All of our Shepherd’s sheep adored Tahir.

He was devout, every word that left the Shepherd’s mouth became Tahir’s language.

Tahir spoke to the Shepherd a lot. He knew mysteries, he could do impossible things! One day during an evening communion, Tahir spoke a word and Ivie started levitating. Tahir became the standard, the perfect picture of following. So to follow the shepherd, he made us follow him first. I mean, who better to teach us the ways of the Shepherd than Tahir.

No matter how hard I try, I cannot shake off the thought that he acted like he was the shepherd, a demi god, superior to the rest of us. It bothered me but I was sure to keep my thoughts under a lid in my heart because members of our flock were so loyal to him, it was borderline delusional. They asked Tahir for oil and he would stand on his hind hoofs to pour the oil straight from his mouth. In their eyes, 

Tahir was without a fault, a sheep too much like the shepherd, the perfect one. When the Shepherd left us for a pilgrimage, Tahir took care of the flock.

They feared him and I wondered why this fear titled toward worship and not mutual respect. Tahir wasn’t a part of us, he made it clear that he was the shepherd’s mouthpiece, the sent one. 

A short while before the Shepherd left, He had found me and brought me to Temple. The grass was green, rich and tasted sweet. Members of the flock were nice to me but Tahir and his council of elders, who followed him like puppies following their owner made the golden rule clear. It was an abomination to disagree with Tahir, to trod pathways on the hillside that Tahir had marked as forbidden, we were instructed to keep away from other flock as they sojourned at the command of the shepherd or else Tahir would punish us mercilessly. He would ask the ‘disloyal’ to spend a night and sometimes multiple nights by the swamp, to be tortured by the mosquitoes.

He kept a record of our transgression in different folders in his head, separating us in his expression of love and fatherhood from the rebellious sheep.

As seasons bleed into seasons, our love for Tahir grew until it became larger than the vast area of the hillside. Our memories of the shepherd grew dim, the memories of the Shepherd’s voice now a faint echo. He became an abstract concept, an invisible and far way master, stalking us, waiting in ambush to punish us when we offended Tahir. All we knew of Him was from Tahir’s demystification of the Shepherd’s deity.

Tahir forbade us from visiting our kin. The flock in Temple were more family than with our kin, Tahir told us the shepherd separated us for something, something the surrounding flock will struggle to understand, something special. 

The rules were suffocating but the joy of being special, of a mystery waiting to be unwrapped kept us drunk. Tahir was friend, brother and father. I would hide my muzzle in the grass to stifle my laughter when Tahir mispronounced words, careful not to be punished.

The flock fought for his attention, they sabotaged each other, friends wounding friends, throwing them down the hills to be Tahir’s pet, Tahir’s most devout follower. 

When some of my friends abandoned Temple, Tahir would stand on the podium to admonish us to resist weakness and laziness. We wore a badge of honor for staying, for serving Tahir. I thought it odd since all flocks belonged to the Shepherd. Members of other flock warned us, running in circles to draw our attention. We would report to Tahir, swallowing every drop of divine counsel he offered.

Soon, members of our flock started disappearing. The missing sheep were majorly female and we blamed it on the wolves. Whenever this happened, Tahir would return forlorn claiming that the wolves seduced and lured them away from the flock.

One day, Efua got missing too.

We scoured the hillside, scoured ever corner of the valley until we saw them.

Tahir was different, in place of his wool, he had dark grey fur and sharp teeth. As he turned to face us, blood dripped down his mouth. He had taken a generous bite out of Efua. Next to his feet was a worn sheep fur coat and mask. Tahir was a wolf in temple and he planned to eat us too.