THE HORSEMEN [ 2 ]

The following is based on events articulated in Revelations VI...

Yehoshua took the seven stars in his right hand and placed them above the green-flamed parchments. The first page of the parchments flipped open, releasing a white puff of cloud. Yehoshua blew gently on the puff of cloud. The puff shifted and a sturdy white horse leapt out of the green-flamed parchment, landing in front of Yehoshua. The white horse grunted as Yehoshua patted its manes.

“Ariel,” Yehoshua said, his voice was the same as the YHWH’s, echoing down the rows of thousands of angels. From the row of Archangels, Ariel, the General from the Bureau of War, rose from his knees with spread his wings. With one swoop of his wings, Ariel arrived before Yehoshua, sabre-tooth claymore drawn and left knee bowed. 

“You will ride the white one,” Yehoshua continued. “You and your band of arms will fight with and protect the elected one, Akani Salvador. He’s at Kiri-kiri prisons, Section 80, Quadrant 4, Code 234, Time-zone GMT+1.” 

“As you will,” Ariel responded without raising his head. 

“Rise,” Yehoshua said. Ariel rose and mounted the white horse. The horse levitated and galloped off in air, leaving behind a blaze of glory. As the horse flew above the row of angels, five angels rose, spread their wings and followed after Ariel. 

*** 

The firing squad was quiet. The thin crowd standing by anticipated the captain’s “Fire” with bated breaths, but it didn’t come… For sixty seconds, the four sergeants on their knees waited for the order, rifles cocked, aims trained, mind cleared, fingers hooked… but the order didn’t come. 

The suspense was unbearable for Akani. He couldn’t fathom why the order had taken so long to come. The longer he waited, the more his thoughts dwelt on the possibility of his postponed death. Yet deep down, he wanted to die. He had dug so deep into the faith that he lived daily on the cusps of heaven. 

“Not so fast” He heard a voice mutter deep within his thoughts. At first, he felt it was just his subconscious, but the voice came again. “My name isn’t subconscious, I am Ariel.” 

“Who?” Akani asked out loud, uncertain of the veracity of the voice he heard. 

“Not so loud,” the voice responded. “We are here to get you out.” 

Captain Usman observed Akani muttering to himself through the corner of his eyes. He held a letter of clemency in hand brought in by the Head of prison services. The letter was signed by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. 

“Sir, this was signed today.” Captain Usman whispered to Isiaku Bako, head of prisons services.

“That’s why I had to come myself,” Isiaku whispered in return. 

Isiaku Bako been woken by a call from the presidency telling the prisoner Akani Salvador had been granted the presidential pardon today. When he put a call through to Kiri-kiri prisons, he’d been told Akani was due for execution today. The only thing that would stop Akani’s execution was a physical presentation of the letter to the police executioners - because the executioners operated independently of the prison’s services. 

By the time he’d flown into Lagos, the prisoner had already been lined up for execution. The warden at Kiri-kiri was skeptical about calling off Akani’s execution because he was scared of how it would play out in the media. But Isiaku was more concerned about the presidency’s wrath than the media’s pen. 

“Sir, you have to understand that I answer only to my boss.” Captain Usman whispered again. 

“And he answers to the presidency,” Isiaku responded. 

 “Shoot already!” One of the prisoners on the firing squad screamed in frustration, but nothing happened - Not even after he added a string of expletives. 

“At ease!” Captain Usman barked at the sergeants, they all turned to stare at him, confused. 

“I said, ‘At ease’” he screamed. The sergeants lowered their weapon and rose. 

“This execution has been suspended by a presidential order.” Captain Usman announced and gasps rippled through the thin crowd.

To be continued...

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