Daughters of Nri

by Reni K Amayo

  Sinai closed her eyes as Ina sighed and walked away, slamming the door shut behind her.

  Time passed and Chisi came in, along with the smell of fresh pepper soup and warm sweet bread. Sinai felt bile rising up her throat, but she suppressed it before she could make a mess.

  ‘Take it away,’ she croaked.

  ‘Please, Lolo Sinai, if you don’t eat, you will die,’ Chisi sniffed.

  ‘Take. It. Away,’ Sinai said, before drifting back to sleep.

  Time passed and the door opened and closed again. The person who entered stood by the door for a while, until Sinai almost forgot that they were there.

  ‘You have a kind heart, and I applaud it. I too did not anticipate things transpiring as they did … I did not want Meekulu to die but the Eze—’ Obi Ife began, before something hard hit him in the chest and cracked open on the floor.

  ‘Get out! Get out! Get out!’ Sinai screamed with the little strength she had, throwing more artefacts at the door, long after Obi Ife had scurried out of it. Sinai collapsed on her akwa nest and erupted into a stream of tears, drowning herself in endless sorrow.

  BORN OF BLACK AND GOLD

  Furuefu Forest

  ‘CAN I not have one good night of sleep?’ Madi yawned into the darkness, illuminated by clusters of small gleaming insects, creating a soft wavering glow. The survivors had entered their usual spot for their midnight discussions.

  ‘Why are you complaining? No one forced you to go on your adventure,’ Kora retorted, as she poked his stomach mid-yawn, causing him to bring his outstretched arms over it to prevent any more incoming attacks.

  Naala had expected any mention of their recent travels, and by proxy, the death of Madi’s brother, to spark a much darker reaction. Naala breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that the topic did not bother Madi. Instead, he chuckled at Kora’s comment with a sense of humour that Naala had only just begun to notice. In fact, since they had returned from their trip, Madi was not nearly as withdrawn or prone to raging outbursts as he had been prior to them leaving. Instead of waking up with a scowl that could only be smoothed with a warm breakfast, Madi now spent his mornings praying to the spirits of his ancestors, no longer plagued by the fear that his brother would never reach that point of enlightenment.

  ‘We happened to sleep very well while you were gone,’ Kora continued with a smile. ‘At least I did. Eni was too busy pining over—’

  ‘Everyone,’ Eni said firmly, as he walked into the field; the ero by his feet blushed with a low orange colour. ‘We are lucky to have special guests here today.’ He gestured over to two shadows emerging from the dark trees: Bayo and his wife, Lato, the tall man and short woman who had joined the group days prior. Naala tensed.

  When they had arrived, Bayo, a supposed priest, had told the group that they too were survivors. He’d recounted how they had been travelling to see Lato’s father in Oka, not knowing that they would arrive to the aftermath of a deadly massacre. They had left, distraught and broken, only to arrive back home to the same blood and gore. With nowhere else to go, they had fled into the forest, where they had been wandering ever since.

  Naala hadn’t believed a word of that story as it tumbled out of Bayo’s well-polished mouth. Something about the way he had spoken, slowly and deliberately as though reading a script in his head, had filled her with unease. She had found him on more than one occasion inspecting her with a glimmer in his eye.

  ‘Ndewo,’ Bayo said, as the group performed variations of their palm greeting, accompanying it with a slight bow, a sign of respect to their elders. ‘I too am not thrilled with meeting at such an ungodly hour but, after my brief introduction to Azu, I understand the reasons why.’ Lato smiled blankly at the four of them. ‘Well,’ he noted with a clap. ‘I have no time to beat around the bush, so here it is. While this is the first time we have been properly introduced, this is not the first time we have been in contact. Lato and I are from the Amaghị,’ he announced.

  Kora and Madi released loud gasps. Naala’s forehead creased apprehensively. What are they doing here?

  ‘Wait, no wait, wait—the Amaghị? As in the Amaghị! How …?’ Kora began, before a look of shock spread over her face as a thought settled in her head. ‘Why didn’t you tell us? I’m the one that has been corresponding with them.’ Kora rushed over to slap Eni across the shoulders.

  ‘I didn’t get the chance,’ Eni shrugged, while Kora threw her hands in the air.

  ‘Well … ndewo … welcome again, I guess! This is so exciting, I can’t tell you how grateful I am—we are—for your help and your guidance over the past months. This is—I just, I never expected to see you here! Just here, right in front of us. Oh my goodness! You’re here for another mission, aren’t you? Is there another mission?’ Kora exclaimed with glee, as Bayo’s nose flared in irritation at her open display of emotion.

  ‘If you would let me finish, perhaps I would get to that point,’ Bayo said curtly, as Kora opened her mouth apologetically to say something else, before deciding against it.

  ‘The short answer is maybe … there may be a new plan. At least, that is what we are here to determine, the viability of such a plan,’ he continued, before directing his gaze toward Naala. She shifted uncomfortably under the prolonged inspection, and turned to Eni who looked away with a hardened jaw.

  ‘What do you mean?’ Naala asked.

  ‘There have been rumours that the powers of the mmo have been re-awakened,’ he replied, as Naala’s heart quickened.

  ‘The power of the mu-what?’ Madi asked with a scrunched-up face.

  ‘It is as if you grew up under a rock!’ Kora exclaimed, as she threw up her arms.

  ‘Well, technically …’ Madi murmured.

  ‘The mmo were spiritual beings—’ Bayo began.

  ‘I’m sorry to interrupt—again—but with Madi, it’s best to start from the very beginning,’ Kora stressed, as Madi scowled silently. Bayo glared coldly at Kora before clearing his throat.

  Bayo explained, ‘Chukwu, the supreme spirit, the alpha and omega, created the universe, the stars, the earth, and the sky. Chukwu created the Mother, who then birthed life on earth, the great gods, and the passionate humans. In between the humans and the gods, are the mmos. Some of them appeared to be human but they had the power to control earthly things, impact the weather, move items; some could even move the earth itself. Some were just simply spirits as light as mist. Like humans, they could be good or bad; unlike humans they could access the black and gold realm: the power realm. This is where they draw their remarkable powers.’

  Naala felt Madi’s eyes flicking towards her as Bayo’s words hovered in the night air. Stop it, she wanted to yell, he’s not talking about me, but images of the earth crumbling beneath her feet at Udi silenced her thoughts.

  ‘What could she, the mmo, use her …or their powers, to do? Steal the key somehow? But isn’t it … won’t it kill anything that tries to steal it?’ Madi blurted, as the image of Enwe turning to dust before his eyes flashed in the back of his mind.

  Bayo continued, ‘Yes, we recently discovered that the Eze has used the Ndụ crystal to enchant the key and various other artefacts. The enchantment means that anyone born from the dust will return to dust if they steal it—but mmo are born from the black, and that enchantment can never touch them. With a mmo on our side, we can get the key, but we won’t have to—because with a mmo on our side we could get the one thing that powers the Eze—’

  ‘You can’t mean—?’ Kora whispered.

  ‘Yes, the Mother’s crystal. We can finally reclaim and transfer that power into more capable hands.’

  ‘It should be destroyed,’ Eni added. ‘It is the cause of all these problems. The Mother used it to persecute us, and now the Eze has started to do the same. Who’s to say the next appointed leader will not continue to do so?’ he concluded, as Bayo regarded him slowly.

  ‘Perhaps, ’ he murmured. ‘Either way, that crystal needs to be separated from the Eze. A
s long as he controls it, he has the power to give and destroy life at his fingertips. He is the one determiner, the one executioner—but that power cannot rest with a man who has proven himself to be unjust.’ Bayo took a deep breath. ‘You are all too young to even imagine it—you see the Eze as the almighty ruler because that is all you have known. I lived during the period where he had to prove it. When hundreds of warriors were wiped out in seconds, simply because he had that crystal. His army, his enchanted weapons, are simply decorations. He mocks us all when he purges the villages using them. He is laughing at us when he leaves it unguarded in his court. He knows he has already won, he knows he cannot be stopped, but he does not know that a mmo has been reborn.’

  ‘Wait … sorry but … you said … and you’re here—you really think there’s a mmo? Here? Around our dwellings?’ Kora asked in shock. No one replied. Slowly, Bayo, Lato, Madi and Eni’s eyes drifted towards Naala. Moments passed and Naala stopped breathing.

  Kora looked around in confusion. Her eyes soon settled on the bright red glow of the ero scattered around Naala. She gasped.

  ‘You think Naala is a …? No, that can’t be!’ Kora exclaimed

  ‘She just might be, and if she is, we may have a real chance to win this fight,’ Bayo murmured.

  DANCING LEAVES

  Furuefu Forest

  NAALA WAS seconds away from punching Bayo in the face. She gritted her teeth as she thought longingly about slamming her fists squarely into his forehead, just as he rolled his eyes to the heavens in disdain.

  ‘You’re not even trying,’ he murmured, as she clenched her fists so tightly, her nails dug into her palms. Heat crept up her back and the dense green forest started to feel heavy and tight around her.

  ‘Yes, I am. You are the one who is not teaching,’ she replied sharply, causing him to rap his cane against her sore ear.

  Naala despised Bayo. He was completely useless. He’d spent the whole session telling her to feel her power, to visualise the magic, but he had yet to tell her how.

  Now he said, ‘No one can teach this to you, girl. This is not Nsibidi with set rules and letters to learn. This is your connection with your chi, your soul—it will be different for everyone, so you and only you can learn to recognise it.’

  Naala rolled her eyes.

  ‘I have felt it, more than once. In fact—I’ve felt it but I still can’t—’

  ‘No. You did not feel it, you used it. You were thrust into it, your emotions—your instinct—took over, but now you must take a step back and recognise it, understand what it feels like to you, what it tastes like. Only then can you master it. The more you call on it, the more you flex it, the greater control you will have.’

  Naala looked up at Bayo’s thin frame with a scowl; his words tumbled over her like dead leaves. She watched as the large palm trees behind him rustled in the warm afternoon air and sighed. ‘Try. Again,’ he ordered, gesturing for her to sweep back up the green leaves on the ground.

  EVERY DAY NAALA followed Bayo deeper into the woods for lessons on what Azu and the like considered to be spiritual healing.

  ‘Spiritual healing?’ Azu had asked when Bayo had first mentioned it, his eyes squinting at Naala as he looked her up and down. ‘What is wrong with her?’

  ‘The girl is not well—not strong of mind. Not everyone can carry the burden of loss. I’m sure you must have noticed it too,’ Bayo had noted, as Azu looked confused. ‘Oh no? Funny, I thought you had an aura about you of someone with the eye for these sorts of things.’

  ‘Oh! I do! Yes, yes, of course I’ve noticed the girl … her problems. In fact—there are others too that may be in need of this spiritual healing,’ Azu had whispered, as he glanced over to Kora and Eni.

  ‘Mmm perhaps—but the healing is most effective during one-on-one sessions. Why don’t you watch over the group and take note of any other peculiar behaviours? I see that I can trust your judgement. I will use what you say to determine the next candidate.’

  Azu’s eyes had widened with glee, as he was intoxicated with the idea of his own expertise. Little did he know that Bayo would not listen to a word of his advice; he was here to help Naala, and Naala alone.

  Now, staring at the palm fronds, Naala sighed and thought, Mmo powers. She still couldn’t believe that she was corroborating with all of this. Not long ago, she would have laughed at the notion of attempting to call upon powers she didn’t have, to protect herself in an impossible battle against the almighty Eze. Yet here she was, sitting in the middle of a lively forest, attempting to make a handful of leaves move with nothing but her mind.

  If she wasn’t so desperate, if she wasn’t so angry, if she couldn’t still taste the intense power that had flowed through her soul in what Bayo called the black and gold realm, Naala might have slammed her fists into Bayo’s face days ago, and left all talk of magic locked firmly in his broken mouth. But she was desperate.

  Ever since the Eze’s army had marched through her village, she had been losing things. She had lost her family, her friends, her home, and now Enwe. Naala needed to win. She needed to find a purpose amidst the sorrow. Naala had spent countless hours fretting about ways to avenge her family, protect the remaining villagers, or do something meaningful to honour those that were left. However, all those ideas felt impossible, hollow and pointless, as they churned in her head; failing before they had even begun. Stealing the Mother’s crystal was another impossible idea, but it was neither hollow nor pointless and, as absurd as it seemed, Naala couldn’t fight the feeling deep down that told her she could pull it off.

  ‘IT’S BEEN DAYS; clearly I don’t have mmo powers,’ Naala finally said, dropping the rubbery leaves onto the thick grassy ground once again as she began to stand up. She had only got to her knees when the wooden cane stung against her raw ear.

  ‘Can you please stop that? I’m not a child!’ Naala exclaimed.

  ‘No? You are petulant, rude, and certainly not my age, so if you are not a child, then what are you?’ Bayo replied.

  ‘Not the person you were looking for,’ Naala muttered, as she rose to her feet, dodging another incoming blow. ‘We just need to stop. We both know that I can’t make those leaves move. It is clear that you, or they or whoever, might have got the wrong person.’

  ‘Perhaps,’ Bayo replied coldly. ‘Or perhaps you need to focus.’

  Naala sighed in protest whilst he picked the scattered leaves up from the ground and pressed them into her palms. ‘Just visualise it! Your mind is your tool; visualise the black and gold realm, and draw power from that.’

  ‘I don’t know how to draw any power from it … last time … at Udi … I just kind of fell into it … also I don’t really remember any gold, just black, pitch-black.’

  ‘Good. You’ve finally admitted that you’ve done this before. Now you need to remember the details properly.’

  ‘I did. I told you I fell—’

  ‘No, you didn’t. One cannot simply fall into a black and gold realm and come out unscathed, or at all. Once you are in the realm, that’s it; the energy required to leave the realm is greater than you can imagine—greater than the force you need to move a mountain, lift up all the oceans—even the world or the sun! It is more energy than you can even quantity; it’s—’

  ‘Hard?’

  ‘It’s impossible, not even the Mother could do such a thing.’

  ‘Well, I …’ Naala began, but she was lost for words. She recalled the extraordinary power that had rushed through her soul when she had fallen into the black, but what if it was a hoax? Just a figment of her imagination that she had magnified into a realm of magic and awe?

  ‘Maybe it was just an earthquake then?’ she murmured quietly, as Bayo sighed again in frustration.

  ‘It was not an earthquake,’ he exhaled with flared nostrils, the long cane quivering in his hand.

  ‘You don’t know that!’ Naala muttered, and, to her surprise, Bayo chuckled. It was the first time that he had shown any sort of pos
itive emotion around her, and she didn’t know how to take it.

  ‘My dear, I know,’ he said finally.

  ‘No, you don’t,’ Naala insisted through clenched teeth. If you did then you would know that I can’t do this!

  ‘Listen, girl—you are a mmo,’ Bayo said sharply, as a deep scowl settled on his face. ‘I can see the power emitting off you as clear as day. It was even strong enough to leave a trail that we could follow and that is how I know that you are deliberately refusing to use it.’

  Naala opened her mouth to protest, but before she could, something Bayo said hit her in the chest.

  ‘You can see it?’ Naala asked, swivelling around frantically, before stopping suddenly as something else dawned on her. ‘A … a trail? You followed a trail? I’m leaving a trail.’ Naala gasped, as she pictured the Eze riding towards her with an abara outstretched in his hand and murder glinting in his eyes.

  ‘Yes, but there’s no need to be dramatic. Only dibias can see power.’

  ‘Dibias?’ Naala asked, as Bayo sighed.

  Bayo replied, ‘Dibias are people who can see and feel magic—they may even be touched by magic and live longer than the average person—but they cannot possess it. For years, these abilities have been useless. The Mother’s death closed all portals to the black and gold realm of magic, and so dibias like me have seen nothing but dreary nights and uninspiring days. But something has changed, little bursts of magic have begun to bloom here and there—and the magic is growing. You need to grasp this now, because for the first time in centuries we have an advantage! But we won’t for long. Soon a dibia, one who is loyal to the Eze, will also detect these instances and if he gets to it first, we’re done for.’

  Naala’s heart leapt to her throat as he spoke. She looked down at the leaves in her hands, closed her eyes, gritted her teeth, and willed the black and gold realm to take over her.

  ‘Please,’ she whispered, but after a few painful minutes, they both knew nothing was going to happen. Naala opened her eyes again, her face was awash with shame as Bayo glared at her with disappointment. Naala turned and looked deep into the forest for relief. She nearly caught her breath when she spotted Eni walking past the trees, one of his long arms brushing away vines whilst the other held a basket of fruit for the group. He stopped briefly and tensed before turning his head to look in her direction. His eyes locked with hers, his body relaxed, and a small smile formed on his lips.