Beyond the Cotton Fields

Chapter 30

Koi looked at his lover as his mother and a few other women of the tribe helped her to the healing hut. Lucy held onto her stomach and waddled over to the hut, groaning and crying in the process, with amniotic fluid dripped down her leg.

He followed the women and tried to enter the hut, only to be stopped by his mother.

"You know that men are not allowed to witness birth, Koi." Shimasani said, placing her hand up.

"I must be with Lucy, Mother. She needs me. Our child needs me." He pleaded.

"No, Koi. You must remain outside. When the child is here, you may come in."

"Wife, you leave that nigger alone! Leave her to birth her bastard in the woods alone."

"Husband, how dare you! This is our grandchild she is bringing onto this earth! We are all children of the earth! You, me, Koi, Lucy, and the new child!"

"Damn you, woman! I will do away with the nigger myself!" The chief stomped his way into the hut. He pushed the tribes women keeping Lucy standing to the ground and reached for Lucy. Before he could grab ahold of her arm, he was yanked back. He turned around, only to be met by Koi's large fist. The chief fell to the ground and Koi proceeded to drag him out of the hut by his ankles. Shimasani rushed back into the hut.

"How dare you try to come after my Lucy!" He yelled at the older man. "Rise to your legs!"

"You will let some nigger girl come between you and your blood?! You will fight your own father for some nigger?!"

"She is my lover, the mother of my child, and my wife in the days to come! I shall protect her until Mother Earth calls for us to return home!"

"You sicken me! Your sister stayed faithful to her kind! You are a disgrace to our ancestors! You are no son of mine!"

"Then, let it be! If you are no longer my father, killing you will only be so easy!"

At this point, the other tribes women took themselves and their kids back into the huts, some of the men watched, while others, including Koi's friends, bounded Apenimon's men and laid them on the ground so they could not move.

"Kill me and watch this tribe die! You are unfit to lead! You are unfit to call yourself a man!"

"You are wrong! I am more of a man than you could ever become! I shall lead this tribe the best way I know how! With my wife, my child, and my tribe members by my side!"

When those words left his mouth, The chief lunged at him. Koi reacted quicker, caught him by his throat, and threw him down. Punches were thrown and landed on jaws, chests, stomachs, and heads. Despite The chief getting on in years, he was still an excellent fighter. But, Koi was better.

As the fight progressed, blood was drawn, bones were cracked, and bruises were formed. The broken chief took a step back and wiped the blood from his lip. "May Mother Earth force you to drown in the waters of your failure and treachery!"

"I shall give you no such pleasure!" Koi took a step forward and delivered one last blow to his father. As the crack of his neck resonated through the air, his body collapsed to the ground.

Koi bent down next to his lifeless father, looking into his fading eyes. He placed two fingers on his neck, sighing when he didn't feel the rhythmic beat of the heart. He slid his eyelids down, closing his eyes, and stood back up. He walked over to where the tribesmen had Apenimon's men bounded and looked down at them.

"You two have followed the orders to the filth of Mother Earth. I will not kill you for your ignorance." He, then, turned his attention to the tribesmen holding them down to give them his first order as chief. "Keep them bounded and throw them in a canoe. Set them down the river. Mother Earth may pity their souls, but I doubt so." The tribesmen nodded and began to drag the two men towards the river bank a mile away.

Koi, then, turned his attention to the group of onlooking tribesmen. "Prepare the body for burial. He shall be returned to the earth at the departure of the coming sun." The men nodded and hurried over to the former chief's body.

Koi turned away from the body and made his way into the woods. He walked over to the running creek and washed the dried blood from his body. The cool water on his face felt like a blessing. Burgundy stained the water as it washed off of his body. He was sure to be sore in the morning, but that was the least of his worries at the moment. When his body was clean of blood, both his and his father's, he went back to the village.

He walked over to the healing hut and sat next to the entrance. He could the sounds of his mother talking and Lucy screaming and groaning. It took everything in him to listen to his mother's words and stay outside. Knowing his lover was in pain and he couldn't be there for her hurt him deeply. Soon, fatigue took over and he fell asleep against the wooden hit walls.

Under regular circumstances, Koi was a moderately heavy sleeper. It took a good amount of noise and movement to wake him up if he was in a deep sleep. But, these were far from regular circumstances.

Koi jolted up when the sounds of crying hit his ear drums. He became more alert when he realized the source of the crying was an infant. He sprang to his feet when he saw his mother stick her head out of the hut. The sky above them was a mixture of purple, orange and pink, signifying the rising of the sun and the start of a new day.

"Come, Koi. See your child." She smiled. He followed her into the hut, seeing the two tribes women huddled together and his younger lover laying on a pallet of hides. Her naked body was covered by another hide. He knelt down beside her, taking ahold of her hand. She looked up at him through tired eyes and smiled.

"Hello, my small one. How are you feeling?"

"Tired, but I'm fine. You're all bruised up." Her smile faltered.

"Do not worry about that." He kissed her forehead and just looked at her.

"Koi." His mother called. He looked at her and his eyes lit up when he saw the swaddled bundled in her arms. "A strong and mighty warrior your son will grow up to be." She smiled, placing the baby boy in his arms.

He looked down into his son's small face, stroking the soft black hair that sat on top of his head. The baby looked up at his father with brown eyes and yawned.

"You were born a large one, my son. You shall do wondrous things for Mother Earth." Koi held his son for several minutes before the baby boy began crying, showing off his strong lungs.

"He's hungry, Koi." Lucy stated, reaching for their son. He placed the baby in her arms and watched as he greedily latched onto her teet. "Ya's hungry, weren't ya?" She cooed, smiling at her son as she stroked his plump cheek.

Koi kept his gaze locked on his family, smiling.