There was silence as if some spirit had just gone through the room.
Prince Taka cleared his throat. “Welcome back, Bonny my sister. We cannot afford to lose you again. My duty is to keep Ode safe and follow the laws of the land. Since the gods have spoken, I’ll do all I can to make sure Segun and his crew succeed.”
Princess Bonetta exhaled, relief written all over her face. “Thank you, Taka.”
“Segun and his people have to prepare well,” said Taka. There’ll be a lot of traveling to find the stones, and that might take you to hostile parts of the kingdom.” He looked at me. “Nuju, I heard you handled yourself well with the panther. Do you have any combat skills?”
This was the second time in less than two hours I was being asked. First from the king and now from the crown prince. All I wanted was to get away from him. This time I had a clear answer about my combat skills. “No, Your Highness. I’m only a hunter.”
Taka laughed. “You have serious skills. Point your weapon at an adversary and think of them as an animal you’re hunting in the forest.” He paused. “You get what I mean. How many people volunteered?”
“Nine,” I said.
Taka nodded. “We must train you all to be combat ready.” Taka got up. “I’ll take you to the training room at once.”
Chapter Thirteen
Prince Taka walked me to the training room in the military section of the palace despite my objections not to bother. If looks could kill, I would have been dead from Enitan’s stares. Does she have something to do with Taka? This man has confused my thinking. I was so relieved when a messenger approached and drew him aside.
“I have to go. I’m needed by the king,” said Prince Taka. “I’ll see you some other time.”
Enitan led the way. “How old is Prince Taka?” I asked. Enitan didn’t answer. She kept on walking.
“I’ll be back in two hours,” said Enitan, all stiff when she stopped at the door with ‘Military Gymnasium’ written on it.
“Eighteen,” Enitan said over her shoulder as she stomped away.
I watched her go until she turned a corner. What now? I took a deep breath and pushed the door open. I was greeted by the palpable odor of musky sweat and unwashed bodies, and there was an immediate distinct change in the rhythm of the clanging swords when I walked in.
“Who is interrupting our peace?” asked a gruff male voice that sounded as if someone had a hand wrapped around his throat.
I glanced in the direction the voice came from. A middle-aged man with one missing front tooth, the sleeves of his dashiki cut off exposing tight biceps, walked over with a limp.
“Ah, Segun’s girl. You got here at last,” said the man as he looked me over.
My eyebrows shot up. I was going to protest that I wasn’t Segun’s anything, but something told me to be quiet.
“What do they call you?” asked the man.
“Nuju.” My voice was a whisper.
“Nuju?” He squeezed his face as if he had eaten something sour. “What type of name is that?”
I said nothing.
“Call me Kintola.” He extended his right hand to shake mine.
He had a scar that ran from his elbow down to his wrist. I shook his hand; his grip was like steel.
He let go and looked to his left. I did the same and noticed the other volunteers from yesterday. How did they get here before I did? Maybe not everybody was required to go see the king and the princess as I was.
“Drop what you’re doing,” Kintola said and waved at the volunteers to come closer.
I recognized them from yesterday; seven boys and two girls.
Kintola looked at us ten volunteers one after the other and shook his head. “My mandate is to turn you into a war machine in three weeks.” He snorted like an angry pig, hissed, and looked up towards the ceiling as if asking the gods what he did to deserve such an assignment.
“Because of some event yesterday, a stupid decision was reached to have you amateurs protect the prince on his quest for the Eternity stones. What a terrible idea. The prince has had a lifetime of training and can hold his own. But you people haven’t. My job is to turn all ten of you into killers. If… if I were you, I would volunteer to be sacrificed to the gods right now rather than prolong the inevitable.” He looked around. “Questions so far?”
“Not all of us are amateurs,” said a big muscular boy with a spear in his hand.
“Good for you,” said Kintola. “But one out of nine is still useless to the prince.” He pointed at several tables lined with weapons and walked over to one of them. My eyes widened when I saw the one with several bows.
“I will train you all in hand-to-hand combat, weapons— knives, swords, range, archery—survival skills, and mind control in case you have magic in you and you recover the stones. Members of my staff will assist you. I will go around for a one-on-one with everybody.” His eyes looked at us as if we were a pathetic lot. “May the gods help us. Let’s get things moving.”
We broke off to different tables, and I went to the archery table. I noticed more bows on a rack against the wall. I picked up a bow and hefted it in my hand. It was lighter than the one I’d used at Nuso.
“I almost forgot. Before we begin, it is important you warm up,” said Kintola. “Two laps around the moat. Go!”
We went outside, and it was only then that I noticed that yesterday we had come over a bridge to get to the palace. A moat similar to the one around Ode, but smaller, surrounded the castle.
The first lap was comfortable. But, by the time we started the second lap, I felt a stitch in my side. The pain wouldn’t let me take a deep breath. Right then, my feet got entangled with another girl’s, and I stumbled. The girl did not stop and continued on ahead of me. As I staggered and regained my balance, the person in front of me halted, and I bumped into her, lost my balance, and this time fell to the ground. She didn’t stop to help me either. I looked up, and to my surprise it was the same girl that had… she must have tripped me. But why? She looked at me, sneered, and jogged away. She had a black mole close to her upper lip.
This was now beyond coincidence. All right, Mole Face. I got up and ran after her. I jogged behind her for a while, then I kicked her and swept her off her feet. She went down. I jumped over her and ran with the rest towards the side entrance to the palace.
Back inside, Kintola gave us a few minutes to catch our breath and drink water. I noticed Mole Face had walked in last, with a limp. At that moment I felt sorry for her, but why did she attack me? Not once, but twice?
I went back to the bow and arrow table, contemplating which bow to try first. Kintola came over.
“I saw the skin of the panther and heard how you brought it down,” said Kintola. “You don’t need this.” He took the bow from me and placed it back on the table. “Work on your weaknesses.” He directed me to the wrestling section. “Let me get you an instructor.”
The last time I fought flashed through my mind. It was in elementary school, and my turn to be harassed by the class bully. I always walked home alone; all the friendships I’d developed had ended at school. The bully had cornered me on my way home. He was big. I had no chance. I would just shut my eyes and let him punch me.
As he approached, my eyes darted between a large rock and the bully. If only I could get to the stone before him. His eyes followed mine, and he saw the stone. Now I’d given him ideas, too. But he didn’t go for the stone. He took a step towards me. As he raised his hands to strike me, I closed my eyes and waited. The blow never came. Instead, I heard the bully fall to the ground and scream. I opened my eyes, and the bully was on the ground howling in pain, blood dripping from his nose. I ran home. Later, the bully told everyone that would listen that I’d smashed his nose with a stone, but I never touched the stone nor him.
“The gods! Are you deaf, too!” growled Kintola.
His voice pulled me out of my thoughts. The next hour was spent taking instructions on how to wrestle and practicing.
“Take this and hit me as hard as you can.”
I took the ọpá and struck him on his bulging arm muscles. The look on his face went from bewilderment to disgust.
“Hit me again.”
I did.
He threw his hands up in the air. “You hit like a little girl!”
But I am a little girl compared to you, brute, I wanted to say. But I kept my mouth shut. This wasn’t the time to be funny.
“Hit me!”
I felt hot all over. My hands tightened on the staff. I was going to knock his head off. I raised the staff to bring it down on his head. What happened next happened fast. He held my raised hand and before I knew it, he had gathered me up and slammed me on the floor. Air rushed out of me.
Kintola shook his head and walked towards a door in the back of the gym. “We have a lot of work to do with you.”
I nodded my agreement and watched him disappear through the door. I got on one knee and rubbed my back.
“Rumor has it you killed a panther and saved Prince Segun’s life,” said a voice behind me.
I whirled around as I got off the floor and looked into the grinning face of the muscular young man who had said he was no amateur. I stared at him, not sure what to say.
“I’m Olajuwon. Is the panther story true? How did you do it?” He was all smiles.
There was something about that smile that rubbed me the wrong way. “Rumors are half-baked stories,” I said. “And people that spread them are up to no good.” I didn’t return the smile.
His vanished, too. He looked like I had insulted his mother.
“No time for small talk!” said Kintola as he walked in through the door. “Hey, Kiki. Come spar with Nuju.”
It was the girl I had tripped. I’d been watching her since she limped in after the run and she was a natural at wrestling and hand-to-hand combat.
Two minutes later, Kintola walked over to Kiki and me. “Stop! Stop! This is just practice. Do you two have a personal score to settle with each other?”
Chapter Fourteen
An hour later, Enitan came back and saved me. She said she was taking me to see Mama Rikki.
“Who’s that?” I asked as we headed towards the exit to the gym, I was tired and bruised from the beating Kiki had put me through.
“A spiritual adviser,” said Enitan.
That meant nothing to me, but I promised myself to do my best at any task presented to me. I must live.
Enitan and I walked out of the palace, over the moat towards the forest behind the castle. Enitan walked with confidence as if she wasn’t concerned about dangers that lurked in woods, like snakes and armed robbers.
“Armed robbers!” scoffed Enitan after I voiced my thoughts. “This is the king’s forest! Anybody caught here without the king's permission will lose their head.”
I swallowed. “So, do we have permission to be here?”
Enitan laughed. “Everything scares you now. What did the king's chief assassin do to you?”
Assassin? I kept my mouth shut. I didn’t want whatever I said to get back to Kintola, nor give Kiki credit. “Where are we going? What is she going to do with me?”
“You ask a lot of questions for a village girl,” said Enitan. The edge in her voice was back as if she remembered I’d pissed her off.
“And you enjoy leaving things unanswered,” I said.
Enitan stopped and dabbed her face with a handkerchief. The sun blazed overhead. “Prince Segun wants you to see Mama Rikki. Both Taka and Segun somehow believe in you. Before you showed up, Taka and I—”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. A panther attacked us on our way back from Nuso, and my arrow happened to hit it as it attacked the prince. He thinks I saved his life, but I was saving my life, too. Prince Taka, I just met. Same with Bonetta. If it wasn’t for her, they would have chopped off my head yesterday!”
Enitan opened her mouth to speak, then changed her mind.
“Mama Rikki seems to possess some spiritual gifts. I heard that for the past ten years she’s lived in seclusion here.”
“Okay, but why do I need to see her?”
“Well,” said Enitan as if explaining things to a child. “You’ll find out when you get there.”
We walked on in silence along a footpath lined with tall elephant grass. The trail led to a clearing, and in the middle stood a mud hut with a thatched roof. The surroundings were neat and clean. A few chickens roamed about, scratching the ground looking for food.
“There is Mama Rikki,” Enitan said and pointed at a woman sitting on a low stool under a tree and bent over a fire pit. She stirred the contents of a blackened pot with yellow flames streaking up its sides.
“E kaaro, good morning,” Enitan said and prostrated on the floor.
I greeted the woman and prostrated.
“Yes, my daughters, welcome,” she said in a hoarse voice. She did not remove her eyes from the pot. “Breakfast will soon be ready; sit down.”
“We’ve already had breakfast,” said Enitan.
“I didn’t invite you to eat,” said Mama Rikki, her eyes still not leaving the pot. “I only said food will be ready soon.”
“Oh, very sorry,” said Enitan. Her nose flared with embarrassment. She raised her hand and twirled her forefinger close to her head. “Irikuri, crazy,” she mouthed.
Mama Rikki looked up. Set against wrinkled skin, her hawk-like eyes stared back at Enitan.
She wore a faded blue buba and covered herself with a purple piece of cloth. There was something familiar about her.
Enitan tapped her head as if she just remembered something. Mama Rikki’s eyes shifted to her.
“Mama Rikki, I think I’ll take my leave now,” Enitan said and stood up. “I have some chores to do.” She flashed a pitiful glance at me and hurried off. As soon as she was out of earshot, Mama Rikki spoke again.
“Alright, young girl, what's your name, and why do you want to enter the forbidden forest?”
“Enter the forbidden forest? I have no such plans, but I volunteered to help retrieve the Eternity stones.”
Mama Rikki cackled. “That’s a tall order.”
“I don’t have a choice. I would have been dead by now if the princess hadn’t intervened.”
“So Bonetta is back? As a little girl, she had a good heart. I hope she hasn’t changed.” Mama Rikki paused. “Segun volunteered to do this?”
I nodded. “Plus nine others.”
“It’s a grave problem you’ve found yourselves in,” said Mama Rikki as she stirred the soup. She scooped up some with the wooden spoon and blew at it.
“How long do you have before the quest begins?”
“Three weeks. We leave after the New Yam festival.”
She stared into the flames. “Time is short, but the python in the room is not; do you have any gifts? Or is this just going to be a waste of my time and your time?” She blew at the soup some more, then brought it close to her lips. She opened her thin mouth and ate some soup. She smacked her lips. “Good. So, where did they find you?”
Find me? I thought that was an insult, but I’d promised myself to do all I could to survive. “Nuso,” I said.
“Hmm, maybe there is something there. Tell me, girl, any strange things happened to you when you were growing up? Anything out of the ordinary?”
I could tell her about the bird or the darkness in the afternoon. Didn’t they experience it here at Ode? I shook my head.
Mama Rikki’s eyes lingered on mine, questioning, as if she sensed I wasn’t telling the truth.
“Nothing?” She pursed her lips. “Give me your hand!”
I hesitated and glanced around; now I wished Enitan was still around.
“Hurry!” barked Mama Rikki.
Startled, I extended my hand towards her.
She grabbed my wrist with her bony fingers and clasped her hand around it. Imme
diately hot and cold sensations rushed from her fingers, up through my arm, and down my spine. It felt like I had exposed my hand to fire and then immersed it in freezing water at the same time. I jerked my hand away and jumped back.
“Ashe!” said Mama Rikki, nodding her head like an agama lizard. Her eyebrows almost reached her hairline.
I stared at my hand in disbelief. Ashe was a gift from the gods to individuals through which they could effect change at will.
“Very good,” Mama Rikki said and smiled. “At least we have something to work with.”
Chapter Fifteen
Mama Rikki tried to get me to use my force to do things; light a fire, move objects without touching them, tell her when Enitan would come and get me. I couldn’t, although I wished Enitan would come as soon as possible.
If I hadn’t felt the force and experienced firsthand all the weird things that had been happening in the past few days, I would have concluded she was mad.
“How come I have this Ashe?” I asked.
“Girl, where have you been? Inside a cave? Have you heard of Oyiria?”
I nodded. “I’ve heard of Oyiria.”
“Somewhere in your family line, one of your ancestors has Oyirian blood in them.”
Who was it? I remembered Mama’s mother from when I was little. She was sick and bedridden and passed away before I was five. The rest of my grandparents were all deceased before I was born, and none were rumored to have had magical powers.
“Tell no one about what we discussed,” said Mama Rikki. She pulled at her right ear as she spoke, the symbolism not lost on me, the she let out a deep breath.
“It might not end well for you if the wrong people are aware of your gift.”
She brought out a broom and told me to sweep her yard, then fetch water from the pond nearby. I cleaned her yard and went back and forth to the lake with a bucket, filling a trough she showed me. This I did a few times until Enitan showed up. I’d never been happier to see someone before, and I was dead tired.
Betrayed Page 5
