Evil in the Heart of Man: Ghana the War Chief

By Reed C. Dixon

First ever trilogy about a black superhero, an epic adventure, full of history and entertainment, its spiritualistic, uplifting, a classic novel.

In the early seventeenth century, Ghana is a thirteen-year-old boy from a village in West Africa. He and his father are out hunting together when they are captured by slavers and taken away from the only life theyve ever known. Thus begins Ghanas epic journey.

He soon finds himself living on a plantation and given the name Calvin. However, he will not forget his true name: he is African, he is a war chief, and his name is Ghana. As time goes on, he soon realizes he has been tasked by God to free all the slaves and to purge evil from the heart of humanity. Guided by a voice and aided by the supernatural, he frees himself and begins his mission. The voice tells him he will walk the earth, seeking justice for those who are in need. Although this goal may take him hundreds of years to achieve, Ghana is a determined warrior who will not give up. He must defeat the evil that exists in the heart of humanity.

This work of supernatural historical fiction follows the journey of one man as he works to overcome the evils of slavery in early America.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Apr 24, 2015
• ISBN: 9781480815926

Reed C. Dixon

Reed C. Dixon was born and raised in Virginia. He served in the US Army for four years following his graduation from high school. He and his wife, Iris, have two children and currently live in Woodbridge, Virginia.

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Copyright © 2015 Reed C. Dixon .

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Archway Publishing

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Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

ISBN: 978-1-4808-1590-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-1591-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-1592-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015904912

Archway Publishing rev. date: 4/24/2015

CONTENTS

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Four

Chapter Thirty-Five

Chapter Thirty-Six

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Chapter Thirty-nine

Dedication’s

My Inspiration

LET ME TELL YOU A STORY, A STORY ABOUT A superhero, some would say I was just blessed. I was born a free man, and lived free until I was abducted at the young age of thirteen. To most people of this time in history, I was just a black man, a whipping boy, I had no rights. I was the property of another, just to be worked, ridiculed, manipulated, and whipped for the perverted ego’s and glory of others. But I was different, I would never accept the life of a slave, and would eventually secure my freedom. This is my story, and the story of many others just like me, with one exception, I had the power to help all those whose lives meant nothing to many. Those who had been enslaved, manipulated and humiliated. I’d been tasked by God to purge the evil from the heart of man, to save mankind from itself. If I should fail, God would eradicate the species except for a few, those whose hearts were pure.

CHAPTER ONE

THE BIRTH OF A CHILD, HOW COULD ONE WISH for anything more, a blessing. But this was more than just a blessing, a true blessing unbeknownst to my parents, or anyone who was present that early cool morning, in a small village off the coast of West Africa. I was just like any young kid, born innocent, and unaware of what life has to offer. I would grow up with an inclination to love everyone, and every creature that was born of this earth. I was respectful, and courteous. Even at my young age, I despised the hate that some beings showed others. My name is Ghana. I am growing to be a huge man with broad shoulders, at thirteen, I am close to being six feet tall and extremely intelligent for my age. I would never get to know my mom, she died giving birth to me, but somehow I knew, she would gladly die a thousand times over for my survival.

My father, a proud warrior had decided to take me on my very first hunting trip, unaware that this would be the last such trip. He loved me more than anyone, or anything he’d ever loved before. On this day, he felt a great need to discuss a vision he had the night of my birth.

Ghana I must tell you about your mother, she was a loving women, she was extremely proud to carry you in her womb. She was overjoyed and ecstatic about the birth of her son, she held you so tight. She just looked so happy you would have thought that she’d seen God. You became the last and most important thing she did on this earth, a wonderful achievement. She was a beautiful woman and I loved her very much, she was the apple of my eye. Ghana you will grow to be a chief, a very special chief who will live a long life, you will do great things for many years. You will experience history in a way that none other than you has or ever will, you will not understand the meaning of fear therefore you will show none. You will have the power to help. When the time comes, you’ll free others who have been hated, humiliated and persecuted by the hands of other men. Their injustices will be their burden to carry, so just stay true to yourself. I will not be there to see you deliver so many from bondage, but my spirit will guide you through this odyssey. On this day we’ll hunt, so that we can eat, and also help others in the village, those who are in need of our support.

Shortly thereafter, we spotted a group of gazelle, my father motioned for me to stop as he worked his way around so that he could get closer to take a shot. We really needed this meat, we hadn’t had any for many days. Just as my dad stood to make the kill, I heard a loud noise, bang, bang, and I saw my dad go down, he’d been shot. Then I saw two white men and a small band of black men, they all spoke in strange tongues. They then quickly bound my dad and started off into the jungle. I followed them from a distance so I wouldn’t be noticed. After walking for a hour or, so we came upon a camp, there were men from other villages, some were whimpering quietly, hoping not to be heard. I began to feel a sort of pity for them, these were men of honor, men who would never be seen cowering like frightened women. This was the first time I’d seen grown men crying, and it made quite an impression on me, they’d touched my soul. Damn, there’s my dad, tied up in chains, bound like a wild animal, they even had iron anklets around his legs. I wanted to cry out to him but thought better of it. I knew then that it would be up to me. I had to save my dad from something that I knew nothing about, slavery, but what I was about to experience would be life altering. I would soon feel the pain and despair from others who were suffering, little did I know that this was just the beginning. That I was locked in, I had no idea how wide the evil, the arrogance and deceitfulness would spread.

A little after laying down, I fell asleep attempting to devise a plan, a plan to save my dad, and get us home, yes, find a way home.

Early the next morning, I awoke to the sound of birds singing, and the baboons making a commotion in the trees, as if they had spotted a predator nearby. There was only one thing on my mind, and that was to free my dad, he was all I had left in this world. He was chained along with a group of warriors who also had been abducted, some of whom were whimpering, and crying like frightened womenfolk. This was unbecoming to the men of the villages that I was accustomed to, warriors would never show others their true feelings. Then, I remembered hearing the old stories of the white slavers, men who seem to have no respect for black men and women. These slavers would take our kin to a far away land, and force them to do their bidding at the lash of a whip. Right now I didn’t care, I had no fear, I had to get inside the camp, and free my father. As I began to sneak into the camp, all of my weaknesses had subsided, I was not afraid of these men, these devils, I was on a mission. This mission would open my eyes to the cruelties of the world beyond my homeland. I shifted my attention toward the captured men. I thought to myself, this would be an easy task, but I’d been outsmarted. One of the men was a decoy, he was not a captive, he was there to ensure no one escaped, and now he saw me!

He sounded the alarm with a whistle that was tied around his neck, and then he yelled, intruder, get him, get him or feel the lash of my whip on your bare backsides.

All the other guards started running towards me, I tried to run but it was too late, a net had me covered, I was trapped. I was now one of the captured. The guards came upon me with clubs, and cat o nine tails, they beat me unconscious.

CHAPTER TWO

WHEN I CAME TOO WE WERE MOVING THROUGH the dense jungle terrain. Ugh, I had a terrible headache, and my body was aching all over, then one of the handlers came towards me.

Can you walk now? he asked.

Yes, I replied.

Well get up and move it.

I stood up on my feet, only to be viciously knocked back to the ground.

"If you cause any more trouble, I’ll give you thirty lashes, and there’ll be no lunch for you. If you act up again I’ll peel the skin off of your back. May I remind you, these white men will kill you. I’m trying to keep you alive. Do you understand?"

Yes, I replied. But where are they taking us?

"Never mind, you just do as you’re told, and maybe you will live.

As we marched onward, I could smell the scent of fish, this could mean only one thing, we were getting closer to the ocean. I’d never seen the ocean, but I’d heard many stories. It was said that there was water for as far as a man could see, and there were many horrendous and ferocious sea monsters that could sink boats. As we exited the jungle, we came upon the beach, from there I could see the ocean, it was beautiful, and yes, it went on for as far as one could see. There were these strange looking dwellings on the beach, they were huge, and made of some kind of stone. I’d never seen anything like them before, in my village, we lived in grass huts. There were also a lot of captured men in chains, and more white men hollering at the blacks who were not in chains, it was chaotic, the guards were running and shouting as they moved us towards the big stone huts. Donkey Tsou, this is where we were, this, I would learn, was a slave holding fort, this is where we would be allowed to rest, and eat more than we had for the last two days. They also doused us with water and rubbed oil on our bodies, I never knew why this was done, but it made me feel better, and it took the stench from out of the air. After the dousing we were told to get plenty of rest, we had a long voyage ahead, and not to fret over our families, for we would never see them again. The white man said, if we survived the voyage we would live, but only to serve others, and that anyone who did not survive, would be thrown overboard to feed the sharks and the many other creatures of the sea. This they said would be our lives, to do as we’re told and that we were to accept it, for there was nothing we could do about it. I thought to myself, this is not true, I would find a way to escape. I would become a free man.

I stood there on the beach and watched the ocean, I’d never seen such a beautiful sight in all of my life. The sight of the fort was astounding, it was huge and magnificent. The ocean was a stunning shade of blue, and I could see a pack of dolphins jumping in and out of the water, as if they were playing a game. Then reality began to creep back into my mind, I was a slave. I had only my dad, and no one else, I had to do as I was told or they would whip me, but even worse, they would kill me.

Just off the shore, there were two large ships. I had never seen a ship in my entire life, in my village we used small canoe’s to travel along the streams and river near my village. These ships were breathtaking, totally awesome, and there were four smaller boats rowing to shore, these were to transport us to the ships. These boats could seat twenty-two slaves, and there were four such boats, and they each would make four trips to the large ships, which could house close to three hundred and fifty slaves, tightly packed. Once we were aboard, they led us to the lower decks, where we were herded and packed like livestock. What horrible people these white slaver’s were, plain savages, white devils. While all of this was going on, I still remembered my primary goal, my only reason for being here was to rescue my dad, secure our freedom, and return home!"

CHAPTER THREE

THE STENCH ABOARD THE SHIPS WAS NEARLY unbearable, in fact, some of the men could not stomach the smell, and would regurgitate, this only made the odor even worse. I wondered how could I survive, how would all of this change me. Why were all of these people being made to suffer in such a deplorabe manner. I wanted to help, but what could I do, I was just a young boy and there were too many captors. They were all grown men. There were also women, and young girls aboard the ship, some as young as ten years. They were crying and singing old folk songs, songs that had been taught to them by their mothers. Songs that had been past down for generations, from mothers to daughters, and the daughters would someday grow to be women, and they would have children. They would sing these same songs to their daughters. These songs, as you can imagine, were not songs of joy, they were songs of sorrow. Their lyrics were filled with hate, loneliness, and of course fear, but these were also songs of deliverance. Even though the situation seemed to be hopeless, their spirit’s had not yet been broken, there was still hope, and hope can carry you a great distance, hope can keep you alive. I had hope, but the ships were so packed, that I was no longer near my father, we had become separated. Nor could I shout out his name, there was far too much noise, but I shouted anyway.

Dad, I’m over here, over here dad, I shouted, it’s Ghana.

Shh, said the young man next to me. "Shut up, you mustn’t do that for they’ll use it against you. This is what they do to take away any hope that you may have left, they will separate you. They separate families so as to alleviate any