WHITE MAGIC

ChapterThree

The ship anchored and James alongside some colonial masters came out, he was in a hurry to see his wife as he had not seen her for almost a year.

James arrived home to see that his wife was pregnant. The man was shocked as he never thought Aiden would ever cheat on him.

James was broken, he avoided Aiden and for many weeks he spent most of his time at the pub or brothel. The neighbors seemed not to be helping as there was a lot of small talk anytime James came home to bath and change.

Paranoia set in as James began to suspect every man he saw around his wife to be the father of her child. He spent so many nights sleeping in a car across his house hoping his wife’s lover would pay her a visit.

James was determined to find out who the baby’s father was. James called Kona but he wouldn’t get any head way as it seemed that Kona was as surprised as him to see his wife pregnant. The man decided that he will take the matter to the district court as it was the only way he would get his wife to mention the name of the man she had an affair with. His mother Elizabeth advised him not to dig deeper into his wife’s infidelity as it was not in any way healthy to know the man that had an affair with his wife but the magician was adamant and did not yield to the voice of reason.

Aiden’s father was very disappointed, she looked happy with James, cheating on him husband was something he never saw coming. Her nosy neighbors seemed to have done the math and some they had started spreading rumors. Reverend Marlowe knew if his daughter’s infidelity story was to spread it would spoil the good name he had worked very hard to build. First he let his daughter marry an agent of darkness and now this. Reverend Marlowe urged James to pipe down but the man was hurt and caring for other people’s reputation did not matter to him at that time.

Few days later James took his wife to the district court. The court was packed as her nosy neighbors had gathered to watch her walk of shame. Aiden would not admit before her neighbors that her slave had Cana knowledge of her so she kept mute each time questions addressed to her begged for the name of her accomplice.

The Judge was a woman of faith who was not a fan of James and his magic, she was a front row member of the chapel so she did as the reverend told her and approved no punishment for the young woman instead she blamed James for not staying with his wife, she ruled that the woman would continue to be his wife and he will raise the bastard child along with her as a punishment for not being sensitive to the needs and feelings of his spouse.

The bitter man buried his head in more work and travelled longer distances than he would before because he couldn’t bear to see his wife and the load of betrayal she carried in her tummy.

Alcohol was his go-to anytime he remembered the pain that Aiden caused him. One day in the ship James was drunk and he saw some things that fascinated him, the first thing that caught his eye was when he saw a little ant walk into a bottle. The second thing that fascinated James was his double vision of the bottle as a result of his drunkenness.

James had two new ideas, the first was to make himself as small as that ant in the bottle and the second was to make himself a double vision in the sight of men.

Months passed and James had perfected his new tricks. People all over the world were astounded when they saw him become as small as an ant and enter into a bottle.

These new powers made James the most powerful magician/ sorcerer in the whole nation and the world at large. He commanded a high number of followership especially in his home country, anytime he was around many people would come to him with money just to see him do the trick, his fame spread round the west and he was gradually becoming the richest man in the city of his birth.

The theater hall was sold out anytime James had a show.

Soon James wife was delivered of a baby boy and it became obvious to everyone that Aiden had been cheating on her husband with her husband’s slave Kona. Few months later James returned to meet his wife in a sad state but he was not ready to stop the silent treatment he was giving her. It was obvious that his wife had giving birth but he had not heard any signs of a child since his arrival.

Few days later James gathered from his neighbors that his wife had delivered a black child. Kona ran away the day the baby was born and Aiden’s father forced her to give up the child as he could not deal with the shame of having a black offspring. The baby was put in a motherless care facility and Aiden has been miserable ever since. James was grateful to her father for saving him the pain he would’ve felt if he saw the black baby.

He did not allow himself to be bothered by his wife’s sad face, he enjoyed himself and earned more money in the few shows he did in Britain before living to the British colonies.

James arrived one of the British colonies in Africa and when he did his tricks the people were so amazed. They had nothing to offer him so they began to give their wives to him but the man refused their kind gestures as he knew the feeling he had when his wife slept with another man and he could not fathom the reason this people would want to feel that pain intentionally. A lot of things were quite irregular in some of the British colonies; men would sell their children for a cheap price and not look back. James was very certain that these people were not humans but animals so he renamed the British colonies; he called them the animal kingdom.

Aiden was in pain as she had not been allowed to see her baby. The pain had eaten deep into her so she began to consider suicide. Many times she tried to swallow a deadly drug but it felt like all hope was not lost yet as there was still a tiny possibility that one day she would hold her child.

James wife found the motherless home her baby was in so she went and when she got there something happened that left her devastated the more; she was not allowed to see her baby as her father had made sure of that by giving a hefty donation to the motherless care so their request to keep the baby away from the mother would be granted anytime Aiden came around.

The lady at the motherless care explained to Aiden that the only way she would ever be allowed to see her child was if she adopted him and she would need to return with her husband and sign some papers to do that.

Aiden returned home frustrated as she knew there was no way James would agree to follow her to the motherless care to adopt the proof of her infidelity. The young woman had lost all hope so she took a bottle of poison to drink but James mother arrived just in time to stop her.

Elizabeth could not believe her eyes, just like his father James had pushed a woman to the edge or so she thought as she instantly remembered the many times she tried to commit suicide when she was married to Brad. Elizabeth never thought that James would turn out like his father as he was a very kind and compassionate person. However Aiden’s move to suicide was a solid proof to her that James was just like his father.

Few hours later Aiden told Elizabeth everything that happened in the motherless care. James mother was quite relieved that Aiden’s move to suicide was caused by her parents and not James. Although she was surprised that the young lady was going to resort to suicide over a problem that took only common sense to solve, the old woman asked Aiden to get a man who was around the same age with James, go with him to the motherless care and have him sign the documents as James. Aiden was impressed by Elizabeth’s idea but she was still worried as she had nowhere to keep the child but as soon as she voiced her concern Elizabeth offered to take care of the baby in her own house. Elizabeth told Aiden that her house was too quiet and lonely and could use the company of a baby.

Aiden took Elizabeth’s counsel and paid a man to act like James at the motherless care. Her baby was released to them few hours after they signed the necessary documents for adoption.

Elizabeth was excited when she opened her door to meet Aiden holding her baby; she let them in and took the baby from her son’s wife. The baby boy was black yet it seemed like the color of his skin was not relevant as his smile lightened up Elizabeth’s day and his innocence was a proof that Aiden’s parent’s where monsters for trying to push the little star away from his mother.

James was neck deep in evil and he was almost losing his conscience doing everything Henry told him to do. Henry was the most senior official amongst all colonists and he made James make crazy demands from the people anytime they were terrified by his magic. Henry became a tyrant in almost every British colony they went because of James. The people worshipped him and brought daily sacrifices to him yet these foolishness was not enough to appease him as he asked for more every time.

James was getting tired of being this man’s facilitator

The sun dipped low over the hills of a southern African colony, its last orange rays sliding over the grasslands like spilled fire. James, the British sorcerer cloaked in his usual black coat, stood silently beside Henry, the greedy colonial official he followed like a shadow. Behind them, a host of colonial masters rode in with flags, rifles, and the air of unwelcome conquest.

But this time, they were surrounded.

A ring of warriors, fierce and silent, herded them to the heart of the village. They were brought before King Thebo, a tall, wiry man whose fear was masked behind a carved mask of gold and bone. He stared at the pale men, his hands twitching at their skin color, his breath shallow. Before he could speak, a woman entered the clearing, hips swaying with certainty, her eyes glowing with the sight of things beyond the veil.

Thanbela had arrived.

The Sangoma—witch doctor, seer, spirit-mother—stood in silence, reading the winds. She had been summoned by the king himself to speak by the gods. But when her eyes fell on James, she stopped. The calabash in her hands nearly slipped. Her lips parted, not in awe, but in something deeper. Recognition. Dread. Desire.

Taleni, their interpreter—once one of Thebo’s trusted sons, now a colonist himself—stepped forward. He was draped in a British waistcoat, but the accent in his voice still carried the dust of home.

“That man,” he said, gesturing to James, “is no ordinary traveler. He is James. The greatest sorcerer in the world.”

The warriors murmured. King Thebo blinked.

Then James vanished.

Gasps rang out as he reappeared beside the king, calm and still. Before Thebo could move, James vanished again—and stood beside Thanbela, staring straight into her painted eyes.

He shrank.

He became so small that his boots were like beetle shells.

Then, in a breath, he grew. Towered. Became a giant of shadow and smoke.

The warriors fell to their knees. Thanbela knelt lower than all. Her voice was a whisper.

“I have seen no man like this in all my journeys through the spirit world.”

Three days passed.

On the fourth, Thanbela sent James a shroud—a ceremonial cloth embroidered with jackal fur and crocodile skin. Alongside it, she sent baskets of salted meat, and gemstones. The shroud meant one thing: she had chosen him as her next husband.

She already had eight.

James was bewildered. Her advances came like waves—forceful, full of mystery. But though he admired her strength and feared her power, something within him recoiled. The stench that clung to her robes—the mix of grave dust and something rotting—unnerved him. Worse, every time she drew near, he heard whispers in a language he didn’t know. And though his wife Aiden had betrayed him, some wounded part of him still clung to her memory.

So he declined.

Quietly. Respectfully returned the gifts to her which implied that he was not interested

Thanbela’s eyes narrowed, but she said nothing. She simply smiled and spoke some words, “Nobody rejects the gods, you are mine.”

Meanwhile, Henry and the other colonial officials were busy charming the king. They showed Thebo their weapons—guns that cracked the air like thunder. The king was amazed. So were his elders. Thebo tested the gun himself—on two of his slaves. Their bodies crumpled like sacks of yam. Thebo smiled wide, called it "magic of the hand."

Thanbela walked into the palace to see what the colonial masters, the broken hearted woman seemed to be speaking with great anger.

Taleni understood everything she said so he told Henry

“She said” James rejected her

Henry seemed clearly pissed by that information responded shortly after

“Tell her we look forward to the wedding. “Tell her it’s going to happen

Thanbela’s mood seemed to be lightened up by this reassurance from Tambela as she released a loud laughter and echoed a strange sound from her mouth, doing a strange dance turning anti-clock wisely and stamping her feet to the ground continuously. Many women present there join her to the same.

Soon people began offering more than gold for the guns. Stubborn children were given away in exchange for rifles. Wives traded husbands. Thanbela, standing tall before the gathered chiefs, pointed to her fourth husband—a quiet man with a limp.

“He has failed me in the womb. Let him bring me fire instead.”

“I will soon get another one” she bragged

And so he was traded for a gun.

The night before the wedding ceremony meant to unite Thanbela and James, the colonial masters crept into the royal shrine. Under the veil of darkness, they pried sacred sculptures from their pedestals—figures of gods with crocodile mouths and serpent eyes. They stole them, alongside tribal masks, carved horns, and stone runes.

Outside, slaves were already shackled. The ship sat waiting at the shore, its sails fat with wind. Quietly, efficiently, the colonial masters boarded—artifacts in crates, slaves beneath, gold clutched in foreign hands.

Bottom of Form

It didn’t take long before they got to another village and as usual James was introduced as the greatest sorcerer in the world. It happened that a certain man called Bode lived in the village and he was also a sorcerer. Bode lived with many mad men and he had power to make them do his bidding in fact they cooked for him, farmed for him and worked with him closely when anyone who needed his help came to see him. The sorcerer was the most respected man in his town because he had so much power and did no evil.

Bode’s father Adigun was also a sorcerer and known all over town in his days but he was killed by one of the mad men he kept in his home. It is essential that they must die like that when their time comes.

Bode didn’t seem to be concerned with what the british officials were doing in his town as he was a very busy man.

The village of Oko-Aba had always whispered about Bode, the lean sorcerer who spoke little and listened too much. He moved like a shadow among the cassava fields, barefoot, with chalk lines on his arms and ashes in his hair. Some said he could make a tree speak, others swore he once reversed death for a widow’s only son. But all agreed—he was not a man to provoke.

Henry did not care for village whispers.

The colonial officer arrived on horseback, smug in his brown jacket and boots polished like mirror glass. He came to Oko-Aba not for diplomacy, but for desire. He took what he wanted—land, labor, voices—and one night, he took Dara.

Bode’s sister, Dara.

She was the soft one. Sweet like soaked yam, barely seventeen, and known across three villages for her moon-skin and laughter that reminded people of rain. She’d gone to fetch herbs behind her mother’s hut when Henry found her. The guards had turned away. The moon had kept its light. Her screams were swallowed by the river.

By morning, she was silent.

Bode found her curled beneath the tree their mother had planted the day she was born. Her wrapper was torn. Her eyes were wide. She did not cry. She only whispered, “He asked for water. He wouldn’t stop.”

Bode said nothing. He sat beside her, placed one hand on her head, and began to hum an old song. The tune was older than war, older than shame. As the sound settled between them, his mind sank back into memory—into the words of his father.

“Your sister… she carries a curse that protects. It is old. It is powerful. It is called Magun—Don’t Climb.”

Bode had not thought of it in years.

Magun was no ordinary spell. It wasn’t stitched in cloth or hidden in charms. It was spoken into the body—implanted in secret. It bound itself to flesh and soul. Meant for brides, for women whose purity was sacred or whose loyalty was doubted, it punished any man who dared break the boundary.

Its effects were not immediate. That was the cruelty of it.

Some men burst into flames. Others barked like dogs, danced until their bones cracked, or spoke only in tongues no one understood. But most often, Magun revealed itself through unbearable thirst. An endless, maddening thirst that no water could quench.

And when the victim begged for something—an orange, salt, kola nut, or even love itself—giving it to him sealed his death.

That morning, Henry stumbled out of the guest house he’d claimed from the chief, soaked in sweat and stuttering for water.

“Water,” he rasped. “Give me water. Please.”

He drank from the calabash. Then another. Then the clay pot in the corner. Still, his lips cracked. His eyes bulged. His throat swelled.

“Water!”

By the time Femi, the village apothecary, arrived, Henry was on his knees, mouth against the ground, licking damp soil like a lizard.

“Something is wrong,” Femi murmured. “This… this could be Magun.”

The village gasped.

Henry did not understand the words they whispered, but he understood the fear. And fear made him angry. He grabbed Femi by the collar. “What did you say? What did she do to me?”

Femi shook his head. “Not her. You did it to yourself.”

That evening, Bode stood over his father’s grave, lips tight, fingers trembling. He remembered the ritual clearly. Dara had been just five when their father summoned the three elders, each with kola nut and rooster feather. They had knelt over her sleeping body and whispered the words.

“She must never know,” their father had said.

But now, she did not need to know. The charm had awakened. And the man who defiled her would not live.

At dusk, Henry begged for palm wine. He offered coins, silver, even his wristwatch. The guards brought him a calabash. He drank.

He died.

He did not scream.

His body collapsed into itself, the mouth still whispering for water.

Bode watched from the shadows, eyes dry, heart silent.

James had tried all he could but he could not save Henry

Femi and the colonial masters were pissed and because of their belief that james was the greatest sorcerer in the world. They believed it was time for vengeance so they asked some locals to take them to Bode’s house so James would help them get their own pound of flesh. Bode had heard a lot about this new sorcerer but he had never seen him, he was bathing his sister with a local sponge to cleanse her from the curse that the magun had on her when james entered his compound fading in the air and moving with the wind around Bode.

Bode seemed unbothered by it and kept on doing what he was doing until he exclaimed in anger as one who felt challenged and waited for James to pass again and as soon as he did Bode grabbed hold of him and put him in a small bottle drom his danshiki-“a male gown” before swallowing it. The locals with them ran away almost immediately with their legs touching their head. The colonial master’s were in shock and frightened so they began to appeal to him to vomit James but he refused, he said James had desecrated the land and eleven cows would have to be brought to him to appease the gods.

Few days later they brought all that Bode requested before him and he vomited the bottle containing James and as soon as James came out of the bottle he was shaken with fear as to the event that led him living in Bode’s stomach in the last few days, he left the village the next day

Later that night, Dara stood before her brother, barefoot, wrapped in white cloth. Her voice was small, but it carried weight.

“I didn’t understand… what happened. I only remember how he changed after. The thirst. The fear.”

Bode nodded. “You were protected. Even in pain. Even in shame.”

She looked at him. “Did you do it?”

He shook his head. “Father did.”

“Why?”

Bode met her gaze. “Because he saw the world. And knew it wouldn’t always be kind.”

The fire crackled between them. Dara sat, her fingers curling into her lap.

“I don’t feel victorious,” she said.

“You weren’t meant to,” Bode answered. “You were meant to survive.”

Few days later they brought all that Bode requested before him and he vomited the bottle containing James and as soon as he came out of the bottle he was shaken with fear as to the event that led him living in Bode’s stomach in the last few days, he left the village the next day

And so, Oko-Aba returned to silence. The colonial camp packed up, confused and afraid. They left Henry’s body in the bush. No grave. No ceremony. Just heat, rot, and the judgment of the ancestors.

Bode returned to his shrine. Dara returned to her herbs.

And beneath the tree her mother planted, the wind carried whispers.

Not of r**e.

But of Magun.

On his journey back to the west James was reminiscing on the past events and how his focus on conquest with sorcery led his wife to infidelity and almost took his life.