In the Shadow of the Snake Prince

Ayen Dolo

Description

In the Shadow of the Snake Prince’ is a story about healing. It is a young lady's quest to escape a diabolical snake worshipper; her personal battle to find peace and sanity in a world gone crazy.
She is caught in the vortex of one of Africa’s bloodiest civil wars.
She loses her entire family to the violence,is captured and enslaved by a psychopathic rebel commander who has sold his soul to the Snake God Damballa. He subjects her to despicable things and scars her for life.
She is eventually rescued from her captor but finds it impossible to disentangle from his influence. Overwhelmed by the desire for revenge, how does she react when she confronts her nemesis? Does she allow the snake’s fangs to remain buried deep within? Or will she find the courage to finally liberate herself from the Snake Prince’s shadow and find healing?

Sujets

• Science Fiction
• Princess
• Snake
• Shadow
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Xlibris US
• Date de parution: 09 janvier 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669856368
• Langue: English

Extrait

In the Shadow of the Snake Prince
A Saga of Liberia’s war
Ayen Dolo

Copyright © 2022 by Ayen Dolo.
 
ISBN:
Softcover
978-1-6698-5637-5

eBook
978-1-6698-5636-8
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
 
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Rev. date: 12/08/2022
 
 
 
 
 
Xlibris
844-714-8691
www.Xlibris.com
848661
Contents
Chapter One
A Happy New Year
Chapter Two
The Birth of a Promise
Chapter Three
The Making of a Soldier
Chapter Four
The Blood Rain
Chapter Five
The Revolution
Chapter Six
The General Returns
Chapter Seven
Widowhood
Chapter Eight
The Calm Before the Storm
Chapter Nine
The Blood Storm
Chapter Ten
Face-to-face with the Snake Prince
Chapter Eleven
The Quest for Vengeance
Epilogue
A Short Glossary of Non-English Words and Liberian Parlance

And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming,
And the lamp-light o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted—nevermore!
—“The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe
Introduction
Set in the most tumultuous period of Liberia’s history, In the Shadow of the Snake Prince weaves the tortured life story of Kozee Slawon, a beautiful young girl caught in the intricate web of class struggle and the ensuing political violence.
Kozee’s story begins in Saclepea, a small rural town in the heart of Liberia when her father, Maxwell Slawon, while still a child, makes a solemn promise to his parents. He has seen the devastating effect of exploitation and abuse against his own father by the ruling establishment and believes he would be able to protect his family when he becomes a soldier.
Max’s dream comes true, and he finds himself in the circle of soldiers who brutally demolish the rule of the elites made up mostly of freed slaves who returned to Africa after the collapse of the transatlantic slave trade. Ironically, Max’s career as a soldier does not guarantee protection for him and his family but rather leaves them vulnerable as victims of a new kind of power struggle among the coup makers.

Following an abortive counter-coup led by his tribal kinsman, Max is dragged out of a hospital ward and gruesomely murdered, leaving his wife and two children to fend for themselves in a very volatile political landscape that soon erupts into an all-out civil war.
While escaping reprisal killings targeting her ethnic group, Kozee’s mother and brother are brutally murdered right before her eyes in a macabre, ritually- motivated killing by a psychopathic rebel commander, Snake-in-the-Grass, who happens to be from the same ethnic group. Driven by occult motivations, he spares Kozee and keeps her as his sex slave and fetish in his worship of the snake god, Damballa.
Kozee escapes but remains enslaved to the memories of the abuse she endured at the hands of the snake worshipper. She is totally consumed by hate and a nagging desire for revenge. Many years after the war, Kozee, now married and struggling to live a normal life, finds herself on a collision course with Snake-in-the-Grass. The encounter does not bring her peace but rather intensifies her emotional torment.
Fortunately, her husband, Robert Johnson, a descendant of the former ruling class and himself a victim of the political crisis, is a positive force in her life despite the challenges of their marriage. Kozee’s journey from darkness begins when he motivates her to make a conscious break from the past and forgive unconditionally. Her statement at the nation’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) hearings sums up her experience and resolve.
“For a good part of my life,” she said, “I have lived with a dagger planted deep in my heart. Instead of removing it, I have been the one plunging it deeper and deeper, every day, with my own hands. One day I decided enough was enough! I decided to let go. I pulled the dagger out. It was painful and of course, I bled. But that was the day my healing began. Mr. Commissioner, I had my own personal TRC!”
With this courageous step toward healing, Kozee is finally able to escape from the shadow of the snake prince.
Acknowledgments
For this long-held dream to come true, my gratitude first and foremost goes to God Almighty for His love and mercy that keep me going. I appreciate my parents, Joseph and Martha Dolo, both deceased, for my upbringing. I still hear your words of wisdom.
My love and gratitude go to my darling wife, Kendra Dolo, and my boys, Nigel Dalewon Dolo, Colin Zoduamon Dolo, and Jason Doelakeh Dolo who made personal sacrifices to allow me to write late into the night. Kendra, you were the first to read my manuscript and as a victim of the civil war in Liberia, your reaction to the madness described in the book was priceless.
I extend special thanks to Mr. Michael S. Siaway and his dear wife Crystal Siaway for personally investing in this work and making the publication possible after sixteen years of catching dust on the shelves.
I am indebted to Ms. Ophelia Lewis of Village Tales Publishing who encouraged me to complete the project for publication and took a personal interest in doing some of the initial work of editing and proofreading.
I acknowledge and appreciate the following persons who have played pivotal roles in my life and the completion of this work:
Uncle Joseph D. Yeah and his beautiful family for their love and positive influence on my life.
Dr. Mira Taylor for her love, support, encouragement, and advice.
Dr. Aboagye Marfo for reading the manuscript and giving valuable insights.
To friends who believe in my ability: Dr. J. Railey Gompah, Joel and Gbaper Bleah, Lee and Narko Wuanti, Dr. Paul D. Miantona, and wife Phillip Robert, etc.
To friends and family who always encourage me to write: Edmond Karmon Tour, Dr. E. Dzamesi, Elder Roland Suomie, all my Facebook fans, my dear sister Olive Weijla, Dr. Zeambo Dahnweih, etc.
To everyone who has made this journey possible in one form or another.
Except for the actual historical events described, the content of In the Shadow of the Snake Prince is purely fictional. I however apologize for any unintended coincidental similarity to the actual experiences of anyone.
Chapter One
A Happy New Year
To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you .
—Lewis B. Smedes
Today is December 31, 2001. And for many Liberians, going to church on New Year’s Eve is a must. As the city of Monrovia awakens from its beer-induced slumber on the back of the Christmas celebrations, churches are setting up to receive the whole town into their sanctuary. Many will go to offer earnest prayers, hoping to begin the New Year on a fresh spiritual slate. But for a thousand others, it will be a night full of passion without purpose.
Somewhere in the mix of that multitude of enthusiasts, is a young woman with a history so dark and so profound, it rules her life. Out of sync with a country she once so dearly loved, she has taught herself to be insensible to its idiosyncrasies. At the urgings of her husband, she sometimes tries to flow with the tide of everyday living in Taylor’s Liberia. But concerning the New Year’s Eve craze, she has refused to be a fan. Over time, she has become wary of the hollowness of the experience for what she calls a “lack of commitment to resolution.” For many are the promises Liberians make to God and themselves on New Year’s Eve—promises that die the very next day, only to be revived and repeated a year later when the next New Year’s Eve comes. Whenever the issue of the New Year’s Eve frenzy comes up, this young lady does not hesitate to remind people of this fact.
“Listening to people pray on New Year’s Eve,” she would say, “one would think that Liberia would become a whole new place. Sadly, year after year nothing changes—not even attitude.”
Yet today, she also seems preoccupied with the church idea. Not that she is anxious to go, no, far from that. She looks reluctantly at the clock on the table. It is almost six o’clock in the evening. Her husband will soon be coming home, and they too will get ready for church. It’s his idea, not hers. For her, everything about Liberia remains gloomy and hopeless and she sees no reason to believe that 2002 will be any different. Left alone, she would prefer to pass the evening in the dark of her single rented room. But because her husband so badly wants to go, she will just have to tag along.
She has not eaten all day. But she is not hungry. Out of necessity, she has tried so many times to mouth a spoonful of the rice and potato grain stew she has managed to cook for lunch, but her stomach continues its insurrection. There is not a morsel of appetite inside her, just a low wave of restlessness. She tries one more time and gives up. She covers the food