that, prepare for the most horrible calamity you will ever witness!”
“What will happen, you old fool!” Prince Daniel scre-med, grabbed the thin shoulders of the old man, and shook him hærd.
“Stop it this instance, prince!” Mavis Tease shouted. “You will hurt him!”
When Prince Daniel stopped shaking the SLOD, the old man almost fell to the floor, but Kobby Obeng reached out deftly and held him.
“I don’t know what will happen, Prince Dan,” the SLOD said in a haunting voice. “I only know that it will be horrible. No one should let this information out! Maybe Fate, and Providence, will combine and do something to save us! Apart from that, my prince, enjoy your rule, but it will last for only fifteen years!”
With that, he turned and headed solemnly for the entrance.
Kobby Obeng watched him leave, and then he turned his head and witnessed a most horrifying sight!
Almost all the representatives had diabolical looks on their faces!
Looks of root fear…and death!
Prince Daniel Baffour Koduah faced the remaining Representatives.
“My wedding shall be a two-week affair, beginning next week,” he said in a voice that he hoped was authoritative. “My father had a saying: there is nothing impossible! After my wedding, we shall find a solution to the rather dour problem we have!”
He turned briskly and walked out of the auditorium.
Kobby Obeng hesitated for a moment, his eyes still fixed on the ancient faces around the table, and he noticed that they were still without hope.
He turned and followed the Prince with a heart that was filled with dread and dismay.
He now understood why the old king had wanted Gus to be the leader! Gus would always find a solution to a dead-end, but that could not be said of this haughty and wicked prince.
Fifteen years!
What calamity would befall this land?
He remembered the battle with the Kobens when he and Gus had been invited to the quarters of the king. Later, he had left Gus with the king. Was that when this supposed totem had exchanged hands, or more aptly, foreheads?
If so, why had they been able to kill Gus if indeed he had a totem that rendered its Keeper immortal until it had passed to the next one?
Could Gus be alive in,side that hellish place?
Dear gods of Densua, what have we done?
***
Gus Kukah was worried.
The land of the Halos was beautiful, no doubt about that.
It was like discovering heaven!
Their culture, their history, their way of life, was quite amazing!
However, he was disconcerted by how different he looked from them.
They told him he was a warrior that had fallen from the sky, and so most of them referred to him as Sky Tree. He was shown the Book of Oracles in their huge palace which detailed the day a warrior would fall from the sky, sit on the throne, and pick up the Axe of the King, marry the beautiful princess, and reign as the king of the Halos.
However, Gus Kukah felt there was something important he should remember, a part of history he should align to. He could not just accept the fact that he had just fallen from the sky to be king of the Halos.
Sometimes, when he slept, he had vivid dreams of war, of a man that looked like a king, of a beautiful woman with a strange name – Sai, Rai, Warai – something, a name he could not quite remember.
However, George Simpson, the Spiritual Sage, told him not to worry about anything, and that the right moment would dawn, and bring with it all the understanding he sought.
The fact that he looked different did not seem to faze the indigenous citizens of the Halos. If anything, it seemed to fill them with hope and happiness.
The old king had died peacefully in his sleep a full month before Gus Kukah appeared from the sky. His wife, the Queen, had died four years prior to that.
Unfortunately, they had not had any male child, just two daughters, Princesses Derbie Gyeshie and Theresa Tagoe-Gyeshie.
Being the eldest, Princess Derbie’s husband, by custom, would be the next king. And as was the way of the Halos, there was a Matching Day where chosen warriors would fight, and the winner would marry the princess.
The Spiritual Sage had told them that this was different. He informed him that kings had always had sons who had taken the place of their fathers. Also, he explained that the king’s inability to have a son was because, according to the Book of Oracles, it was time for the Sky Tree to come down and be king.
No one had believed the Sage.
Many thought he was mad, and so the Matching Contest had begun.
Soon, all combatants had been vanquished by two fierce warriors. One of them was the giant, Ossom Annor, and the other was Sham Bila.
And then, just when Ossom Annor had defeated Sham Bila and was getting ready to take the throne, Gus Kukah had descended from the sky, just as the Sage had foretold, and slammed into the throne!
And so, on that faithful day, he was made the King of the Halos, and the festive ceremony had been for eight Halo-Winks, which represented ten days on earth.
Gus was taught the ways of the Halos, and he went on a tour of the important sites of the kingdom. They were absolutely amazing, and their ways were very superior, their technology far advanced!
And because Ossom Annor was the warrior that almost became the king, he was given to Princess Theresa to marry. She evidently preferred Sham Bila, and that was why she had looked at Gus with such hatred when he dropped from the sky.
And soon, it was time for Gus Kukah to marry Princess Derbie.
tbc
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