Authors: Njedeh Anthony
Chapter 23
Ihua had spent days thinking, calculating what he was to do and what he could not do. He gave specific orders for no one to disturb him, not even his wives. The only people worthy of sharing his momentous time were his concubines. On the ninth day after his meeting with the chiefs in the conference room, he asked his messengers to summon five people—his general, his Tikpapa, two Omees named Ikenna and Tunde, and a shrewd white trader named John Anderson.
Four of the men came at nearly the same time. He asked John to wait while the others were led into his chambers. He watched the general approach and he could see in the man’s eyes that he felt degraded for not being asked for before now. When finally asked to the chief’s presence, he had to be summoned with the two radical excuses for Omees. Ihua wondered why he never accepted the man as his general, and the only time he either mentioned or thought of him was like the son of a palm wine taper. The general walked in acknowledging that the chief wasn’t looking at a palm wine taper’s son anymore but a general.
Well, well, well, you finally realize you need the palm wine-taper’s son, now that there is war. Old fool, your retirement age has overflowed. It’s time for new blood to flow in the people of Ahoda. I can’t wait to tell to the over-grown monkey that the elders have all agreed for him to go. How stupid can a man be? The wrinkled man knew that his people want him out and he still went along to agree for battle with the people of Alloida. I can’t wait to tell him the time is up and this time there is no king to carry his ancient soul
, the General thought with a smile.
Ihua looked at the other two Omees who approached him bowing. The two men were excellent choices, both descendants from generations of Omees, generals and even chiefs. The only problem was that they were deep-rooted enemies. Everyone was scared of leaving them together because one of them would kill the other. They were supposed to be generals, but the elders did not know which one of them to pick so they did not choose either.
The hatred the two Omees had was passed on to them from generations. Families of both claimed they stole one another’s land.
The problems started eight generations back, when an Omee wanted to marry a girl who had lots of suitors. The Omee promised the girl’s family the dowry they requested and his land that belonged to both his lost younger brother and himself. They immediately gave him their daughter to marry. After some years, his lost brother appeared and demanded what was his. The older brother gave him a million excuses why he gave them the land and offered to replace it. The younger brother killed his brother and married his brother’s wife. It was custom that when a man’s brother died he married his wife to keep the dowry within the family. If the man was not interested in marrying her, he was free to refuse, but the woman did not have this privilege.
The younger brother took the land from them, claiming his brother had no right to make that decision alone, but gave it back to them after a year as his in-laws. Eventually his wife had six children—a girl and a boy for his elder brother and three daughters and one son for him. The two boys grew up to be sworn enemies and the generations after them fueled the hatred.
Ikenna and Tunde stood with their heads down like they were born together. Ihua looked at his general seated on the wooden bench.
“Are you comfortable?”
“Not exactly, but I will manage,” the general answered with a trace of sarcasm.
Ihua smiled and faced the two Omees.
“I have heard about the two of you always attempting to kill each other. Are you people not ashamed of yourselves? If you could bury this dirty hatred you men have, our province would have proliferated. I will say this once: One of you will be under the other and until then you both have to impress me. If either of you hurts the other, then take it that you have hurt me. I will not only deal with you, but I will make sure that your generations will end. Do you understand me?”
“Yes sir,” both men shouted together.
“Touching speech, Ihua, but I think I am wise enough to give the elders my nominee for general. As sure as the sands of the earth, these two radicals won’t come close. Old man, make this thing nice and quick and tell us you are stepping down as chief…I have people to lead.”
“As for now, there is something both of you will do for me. You—”
The chief was interrupted by the general. “These matters you discuss are of no relevance to me. I would like to talk to you about more serious issues.”
“Take it from me, this next issue has everything to do with you, General.” A smile grew on the chief’s face as he spoke.
The general also grinned. Finally you want to speak my language.
The chief turned to the two Omees. “I have heard a lot about the two of you. Now prove to me how good you are. Annihilate this man.”
It took the general a second to realize that he was the man they were to get rid of. He quickly reached for his sword, but Ikenna was faster. Ikenna cut off the general’s hand, and Tunde gave his head a clean slice.
Ihua wanted to scream
flawless
, but he knew better than to praise an Omee when he started an assignment or else he might feel he had reached the highest standard. Now he knew why they did not know which Omee to make general. What did he have to lose, now? He had two generals. The only thing was that they could not bear the title. In this situation, both men were now his best protectors, especially against his most unpredictable enemies.
The two Omees still stood, heads bowed, awaiting their next order. He offered them seats, but the men chose to stand.
Ihua told his messenger to ask John in. Upon seeing the general’s head separated from his body, fear took the white man’s composure. He had trade transactions with Ihua. He gave Ihua everything he asked for in exchange for anything valuable in his home like ivory, gold and, on rare occasions, slaves.
“John, take a seat. You are acting like a pregnant woman about to have a miscarriage.”
John tried to smile, but his face could not handle the forced expression.
“Sorry about the place.” Ihua called for his servants to clean up and then continued. “You are aware that the King is dead.”
“Yes, I am.”
“We are going to war with Vacoura and I need a favor from you.”
“Anything, Chief. Have I ever not answered your request?” John’s confidence rose.
“The kingdom is supplied two types of salt—the local salt from our land and the white man’s salt. The local salt comes from Ndemili and Ahoda, and the white man’s salt is supplied by a white man who knows his way around the kingdom better than our own people. Let me cut this story short: I have always known you were the major supplier of this salt.”
“Ihua, how can you think I would be involved in such a transaction? We have worked together for over a decade and there is no dark secret I have not exposed to you. Believe me from the depth of my soul. If you want me to swear by your gods, I will. I am not involved in any form of trade apart from the transactions both of us have.”
Ihua grinned.
“I knew the source of my information was not trustworthy. They are trying to break the bond we have. They said you are planning to take advantage of the war so you can trade your salt strictly for slaves in the provinces that don’t have this merchandise.”
“
Who…” John stammered, “who are these people who want to spoil my bond with you?”
“I know you are the one, John, so stop playing with me because the next question you get will come from these Omees.”
John looked at the two Omees eyes and they were screaming blood.
“Ihua, I am a businessman and I do what I have to do to make profits. I spend months coming here by sea, not to make friends, or eat what your people eat, nor to drink your wine. I prefer my own drinks, my own food and my own lifestyle. Yes, I am the major supplier of the white man’s salt, but I have never been less than a noble subject to you.”
“John, what do you take me for? You have not done anything wrong and I was surprised that you denied it initially. Anyway, for now you will be my guest in the Haku and anything you need will be brought to you here until the war is over.”
John wanted to say something, but Ihua continued.
“Take it from me, it’s for your own protection.”
Ihua called three other Omees and told them to take John to his new confined home. When john left the chambers, Ihua asked the two younger men, “So what just happened?”
“You want to stop the traffic of salt around the kingdom, so you can stretch the war,” Tunde said.
“Then again, the people of Alloida will end up attacking faster than they were supposed to,” Ikenna added.
Ihua got up from where he was seated and asked them, “A man crossed a river to pluck a paw-paw fruit. When he got there he plucked four and he could not cross the river with all four fruits. He could only swim across the river with one of these fruits. So what should he do?”
Ikenna answered. “He takes the fruit one at a time across the river.”
“Good, then what happens if this continues?’
“He starts getting tired as he swims back and forth,” Tunde answered.
“Get every man, woman and children with strong hands and tell them to start digging on the borders a wide trench, deep enough to cover over a thousand standing men. When this is done, assign a battalion to guard the boundaries.”
“As much as Vacoura is a lot of things, he has honor. When he says thirty days so shall it be.”
His messenger returned, talking with his head to the ground.
“I bring you dreadful news.”
“Speak,” the chief commanded.
“Your Tikpapa was found dead with his head buried in his feces.”
Ihua angrily told his messenger to get out. He faced the two Omees again a little confused.
“You were telling us of Vacoura’s honor,” Tunde said.
Ihua could feel the echo of the two Omees laughter hidden in the serious faces they pretended to put on. He was even beginning to wonder if the men were really enemies. It is terrible what war does. Imagine honorable Vacoura organized the death of my Tikpapa while I am here waiting for thirty days. Only the gods know whether the ancient pig has already planned my death with someone around me. One thing I am sure of, it cannot be either of these two. The bastard had to kill the only man I could trust.
Ihua sighed, then faced his two general’s without the title.
“Start organizing the digging now.”
The two men were filled with youthful joy. They were going to war to kill people and probably get killed. Ihua realized these men were crazy and dangerous; he was lucky they were on his side. As Ihua discharged them to do his task, Ikenna looked back at the chief.
“You did not have any informant. You just tested the white man to see if he was the one supplying the salt.”
Ihua ignored him and left, now knowing who would be his successor. He regretted that none of his sons had the fire
of an Omee, but even so, he had to take care of at least one of them.
Chapter 24
It had been nine days since the meeting at the conference room and Pokzee never mentioned anything about the battle with any of his men, including the elders. Although he did not get married again, he was still living in the bosom of pleasure with different women. One night the elders came to his home while he had a female guest. He asked them to come back at another time, but they insisted on waiting. When he finally met them in his chambers, he greeted the four elderly men then sat down.
“So what brings the four anchors of our province to my humble home?”
“Only a fool will see a stone coming into his eyes and not react. Pokzee, we have been fools for about nine days, but our hearts are as heavy as yours. There is a war coming and nobody knows what we are planning to do,” the oldest man said.
“Is it not Oludu? I will take care of his province on my own,” Pokzee said, his mouth full of roasted antelope.
“Our forefathers who have served us kola nut with blessing had nothing to gain by this gesture, but even today we do it and so shall the generations after ours,” the darkest elder said.
“Forgive me. Please take some kola nut,” Pokzee said.
“This is not about Kola nut,” the elder continued. “How can you estimate the height from the heavens to the earth?”
“Let us hit the ground, Pokzee,” said the elder with a scar across his face. “We are all aware that the war is in twenty-one days from now. We know we are a powerful province, but Oludu’s chronicle is not something we should ignore.”
“What chronicle? Is it that he killed an animal when he was young or that he is the son of an Omogor?”
The shortest elder finally spoke. “No wonder, he does not know.”
“Know what?”
“I was beginning to wonder if they had settled,” the scarred elder added.
“Know what?” Pokzee shouted.
The darkest elder started, “Okon sent his general and Oludu, along with about fifteen Omees, to the village of Asuqo.”
“Correction, there were only ten Omees with them,” the scarred elder cut in. “Okon sent them to the village head to collect the taxes.”
“Okon never sent his son to places he felt were sensitive. Upon the death of an animal at the boy’s hands, he still treated him like an egg,” the shortest elder said.
The darkest elder continued. “Asuqo was a village that had no Omees and everybody there was a farmer. They were not up to a hundred people in that land.”
“So Oludu, the general and the other Omees got to where the village head was and asked about it,” the scarred elder added.
“The man walked to where the general was and spat on his face, ran out and shouted a signal,” the shortest elder said.
“It was GBOWE,” the darkest elder reminded him.
“Thank you,” the shortest elder said, not even caring who he was telling the story to. “From nowhere Omees, all pretending to be criminals, appeared in the scanty environment. They were about a hundred.”
“Stop exaggerating; they were about fifty,” the scarred one said. “All twelve men ran toward the exit away from the village. At that point they formed a straight line prepared for battle.”
“When their adversaries saw the blockade,” said the shortest elder, “they stopped chasing them and stood side by side with their prey. At this time the twelve Omees were looking the fifty men in the eyes with traces of fear. Then their leader appeared. It was obvious that Oludu did not know who he saw, but the general recognized him and let the boy know that the man was his father’s second eldest brother.”
“Since Okon’s father disowned him, the two brothers had never met again,” the scarred elder added.
“So Oludu’s uncle told them he didn’t want to waste the lives of honorable Omees and all he wanted was Oludu,” said the shortest elder. “The general told him never and screamed for Oludu to run back to the town. Their adversaries attacked and the boy started running. All the Omees prevented anyone from passing through but their enemies were too many and they started dying one by, but they still kept the blockade.”
“When he was close to the town, Oludu turned and started running back. The general always said to him, ‘Only a boy runs from the battles of a man.’” The darkest elder seemed proud to have remembered the statement and continued. “At this time Oludu was still quite young, although he already was an Omee. When he got back to where his Omees were, he saw only his general and three other Omees still fighting with over thirty Omees or criminals. The boy entered the battle like a hawk grabbing its prey. His hand was his shield and the sword was passing through anything. At a point, they said his sword dropped and he started using his bare hands. He did not seem to feel the arrows they shot at him and at that point they knew the man had protection from a great god. The few men alive ran away. His uncle tried to escape, but the general shot him in the foot with an arrow. Oludu went to his uncle, pulled the arrow from his foot, and told him to bury the Omees that had died while protecting him. He then made him burn his clothes and go back home naked.”
“Is that why you have all come to my Haku?” Pokzee asked, playing with his fingers.
“No,” the oldest elder said. “We have a visitor for you.”
One of the elders went out of the chambers and brought in someone with the face covered.
“You may unveil yourself. You are in the most discreet grounds.”
Pokzee could not hide his shock; he was not expecting this. And they said victory was not on his fingertips.
“Is this a social visit or you have something for me?” Pokzee asked, knowing the answer.
“Oludu will attack you on the twenty-first day from now as he said, but he will pass through the black-eyed swamp because he knows you won’t be expecting him to pass that way. I suggest you wait for him at the edge of the swamp in the forest in three day’s time,” the p
erson said.
“Why three days?” Pokzee asked.
“You know why,” the person replied, covering the face that was not meant to be seen.
Pokzee watched his spy walk away and did not know what to believe.