Asdahlia, page 9
Stevedores unload cargo from the ship while the Lieutenant looks on and the purser approaches him with the manifest, which he looks through and signs. At his direction his personally handpicked men come forward to carry the wood boxes on to the horse-drawn cart. There are reinforcement troops who also arrive on the same ship from other parts of the country to maintain the strength of the battalions under the General’s command. They disembark orderly and proceed to line up at the side of the road waiting for direction to march to the camp.
As soon as they arrive at the barracks, the men who are in-charge of the cargo empty the cart. The supply officer comes to inspect the shipment which includes uniforms, ammunitions, medical and food supplies from Manila and other ports of call. Some of the men carry the blocks of ice, sawdust and pig carcasses and place them together in a huge container for preservation and the rest of the cargo is distributed to its proper storage. Only then does Lt. Conroy proceed to his office.
On the other part of the island three young warriors meet in darkness. The moon is full in the eastern sky. An elderly man, called Imam, makes elaborate preparation of their body; to make certain that they are thoroughly washed and clean, their nails are trimmed, their teeth brushed to gleaming whiteness. Their heads and faces are well shaved. There is an old saying that goes “they appear almost to the likeness of the moon”. On their waist is a tight and wide band to keep them strong. Their genitals are bound tightly with cords. The Imam in this place is not just an ordinary medicine man. To them he is first a religious leader who is there to assist those who are ready to take the road to paradise according to their beliefs.
He stretches a white chord, ties the arms, thighs, and legs of the warriors to prevent circulation and loss of blood. This numbs the body from feeling pain of wounds and therefore improves the chance of achieving their goal before they die. They are immaculately clothed in white robes and white turbans. Attached to their waistband is a charm to ward off bullets. The Imam presiding over a trance-inducing ritual sees to it that they appear before their God most favorably. He reminds the initiate that dying in this way has great merits and therefore must be embraced with fervor explaining that the Koran offers great rewards for those slain in battle, therefore death is a privilege.
The three men form a circle. They put their hands on the Koran and together intone an oath and enter into spells to conquer fear.
“We hold a covenant with God that we will wage this holy war for it is of God.”
The Imam begins to chant together with the three warriors an appropriate prayer and lets them work themselves into frenzy until they are fired to the pitch of fanaticism, moving around brandishing swords that have been honed to razor edge and polished to a smooth shine. With his blessing they become maniacal running individuals waging a personal holy war against the new occupying regime.
Back in the camp four soldiers add kerosene to all the deity lanterns suspended at the corner posts and in every twenty feet along the top of the fence. The wicks are adjusted a notch higher for brighter lighting. The designated guards take turns and are posted on all four sides. As the night creeps in, the soldiers get inside the tents, each one making sure their rifles are loaded and ready before they lie down for the night.
The dogs are, as usual, their best allies and proven dependable in giving warning sounds of impending attacks. The soldiers grab their rifles and sit in position. As the barking intensifies, the thumping on the ground are getting closer, frantic sound of breathing consumed with manic fury accompanies the running footfalls before the final assault. A barrage of shots is unleashed and ferocious shouts of soldiers fill the air. After several horrific moments there is complete silence, the lamps turn on lighting the entire camp. Sounds of panting of soldiers are heavy and their senses remain alert as they assess the situation. The commander increased the night watch in all four sides of the camp while the rest get back to sleep. Some of the men sit until daylight unable to forget the horror of the attack.
The next morning the soldiers see three dead bodies of slain suicide killers. The bodies are lumped together and pushed aside waiting for their commander’s instruction. Lieutenant Conroy with three of his men come out of the storage room carrying three pig carcasses and drop it in front of the gathered soldiers. At his instruction, the soldiers wrap and sew the carcasses over the dead bodies completely covering the heads of the slain Moro. The rest of the soldiers look on with shock and the less experienced walk away to vomit in revulsion. When the work on the carcasses is complete they throw the bodies into the cart and wait for their commander.
It is almost midday when Commander Black Jack walks out and joins the group. He handpicks the men to accompany him, rides in front of the cart and they head for the center of town carrying the dead bodies.
The weather is nice and the people walk by doing their own thing. Children are also out in the street playing under the heat of the sun. The horse-drawn cart pulls over the middle of the street. At the sight of the General riding in front of his men, the town folks become fearful suspicious that something bad is going to happen. As soon as the instruction is given, the men toss down the dead bodies wrapped in pig carcasses in the middle of the street. They turn around and drive away while the local people quickly gather around to investigate.
The whole town is stunned and dumbfounded; stepping back, horrified. For many hours no one dared to touch the dead bodies, and nobody came forward to claim them. Everyone is struck with horror at the sight and stayed away. The Imam who was immediately called comes almost running to the center of the crowd. He calls few men from the crowd to carry the bodies out of sight. The entire community seems to understand the message.
Back in the camp, the battalion stands in formation when the General arrives back from the town. The men who went with him get off the truck and take their spot on the line. The Commander walks to the front and looking everyone in the eyes, he begins his speech.
“Today we carried out a war tactic that has not been tried anywhere in the past. We will not know the outcome of it until it happens and we will not know how the people of this island will react.” He pauses for a second before continuing. “Therefore I am sure everybody understands what we are up against. Expect retaliation from this moment on and be ready to defend your life. This strategy will continue until we have achieved our desired result which is to end the assault, and eventually to end this war. Meanwhile, no one is allowed to walk outside this camp or in the village unauthorized. Secondly, observe curfew in the strictest sense. Dismiss.”
The general pivots and the lieutenant take over.
“Battalion at ease”
His voice echoes and everyone disperses and goes back to attend their own duties. The newly arrived soldiers look somber at what they had experienced last night and witnessed this morning. No one says anything but they all seem to understand that this is reality, a fight for survival in this remote island village; a real training in moral conviction, courage and perseverance; a constant choice between life and death. A young man polishes the handle of his rifle, using the sleeves of his uniform to wipe the tears he is trying to hide.
CHAPTER 12
The Uprising
Meanwhile, Charlie divides his time between working in his office and visiting the school. It is mid afternoon and the sunny weather is perfect. The temperature is in the low 80’s. He has finished his paper work in the office so he prepares to bring some donated books over to the school. The two Thomasites running the school are making do with very little resources and they need more books for the children. He is walking towards the Head Teacher’s Room when he sees the figure of a girl standing outside the window looking into the classroom. She has not been seen for quite some time which made the teachers wonder what has happened to her. He looks at her with curiosity since she is now wearing traditional maroon-dyed clothing that completely covers her from head to her ankles.
Charlie continues on his way, but to his surprise the girl turns to look squarely in his direction as though she has been waiting to find him. Charlie can now see that her dark veil conceals more than half of her face but she is peering at him behind that veil. Charlie looks in her direction but hesitates to approach lest she run away. Still he wonders what color her eyes might be.
Her movement when she faces him has a hint of urgency and Charlie could almost feel that she wants something from him. He cannot be sure so he decides to linger talking with the other teachers and staying until time for the children’s dismissal. Tim seems to be in a hurry and he inserts the key to the door as a cue for them to leave. Charlie follows and proceeds to go out allowing him to lock the door.
“Charlie, we have been notified by the Commander from the camp to dismiss the class and go home early today as a precaution. There was another attack at the barracks last night and they said that three madmen were killed in that encounter.”
Bill joined in the conversation with the story of the attack last night and asks Charlie.
“Have you seen it?”
“No. It is too scary even to think about.” Charlie replies.
They begin walking towards the direction of the camp and they become aware of the girl following them.
Curious, Charlie turns to ask, “Do you live around here?”
The girl is lagging a few feet behind and does not look at them but she shakes her head in negative response. Charlie speaks louder in an effort to get her to speak up.
“Where do you come from?”
Still the girl does not reply and keeps her head down as it is usually the custom among women not to have direct eye contact with men. It is considered indecent in the Moro tradition. She continues to follow them. The growing noise just ahead of them captures their attention and they walk hurriedly in silence. A group of men on the side of the road sound furious but they cannot understand what is going on. As they are nearing the crowd, the girl behind them walks faster to get closer to Charlie. There is no other way to avoid the angry crowd now that they are getting close. The crowd is yelling curses at them and getting more and more aggressive towards them.
Charlie looks at the remaining stretch of about quarter of a mile from the camp’s gate and they walk as fast as they can. The crowd turns on the girl, cursing at her and some of them are picking up stones with the obvious intention to stone her. Charlie instinctively puts his arms around her shoulder to protect her, while real fear is pounding at his chest. He looks over to the gate of the camp and he estimates that if they run, the crowd will turn into frenzy and simply outrun them, so they half run and half walk to keep the mob at bay. At that instant he could not be more grateful to see the arrival of the horse-mounted soldiers who instantly divide the mob to avoid the trampling horses.
As the horses gallop to a stop, a cloud of dust rises and a strong gust spreads it over the people, who move to the side. Charlie, Bill and Tim are pulled up to the cart behind the soldiers, but to their surprise the girl is no longer with them. Charlie feels a sudden rush of panic searching for the girl among the crowd. The men grow more furious yelling at them. Charlie does not understand every word they say and he could only think of the girl at the moment.
“She is gone!”
The soldiers flank Charlie and the teachers riding passed the growing crowd of angry people as they gallop back to the safety of the camp. Six guards run to push the barbed wire gate open, closing it as soon as the soldiers and the teachers are safely inside, preventing the crowd from entering.
The soldiers inside the camp, who heard the commotion happening outside the gate, come running and gather around the cart.
After several hours of screaming, the mob disperses and leaves. Charlie and the teachers are curious what really provoked the people to that extent. Their jaws drop and it is now their turn to be horrified upon hearing about the pig-wrapping and tossing incident. The entire village is so incensed at the use of pig carcasses on dead bodies which they consider sacred. The gruesome details are told over and over again until it is getting dark in the barracks.
Twelve men accompany Charlie to his cottage and they remain outside to keep watch while he picks up some things. He steps inside and hangs his hat on the nail at the entry wall when he sees a slight movement at the corner of his eyes. It is the girl. She moves a step forward and her right hand reaches up behind her left ears to drop the veil. Charlie stops at that instant, his eyes grow round behind his spectacles as he whispers to her.
“What is your name?”
“Asdahlia”
“Asdahlia, what a beautiful name.”
Frozen to the spot, he stares while all words flee from his brain as he pushes aside the veil and holds her face between his hands. He is still trying to find a word to say to her but he suddenly sees panic creeping into her eyes. She puts her hand over his lips. There is a loud commotion outside followed by several rounds of gunshots. The girl wraps her hands around Charlie. At that exact moment the door flies open. A man, whose head is shaven and shiny, is looking from side to side searching the room to kill his target. A rapid succession of rifle shots comes from behind and the man falls forward on his face. The soldiers rush in but Charlie is no where inside. They are puzzled by his disappearance so they search the surroundings. As hard as they try, they are still unable to find him so they head back to the camp to report the incident. Four men carry the limp body of the soldier while those who sustained wounds struggle to keep up and get away from the location.
Meanwhile, Charlie holds on to Asdahlia making great effort not to faint from spinning at a speed of a whirlwind. The next second Charlie draws a long breath and finds himself rising to the height of trees being blown by tremendous wind upward with Asdahlia tightening her right arm around his waist maneuvering both of them. He can hardly take his eyes off her face. He cannot fathom her expression, her hair floating with the wind behind her.
Charlie is speechless and cannot begin to describe his experience. The air is around him, whipping his face icy cold and blowing his shirt. His jaw falls when he realizes that they are now flying and floating, hopping from treetop to treetop. One thing he is sure about is that he is afraid of falling. He looks down gasping as he sees the pitch-dark ocean below. He has a feeling that they are descending quickly. He can feel a constriction in his throat, when for a fleeting second, their speed slows down before they hit the water. He feels as if he is losing consciousness.
Charlie works his feet and legs and wobbles upright then staggers to the water and plunges his face against the waves. He can hear the water in his ears and the sound of waves hitting the shore but everything else is dark. Small hands drags him below the surface, but he knows they are moving farther and farther away. Then he feels the seabed and notices that they are both crawling towards the shore. The sand washes over his face, ears, nostrils and hair. Charlie rolls over and sprawls in the dry sand surrendering to exhaustion and whispers his disbelief.
“Oh my God, please wake me up if I am dreaming!”
His eyes still sting from the salt water, his clothes drenched and sticking to his body making his movement tight. He looks to his side and notices that he is lying down among skeletal remains in the sand. He springs up.
“Oh God! What is happening?”
Charlie turns to look at the girl beside him. The things she is capable of doing are beyond his comprehension. She looks wild and pretty, yet he cannot imagine how she was able to manage to bring him here the way she did. She has quick senses too, which bring her quickly to her feet. In response, Charlie scrambles to follow her into the bush and he drops down when he sees her drop down to hide behind the rock. They watch the flashes of cannons firing from the boat. With each burst of light there is a silhouette of a huge ship on fire tilting to its side, smoldering against the dark mist of the sea. They keep their heads down and he sees the alarm on her face as they watch the unfolding drama before them.
About half a mile from them, there are men unloading boxes marked “AMMUNITION”. She produces a knife from under her garment as she gets up.
“Run.”
“I’m right behind you.”
He follows her as fast as he can, ascending the twisting path leading to the rocky cliff. He keeps his sight on her running ahead and observes her feet are barely touching the moss-covered incline. Charlie gasps for breath as he tries to catch up but he finds it impossible. He sees her coming back and picks him up. They run again with her leading the way. They seem to be moving much faster while she is holding his hand. Charlie looks at his own feet and wonders if he is still touching the ground.
They turn around momentarily to look at the blazing fire coming from the ship in the middle of the sea. With the rising flames they could see that there are at least six military patrol boats circling it. Charlie sees the flicker of fear in Asdahlia’s face before her usual air of confidence comes back. The urgency in her actions makes him feel nervous. But then again she exudes power when she flicks her fingers and the huge roots and vines move to cover all the paths behind them and fog blankets the mountain. Charlie’s hair is standing on its roots just watching everything around him move, hopping around to avoid the moving ground, and reaching to hold on to Asdahlia. When they reach the cottage, Asdahlia runs inside and calls her mother in frantic voice.
