Authors: Njedeh Anthony
“That is too much for me, Patient One. All I require is the
envoy…I mean the former envoy.”
“Then he is yours. Relax and enjoy the pride of Alloida.”
“I wish I could, but my time is short. I have to leave now with my slave, with your permission.”
“Take my staff so everyone you talk to will know that you speak with my blessing. When you come back, I want to be talking with a
chief.”
Pokzee put his slave on the horse and rode to Ogwashi without slowing down to breath
e.
Immediately after he got to Ogwashi, he went to the chief’s quarters. As he tried to pass through the gates, the Omees blocked him and ordered him to wait while they alerted the chief.
“I require you men to do me this favor as your friend, comrade and
chief: Summon the elders. Tell them their presence is required by the chief, whilst my slave remains here.”
“First of all, Pokzee, you will have to kill us before you pass these gates and secondly, you are not the
chief,” the Omee said fearlessly.
“I initiated you before you became an
Omee
.
I saw the pride of the pain when you passed through it. I have no intentions of passing through the gates, but I am giving you a direct order as your Chief to go and call the elders. You are either for me or against me.”
The two
Omees stood looking at each other, then they faced Pokzee and said, “As our Chief requests.” One of the Omees went on the errand.
The other
Omee heard a scream, “AGAM OBODO UZO,” and he saw smoke where Pokzee stood.
As Akuna was sleeping, he kept hearing his name and each time it got
closer. When he opened his eyes, he saw Pokzee.
“How dare you come into my presence without announcing yourself.”
“You took away my priceless gem.”
Akuna bounced
to his feet and walked toward the exit as he replied to Pokzee’s biting words.
“Your wife was a witch and she got what she deserved.”
“I never did you wrong. Why give me this pain?”
Akuna had gotten to the door and was trying to open it, but was locked.
”I don't understand what you are talking about.”
“Confess. I brought the
envoy with me.”
“So what am I supposed to do, beg you? You are nothing. I faced great chiefs like Ezeonisha in gory times, and now you expect me to be scared of a baboon like you
,” the chief said with extreme confidence.
At that time there was banging on the door.
“The envoy has told us everything,” the elders shouted through the door. “The soul of your wife will rest in peace. Open the door.”
Pokzee looked at Akuna and walked toward the door.
“I know what is in your heart, Pokzee. You are grateful I helped you get rid of that pathetic excuse for a wife. I thought chimpanzees were ugly creatures until I met your wife.”
Pokzee just stood there looking at him, but the fume of his anger heated the room.
“Thank goodness you are here. I always wanted to ask you, was your wife a chimpanzee?”
Pokzee roared. He couldn't take it any longer. He wanted to pounce on Akuna, but his legs were stuck to the floor and they could not move.”
“You have to take life in small paces,” Akuna's Tikpapa said while laughing.
“What is wrong, Pokzee? Do not tell me that the earth is to
o heavy for you,” Akuna said, laughing heavily.
The banging on the door got louder.
“We do not have much time, Akuna, kill him.”
“Why am I not surprised that even a
chief has to put a spell on a fellow man like himself to kill him? Would you not want to take me down and have it on your conscience that you dealt with me like a man?”
“Do I look stupid to you?” Akuna
asked, picking up his knife.
“It is too late for you, Akuna. The
envoy has told everyone what happened.”
“You do not understand. If you die, the
envoy will conveniently change his testimony on grounds of imposed confession through brutal force. The elders can't complain because I do not have a replacement, and if that archaic Vacoura sticks his nose into my business, then we go to war with his people. Is life not sweet, Tikpapa?”
There was no answer to the
chief. Akuna turned around to find his sorcerer’s head separated from his body.
“I hope I am not late,”
the Ifa priest spoke with his normal coolness.
“Your timing is impeccable.”
Pokzee pounced like a cat on Akuna. The chief stabbed him in his shoulder before they fell on the floor. They grasped each other’s neck, trying to choke one another.
“Pokzee, feel free to invite me when things get a little too rough,” the Ifa priest said while eating a watermelon.
Akuna used his knees on Pokzee's groin, then stood up and hit him with a chair. Pokzee rose with the knife still in his shoulder and walked toward Akuna, who ran to his sword. He pointed it at Pokzee, but the man kept coming at the same pace.
“My death will never be at your hands,” were the last words Akuna spoke as he stabbed himself with the sword.
Pokzee stood for a while looking at the dead body of the chief. There was no sorrow, but worst of all, there was no joy in the revenge. He turned to thank the Ifa priest, but he had vanished.
Chapter
16
Chief Okon
died ten years after Obi was made King and his grandson Oludu became the Chief of Ndemili. In the years Oludu ruled as chief, the province continued to prosper in the same way it did, under his predecessor. The King, knowing how independent he was, invited him to the palace to watch his first daughter, Ugonwa the Ada, perform
The Dance of the Seven Fire Stars
. Before the dance, there were other forms of entertainment like folksongs, feasts, and jocular acts.
Oludu knew this was definitely a ploy by the King to match him with his daughter, from whom most men seemed to run away. Some
questioned how a woman so beautiful could choose to be alone. Others said she believes herself a man and fights like one, thus why her father loved her the most. A few said she was alone because she insisted on being the only wife.
People also whispered she was an O
gbanje, a possessed girl with psychic powers. They belong to the spirit world from birth and lived for a short time. Their link between the spiritual and reality is a package made up of anything they find precious and this package is hidden by the girl in a place where she will never remember. As long as the package was not found, she stayed alive.
Oludu did not believe in making wives out of women, instead he believed in loving them as concubines, so they were free to bring out their animalism. Most times he wished there were other species that could replace them. He knew they had the power to make the land of man a better place, but instead they gave birth to jealousy, envy, sorrow and tears. The only thing he could not understand was his greed for their touch, their body, their comfort, and their offspring. He had five children from different women for whom he provided every
thing they required except marriage.
A notable group of guests assembled around the room. Everyone squatted on mats placed over the animal hides a
s the beat of drums filled the room. A contained fire started to burn in a passageway, but nobody noticed. From nowhere Ugonwa’s legs flowed through the fire. Every step she took followed the beat like a lioness seeking its prey. Every turn she made was like the earth turned with her.
As she twisted her waist and let her braids create their melody, it was as though an explosion was about to occur within every man. Her every curve stung the lust of every man watching. She began to sway like a drunk looking for his way home. All of a sudden the beat changed and with a rejuvenated firmness, she danced toward Oludu, watching her steps like a peacock. At that point
, Oludu was looking into her eyes, but in a flash the beat ended, there was a large applause, and she rushed away.
Then Oludu understood why men traveled from afar to see her dance when
ever she chose to, for her father. He turned to the King and said loudly for the remaining guests to hear, “I son of Okon, Oludu, Chief of Ndemili, would like to take your daughter Ugonwa to be my first wife.”
As though he was talking to a child, the King said, “Sit down and stop shouting, you are blocking my ears.”
With a stroke of shame, Oludu sat down reluctantly to aggravate him. In the most indifferent manner the King continued softly.
“Did you think I invited you all the way here to come and screen my daughter and see whether she is worthy to be your bride? I could snap my fingers and she would have over a hundred suitors.”
“Then what brings me to such a beautiful land we call our capital?”
In a deep voice
Gbangba said, “You never question your King. If he tells you to walk, you run. If he tells you to keep quiet you, cut your tongue. You are here to answer to commands and questions that are asked of you.”
“
Gbangba, try to relax. These are flexible times,” the King said.
“I beg your forgiveness, oh Great King, if I altered my obeisance. It’s the animal in my age.” Oludu said, lying with a straight face.
“Forget all that rubbish. The Head-of-Government is still living in the past. Anyway, I didn't call you here to see if you would accept my daughter. I called you here to see if she would accept you. She happens to be a very stubborn human being and seriously raised out of the laws of tradition. It was due to her constant relations with the white missionary and his wife, who have infiltrated all kinds of crazy stories into her head. The gods knew why it had to be her of all my daughters to give me such pain in the head. If it was someone else I would have...anyway are you still interested?”
“More than ever, Your Majesty,” said Oludu.
“My servant will take you to her. We await your reply,” he said softly.
Oludu bowed and left.
When he had gone, the King turned to the Head-of-Government and said, “What do you think?”
“The boy is as dangerous as the Ifa said
; his eyes did not leave mine when I spoke. The boy does not know what fear looks like. He is protected by a greater force than he can imagine. What makes you think your daughter will be able to control such a man?”
“Do you believe there is anything that walks and crawls on this earth that can make me do what I do not want to do?” the King asked.
“Unless the man with six legs,” the Head-of-Government said.
“Well
, Ugonwa doesn't have six legs and she does it to me all the time.”
The closer he got to her house, the faster his heart beat. He wondered why he would be shivering to meet a common female, and he didn't understand how they duped him into begging for her hand in marriage. He was positive of it then—she was a witch.
As the servant knocked, the maid received them and asked them the purpose of their meeting.
“I, Chief Oludu, have come to see if your princess is worthy to be my wife.”
“I am sorry sir, I will not be able to deliver that message.”
Immediately a voice from behind the door said, “Don't worry, I already got the message. Let him in.”
As he approached her quarters, the room was crowded with all sorts of women of all ages as it was the custom not to meet with a spinster with less than a dozen women present, unless she was a woman of high position in the society.
As he entered, she waved her hands to show him where to sit—an un-wifely characteristic. It was the woman who drew the seat for her man. As he sat down she said, “Yes.” Another gaffe. A woman shouldn’t speak to her man until she was spoken to.
“I know you are looking for a man who can look through your voluptuous body and love your tumultuous mind. You seek the powerful emotion of the white man, giving your man your dress to wear. I just called to say your dance was imposing and good luck in your quest.”
“You are scared of me rejecting you,” the princess said, grinning.
“What would give you that impression? I am a man of defined views and, as of now, I am positive you make my wine taste sour.”
“Really? I might as well tell you anyway, my father had already told me to accept if you asked.”
“If you listened to your father, I am sure you would have married any of your former suitors.”
“Do I detect interest in the Great Chief Oludu?”
“Don't flatter yourself. It's that little word they call curiosity,” Oludu said, walking toward the door.
“For your curiosity’s sake, he has never asked me to marry anyone before. He just showed them the way to my place.”
“Then what makes me so special?”
“That is what I want to find out,” she said congenially.
“So, left to you, you would refuse any man who asked for your hand,” Oludu said from the doorway.
“I never refused any of the men, I just had a little chat with them.” Spontaneously, she clapped her hands and everyone in the room started leaving. “You seem uncomfortable; the seats are there to be sat on.”
He knew that was exactly what she wanted, but he was not ready to flirt with custom because of this juvenile and be left in the room alone with her.
“Don't tell me the almighty Oludu is afraid to be alone with a little lamb like me. If it will make you feel better, I don't bite.”
It was not as though anything would happen to him if he decided to alter such a law of minimal power, but if she decided to claim that he made an indecent approach to her, her word would be taken over his. He sat down anyway and said, “Talk, I am listening.”
“I know people have been saying things about me, like the only person I answer to is my father, that I am an
Ogbanje, I choose the flexibility of a man whilst I am a—”
Before she could say another word, Oludu interrupted.
“I don't participate in rumors.”
“Well, I just wanted to let you know…they are not rumors, they are true.”
He tried hard to resist showing surprise, but it showed in every inch of his face.
“I am an
Ogbanje, a daughter of the spirit world. I am possessed with powers beyond my control. The only reason I have not returned to the spirit world in death is because my father holds me down here with a force greater than the one that wants to take me away.”
“Then why...please continue,” Oludu said.
“Then why does he not tell the Ifa priest to find the package that makes me return to that other world when they call?” she said, finishing his question with the same grin on her face.
He was no longer surprised, now he was more cautious.
“You should know by now that people like us read your mind and see your future just by looking through your walls. The Ifa priest could not find my package because the spirits that led me to where I dug the package are the same spirits that lead him to see what he sees even without his eyes.”
“So where is this package?”
“You intrigue me, Chief Oludu. It would require a great force on me to reveal where I dug it because even I cannot remember where I put it.”
“But you said your father had a greater power than what holds you here.”
“The power he had that I was referring to is the type,” her voice lowered, “that makes a dove fly through all the skies and still comes back to its nest. It’s the power that makes a bat enter a cave with hundreds of other screaming bats and yet it still knows which cry belongs to its offspring. It’s the power that makes a chicken go after a hawk that took its chick. The power I said he had cannot make my tomorrow better, but it can make me go to bed at the end of every night and appreciate the day I am about to let go of. Chief Oludu, I think you better go back to your quarters for the night, you have an early journey tomorrow.”
She got up and opened the door for him.
“I thought you read minds. Why don’t you know that I cannot leave here without you?”
“I can be an expert at words from a man's mind, but I am an amateur at the words from a man's heart.”
“Am I to understand that as long as I ask your hand in marriage, you cannot reject me?”
“Yes.”
He made a slight bow and said, “I am yours if you will have me.”
The words started running faster as though their time to talk was limited and danger was knocking on the door.
“You realize that you can never marry any other woman apart from me, or else you will die along with the first son I bear for you.”
“When I saw you dance, I realized that my life was empty. The time I have stayed with you I have experienced a fullness not of this earth. With you I will need no other to fill the emptiness I feel within.”
“You realize that my life is transient. I cannot live for long,” she explained.
“Then we make the best of every day that passes us by.” The firmness of Oludu's voice intensified.
“Maybe you don't understand: I will go to the land beyond immediately after I hear that call in my dreams. It could be after thirty years or tomorrow. You do not deserve that kind of torture.”
“Let me be the man to choose the torture I can or cannot take. The question here is whether you want me or not, because if you don't, the King will never know that you refused me. I will just walk up to him and tell him that your voice was louder than the echoes of a cave
,” Oludu said with a smile.
She looked at him with all the seriousness that he did not believe she could exhibit and said
.
“I crave for you more than the sun wants to shine
,’’ she said. “You touch my soul in places unreachable to any man. I never believed I could look at another apart from my father and feel I was a female, but you make me realize that I am a woman. And the scary thing is, your stories are all that drew me to you. Now is the first time I have seen you, but not the first time I have known you.”
He stretched his hands and said, “Then come with me. This is no longer your home.”
She held his hand and they walked away, together.