It was a sensation he was familiar with from countless village raids and occasional skirmishes with Ugandan government forces. He’d come to crave it. To imagine that it was a glimpse into the afterlife that he would one day enjoy as an acolyte of Gideon Auma. The world and everything in it seemed to fall away. His body felt disconnected and remote—more like a weapon he carried than part of him. He had become a spirit guided by Auma and his warrior ancestors.

The steepness of the slope continued to increase but it didn’t cause him to slow or to question the conflicting information he’d been given about the terrain. A helicopter became audible over the ecstatic shouts of the men behind him and the blood rushing in his ears. The incline became sharp enough that he had to use his hands to help propel himself, but still all he could think about was reaching the Whites cowering behind their flimsy wall. Watching them scatter in terror. Feeling the earth turn thick with the blood of Gideon Auma’s enemies.

The rushing in his ears reached an intensity that he didn’t remember from the times before. Less than a minute later, he felt a cold, misting rain against his back. Through the trees above, though, the sky was full of stars. A miracle? He tilted his head back and let a few drops fall into his mouth, quenching the thirst he barely registered. Rain from a clear sky. What else could it be but a gift from his master?

A few men surged past him and he began sprinting again. He’d been given the privilege of command. Not them. It was his honor to lead God’s forces. Nabirye caught them easily, but not because of his superior speed. Because they’d arrived at a cliff blocking their path. The rain was coming harder now and the roar of it mixed with the sound of water flowing down on them.

He stopped, trying to form coherent thoughts in his clouded mind. He’d been told that the gully would take them directly to the weakest part of the compound’s wall. That it would be a relatively flat approach with abundant cover. It was only then that he noted how steep the slopes had become on either side.

His men began to pile up behind him, shoving him into the rock wall. He turned, trying futilely to push back against them, watching as some tried to get around the natural barrier by climbing the sides of the gully. They would make it a few meters and then slide down again, rolling over top of the people coming up behind. The miraculous rain hadn’t just sated Nabirye’s thirst, it had covered the terrain in a slick layer of mud.