When Gods Bleed (9 page)

Before he knew what was going on, they had reached the house. He climbed to the roof, clamping roof stripes with his hands and feet
, with his knife in his mouth, trying hard to hold firm with the pain from the pressure between his grip and his injury. Below, he saw a child looking up at him. He did not know whether to beg or threaten the boy to be quiet.

A man, probably the owner of the house, came out and answered the
Omees. The boy looked away from Obi’s direction as though he wasn’t there. He watched them search the house and even question the boy. Strangely, the boy seemed to be protecting Obi. When the Omee was talking, blood soaked in the wet cloth around his hand fell on the floor. He tried to cover up his wound properly with the other hand. It was getting pointless staying where he was because he was going to be caught.

By the time he
noticed what was going on below him, the small boy had the Omee’s knife with blood on it and was laughing. It seemed he had been doing some cutting. Next thing he saw, the Omees evacuated the house because of the incident, assuming the spirits of an angry god possessed the boy.

Obi waited till the parameter was clear. He overheard the
general saying that he had not yet entered Utagba, so they should spread out and keep searching. When Obi came down, he went to his hero. He heard the house owner call him Otuturex. He met the young boy lying on his mat, he said nothing but in their silence, they made a pact and Obi entered back into the rain.

As he left the house
, he knew that he would never forget the favor the child did for him. He would have pulled his tooth and given it to him, but you never give someone younger your tooth. He surveyed the area around his location and saw that the Omees were well spaced out. He did not bother looking toward Utagba because he was going back to get Amina. The area back to the river was neglected except for one Omee. He watched the Omee surveying the area carefully. Obi crept near him and pulled back a branch of a tree. He held the branch firmly, waiting till the Omee got into target. As the Omee walked into the target spot Obi released the branch and with a great force it hit the warrior’s neck. The Omee was motionless on the ground.

All that drilling and training can finally be used for something after all,
Obi thought. He did not have time to waste. As he quietly crossed the river, he hoped the Omee was not dead. He had never killed a man before.

The two Omees and the pathfinder had been waiting by the river and they were getting impatient. They all shared the premonition that their comrades might be in trouble of some sort, probably a wild animal attacked them or their target had entered Utagba. None of the Omees knew why they were chasing this man, but their orders were clear. They did not want to see the man alive. If they were ordinary men in the kingdom, they would have asked why, but they were Omees. They never ask why, they just follow the orders their superior give them.

Amina still remained curled up between the rocks. Her body seemed to crumple, but she stayed where she was because the dread still lived. She heard them chasing Obi, but from the conversation between the
Omees closer to her, she knew he had escaped. She hoped he got to Utagba. She knew that was where he was going from the Omees’ conversations. She never wondered why. Such information did not seem necessary to her because her husband was such a positive force in her life. Even being squeezed between rocks with danger around her, she knew she was happy and these past months were the best days of her life.

While trying to get comfortable she heard
a hiss. She looked behind her and saw a rattlesnake. She slowly started crawling out of the rock, but the snake was not ready to let her leave its home without a bite. The snake struck, aiming for her neck. She grabbed the snake’s head before it got to her and threw it away.

She breathed a sigh of relief as she landed on the floor, but when she looked up her eyes met the three men. She got up and started running and they chased her, laughing. She could not run fast enough; her legs hurt from the endless roaming. One of the
Omees caught her from behind. She tried to struggle, but the man was very strong. He used one of his hands to grab her bosom and the other to pull off her wrapper. The other two men were laughing. She dug into her wrapper, took out her knife, and stabbed him in his genitals, then she used her elbow to hit him. She ran toward the river.

The other
Omee looked down to see his comrade dying, and took out his bow and arrow.

As she
ran, she saw Obi running toward her and she knew she was safe. When Obi grabbed her, he felt a sting in his heart. He looked at his wife to see an arrow that passed through her chest.

“For you I die. I am proud,” were her only words and she died.

“You live forever, I swear it!” Obi roared. He dropped his wife gently on the ground and when he rose his eyes were bloody red. He did not have the look of a man anymore.

The
Omee tried to get another arrow, but the scene frightened him and his hands shook. Even when he got the arrow, he could not fit it properly. By the time it was well-fitted, Obi had already walked to him.

With an intense force, Amina's husband dug his hand into the bowels of the soldier and brought out his intestines. The pathfinder on seeing this took the
Omee’s knife and stabbed himself to death. Then Obi made a bonfire; it was an Omee code to show that the mission was accomplished.

The
Omees on the other side of the river saw this and came back, but when they returned to the area, they did not see anyone. The general told them to spread out and look for the other Omees. They were careful because they had found one of their comrades dead on the other side.

As the
Omees spread out, one of them saw his comrade sleeping and went to wake him up. As he shook him, he realized his comrade had nothing in his stomach, but it was too late. Death was behind him. Another Omee was roaming the bushes and saw a trail of blood, so he followed it cautiously. When he got to where the injured man was, his throat was sliced.

“There is something wrong. I am not hearing from the others
,’’ an Omee said.

If only he had looked closer he would have known that death dressed like an
Omee.

The
general was searching with another Omee. As they surveyed, they began to see dead bodies. The general went to investigate the scene properly, then he heard someone drop. He looked back to find out he was the only Omee alive. He put his sword into its compartment and reached for his bow and arrow. As his right hand reached for an arrow, he felt an arrow pass through his hand. He tried to pull his sword with his left and another arrow passed through his left hand.

Obi walked toward him while talking
.

“Our people say, ‘A lion that is not hungry will never disturb you, but if you decide to disturb it, it will disturb you
.’ Tell your King that there can be only one King in a kingdom.”

Obi took out his sword and cut off the
general’s right hand at the wrist. The man screamed in pain.

“Give this to your
King.”  Obi threw the man's hand to him. “Tell him it is my time.”

Obi left the
General still screaming in agony. He carried his dead wife with him.

When he entered Utagba Province, it was apparent that they were expecting him and they had heard the news. As he passed everybody, they all lay flat, giving the respect due to a king. He did not seem to notice anyone, including the Okpala, who was the highest authority there because they did not have a chief. Then he went to an open area and dug a grave all by himself. Nobody attempted to help him because they were not sure of his reaction. After burying her, he made an announcement to all the spectators who followed him.

“The cursed land of Ozuoba where my wife died I will make Utagba. On this spot where my wife is buried I will build my palace, and this province I stand in will be the capital of the whole kingdom, which would be called Utagba.”

Every man, woman and child who was present started to hail their King. As he looked around him to see the people of every status in Utagba greeting him with great enthusiasm, his mind started to work. The day I was born, I forgot. The day my Aneaton died, I forgot. The day my Ifeanyi and Nneka died, I will forget. But this day that I stand on the grave of my wife—this day I will never forget.

Chapter 7

Okon had nine children, all girls. He was positive that the gods did not want to fill the earth with men of his flesh and bones. His three married daughters had sons, but they belonged to their father and his people. He needed an heir before he became chief. He was a very wealthy trader like all the members of his lineage. His father was not even an Omee, but was one of the wealthiest traders in the whole kingdom. He had only five sons and they were as good as their father in the trade. They sold to a province what it did not have and bought from it what it had in excess.

With time the trade extended beyond the different provinces to kingdoms near and far. Of the five sons, Okon was the youngest, extremely aware of every channel in their occupation. With the wealth they possessed, the Omees who respected them were the ones under their payroll. Although they were mainly traders, they indulged in different forms of business, making each son a specialist in different fields. The daughters in the family had no access to any of the transactions, but they were given anything they desired and most men that came for their hands paid a small dowry.

On a day bright enough for a bat to see, Chief Inyang of Ndemili came to the father’s home, and the father ran out to welcome the lord of his province. The chief ignored the trader and walked into the man’s home as though it was his own. Then the chief, who was younger than Okon’s father, sat down without being asked.  As a mark of respect, Okon’s father sent for his youngest bride to serve the chief wine with all his sons present. It was very rare for even a general to come to the home of a commoner unless he came to bring harm or he had you in a good place in his heart.  From the way the chief’s eyes met with the eyes of the father’s most cherished wife, Okon was positive they had met in another way. He was a trader and he knew when a buyer already had the goods and wanted more. The chief did not hide his lust for the trader’s wife, and with time the girl grew bolder in the presence of the chief. It seemed only Okon was aware of what was happening. The chief requested in an authoritative fashion to be alone with the father. As all the men walked away, the brothers acted oblivious to what was going on.

When the two men had finished talking privately, they both came out laughing. Obviously, the demands the chief made were accepted. Okon was young, but he was not stupid and neither was his father. As his father escorted the chief out, he accepted that it was one of the things that came with his trade. Apart from his father taking all forms of insult from the chief, the man also acquired the father’s prized possession—hi
s wife.

He initially felt his father was a coward if he was aware of the atrocity, but he thought again. He analyzed the situation. The chief offered protection from criminals and greedy chiefs, both in their province and other provinces. The only time King Burobee was involved in the trade was when the trade was between kingdoms. He thought of his father killing his bride because in the custom of the land, if a woman wronged her husband in any way, he had the power to do as he wished with her, but the woman’s family should be aware of the reason why she was being punished. Although that might eventually bring the story out into the open, such a move would have made his father lose ties with the chief. That was the day he made up his mind to become an Omee.

He never told anyone the reason why he made such a decision. Everyone from his family except his father felt it was a stupid idea because they owned and lived well in their world and Omees lived their life according to a chief, high chief, or king’s world. They insisted that he was too old. They emphasized how he would have to start his training with children and how it would be difficult for him to start now because he has never been trained in that area. He listened to all their words, but he had already made up his mind. He joined in the training with ease through some strings he pulled. He learnt slowly, but he acquired everything.

It took him twelve years before he became an Omee. The way he was drafted to Ndemili and how he became a general could only be explained by a something his father used to say: At the right price the goods will not find their way past you.

Okon spent only four years as an Omee before he became the general. Inyang was at this time still the chief of the province and was strongly against Okon becoming general because he knew his father would die trying to make his son chief. None ever complained about Inyang being chief because he spread wealth to the province and the kingdom from a source and now the source’s son was the general. He tried everything in his power to prevent Okon from claiming the position, but the elders fought strongly for him. The former general retired with a wide smile on his face claiming that a man like him was not worthy of a position that required hot blood.               Inyang killed him personally, under the shadow of privacy, on the tenth day after he retired. When he killed the man he looked at the traitor, disgusted with what the world was coming to. As he left the dead man escorted by his most trusted Omees, he wondered why men didn’t have pride anymore, what happened to honor. He was positive it was a cheap bribe.

Okon’s time as general was always filled with different kind of traps that Inyang set around him, without letting any lead to him. Despite all these things, the general was up to the task. Physical attacks made on him by men who claimed to be criminals were fruitless because he was well guarded. Attacks that came in feminine form could not find their way to him; he had only two wives and he did not seem interested in any other women. Iyang kept sending him on death missions, but the general kept coming back victorious and his people were growing to love him deeply.

The general was asked to come to his father’s house for a family meeting. It was obvious to him what they wanted to talk about, his second eldest brother. His brother had four wives. On the sixth day after his third wife’s sister’s son, Prince Nwosa, was publicity announced by the King to be his successor, his brother drove all his other wives away from his house, claiming they were witches. Then he announced his wife’s year-old son, Okonjo, would become the sole heir to everything he owned.

If a man drove his wife away from their matrimonial home, she went to the oldest relative to report. In this case, the oldest relative was Okon’s father. As he entered his father’s home, the general apologized by lying flat on the ground because he was late and he did not want them thinking his position was going to his head. His father told him to get up; it annoyed him that a general would bring himself so low for a commoner like himself,
especially for everyone to see.

His father’s second son came very late and did not seem apologetic about it. He did not seem to worry that he was the reason why his whole family were there. Their father made a speech about husband and wives, asking and then begging him to take the women back into his home as they had done him no wrong. Still the man was adamant. The old man’s tone of voice changed and he gave his son an ultimatum of either respecting him as a father or walking away another man’s child. The man got up and left.

About a year later, Okon’s father died and he felt for the first time that feeling only a person in pain could understand. When Inyang heard the news, he did not know whether it was good or bad because now he did not have to worry about his general’s influence. But now he had to worry about the general’s powers because the boy was going to inherit a fortune.

Inyang called for the Omees he could trust who were not moved by greed. As the four men approached him, he told everyone in the room to leave them alone and shut the door. In less than five minutes they heard a man scream. When the Omees and servants rushed back into the room, they saw Inyang on the floor dead with a knife in his chest. Everyone in the room looked at the chief’s most trusted Omees, who said in the most carefree manner that the man was tired of life and wanted to die.

Nobody argued with them because they knew the man to investigate the death would be the general and no third eye was necessary to know he was behind it. What disgusted the spectators was the amateur way they committed the crime and their uncalculated lies. Everyone thought it was Okon who assassinated Inyang, while in reality, these men were under instructions from the Head-of-Government. Even the King knew a good investment when he saw one. With Okon as chief, the wealth of both his mind in trade and his inheritance went to the kingdom.

*

Okon was a chief accepted by every man in the province. He made Ndemili the richest province and paid the largest taxes to the King. As a great provider, the King loved him. Okon loved his third daughter most. He needed a son to carry his name and all the time he saw this daughter of his, he forgot the need for a male heir. She was always with him anytime she felt he needed her. Some of her younger sisters were already married, increasing the burden on her to get married. She was not single because she was ugly. Amongst all her sisters, she was the prettiest. Even ugly girls who were daughters of rich or powerful men easily got married. She was alone because she had a strong love for her father and she did not want him to ever feel lonely. At times the father went out of his way to bring suitors for her, but she refused them all. Whenever her father saw a father and his son, a pain scratched his heart and she could feel it.

One sunny day she told her father that she wanted to go on a journey. He asked where. She said she did not know. Her father ordered her not to go, but she still left. The father was angry when she left. He became scared for her and missed her. He paid different men to find her, but their search was to no avail.

She came back home after eight months. Everyone was speechless upon seeing her new figure. When Okon came out to where she was and saw her with a stomach swollen, she bowed and greeted her father. He wanted to hold her close to him and thank the gods for bringing her back to him alive, but he was chief and he had to set an example.

“Do you think you can just walk away from my house and come back here because you are pregnant?”

The girl did not say a word but her head was down.

“Answer me.”

Her head was still down.

“Okay, where is the father of the child?” The Chief’s voice broke; even in his words, the love he had for his daughter was evident. “Did anyone force you or cause you harm in any way?”

The girl shifted her head sideways.

“Then why did you leave and why are you back here pregnant with no husband?”

The girl remained motionless.

The chief now spoke in anger. “Do you realize what you have done? You have brought shame into our home.” 

The girl finally raised her head, looked her father in the eye and left the house.

Okon did not think before he made his next move, because if had, he would have realized that bringing his daughter back into the home openly showed that he welcomed the shame she brought.

The elders pressured him for the sake of respect of their people in the provinces that he should send the girl away, but he refused. They then offered to provide a husband who would claim her and the child to be his. He refused, because she did not answer him when he made the request. From the day she entered the home not a word had come out of her mouth, not even to her mother. On the day before she went into labor she kept a staff on one end of the room and a knife on the other. The general conclusion from the people in the province was that she had gone mad. The day she was in labor, she locked the door and did not let anyone in. Everyone knew she was in labor and kept banging on the door, but she did not reply.

Okon had to tell the Omees to force their way into the room before she did anything disastrous to herself. He felt guilty and swore to himself that if his daughter had harmed herself due to his constant pressure on her, he would kill himself. The Omees pushed the door open and found her on the floor covered with blood, with a crying baby. She gave birth to a boy and she finally smiled. Everyone started throwing white chalk and was happy, but her father still kept a straight face. When he spoke the noise ceased.

“Now that you can smile I want to know who the father of this child is.”

The girl rose and picked up her child with blood all over it and with a smile she spoke.

“You are his father and his name is Oludu.”

Everyone in the room seemed lost with incest on their minds. That was punishable by death of the parent.

“I don’t understand what you mean,” Okon said truthfully.

“I am an Omogor.” As she spoke those word
s, everyone in the room gasped.

An Omogor was the single daughter of a man who had no son. She traveled to places far away where her identity was unknown. Every place she stepped into she slept with as many men as possible, not ever letting her emotions get in the way by sleeping twice with the same man. She would continue with this way of life until she was positive she was pregnant and there was no father to claim the child. Most girls who did such acts for their father never let anyone know what they did. If it was a boy, they placed a staff on the boy, telling the whole world what they did, so the child rightfully becomes their father’s heir. But if it were a girl, they committed suicide. A daughter had to love her father extremely to engage in such. Up to this time, nobody believed daughters still made such sacrifices.

Chapter 8

Gbangba awaited the man who trained him personally to become an Omee. Throughout that time he had nothing but hatred and fear of him. The deadliest thing about the man was not his viciousness to his enemies, neither was it his acquired skill; it was the way he reasoned. His messengers told him that this high chief came to his province with only two Omees. If it were anyone else, this would have been the flirting of a deer with a lioness. But when Arubi made such a move, you had to stop and think.