When Gods Bleed (19 page)

“You do not seem to understand that I need more spaces of power to fill in my offspring and I am grateful for you participating. I would have liked the world to know that I can deal with both of Vacoura and you alone. But Oludu and I will do it,” Ihua said.

“Oludu never mentioned that he was involved in this battle, old man, so if you are looking for a means to beg, we would understand that you are old and your time has passed,” Pokzee said, staring at Oludu’s resistive look and Ihua’s wicked smirk.

“Unfortunately for your naive mind, Oludu and I are now involved in a joint trade opening our borders for items like salt, iron, beads, ivory and gold.”

Immediately, Oludu’s expression changed from awe to assuredness.

“Let me understand this. Is the great Pokzee scared of Oludu? Okay, if it will make you feel better, I will battle with both of you alone,” Ihua said with a sarcasm that could cripple any ego.

“How can I be afraid of a man who lives under the voice of a woman? I will defeat him anytime he is ready, whether it be thirty days from now, tomorrow, or even right now,” Pokzee responded angrily.

“No rush, Pokzee, thirty days will be sufficient. Now that we have reached a conclusive phase in this meeting, I think this meeting is adjourned,” Oludu said.

All the chiefs got up and left the conference room with dark expressions and audible curses. Leaving the palace, Oludu took Ihua's arm and whispered into his ear, “How did you know I would go into battle in the interest of this trade?”

“I didn't. It was the only option I had before I dipped my hand into suicide.”

“If there is anything you need for your battle with Vacoura, remember my borders are open to you,” Oludu murmured.

“I will keep that in mind and I hope you remember that my own borders are open to you, just in case. But by the way, which Hurdene are you backing?” Ihua asked as they approached their carriages.

“I have not made up my mind yet,” Oludu replied and left with his Omees.

As the chiefs left the palace the three high chiefs sat nearby under a palm kernel tree, drinking palm wine.

“Fools,” the Head-of-Government said as he watched the chiefs depart.

“What happens now?” the Okpalaukwu asked, holding tight to his walking cane.

“We wait to see when gods bleed,” the Ifa priest said, picking up sand and rubbing it on his palms.

“I know I am supposed to be the wisest man here but how can a god bleed?” the Okpalaukwu asked.

“That’s the point, a god is supposed to be the highest power,” the Ifa priest answered. “In our culture where we believe in multiple gods, when men go to war putting their entire faith in their god and they lose, it means their god has lost, it means their god has failed, it means their god is human—”

“It means their god can bleed,” the Okpalaukwu cut in.

“It means they are not gods,” the Ifa priest said as he rose and poured the sand in his hands onto his feet.

“So what you are saying, as the Headman to the Oracle, is you agree with the missionary,” the Head-of-Government said looking intently at the Ifa priest.

“Agree with what, Gbangba?” the Okpalaukwu asked.

“That there is only one god,” the Head-of-Government replied and walked away.

Chapter 21

Oludu arrived at his Haku when the night was its fullest. From the time he left the capital he had not uttered a word. His wife welcomed him, but he still did not say anything to her or anyone around him who came to register their presence to him. They were expecting a sign of appreciation to acknowledge their waiting up for him. The chief seemed only to recognize the direction ahead of him. Nobody could unravel what was playing in his mind, but they were positive it had something to do with the coronation of a new king.

His wife, Ugonwa, always ignored the protocols that followed the traditional rites of marriage. A wife typically only came to her husband when she was asked to or after she had asked permission from him through her maids. But Ugonwa gave her husband a bath and then she knelt down by him to massage his feet, even though he still hadn’t spoken. Throughout the act, she still could not squeeze a word from his impermeable mind. She watched him lie down on the bed then she left him alone. As she walked away, a pain pierced her heart because she didn’t know what was bothering her husband. There were times just by merely looking at him she could tell what he was thinking. But on this day the man had a world of his own that no matter how hard she concentrated she could not enter.

Am I worthy to be a Chief? The grounds cry for the blood of the people of Ndemili. I wonder what my father would do if he carried the staff as I do. Are lies not beautiful when you need them most? If they had let the world know, I could have been the man who listened to the horn instead of blowing it. My general thinks I am blind. I see the hatred in his eyes for pledging his loyalty to a man younger than he is. I feel his dream of ever becoming chief slip away. The fool sings loyalty as the vulture preaches hard work. Keep singing, for I need you alive.

As they say, the man you know will stab you in the back is your most trusted comrade because you always put him in front of you. The pressure in the play is rising. I can hear the laughter of the gods. They know the more I use what they gave me, the darker I become…I will prove to both man and gods that I don’t need to be beyond the limits of man to win a war. Pokzee, I see death in my face if I don’t play with your weakness…your logic.

*

The seven-foot general’s name was Boodunko. He was older than the chief, but at the ripe age for the position of general. From the day he started to understand life, he wanted to be chief. As much as he tried to deceive himself, he knew that honor and power were two words that were born together but lived separately. He waited for the chief to discharge him before he could leave the Haku and, from the look of things, it seemed the chief was not coming out from his shell. As he waited, Ugonwa came out of the room where her husband was and told the general he could leave. The uncaring attitude she used to talk and walk away from him ignited his anger.

Still, watching her as she was walking away the anger seemed to transfer into a fierce lust.
I know what is punishing her. She lacks a real man to take care of her inner needs and desire. It’s a pity that she is bodily deprived. All she had to do was ask and I would take care of her desire anytime and anywhere.
Boodunko’s thoughts seemed to give him an inner redemption because his grin was connected to his heart.

For an enigmatic reason, Ugonwa stopped and started walking back toward him. The general felt that maybe when he grinned, he must have made a sound that was disrespectful. She was coming toward him like a warrior seeking vengeance for an unforgivable sin. He did not know when he instinctively stretched his hand toward his sword. As she approached him, she started walking around him like a creature she had never laid eyes on. The general was still in the same position.

With a smile and a seductive voice she began, “How much of a man are you?”

“I am sorry, I do not understand you,” the general replied.

The servants and Omees in the room did not know what was going on, but they were aware that something was about to happen.

Her voice was getting slightly louder.

“Please do not tell a poor lonely woman like me that you are not ready to fulfill the desires that my husband cannot reach.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The desires you want to help me reach, which my husband cannot handle.”

“I never said that.”

“But you thought it.”

“With all due respect, I think your words lack sanity.”

“Really? Or is it that your stupidity deflects you from our present circumstance?” She smiled at his exposed anger. “With all due respect.”

“Watch it,” he said as he started to leave.

“I take it you just handed me a threat, or are you threatened?” she said with a sly smile.

“I would never threaten the wife of my chief.” He walked away from the Haku finally knowing why the chief never had a Tikpapa after he married the late King’s daughter

Chapter 22

Otuturex got to his Haku by dawn. He stayed a day extra in the capital because of the feast he attended with his men. His envoy escorted him, along with his general named Adu and his Tikpapa, to a private chamber. Before he sat down, he started giving his general orders.

“Appoint Omees at all the boundaries of the province. Recruit as many commoners as possible. Get rid of anyone who has contact with Ekpona Hills. I especially want you to find as many people who know the Ekpona Hills. All the slaves we have should be made Omees.”

“Why?” his Tikpapa asked.

“What do you mean why? Do you intend to be at the battlefront?”

“Sorry.”

“How about the elders?” the envoy asked.

“Yes, how about the elders?”

“I mean, what do I tell them?”

“Those old men have been on my back since I became chief. Go and ask them if there are any volunteers to go to battle.”

“I get the message,” the envoy replied.

“Tell me about the physical features surrounding the Ekpona Hills,” the chief asked the envoy.

“There are a number of small villages, but the major settlements start from over the hill and its elevation is high. Our horses aren’t used to climbing those steep heights. By foot it’s a day’s journey to Odagwe’s Haku.”

Directing the next question at the general the chief asked, “How many Omees do we have?”

“We should have four battalions.”

“That was not the question. I asked how many men do you have in each of your battalions?”

“From seven hundred to a thousand.”

“Take your worst battalion and divide it into four parts. Send the first bunch tonight to the Ekpona Hills and the others will follow with day and night. They should not be dressed in Omee outfits from this province, and they should capture those little villages.”

“Odagwe is no fool. Those are the first places he will guard and any attack in any form will be connected to you.”

“How can I explain this to you? Desperate times cover honor. The victor, no matter how dishonorable he is, still gets the glory. Yes, I said that I would attack on the fourteenth day, but even Odagwe knows that is fiction. The war starts today, but there will be no war song or dance until I leave here for battle. These men will leave with the turn of the days and nights. Let them know their mission is suicidal and, if they don’t want to go, place them in the final battlefront.”

Otuturex sighed, looking at the men around him. The beauty of war was that it exposed the people you could turn your back to and those you could not risk such an act with. There were a lot of ways to prevent your enemies from attacking you from within, but the best method was by starting your war from the most important direction, from within.

              Odagwe knew he was going to battle with me soon as he stepped into the palace. He has someone on the inside. I have nothing on my general to be sure of his allegiance to me. All I have is his honor and the good name that came from the loyalty of his father and the generations before him. Well, I am a lucky to have let my Tikpapa tell me how to screen through some of his supernatural arts. I have to admit, if I was a Tikpapa even to a King, there are some secrets I would never tell.

Otuturex faced the three men standing and waiting on him.

“Please sit down.”

With a grin he asked the Tikpapa, “Where are you from? I keep forgetting.”

“Are you talking to me, sire?” the Tikpapa asked.

“Yes I am,” Otuturex answered in an unusually polite manner.

“I am a Yere. My people are slaves to the province at the Ekpona Hills. You are aware of this, my chief.”

“With this war, things are getting a little blurred in my memory. I remember you were at the Ekpona Hills on the day the King died.”

“Yes, I was. My people are there and I asked your permission before I left.”

“I did not mean to make you edgy. The thing bothering me is that Odagwe seemed to have made up his mind to go to war with me even before he arrived.”

“I tell you, my chief, my hatred for Odagwe is deep and my loyalty to you is to the extreme,” the Tikpapa said, bowing.

“Yes, but if I understand the code of war, if slaves decide to join a province in war, their people become free.”

“So what are you trying to say?”

“I don’t trust you. Adu, kill him.”

The general drew his sword and struck the Tikpapa’s chest. The sword bounced back as though it hit a stronger metal. The Tikpapa brought out a powder from his fist and blew on it. Fire surrounded the boundary between them.

Otuturex stretched his hand under his seat and brought out an egg. As he raised his head, he saw a spear coming right for him. He swayed, but he was not fast enough, the spear pierced his shoulder. As he fell to the floor, he crushed the egg on the ground and the fire was extinguished.

The Tikpapa ran away as the general threw his knife at him. It struck the Tikpapa’s neck before he got to the door. As he turned, there was a pained expression on his face. He was trying to say something, but the general was too disgusted to give him a chance, so he used his foot to bash his face. Then he took the knife from the Tikpapa and went to attend to the chief, who was already with the envoy.

“We should be able to treat him,” the envoy said, pulling the sword from the man’s shoulder. “I am sorry, my Chief.”

“Why should you be sorry? These are the reasons I am chief.”

“I will go and call the herbalist,” the envoy said.

“I am also sorry, Otuturex,” the general said before stabbing the chief in the chest with the same knife he used to kill the Tikpapa.

The general then turned to the envoy with a demonic look.

“You killed the chief,” the envoy said, stumbling backward.

The general walked toward him.

“I did not see anything. Please, I beg you. I will tell them I did not see anything. What am I saying? I really did not see anything,” the envoy pleaded, now on his knees.

“Will you get up. You are so disgusting. If I kill you, who else would be my envoy? You are the most qualified and if you are a little smart you might become the King's envoy.”

The look on the envoy’s face transformed from fearful into that of a mercenary.

“Did you say the
King's envoy?”

“I see I have touched a part of your spine that dances to my tune.”

“Talk, Adu, I am listening.”

“Correct yourself. From now on you address me as Chief or my Liege.”

“Forgive me, my Liege. I was carried away.”

“All we have to say is this: The Tikpapa attacked the chief with a spear when we were not aware. I attacked him with my sword, but it did not pass through his chest. Then he cast a spell and appeared in front of Otuturex and stabbed him again in the chest. That was when I jumped on him, took the knife from him, and stabbed him with it.”

“I don’t mean to sound pushy, but I don’t think the elders will believe that story.”

“They don’t have a choice. As of now, they are all bothered about the war we have with the Ekpona Hills,” the general said, moving the Tikpapa’s body close to the chief’s.

“Yes, that’s a point. What about our war with Odagwe?”

“There isn’t going to be any.”

“What do you mean?”

“Who do you think planned all this?”

“I hope I am confused. Are you trying to tell me that Odagwe planned all this before now?”

“About six months ago.”

“But the King was still alive then.”

“Honestly, I really don’t care because now I will become chief and not answer to this dead piece of rubbish anymore. The animal is not even close to my age and I had to take his order because he was the King’s boy.”

“So what do you have to do for Odagwe?”

“Nothing, just vote for whosoever he wants me to.”

“Then who was the Tikpapa working for?”

“For me. Let me explain. I convinced the Tikpapa to join forces with me because I did not want him using his power against me. I promised to help free his people in the Ekpona Hills. He was a smart man; he didn’t believe me. So I organized a meeting in the Ekpona Hills with Odagwe. It was a coincidence that the time Odagwe asked for him was about the same time the King died. So when we were coming back from the palace, I told Otuturex about my distrust for the Tikpapa and the puppy assimilated everything I said. My striking the Tikpapa with the sword was pre-planned. The spear I threw was supposed to end him.”

“You threw the spear.”

“Are you deaf? Yes, I did. You were too busy running to a safe place when I did.”

“Then why was he running toward the door?”

“When Otuturex squashed the egg on the floor, it seemed his defense mechanism broke, making him completely vulnerable. Tikpapas feel naked without some form of a force around them. He was not running out, but he was looking for a safe place to be until I killed Otuturex.”

“Then if Otuturex had not counteracted his spell, what would you have done?”

“I would have gone with the first plan.”

“What was that?”

“Tell every man in the province that you killed the chief.”

“Nobody would have believed you.”

“With the Tikpapa backing me up and not to mention them continually thinking we are going to war with Odagwe, believe me I would have glided through smoothly. Now, the Tikpapa killed the chief because he has an alliance with Odagwe.” He looked up as though expecting a prize from heaven. “Am I not brilliant?”

The envoy looked at the man with a fake smile.
This is the biggest fool I have ever been engaged with. First he tells me everything I can use against him, then he lets me know that he can get rid of me as easily as he did with the Tikpapa. And to top it all, he thinks Odagwe’s plan is his. Amazing grounds we stand on. Everyone knew the man was a dunce, but Otuturex still chose him to be his general because of his time of service. This is how the man repaid him.

“So what do we now, wise one?” the envoy asked.

“Wise one. I like it. Open the door and start screaming for all the Omees while I pull the knife from Otuturex’s chest.”

The envoy walked toward the door as the general went to where the chief was and pulled out the knife. As he did so, Otuturex’s eyes opened and the envoy started screaming outside the room. The chief gripped the general’s neck. Adu was trying to free himself while the envoy screamed louder. As dozens of Omees approached the envoy, he pointed toward the general, then the words from his mouth became clear.

“The general has killed our chief along with the Tikpapa.”

The Omees ran toward the general; when they got there, both he and the chief were dead, next to the Tikpapa. Otuturex had twisted the general’s neck the way he used to break the shell of coconuts.