The prison smelled blood, but not the old dried type that stained the floors and walls from years of beatings but fresh blood. Julius's blood. It trailed like a dark, painful signature through the stone corridors of the prison as two guards dragged his limp body back to the cell block, his skin flayed, his bones twisted, his breath shallow and rasping like wind scraping through leaves.
The sky above the prison yard was dim, thick with looming clouds that pressed down on the earth like a heavy hand. Rain threatened, but didn't fall. Even the heavens, it seemed, were holding their breath. They dropped Julius at the entrance of Cell 9 like a sack of cassava. His body didn't move.
Inside the cell, the silence that greeted him was different this time: no shouts, no questions, no rush of footsteps to lift him. Just Tanko, Timi and Ezekiel while others froze in disbelief. It wasn't just that Julius was broken this time. It was lik something big had left his body. Something vital.
"Julius!" Tanko rushed forward and knelt beside him. "No, no, no, stay with us."
Julius's eyes fluttered open, barely He tried to speak, but only a wheeze came out.
"They broke him," Ezekiel whispered, clenching his fists. "This time, they've truly broken him."
Blood soaked through Julius's prison uniform. His right arm was twisted at an odd angle. His lips were cracked and bleeding. Bruises covered every part of his skin. A deep gash above his eye leaked a slow, steady trickle of red.
"They beat him with metal rods," said Timi, shaking with fury. "Hot iron rods. I heard Udo laughing as they did it." "They left him there for hours," Tanko added. "He was screaming."
"No one should suffer like this," Ezekiel said.
But still, through all the agony, Julius remained conscious and breathing barely.
By the next morning, Adaora was at the prison gate. She knew something was wrong. She had sensed it in her bones all night the ache in her chest, the sudden silence in her dreams, the feeling that something precious was slipping through her hands. When she reached the cell and saw Julius lying motionless, her heart shattered.
"No! Julius!" she screamed, rushing to the bars, clutching Jordan to her chest. Jordan, now five, stared wide-eyed at his father's figure. He didn't understand death. But he understood fear. He understood pain. And he began to cry.
"Please, talk to me," Adaora sobbed. "Say something. Anything."
Julius stirred. His eyes opened slowly, like a man waking from the longest nightmare.
"Adaora..." His voice was a whisper, rasping like wind through dry grass. "I'm here. I'm here, my love," she said, pressing her hands to the bars.
Julius tried to lift his hand, but it trembled too violently. Tanko took it and gently guided it to the bars so it could touch Adaora's fingers. Julius held on weakly, as though afraid that if he let go, he'd drift away forever. Adaora who saw the sad scene broke into tears. "No. You will live. You'll survive this. We'll get you out." He gave the faintest of smiles,"No.not this time."
All the inmates gathered silently, forming a half-circle around him. Julius looked at them, one by one, with bloodshot eyes full of weariness but also clarity. "I have a few words," he whispered. "Please... listen." Tanko nodded. "We're with you, brother. Always." Julius coughed, blood speckling his lips. But his voice grew stronger. It was as though something greater was moving through him anger, pain, and a truth long buried beneath injustice.
He turned to Adaora and said "I was not a thief," he said. "The king knew. The judge knew. The gods knew. And yet, they let me suffer because they feared the truth." "They tortured me to protect a lie. My body broke,but my soul refused. I survived every lash for you and for Jordan."
Tears flowed freely now from everyone's eyes.
"But now i will go to rest," Julius whispered.
He turned his face to the heavens what little of the sky he could see from the cell window. The clouds had gathered thickly, as if the world was mourning with him. "I am not afraid to die. But I will not go in silence. Not when the guilty sleep peacefully while the innocent suffer."
He coughed again, the pain stabbing through his chest. Adaora sobbed uncontrollably.
And then, with a strength that should not have been possible, Julius pulled himself slightly upright and shouted not to the inmates, not to the guards, but to the skies themselves. "Let my blood cry out from the grave!", His voice thundered through the cell. "Let no peace remain in Gambe until justice is done! Let every road quake with fear! Let every night carry my pain upon its breath!" while he was laying this curse, the rain finally fell soft at first, then pounding like a drumbeat.
"I curse you, King Amos!" Julius screamed. "I curse your throne, your name, your legacy! Let the shadow of my suffering rise against you! Let my spirit walk this earth until the truth consumes your lies!" The prison guards came rushing, but they were too late. The moment had already passed.
Julius turned to Adaora, his breathing now faint.
"Tell him, tell Jordan to be better than me and live very free." "I will," Adaora sobbed. "I will."
With one final breath, Julius closed his eyes and the light within him faded, and the prison went so silent, nobody or guard made a moved, No inmate evem spoke. Only the rain, falling like tears upon the cracked stone floor.
That night, the town of Gambe was in total shook.
The wind howled unnaturally. Doors slammed open without reason. The palace guards swore they saw shadows that moved like beasts. Dogs howled. Cows broke free from pens. Children woke up screaming from nightmares they couldn't explain. And in the heart of the palace, King Amos sat alone cold sweat running down his back.
He had heard Julius's voice calling his name so hard Outside the prison, the storm intensified. Rain now pounded the roof like angry fists, and the wind whipped around the prison yard like a raging spirit looking for vengeance.
Adaora didn't wait for permission, She clutched little Jordan close and ran from the prison gates and into the town of Gambe, her heart torn open, her soul was totally on fire. "He's dead!" she cried. "They've killed Julius! They've killed my husband!"
Her voice pierced through every street like a spear. The villagers gathered, doors opened. Market stalls were abandoned. Children clung to their mothers. Women cried out in shock, men shook their heads in disbelief.
Adaora fell to her knees in the town square, soaked in rain, screaming, "You let them kill an innocent man! May his blood speak from the grave! May this land never forget!"
Some tried to hold her. Others simply wept. Even those who had once whispered that Julius might be guilty now turned their faces in shame. They had heard of the torture, the screams, the suffering. And now, the cost of their silence lay bare before them. Nobody was able to talk while the young lady was laying the curse, it was now a town of curse, Gambe town witnessed what has never happened before in the town.
King Amos who knew everything has gone wrong Sat in fear, he couldn't even opened his mouth, all what he did was sit in silence. Adoara kept on crying and holding little Jordan, as at that time Jordan knew something has gone wrong even though he was still a little boy. He knew his family were in total disarray. Adoara cried out loud telling the king to go and carry his dead body which lying dead in the prison custody. Everybody who gathered at the kings palace later left shaking their heads.
As at this time so many people knew Julius was innocent, just few people were still doubting. Adoara after crying bitterly at the kings palace went back to the prison with some of her family members and make an official plea for her husband's body to be released for a good burial, but the prison officials refused saying it was the prison that will bury him because he was sentenced to live imprisonment.
The traumer of lossing an innocent man who was accused wrongly of a crime he never committed remains with Adaora. She was at the prison custody all night crying and watching her dead husband lying dead on the ground with wounds all over his body, Adaora kept cursing the king and the entire Gambe village. So many thought ran through her mind, how she will atel care of Jordan alone and if she will ever forget this brutal killing done by this wicked and evil men.
Meanwhile this was not the end, Gambe village were about to witnessed the most terrible disaster. A curse has been laid by both Julius and his wife and the curse is about to start acting, the big question was? What will become of the king and his family members, the elders and also his brother who stole the jewelry. A mighty calamity is about to happen.