Authors: Njedeh Anthony
As Oludu watched his wife, without looking back he asked, “Is she really asleep now?’
Agreshi replied, “Yes she is.”
Lying next to his wife and talking as though he were alone, he asked, “What makes you think you can trust me.”
“I don’t think, I know. And just in case of any breach, your wife is no longer an Ogbanje, so she is now susceptible.”
“You are aware that if anything happens to her, I will be coming for you.”
“I have to admit you are as powerful as I am, or even more powerful, but the difference between you and me is that I know how to use this power.”
“‘Really,” Oludu said facing the witch, but she was gone and he was alone with his wife.
Chapter 28
Chief Odagwe stormed out of his bedroom and into the visitor’s chambers in his Haku. As he walked to his destination, his anger proliferated, not because of the time he was awakened, but because of his visitor. He entered the chamber that served as a conference room and met his guest comfortably seated.
The Hurdene looked wickedly fine with her afro. She was present with six of her Ikuvamees and they all seemed ready for anything; despite their man-like appearances they gave an aura that put all the chief’s Omees on guard. From the chief’s perspective, the Ikuvamees had no chance at all if they decided to start anything here. First, his men in the room were three times their number and they were individually stronger, but there was still something about the women that made him uneasy.
“These seats are used when the master of the house gives anyone permission to use it and I am definitely not giving you permission to use it,” Odagwe exclaimed.
Onyela got up from the seat. Her Ikuvamee went down on her hands and knees and the Hurdene sat on her back.
“I heard you were demanding to see me at this time of the night. Who do you think you are making demands of me? I could kill you now. How dare you demand to see me?”
“You do that and I will be eternally grateful to you. Then the high chiefs will be invited into our little web and they will make the decision in favor of the motherless contestant, after they have ordered your death. By the way, did I mention that both the Head-of-Government and the Ifa priest still despise your existence?” The Hurdene had a confident tone in her voice.
“They would not have to know how you died.” Odagwe walked around Onyela.
“Seems you are enjoying your little walk around me. I suggest you look around you.”
The Chief looked around to see the Hurdene’s Ikuvamees in the Haku reaching for their swords.
“They are few compared to the number of men you have in this room, but I guarantee you will not be able to get a quiet death from me.”
“They are only six women.”
“And about two hundred scattered all over your province. The minute I die, you give the high chiefs the power to do to you whatever they wish. If you even attempt going to war with them, you become the enemy of the kingdom. As strong as your province has become merging with Abogima, you are still playing with the hands of a child where the fists of men feed.”
“I am touched by your care. There is an old saying, ‘You taste sweet wine a little and go, so you can remember the pleasure of the taste. But if you take it too much, then you will get the real taste and realize it was actually bitter.’”
Odagwe stroked his beard as he walked around the Hurdene.
“You were always terrible at proverbs,” she murmured.
“Let’s not beat around the bush. I know why you came here and my answer is no,” the chief blatantly said.
“Even your dreams cannot fathom why I am here.”
“Onyela, I will not vote your son as King, even if I have to die the worst death.”
“I would like to talk to you alone.”
“What can you tell me alone that anybody here does not know you are going to say? Listen, woman, your wine now tastes sour, so please leave.”
“This will be the last time I will ask to speak to you alone.”
Odagwe knew this Hurdene since she had the mind of a girl and she always carried a cheerful face even in times of her sorrow. But now the wickedness of her expression made him realize that he did not know who she was. She still looked the way she had when he met her. The only difference was that the child in her had been killed or there never was a child. It was a thought that he recognized for the first time, the native child always knew her way home. The power in her speech had a dangerous foundation and the chief stood trying to understand the situation.
The Hurdene got up from her Ikuvamee and started walking away; her soldiers followed.
Then Odagwe ordered everyone to leave them alone. The Hurdene stopped and told her Ikuvamees to also leave.
When the two of them were alone, Odagwe started feeling uneasy.
“It is pointless, Onyela. I will never vote in your son.”
Onyela started walking around the seats, rubbing her hands on them.
“I see that your pain is rooted to the past.”
“Is that what you came here to say?” The chief was still standing and watching her.
“There is a saying that the cause of the pain is the only one that can make you forget.”
“Listen, I have better things to do with my time, so you can forget about trying to seduce me.”
“When and if I want to seduce you, that would not be a problem. You still drool at my presence.”
“You are a dreamer.”
“Why don’t you ask me what is really on your mind?”
“Next you will tell me you read minds. Listen, woman, I have things to do.”
“If you wanted to leave, you would left a long time ago. I suggest you listen to what I have to say.”
“Then say it.”
“It is a very large word to play with. Which of the its do you want to hear about: why I left you for the King or why you are going to vote my son as a King?”
“As I said earlier, you have lost touch with reality.”
“I also have things to do. I heard you and the other chiefs have agreed to meet a day before your decision is expected. I thought you were all ready to argue till you die.”
“You have nothing to tell me. I suggest you start your journey back.”
The chief walked past the Hurdene and was headed out.
“It’s terrible, now you have to let another woman’s son become King while your son is closer to it.”
The chief stopped and walked back to the Hurdene.
“You will do anything to get what you want,” he snarled.
“Think about it, Odagwe, I got pregnant immediately after I married the man. He is not capable of producing sons and you have nine.”
“You lie, witch,” he said, grabbing her shoulder.
“Rephrase that. A lying witch who is the mother of your son.”
Odagwe dropped her on the floor.
“Your sweet rose has thorns all over it. Nobody played love more than you when your husband lived and now I will not dance to the beat of your drum. Your son’s father is dead and I will not let you see me. Never!” Odagwe started walking away then he came back to face the Hurdene who was on the floor with an innocent look on her face. “Even if he was my son, do you think your husband would not have known, or even Queen Ifrareta?”
“He never knew I slept with you. All I told Ifrareta was that we were courting and even when he slept with me, I made him believe I was a virgin.”
The seriousness in Odagwe’s face faded away and he smiled as he replied to her.
“No matter how wide your hands are or how deep a bowl you can find, you will never be able to capture the rain…only the waters. I already told him years ago that I slept with you and even tried to spice it up by lying to him that I raped you. So take yourself out of my Haku or I will personally throw you out.”
The Hurdene got up from the floor, her face transformed from the innocent child to a deadly woman. She started leaving and without looking back she said, “When next you see the boy, look at his eyes and tell me he is not your son.”
The chief sat down on the floor for a while. Onyela was not the person he thought she was. His mind started working. The way she even got married to the King was impressive to him. Hundreds of women were raised to be brides of the King and very few were chosen. Most of these women were raised pure from aristocratic families, but how a girl from an unknown background got access to the King confused him.
The way he got in contact with her was more comprehensible. She used to serve under his first wife when she was a little girl. Weruche’s marriage was logical to him. She had a son for the man. That was enough to marry any woman, not to mention her beauty. His second wife was the perfect bride for a King—young, from a notable family, and unadulterated by society. Ifrareta was acceptable in every way. She was his first wife, but all that made the Onyela story a little complicated. How did Ifrareta get in contact with such a girl? He knew she was easily loveable, but he was positive that the Hurdene went out of her way to create a coincidence with Ifrareta.
While I was courting that witch she was busy planning how to marry the King? How she got in contact with Queen Ifrareta is the part I do not understand. So Obi did not tell her that he knew, I slept with her. All that time she was playing virgin in bed, the man would have been looking at her as a fool. She is a calculating witch. So she thinks I am a fool who would let her bastard son become my King. Amazing is it not? I had to always watch every step I took, expecting that stupid King to attack me. Now I live. I could have sworn my plan would not work. I am getting ahead of myself—her plans not mine.
The chief grinned as he walked to his destination.
Obi must have known that he died from the asite poison. The symptoms are very obvious. It takes half a day to kill the victim and yet it has no antidote. Our father spent all his life trying to find its antidote. I should hear myself, our father. Stupid boy, why did he not follow me when I begged him to? We would have been invincible. No…he decided to spend his life being the son of an Ikaza and then he became King. Why do I hate him so much, yet somewhere inside I still love him?
When she asked me for the poison, I did not expect her to use it. I thought she was just trying to show how powerful she could be. Somehow I knew she would do it. Head-of-Government is not the kind of position you come across everyday. Ten generations from now the children of my children will still remember their ancestor who was an Head-of-Government.
The chief got to his bedroom and saw Weruche still asleep on his bed.
If I was the one to have dropped the poison…I would never have been able to do it…to my brother.
Odagwe carefully sneaked back into the bed so Weruche would not wake up, and he slept with his mind still working.
*
Chief Ihua was in a room in the Haku with only four of the elders and nobody said a word to each other. Ihua looked at the old men around him and realized that the youngest elder was only a year older than he was. He knew he was getting old and the vitality he used to possess had taken another turn. It was time he retired and he had no intention of remaining in this phase. He thought of farming, but he was already too rich to suffer. He thought of trading, but he never was a traveling man, so he decided to just stay in his houses and continue getting young girls pregnant.
The Okpala among the elders spoke first.
“Ihua the Immortal, we have come here today over a number of issues. The first is who are you going to make chief of Alloida.”
Ihua was looking in a different direction from where the elders were.
“Why don’t you ask me the question that is lurking in your minds, am I going to put any of my sons as chief of Alloida? The answer is no. If I make any of them chief, one of those two madmen, either Ikenna or Tunde, would have to be his general. I give them a year or two at most—an accident will happen and my son will be dead with one of them talking his place. I doubt if they believe I will ever retire. They think I want to stay here forever. If I put both men as chiefs of Alloida and Ahoda, they would not hesitate to go to war with each other. With them as chiefs, my two sons, Akpononu and Nwojo, will be their generals. If both chiefs intend to kill themselves, then let it be. I have to walk away from this circle before it kills me. Tunde will be the next chief of Alloida and the ceremony will begin tomorrow. In three days, he will follow me to Utagba, so we can vote in the new King. His general will be Akpononu.”
The elders seemed pleased with his decision.
One elder then asked, “How about Ikenna?”
“Ikenna will remain my general until we have a new King. Then I will retire and he will take my place. Nwojo will be his general.”
“But if the two of them are made chiefs in separate territories, they will not hesitate to go to war against each other,” the same elder asked.
“I handpicked these men personally. Take it from me, war is no longer on their minds.”
If you believe that, then you will believe I own the heavens. If I made one of them chief and not the other, I am positive that I would be dead before the sun shines again. So they should understand that a man has to do what a man has to do. I am so glad that I won’t be here when they are killing themselves. It’s time I enjoyed my wealth and I am not interested in any elder position.
The Okpala asked another question.
“So who are you choosing as King?”
Ihua sighed.
These men are beginning to get on my nerves. They just want me to say Weruche’s son to get them convinced. I have no choice but to choose her child. She is from Ahoda and a daughter of our province. My choice of her son is firm, but I am not ready to die because of this choice. Life is sweet and I am just beginning to enjoy it.
“Odagwe arranged a meeting for Oludu and I to attend a day before the six chiefs give their unanimous decision to the high chiefs. That is in about five days. Then, and only then, will I announce my decision. I would like to be alone now.”