Courage Against Bullets

Panel 1:Dense jungle at night. Moonlight falls in pale strips through the canopy onto a muddy trail. Sika, Kemi, and Afi crouch behind the roots of a massive fallen tree. Sika's cheek is pressed against the earth, her finger tight on her musket trigger. A French soldier in colonial uniform stands one pace away, his rifle pointed toward the tree. A porter calls from farther down the trail, and the soldier half-turns toward the sound.

Panel 2:A whistle sounds — Sena, visible at the jungle edge, raises two fingers to her lips. Her narrow face is painted black, her eyes sharp. Around her, silhouettes of Agojie warriors rise from the undergrowth on both sides of the trail.

Panel 3:Sika rises from behind the fallen tree and fires. Her musket kicks hard against her shoulder, smoke billowing from the barrel. Kemi is already on her feet beside her, sword raised, shouting. Afi charges through the smoke on the far side, driving her rifle stock into a soldier's face.

“Kemi: FORWARD!”

Panel 4:Kemi's sword finds a French soldier before he can recover from Sika knocking his rifle aside. Afi fires point-blank at a second soldier, then turns and drives forward without waiting for the smoke to clear. Boxes split beneath blades; powder scatters into the mud; water containers overturn across the trail.

“Kemi: Keep moving!”

Panel 5:Sena's whistle cuts through the chaos. The Agojie break away instantly, vanishing into the undergrowth. Rifle fire follows them into the trees — a ball clips leaves beside Sika's face as she runs. Two Agojie warriors drag a wounded sister between them through the dark jungle. Then the canopy closes and the trail disappears behind them.

Panel 1:Wide establishing shot: the main Dahomean army surges through the darkness beyond the jungle. Thousands of warriors beat weapons against shields; drums pound a deep, rolling rhythm that carries through the trees. Torchlight and moonlight catch spear points and musket barrels across a vast, moving mass of men.

Narrator:“Beyond the jungle, the main Dahomean army moved against the French camp at Dogba.”

Panel 2:Sika and Kemi crouch at the jungle edge, faces barely lit by distant muzzle-flash. Sika looks toward Kemi, one word on her lips. Kemi gives a single slow nod. The sound of battle rolls toward them like thunder — irregular shots, then silence, then a single coordinated volley that shakes the air.

“Sika: Dogba? Kemi: Yes.”

Panel 3:A wide panel showing the battle at Dogba from a distance, filtered through jungle leaves. Dahomean warriors charge across a firelit clearing toward French rifle lines. Volley after volley tears into the charging mass. Men and women fall in rows. The French line does not break — one rank fires while another reloads, the blue sashes of the Legion visible through the smoke.

Narrator:“The Legion. One rank fired. Another prepared. Their rifles answered every command faster than a musket could reload.”

Panel 4:Kemi stares toward the distant battle, her face tight. Sika holds Fala's ammunition pouch against her side, knuckles pale against the leather. Neither woman moves. The sound of screaming and volleys fills the air around them.

“Kemi: At what cost?”

Panel 1:Grey pre-dawn light filters through smoke above the jungle. Sena leads a small group of Agojie through dense vegetation toward a thicket overlooking the French camp. Smoke drifts in long dark bands above the trees. Occasional rifle shots echo in the distance.

Narrator:“As the first grey light entered the sky, Sena led them toward the battlefield.”

Panel 2:The Agojie reach a thicket. Nawi stands at its edge, facing the battlefield. She does not turn when Sena approaches. Her face is blackened by powder smoke, dried blood darkening one side of her head. Through the leaves beyond her, bodies cover the open ground — Dahomean warriors and Agojie, scattered across the field, some only paces from the Legion's position.

Panel 3:Sika stares through the leaves at the battlefield. Below, a wounded Agojie drags herself toward the jungle using only her arms. Another tries to stand, collapses, and does not rise. On the far side of the field, Legionnaires stand in ordered groups among the smoke, formations intact, officers reorganizing the ranks.

Panel 4:Sika steps forward toward the field. Kemi's hand closes around her wrist, stopping her. Their faces are close — Sika's expression urgent, Kemi's face hard and pained.

“Sika: We have to help them. They are alive. Kemi: We cannot. The French are still there.”

Panel 5:Nawi stands at the thicket edge, tears filling her eyes but not falling. She does not turn. Her voice comes out quiet and flat. Around her, Agojie survivors stand still, watching the field.

“Nawi: Their rifles. We could not reach them.”

Panel 1:Wide shot: French porters, directed by officers, stack dry branches and timber around great piles of Dahomean bodies on the open field. Smoke already rises from the first pile as flames catch. Two porters lift an Agojie warrior between them — one holds her beneath the arms, the other grips her ankles. Her head falls back.

“Sika: They are going to burn them.”

Panel 2:Close on Nawi's face. She lowers her head slowly. Her eyes are wet. Her lips press together but do not tremble.

Panel 3:Inside the thicket, the Agojie survivors sit or kneel in a loose circle. One woman — her face powder-blackened, a cloth wound around her arm — begins to speak softly, her lips moving. A second woman adds a name. Then a third. The names pass quietly through the group.

Narrator:“They could not carry their sisters home. But they could deny the French the power to erase them.”

Panel 4:Close on Sika's face. Her lips move. She speaks a single name — Fala. Her eyes are open and dry, fixed on the smoke rising beyond the trees. She holds Fala's ammunition pouch pressed against her chest with both hands.

“Sika: Fala.”

Panel 1:Wide establishing shot: a jungle hillside above a jungle road, 4 October 1892, morning. Hundreds of Agojie and Dahomean warriors lie hidden beneath a screen of leaves along both slopes. The French column advances below — mounted scouts first, then Tirailleurs in loose formation, then the Legion with blue sashes visible through the dust, then porters and cannon stretching far back along the road. The column fills the killing ground.

Narrator:“Poguessa. 4 October 1892.”

Panel 2:Sika lies flat beneath a screen of leaves, musket pressed against the earth. A fly crawls across her cheek. Sweat drips from her chin onto the musket stock. She does not move. On either side, Kemi and Afi are equally still. Afi's eyes cut sideways toward Kemi.

Panel 3:A single musket fires from the far side of the trail. The jungle erupts — hundreds of Dahomean muskets fire almost simultaneously. Smoke bursts from the treeline and rolls across the road. Men and horses fall. Porters throw down their loads and run toward the column's centre as officers shout through the confusion. The Agojie rise and charge down the hillside.

“Kemi: FORWARD!”

Panel 4:On the road, Sika reaches French soldiers still scrambling to form ranks. She drives her sword at a Legionnaire. He twists aside; his bayonet passes close enough to catch her sleeve. Then Afi strikes him across the neck from the side. For one moment the road belongs to Dahomey.

Panel 5:A French officer's whistle shrieks. The blue sashes of the Legion form a line across the road. Every rifle rises in a single movement. Kemi shouts and throws herself down. The volley strikes — one flat, tearing crash. Women fall around Sika. One pitches forward without a sound. Another spins sideways and strikes Sika's legs as she drops.

“Kemi: DOWN!”

Panel 1:Sika presses herself into the earth behind a fallen tree. Afi lands beside her, already pulling a cartridge from her pouch, breathing hard. The French line is still visible through thin wisps of smoke. Metallic clicks along the line — bolts lifting, drawing back, driving forward. No ramrods. No waiting.

“Afi: They cannot keep firing like that.”

Panel 2:The Agojie rise from among their dead and charge again. Sika runs with them. The distance narrows — she can see individual faces behind the rifles: a pale man with a red beard, a dark-haired soldier working his bolt, a sergeant striking a rifle barrel down when a man fires too high. The Agojie almost reach them.

Narrator:“They could. Another volley tore through the charge. Then another.”

Panel 3:The Legion advances with bayonets levelled, stepping over their wounded without breaking formation. The first Agojie to reach them is driven backward by a bayonet. Kemi seizes Sika's arm and drags her down as a second volley from a rear rank passes over them and strikes the Agojie behind.

“Sika: We can reach them! Kemi: Look!”

Panel 4:Sika, Kemi, and Afi stumble back into the jungle. Bullets cut through leaves around them. Women cry out but no one stops. Afi bends forward with her hands on her knees, fighting for breath. Kemi looks back toward the road. Her face is still, measuring.

“Afi: We reached them. Kemi: And they are still coming.”

Panel 1:Two days later. Adégon, 6 October 1892. The Agojie move through gullies and folds in the ground, hidden by elephant grass and low scrub. Sena raises one hand and the line stops. Kemi crouches beside her, studying the ground ahead. Afi waits on Sika's other side, sword resting across her knees.

Narrator:“Adégon. 6 October 1892. This time the French were waiting.”

Panel 2:The signal comes. The Agojie surge from the grass. Their first volley strikes French skirmishers before they can retreat — several fall, the others run. Agojie and warriors sweep across the open ground behind the fleeing men. Afi is laughing as she runs, sword already in hand.

Panel 3:The French line appears through the dust — already formed. A single command: FIRE. The first volley opens gaps in the charging line. Women fall in rows. Those behind stumble over them. Sika keeps running. The second volley strikes before she has crossed half the distance.

Narrator:“The French line was already formed.”

Panel 4:Afi leaps over a dead sister and rushes toward a Legionnaire who has lowered his rifle to work its bolt. Kemi strikes Afi from the side, knocking her out of the bullet's path. The shot hits the woman behind them. Afi rolls to her feet, furious, turning on Kemi.

“Afi: Why did you do that? I was nearly there! Kemi: Because you did not see him. You were nearly dead.”

Panel 5:Sena's voice rises above the gunfire. The surviving Agojie gather around her. Sika fires her musket — the kick covers everything in smoke. She drops it and draws her sword. The Legion emerges from the white cloud, bayonets forward. The two sides collide in close combat among the bodies and smoke.

“Sena: HOLD!”

Panel 1:Sena's voice cuts through the smoke and chaos: WITHDRAW. Sika catches the arm of a wounded girl and tries to pull her upright. The girl screams and collapses. Blood pours from a wound high in her thigh. Sika pulls again. The girl's face is turned up toward her.

“Sena: WITHDRAW! Nema: Move!”

Panel 2:Kemi seizes Sika around the waist. The wounded girl looks up at both of them from the mud, her hand reaching. French bayonets emerge from the smoke only paces away. Sika's face is turned back toward the girl even as Kemi drags her forward.

“Kemi: You cannot carry her. We cannot. Sika: Help me!”

Panel 3:Sika runs. She does not look back. Kemi is ahead of her; Afi at her side. Bullets cut through the leaves as they crash into the jungle. One woman running beside Sika cries out and falls. Sika does not stop.

Panel 4:The survivors halt in a clearing deep in the jungle. Nawi stands among them, calling unit commanders by name — some do not answer. Afi sits against a tree, staring at Kemi. Her voice is flat and exhausted.

“Afi: You should have let me reach them. We are all going to die. Kemi: You would have died.”

Panel 1:Akpa, October 1892. Wide shot: dense jungle at the edge of a French camp. Dahomean muskets fire from the trees into the camp. Scouts disappear into the undergrowth. Porters carrying food or ammunition are struck and their loads dragged into the jungle. At night, drums sound from one side of the camp and then the other.

Narrator:“Akpa. 7–26 October 1892. The Agojie no longer gathered in numbers large enough to challenge the whole French column. They attacked from the jungle instead.”

Panel 2:From the jungle, Sika watches French soldiers collapse without wounds in the heat. Others stagger from the column clutching their stomachs. Men lie shivering beneath blankets despite the heat. Stretcher parties multiply. Wagons sink in the mud.

Narrator:“The jungle began fighting both armies.”

Panel 3:Sena, Kemi, and Sika crouch together in the jungle, watching the French column below. Kemi watches a stretcher party pass.

“Sena: We do not have to defeat them. The jungle will do it for us. We know where to find water. Kemi: The jungle kills our people too.”

Panel 4:On the trail below, French porters halt and lower their stretchers. An officer shouts at them. One porter shakes his head. Another points to the loads already cutting into his shoulders. The officer draws his pistol. Still the porters refuse. Legionnaires remove their packs, place them on wagons, and lift the abandoned stretchers themselves. The column lengthens, gaps opening between groups.

“Sena: This is our moment to strike.”

Panel 5:The Agojie charge from the trees. But the French stretcher parties lower their burdens carefully to the ground. Legionnaires who seemed near collapse unsling their rifles and step around the wounded, forming ranks across the trail. Men kneel beside the stretchers, using them as cover. By the time the Agojie emerge from the trees, the opening has closed.

Narrator:“Every apparent weakness became another wall of rifles.”

Panel 1:A French volley tears into the attacking Agojie. Six women fall beside the trail. Kemi drags Sika behind a tree as bullets shred bark around them. Afi throws herself into a hollow and fires from the ground. Then Kemi shouts the withdrawal and the Agojie run back into the jungle.

“Kemi: WITHDRAW!”

Panel 2:Clouds gather above the trees. Thunder rolls across the jungle. Wind tears leaves from the canopy. Then the sky opens — rain falls so heavily that the jungle disappears behind a silver curtain. Dry hollows fill within moments. Water runs along the trail.

“Afi: This rain.”

Narrator:“For days they had waited for thirst to halt the invasion.”

Panel 3:Through the downpour, Sika watches French soldiers raise their faces and open their mouths to the rain. Cooking pots, cups, barrels, and empty ammunition boxes are placed beneath the torrent. Canvas sheets are stretched between trees to funnel water into every available container. The French camp fills with water.

Panel 4:Sena stands in the rain, watching the French camp below. She says nothing. Afi, beside her, curses at the sky. The rain continues to fall. Behind them, Agojie survivors sit in the mud beneath the trees, tending wounds. Kemi binds a cut on a woman's arm. Sika counts the women around her, her lips moving.

“Afi: The rain gives them everything.”

Panel 5:Close on Sika's face in the rain. Her eyes move from face to face among the survivors — counting. The number she reaches shows in her expression: jaw set, eyes hard. She stops counting. She looks toward the direction of Cana, north through the rain-blurred jungle.

Narrator:“There were too few. After every battle, there were fewer.”

Panel 1:Wide establishing shot of the Dahomean earthworks at Cana before dawn. Red earth breastworks and log walls ring the position. The Agojie and Dahomean warriors kneel in formed ranks behind the walls, muskets ready, faces pressed low. The sky above is a deep pre-dawn blue turning grey at the horizon. Sena walks before the line of women, her narrow face painted black, her greying hair close-cropped. Sika, Kemi, and Afi crouch in the front rank, weapons across their knees.

“Sena: Today we stand between the French and Abomey. Afi: Then they are fools.”

Panel 2:A French artillery shell bursts directly above the earthworks. Red earth, splintered logs, and debris fly upward in a column of smoke and flame. Agojie warriors press flat into the trench floor, arms over their heads. A section of the breastwork collapses inward, pouring soil across the women crouched beneath it.

Panel 3:Kemi crouches at the base of the trench wall, hands pressed over her ears, eyes shut tight. The earth beneath her shudders with each impact. Beside her, Sika presses her musket flat against her body, powder pouch clutched to her chest. Smoke and dust roll through the trench. Chunks of timber and earth fall around them.

“Kemi: Stay low! Make them come closer!”

Panel 4:Afi stands fully upright above the breastwork, musket to her shoulder. She fires into the advancing smoke, then drops back below the wall as bullets tear through the space where her head was a heartbeat before. Her face is fierce and set, jaw forward, eyes open.

Panel 5:Through a gap in the drifting smoke, the French line is visible — Tirailleurs spread through the trees on both flanks, marines in the centre, and the Legion in ordered ranks along the road. Officers move behind the line. Cannon crews push guns closer through the shattered ground. The Agojie along the breastwork watch them come.

“Kemi: They are not finished.”

Panel 1:A second heavier French bombardment. Multiple shells burst along the earthworks simultaneously. Logs split apart. Red earth collapses into the trenches. Smoke and dust press beneath the tree canopy and turn the morning into a choking half-darkness. Agojie warriors are blown from the walls, silhouetted against the blasts.

Panel 2:Through the smoke and dust, the French bugle sounds. The entire French line advances — marines in the centre, Legion in ordered ranks on the road, Tirailleurs pushing through the trees on both flanks. Officers and sergeants shout above the gunfire, keeping the men together as they step over roots, fallen branches, and bodies.

Narrator:“When the firing lifted, bugles sounded beyond the haze. The entire French line advanced.”

Panel 3:Kemi drops her hand. The Agojie line erupts in a volley from the ruined earthworks. Smoke bursts from muskets along the wall. A Tirailleur spins and falls. A marine drops onto his knees then pitches forward into the mud. Sika bites open a cartridge, hands wet and shaking, powder clinging to her fingers.

“Kemi: FIRE!”

Panel 4:The French rifle answer comes — sharp and rapid. Bullets strike the earthworks, punch through leaves, and tear into the women crowded behind the logs. An Agojie beside Sika is thrown backwards. Another clutches her throat and folds silently into the mud. Sena appears through the haze and seizes an Agojie by the hair, dragging her away from the bayonets.

“Sena: FALL BACK! The King needs an army, not a field of corpses!”

Panel 5:Nawi stands at the rear of the Agojie position, one arm raised, pointing toward a narrow jungle path at the treeline. She shouts across the chaos. Agojie warriors pour toward her from the shattered earthworks. Nema waves survivors forward beside Nawi, directing them away from the road and into the trees.

“Nawi: This way! Do not follow the road!”

Panel 1:Sika and Kemi run side by side through the smoke toward the jungle path. Kemi stops twice, turning back to form retreating women into a ragged firing line — some with muskets raised, some with swords. Sika fires one of her remaining cartridges into the smoke behind them, then keeps running. The narrow jungle path is visible ahead, Agojie streaming into it.

“Kemi: Move! Do not stop!”

Panel 2:Afi runs alongside Sika and Kemi, sword in hand. Her musket is gone — thrown into the mud. Her eyes are on the jungle path ahead where the wounded are crowding together, slow and packed tight. Then she stops. Her head turns back toward the French shapes emerging through the smoke. Her feet plant wide on the ground.

Panel 3:Close on Afi's face — looking back at the advancing Legion. Her expression is not wild. There is no excitement or recklessness in it. Her jaw is set, her eyes are clear and steady. She sees exactly what is about to happen.

Panel 4:Afi looks directly at Sika. Her mouth opens. The old insolent grin appears — wide and familiar, teeth showing. Sika stares back at her, frozen in place. Kemi reaches out and grabs Afi's arm.

“Afi: You were always too slow. Kemi: You come with us.”

Panel 5:Afi pulls her arm free from Kemi's grip with a single sharp movement. She turns away from her friends, sword raised in her right hand, and runs toward the advancing Legion — toward the smoke and the rifles and the broken earthworks. Her back is to Sika and Kemi. Her cry rises above the gunfire.

“Afi: Run faster today.”

Panel 1:Full-page splash. Afi stands alone in the smoke between the retreating Agojie and the advancing Legion. She is in the open ground before the shattered earthworks, sword raised in a two-handed grip above her head. Behind her, the narrow jungle path is visible — a dark gap in the treeline with the last Agojie survivors disappearing into it. Before her, the first rank of Legionnaires emerges from the smoke in a ragged line — rifles coming forward, blue sashes dark with mud and rain, white kepis dull beneath the overcast sky. The distance between Afi and the nearest soldiers is twenty paces. She faces them alone. The smoke rolls around her feet. Her uniform is torn; a long cut along her forearm is wrapped in cloth. Her expression is open and direct — she is looking straight at the soldiers.

“Kemi: AFI!”

Panel 1:Afi charges the nearest Legionnaire at a dead sprint. Her sword comes across his arms as she reaches him, driving the rifle aside. She shoulders him hard into the man behind, sending both against the broken barricade. The impact staggers the leading file. Men move around their fallen comrades. A sergeant shouts for the line to open.

Panel 2:Sika stands at the mouth of the jungle path, one hand braced against a tree trunk. She is turned back, watching Afi fight in the smoke. Her face is open and anguished — mouth open, eyes wide. Kemi stands behind her, one arm around Sika's waist, pulling her backward into the path.

“Sika: AFI! I will not leave her! Kemi: She is giving us time!”

Panel 3:In the smoke, Afi drives her sword blade into a Legionnaire's shoulder. A bayonet glances along her ribs, tearing her uniform, but she remains standing. She kicks the rifle away, pulls her sword free, and places herself squarely between the French soldiers and the mouth of the jungle path. Rifles from the second rank turn toward her.

Panel 4:Afi glances back over her shoulder toward the jungle path. It is empty now — Sika and Kemi are gone, swallowed by the trees. She sees the empty gap in the treeline. She turns back toward the soldiers.

“Afi: GO!”

Panel 5:A French rifle fires at close range. The muzzle flash is bright in the smoke. Afi's head snaps back. She takes one more step forward, sword arm still extended, body still upright for one final heartbeat.

Panel 1:Deep jungle. Sika and Kemi run through dense undergrowth — branches whipping across their faces and arms, roots catching their feet. Kemi is ahead, one hand reaching back. Sika's hand is in hers. Behind them, through the trees, gunfire erupts in rapid bursts. Smoke drifts through the canopy above.

Panel 2:The jungle closes behind them. The narrow path bends and the opening they came through disappears behind a wall of dense vegetation. Smoke rolls in thin bands through the canopy above, but the battlefield is gone. Only the two women and the jungle remain. Kemi stops and looks back. Sika stops beside her. Both are breathing hard.

Panel 3:Close on Sika's face. She is looking back the way they came. Her eyes are open and dry, fixed on the smoke drifting through the trees. Her jaw is set. Her lips press together. She holds Kemi's hand but does not look at her.

Panel 4:Full-page inset panel within the final page — a vision rendered in stark blacks and whites against the surrounding color: Afi stands alone in the smoke before the Legion's rifles. Sword raised. Feet planted wide. Facing them. She is not running. She is not retreating. She holds the ground between the soldiers and the path to Abomey. Smoke swirls around her boots. The Legion's rifles are raised and aimed. The battlefield stretches behind her. She is the only figure standing between the two.

Narrator:“She could not defeat them. She knew that. But while their rifles turned toward her, they were not aimed at the women in the trail.”