When Gods Bleed

by Njedeh Anthony

  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.”

  As the elders left, Ihua thought, That was easy.

  Chapter 29

  The three chiefs were present in the palace on the day they had agreed to meet, which was the eighty-first day since the King died. They all came with their sidekicks, who were now all chiefs still temporarily under their masters—Tunde of Alloida, Boodunko of Ogwashi and Mukembe of Abogima.

  Odagwe was the first chief to arrive with his son, Mukembe. The other chiefs assumed he came a day before to humbly beg them to vote his choice. They were all received by Queen Ifrareta, whose pregnancy was ripe for delivery, but she insisted on them being shown into the rooms where they would sleep, have a bath and then she gave them food to eat, before she allowed them go to their meeting.

  The chiefs were tense and they did not know exactly what was on the other men’s minds. They knew that if one chief decided not to conform to their general decision, then they all would die. The three men were not ready for that. These kinds of meetings between chiefs were to try to convince the other party to accept your candidate.

  At times a chief might be adamant and refuse to accept any other person’s candidate, eventually leading to their death at the hands of the high chiefs. That would leave the high chiefs to choose the most suitable candidate as King. At times, if a particular chief strongly held to his candidate, the remaining chiefs eventually changed their choice to have an unanimous decision.

  The three chiefs—Odagwe, Oludu and Ihua—entered the same day to prevent surprise attacks. Their meeting took place in the palace, where it was forbidden for any man to kill another except by consent of the King. As the chiefs were meeting, the whole palace was aware of what they were discussing. Time started taking short paces.

  Then the three chiefs abruptly came out with expressionless faces. No one could deduce what had happened in the meeting and they had no way of finding out. The first thing the chiefs did when
they left the conference room was to send for their sidekicks.

  *

  The eighty-second day arrived and the six chiefs were all seated around the conference room awaiting the high chiefs. Queen Ifrareta came earlier to make sure they were well taken care of. She was still the number one woman until the new King got married and she didn’t hesitate to show it, whether she was pregnant or not. Going back to her palace, she felt dizzy, the baby inside her starting to kick and pushing its way out. Her maids and Ikuvamees surrounded her, knowing there was no way they could move her as the baby was about to come.

  The high chiefs all came together in the same entourage. They were laughing and very cheerful when they arrived. After they stepped into the conference room, their expressions went dim. On entry, all six chiefs got up to greet them. After they all took their assigned seats, the Head-of-Government asked the messenger to call in the two Hurdenes and their sons.

  The women around the queen had a hot bowl of water with a cloth in it and they used their wrappers to make a fence around the pregnant queen. They were on the road connecting the palace with the queen’s palace. There weren’t any spectators around the area, but the women still held the fence high. Ifrareta did not even need to be told to push; she already had five daughters. As she pushed, she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen that stretched down her thighs; the child was too big. The women dabbed her head with warm water. The queen kept pushing and the head of the child finally found its way out into the world, but the child’s body was still in the belly.

  The two Hurdenes were present with their sons and five Omees surrounded all four of them. The Head-of-Government got up, slowly looked around the room and then began.

  “This is the second time we meet like this and I am aware that we have three new chiefs. Congratulations, but you still have to undergo a confirmation ceremony that will require the blessing of the King. Before we start what we came here for, I would like to announce that the Ifa priest and I are retiring as high chiefs and we will no longer disassemble your modern society with our ancient ideologies.”

  Odagwe said with careful sarcasm, “But why would great men like yourselves retire at your prime?”

  “Our retirement is when the King has been crowned, so if you have not reached a unanimous decision,” he said, ignoring Odagwe, “we will still have to kill you before we retire. But you are all mature men and I am sure you have reached a decision.”

  Both Hurdenes’ heartbeats were like wild horses and neither was sure of the fate of her son.

  “I will name the province and I want your decision. You are all aware that at this point there can be no more negotiations, so whatever decision any chief makes is permanent. Do you all understand?”

  All the chiefs answered in agreement.

  As Queen Ifrareta pushed, the upper body of the child had found its way out. Soggy blood was all over the child’s head, not a sound came out from its lips. Everyone urged Queen Ifrareta to push faster because something had to be wrong for the child not to cry. The queen pushed harder and harder and the child kept slipping out without an expression. The women could not take the child’s silence any longer, so they added a little pressure to pull the child out. When the child was out of the mother, they cut the cord, expecting the child to at least cry, but it still refused to make a sound. Then the women turned the child and tapped it. They still did not hear a sound. Slight taps became heavy slaps on the child’s bottom, but he refused to make a sound. They looked at the baby’s eyes, which were open. His heart was beating, but the child was not crying while the mother had fainted.

  The Head-of-Government started.

  “Ahoda.”

  The Chief answered briefly, “I am in favor of Hurdene Onyela’s son.”

  “Alloida.”

  Chief Tunde got up and said, “I am in favor of Hurdene Onyela’s son

  “Ndemili.”

  Chief Oludu rose with these words on his mind, Agreshi my debt is paid. Take your candidate and do what you wish. I have completed my end of the bargain.

  Oludu said, “I am in favor of Hurdene Onyela’s son.”

  “Ogwashi.”

  Chief Boodunko rose, answering before getting on his feet, “I am for Hurdene Onyela’s son.”

  “Ekpona Hills.”

  Chief Odagwe rose sluggishly, taking time to decipher the power of the thoughts in his head. How can you hold a scorpion in your fist without it stinging you? I was lucky I came the day before, to see the eyes of the child that prostitute called my son.

  Odagwe said, “I vote in favor of…Hurdene Onyela’s son.” Weruche, you are a scorpion and you sting because it is your nature. I saw the eyes of Onyela’s son and they were mine. He is my boy and my son will be King. That is greater than any Head-of-Government position I need.

  “Abogima.”

  Chief Mukembe got up and answered rather enthusiastically with his squeaky voice, “I vote in favor of the Hurdene Onyela’s son.”

  The Head-of-Government ordered the Omees outside the conference room to imprison Weruche and her son until their execution, the next day.

  When the Omees grabbed her, she realized her son was not going to be King and the both of them would soon die. She tore off their grip and pounced on Odagwe like a cat, using her bare hands as her weapons. As she clawed the chief’s neck, the Omees pulled her away. She struggled with the viciousness of a lunatic.

  The Omees found it hard holding onto her while she kicked, punched, slapped, scratched and shouted. All the men in the room were positive she was deranged. The only person who understood her instant madness was Onyela, because she knew she would have been doing the same thing if she were in her position.

  As they led her away she kept screaming, “Odagwe, tell them how we poisoned the King together. The bottom of the fowl must show!”

  Odagwe shouted back at her, “You are a mad woman, a deranged excuse for a human being.”

  They tugged her from the conference room, but her screams were still audible.

  “You did not seem to bother about how deranged I was when I slept in your bed.”

  Odagwe faced the men in the room. “The woman is definitely mad. She is looking for someone to share her predicament.”

  The men in the room nodded in agreement, but all of them believed every single word the supposed mad woman said.

  When Queen Ifrareta gained consciousness, she saw herself in her palace. Lots of women were all lined up outside to congratulate her. The first thing she asked for was her child. The maid rocked the child, playing with the baby as she took it to the mother.

  The queen screamed at her to bring the child. When the queen got the child, she looked at his lower body and then asked the maid if they had started the meeting. The maid replied they had finished and told her who the new King was. Queen Ifrareta raised her son, with her weakened hand, admiring what came from her belly. The maid told her that the child refused to cry. She ignored the maid. You my son. The flesh and blood of Obi will be King, even if I have to die making you it.

  *

  Weruche and her son died the next day. Onyela’s son was crowned King and his name became Iwureshi. Gbangba retired as Head-of-Government and the Ifa priest followed him later. His Head-of-Government was Oludu, who initially refused the position, but was later forced to take it. Odagwe claimed not to be offended by the position being forced on someone else when he was available, making his hatred for the Hurdene multiplied. Ihua retired and moved away to another kingdom. Otuturex’s envoy became the King’s envoy, through Odagwe’s constant recommendation to the Oludu. Odagwe died two years later from the same poison that killed the King.

  Chapter 30

  King Obi woke up, touching both his palms and his thighs to feel rugged rashes around those areas. He noticed that those areas had turned green. The King smiled and got up from the bed quietly, not wanting to wake Queen Onyela, but a certain weakness gripped him.

  He walked sluggishly toward the conference room, trying to c
alculate the time between the initiation ceremony of the new Okpalaukwu, who replaced the last one who died of old age, and now. He found it difficult to see, but he tried not to let the Omees and servants notice. He didn’t need to see his reflection to know his eyes had turned bloody red. He was positive he was suffering from the effect of asite poison, but the effect of the poison was not his problem. How long he had to live was what bothered him. His Omees came toward him, trying to support him, which made him aware he was not doing a good job hiding his predicament. Even so, he did not want any help.

  When he got to the conference room, he told his messengers to call the missionary Michael, Gbanga, and the Ifa priest. Sitting alone, he tried to figure out when he must have taken the poison. He knew it could not be from the food he ate because his meals were always prepared by his wives and they had to eat with him. He thought about who gave him what he drank the day before, but all his four wives presented the drink given to him during the initiation ceremony. They did not drink from it.

  It was clear he was poisoned by one of his wives, but he did not want to believe it. He tried to analyze why they would do it and his suspects shortened to two. The Hurdene title came into his mind. He was aware that asite poison was not the kind you easily got access to. There were over a thousand kinds of poisons. Why did the person have to use the poison that his father, Ifeanyi, could not find a cure for? It was as clear as an open book to him—Odagwe was involved, but he chose not to wonder which of his two wives conspired against him. He longed to stroll all around the conference room with his hands at his back, but when he tried to get up his legs were completely dead; he could no longer feel them.