Kumasi, March 1817
The British arrive.
Thomas Edward Bowdich – 23-year-old British envoy, curious, intelligent, idealistic. Has never seen anything like Kumasi.
Kojo Bediako – Now aging, a war hero and royal advisor. Distrusts the British but respects strength.
Kofi – A former soldier, now a quiet man who teaches royal youths. Still haunted.
Senyo – Older now, Kofi's companion. He watches everything.
King Osei Bonsu – Still wise, still powerful, but aging. Sees opportunity in the white men.
Aputai (mentioned) – Rumored to still be alive, fighting in the shadows.
Narrator (Bowdich’s journal, voiceover):
“March 6, 1817.
We have entered Asante territory. Our escort—twenty men, gold armlets at their elbows—move like soldiers of Caesar.
The trees are thick. The paths narrow. But the silence...
It is the silence of a kingdom watching.”
Scene 2: Kumasi, the Golden City
The British arrive at the court of Osei Bonsu
Thomas Bowdich (whispers):
“What city is this…?”
Narrator:
They expected a town. They found an empire. Kumasi bloomed from the forest like a carved jewel — wide avenues, courtyards, crowds in gold and crimson. The scent of kola nuts and gunpowder.
Before the British, a procession rose — chiefs in leopard skins, drummers shaking the ground, and in the center:
King Osei Bonsu, beneath a vast golden umbrella.
Kojo Bediako (aside, to the king):
“They come with words. And eyes like weighing scales.”
Osei Bonsu (quietly):
“Then we will weigh them back.”
Kofi stands on the veranda of a house near the royal courtyard. Senyo sits beside him.
Kofi (to Senyo):
“Do you hear them? They call him boy. That boy will write our names on paper and carry them across the sea.”
Senyo:
“Will he write the truth?”
Kofi:
“No one ever does.”
Bowdich:
“We come as friends. Our king—His Majesty George the Third—wishes for peace, trade, and understanding.”
Osei Bonsu (nodding slowly):
“And does your king keep his promises?”
Bowdich (hesitates):
“We… hope so.”
Kojo Bediako (interjects):
“Hope is not a contract.”
That night, drums beat. The British are fed lavishly. But the shadow of past betrayal lingers — Torrane, Otibu, the enslaved Fante, the burned villages.
Kojo Bediako stands alone near the king’s stool.
Kojo (thinking):
“This is not the first redcoat to smile in this court. The last one sold his friends for gold.”
Far south, deep in the bush, we glimpse an old man sharpening a knife beside a river.
Narrator:
The name Aputai is no longer spoken in Kumasi. But in the shadows of the forests near the Pra River, his fire still burns.
He has no court. No army.
Only hatred.
Aputai (monologue):
“The king plays host to men in red again. He thinks he is clever.
Let him dine with strangers.
I will dine on vengeance.”
Despite tension, diplomacy prevails. Osei Bonsu offers free passage to Asante traders on the coast. The British acknowledge Asante sovereignty inland. For now.
Osei Bonsu:
“Tell your king he has made a friend.
But if his men lie again… I will not stop at the coast.”
Bowdich (bowing):
“I will tell him, Majesty. And I will remember your gold.”
Late at night, Kojo writes a letter to the Asantehene's archive.
“Your Majesty, they will return. And they will not return with respect. This young one speaks truthfully — but he is not the future. The ones who follow will not kneel.
You have won peace for now.
But peace is only the breath between wars.”
Upcoming episodes include:
"The Treaty and the Teeth" – Aftermath of the embassy, trade dynamics shift, and distrust grows.
"The Last Drum of Kojo Bediako" – Kojo’s final campaign and death.
"The Return of the Fire" – Aputai attacks a key Ashanti caravan, killing royal messengers.
"White Shadows on the Horizon" – British tensions grow as new governors with new goals arrive.
"1819" – Death of Osei Bonsu, and the beginning of the slow unraveling of the empire.
"The Red Storm" – Prelude to the 1824 Battle of Nsamankow.
A Historical Fiction Narrative Set in the Ashanti Empire, 1817–1819
Arc II: Ashes and Embassies
Thomas Edward Bowdich – British envoy, now returned to Cape Coast Castle.
Kojo Bediako – Ashanti war veteran and court advisor, aging, wise, bitter.
King Osei Bonsu – The Asantehene, supreme ruler, now in the twilight of his reign.
Kofi – Former soldier, turned tutor to the royal pages.
Aputai – Fugitive Assin warlord, still alive in the bush, plotting.
Captain Joseph Lyttleton – New British officer sent to Cape Coast, pragmatic, distrustful of Africans.
Senyo – Observant, quiet, ever watching.
Cape Coast Castle, Late 1817
Narrator (Bowdich’s journal, voiceover):
"I left Kumasi with golden dust on my sleeves and the weight of an empire in my chest.
Osei Bonsu is no fool. He received us as brothers. But I know the look of a man who counts your every blink.
We signed the treaty. Trade flows again.
And yet, beneath the silk and drums—teeth."
The great courtyard is quieter now.
The foreign visitors are gone. But the treaty remains — carved into the memories of every noble.
Kojo Bediako, grey at the temples, watches as gold-draped merchants return from Elmina, Cape Coast, Anomabu. Trade has resumed. British goods flow up the forest roads: musket flints, iron, gin, textiles.
But so do the whispers.
Kojo (to Kofi):
“They come now with cloth instead of cannons. But trade is only war without drums.”
Kofi (quietly):
“And this war is more dangerous. It doesn’t burn villages. It buys them.”
Aputai stands over a dead Ashanti merchant caravan.
Six traders. Four guards. All cut down.
He picks up a strip of imported wool. Tears it in half.
Aputai (to his men):
“The king bows to the white man. He lets their guns pass freely while our lands starve.If he has made a deal, I will cut out its tongue.”
A fire is lit. One of the corpses is branded with the old Fante symbol for betrayal.
Cape Coast Castle, early 1818.
A new governor has arrived: Captain Joseph Lyttleton. He has none of Bowdich’s idealism.
He reads reports of Ashanti raids on holdout Fante villages. He hears of Aputai — a ghost in the trees. He reads Bowdich’s treaty and scoffs.
Lyttleton (to his officers):
“We promised them passage. They took it as permission to conquer.”
Officer Swanzy (younger, idealistic):
“But Kumasi welcomed us, sir. It’s a kingdom of law—”
Lyttleton:
“It’s a kingdom of teeth. Golden ones, perhaps, but still sharp.”
In a shaded courtyard, Kofi trains three royal youths.
They spar with wooden swords, laugh, fall, get back up. He smiles.
But when they ask about the British treaty, he stops.
Prince Adu (panting):
“Are they our friends now?”
Kofi (softly):
“A friend does not offer peace after selling your cousin.
A friend does not smile at your face, then turn and arm your enemies.”
He sets the practice sword down.
Kofi:
“Remember this: Even a silk rope can strangle.”
By 1819, Ashanti traders are moving freely again. But the coastal towns, particularly Fante holdouts, are restless.
Rumors swirl of British officers arming certain Fante factions to protect "their trade interests."
Kojo Bediako watches the reports pile in. Attacks. Delays. Missing caravans. More "Aputai incidents."
Kojo (to the king):
“Majesty, the treaty is paper. The teeth are still behind it.”
Osei Bonsu (tired):
“I grow old, Kojo. I have won a hundred battles. But I cannot make allies out of shadows.”
Late 1819. Ashanti envoys are ambushed near Fante land. All are killed.
The word “Gold-Eater” is carved into a tree nearby — Aputai’s mark.
Aputai (speaking to a young follower):
“The king makes peace with thieves and cowards.
He thinks time will bury what he did.But the fire never forgets.”
“I do not want his land. I do not want his throne.
I want only to destroy what he loves.”
Kojo Bediako begins to fall ill. Kofi sits with him.
Kojo:
“The king gave them peace. They gave us teeth behind gold.”
Kofi:
“And Aputai gives us fire.”
Kojo (smiling weakly):
“We are caught between liars and ghosts, Kofi.”
Kofi:
“Maybe.
But the ghosts remember the truth.”
A Historical Fiction Narrative | Arc II: Ashes and Embassies | Set in 1820, Kumasi and Beyond
Narrator (Kofi):
"There are drums only the old can hear.
Not the war-drums. Not the court drums.
The last drums.
The ones that beat when a warrior knows his time is done."
Kojo Bediako – Elder Asante warrior and royal advisor. Gravely ill, but resolved.
Kofi – His student and caregiver. Now wiser, but burning with quiet frustration.
King Osei Bonsu – Nearing the end of his reign, watching his kingdom tilt toward uncertainty.
Senyo – Kofi’s shadow and confidant.
Prince Adu – Young, impressionable future leader.
Aputai – The ghost in the forest, still striking with vengeance.
British figures (off-stage): Lyttleton, Swanzy, emissaries at the coast.
Kojo lies wrapped in white cloth. Incense curls in the corners. Outside, the palace bustles with messengers — more traders attacked on the coastal road. All eyes turn toward Aputai.
But inside, it’s quiet.
Kofi sits by Kojo’s mat.
Kojo (raspy):
“I’ve buried more warriors than I can count.And now I am kept alive with ginger water and whispers.”
Kofi:
“The court still listens to your whispers.”
Kojo:
“Then let them hear this:
If the king does not act, Aputai will burn his name into the hills.And if he does act — the British will call it savagery.”
Kofi (softly):
“Then we are trapped between silence and accusation.”
Kojo smiles weakly.
Kojo:
“That is where kingdoms fall, Kofi.
Between the treaty and the teeth.”
In council, King Osei Bonsu is grave. Reports arrive: another Ashanti caravan ambushed, messengers skinned and hung near Assin paths.
King Osei Bonsu (to his chiefs):
“We have peace with the coast. But our blood is in their sand.”
Chief:
“We could strike the Assin again. Crush the remnants.”
Kojo (arriving slowly, supported by Kofi):
“No. That is what he wants.”
Gasps ripple through the court.
Kojo:
“You strike the Assin, the British look north with fear again.
You delay, and Aputai becomes a storm.”
Osei Bonsu (softly):
“Then what would you have me do, Kojo?”
Kojo:
“Send me.”
Osei Bonsu:
“You can barely walk.”
Kojo:
“Then let me die where I once stood.
Let me show the ghost that we are not finished yet.”
Kojo, barely standing, rides out with fifty royal guards — not to fight, but to parley.
He goes into the forest near Assin Manso, to the old trails once scorched in the early wars. Kofi rides with him.
Along the way, they pass scorched Ashanti caravans, Fante settlements rebuilt from ash, and trees marked with Aputai’s dagger symbols.
Kofi (riding beside him):
“You think he will talk?”
Kojo:
“No.
I think he will listen to what I have to say…
and then try to kill me.”
Deep in the jungle clearing, they meet: Kojo and Aputai, face to face again after 13 years of war, escape, and rumor.
Aputai is older — lean, hard, smoke-eyed. But not broken.
Kojo:
“We have both outlived our usefulness.”
Aputai (snarling):
“You live fat in Kumasi. I live free.”
Kojo:
“You live in a grave you keep digging.”
Aputai:
“The king gave your name to papers signed by foreigners.
He trades land for gin.
I burn what he sells.”
Kojo:
“You think you're cleansing the kingdom.
But you're only making it rot faster.”
Aputai:
“Then let it rot.”
A beat.
Aputai:
“I do not want his throne.
I do not want the coast.
I only want to die knowing I ruined what he loved.”
Later that night, Kojo’s party is ambushed as they leave the jungle. A short battle. Two men die. One of them is Kojo Bediako.
His body is not mutilated. A sign, perhaps, that even Aputai respected him.
Kofi brings back Kojo’s body. The drums of mourning sound for three days.
The court is still.
Osei Bonsu (to Kofi):
“Did he die as he lived?”
Kofi:
“Yes.
Facing fire.”
That night, Osei Bonsu orders a great funeral feast. Foreign traders are not invited.
In the courtyard, Prince Adu, now nearly a man, watches the ceremony.
Kofi, now court tutor, speaks quietly beside him.
Prince Adu:
“Will there be peace now?”
Kofi:
“There will be drums.
Some for peace.
Some for war.And some, my prince…
to remind the world that Kojo Bediako once stood.”
Episode IV – “The Fire in the Trees”
Aputai, hunted by the king’s elite, escalates his guerrilla war.
Kofi is asked to take part in diplomacy… but begins to question the future of Asante entirely.Meanwhile, rumors rise: Osei Bonsu’s health is failing.