After the Apocalypse

The duel was set to be on the first of March, on a day that was highly auspicious as it was the day that many believed that humanity had come out of the shadows and become a civilization, but the day that humanity had also sealed its fate to dramatically collapse 12,000 years later.

On the months leading up to the duel, I saw the chieftain preparing himself, getting into better physical shape, dueling more and more people so as to be better at fighting than he ever was before. The tribe moved closer to the sacred grove of trees, a circle of trees which were called the Date-Palms. Very auspicious, I thought, to have a date with the death of an enemy there.

Meanwhile, Ani’sja continued to court me and actually started to teach me how to fight because I asked him to teach me, which was out of pure interest as the chief was fighting.

“Fighting a person is very different from fighting an animal,” He said, laughing after I first tried to duel him and got disarmed fast. “You’ve got to remember that they have a weapon, too, and that they can seriously hurt you with said weapon. If you just go for the heart, you will die in a true fight. Let me show you how to counter when an enemy pushes their spear at you. Whatever you do, don’t let your guard down. Always be on the ready for attacks, though some enemies will let their guard down sometimes. If they do, expect yourself to be being baited, and do rush in, because they will immediately show you that they did not, in fact, let their guard down. So be on the watch for that.”

Then, he showed me all of the moves, and over the days leading up to the duel, I became good at fighting. Finally, on the day of the duel, he told me that it was the extent of his knowledge because his father had only started teaching him how to duel, as he thought that he would not need it.

The day of the duel was hot and miserable. Both men were both sweaty and smelly as they walked into the grove. The trees had branches spreading out, big bulbs growing on them. The trunks of the trees had wood jutting out from them in a strange circle. The trees were planted in a circle, in the sand, and behind the trees there was seating in which the men (and two women, hand-selected by the chief) of each of the tribes would be watching. I was one of those two, the other being the chief’s wife as his mother was too ill to join.

“After all the hunting and the dueling that we have done, I had to convince my father to let you join in.” My future husband said. “I don’t even know why. Maybe there’s just something that’s gotten into him, thinking that you can’t handle the gore…you’ve seen gore, haven’t you?”

I nodded. “But only animal gore. Nothing human. Not fresh, anyway.”

All of the women had, at one point, had to dispose of the dead of their family. I had done it when I was only ten. I can still remember that time, seeing my grandfather’s disfigured face. He’d lost a duel against a former friend and had paid with his life. I hadn’t known him for long, but I still wept for days. So much for being strong, I thought, even though it was years ago.

I sat in one of the special boxes for the family and hand-picked people of the chief. It was a little luxurious, with chairs brought from the villages. All of it was made by slave labor, of course, which did not make this good for me, as my father had told me the reasons to dislike the use of slaves.

“It is not only torturous to the person involved, but it also is not a good way to get things done as they do not want to do the work that they are doing.” My father had said once to me.

At that moment, the drummer started to drum in a circle, right in front of us, and a moment later, the two chieftains came out of the openings in the seating, where the seating parted to go up. Both were bare, except for a loincloth that covered their bits. Both of them were brawny, even though they were both in their late thirties, or at least I thought that they were.

Both of them were tossed spears. At that moment, each of them beat their breasts, and let forth a ferocious roar.

Both chiefs started to circle each other. Then, without warning, they both ran at each other.

Chief ‘Sja was able to bat away the first few blows with his spear and roared when his enemy, Chief ‘Uji, cut a deep gash across his breast and fought even more ferociously, cutting a deep gash across his enemy’s breast just like his enemy had to him.

But for a while, the fighting seemed to be at a stalemate, as they both seemed to be evenly matched. Each slashed at each other from time to time, breaking open gashes in the other’s skin, but for now, the fighting was just that—a stalemate.

Then, a few minutes in, my chieftain started to cut deep gashes in his enemy’s skin, but I had a really bad feeling about this, for some reason. Something was happening. His enemy was letting down his guard. He wanted to be trapped, and for his enemy to let his own guard down, so that he could execute his final move. I could not see that move, but it would not be good for any of us in this tribe.

I tried to scream, saying that the other enemy had let his guard down purposely, but the chief ignored me.

No, I thought. This might be the end of the tribe, or worse. I knew why he wasn’t listening to me; I had only very little experience, and he had no time for thinking. For that reason, he wouldn’t listen to his own son in this situation.

And the moment came that he let his guard down to charge, thinking that his enemy was beaten, and he charged.

“NO!!” I cried, and Ani’sja scrambled to cover my mouth.

The Chief ‘Uji dramatically fell down and when the dust cleared, they were both on the ground, with spears to each other’s throats. There was to be no victor. My father had told me what happened in this situation: the first to yell would be the first to name two duelers, one from the other tribe and one from theirs, while the other would choose the place of the duel.

Ani’sja… I thought, dread bubbling up inside me. Any person who could use a spear would be able to be chosen. Ani’sja had only a few months of training, if that, and was good, but not good enough. But our chief would speak first, I assured myself. But he did not.

And it was not him that Chief ‘Uji chose.

“Ah!” He yelled, then paused, “The betrothed of the future Chief ‘Sja against my son.”

“NO!!!” Ani’sja yelled, taking his hand off of my mouth.