Olokun pt1 (the wind of destiny)

INTERLUDE

CHAPTER 15

17 AUGUST 1985

“ Belinda!, Belinda!!, Belinda!!!,”, called Owain Izevbhien, his brother had come visiting that day, it had been a long time since he saw his brother who lived in Agenegbode, it had been long since he even saw most of his family members, he had devoted his whole life into taking care of his two children since the death of his wife and therefore he did not have the time to go on visiting calls to anyone's house, and even his family members had not come over, he had continued his life in Isolation, even when his son had grown and moved to the big city to start his own life and family, no one had come calling and he had not paid anyone anybody a visit. It was not that he had any issues with them or that they had any issue with him, it was just that they were a strange people with a pride that did not allow them to reach out to anyone without being asked to, they were a people who never offered a helping hand without being asked to, it was a part of them that they could not change therefore it was a pleasant surprise when Izevbhien's house was graced by his brother whom he had not seen a very long time and so he was determined to make sure he entertained him to the fullest. Belinda was taking too much time in bringing the fried meat and palm wine, that girl was extremely slow, even a snail would win her in a race and it was extremely unbearable in times like this when speed was needed, he would go and check up on her to be sure that she had encountered any trouble in her work, “Nwenem, please let me check on that child, I do not know what is taking her so long”, he said rising. Just as he stood up to go check on her, she walked in carrying a tray that contained a calabash of fried goat meat and a keg of palm wine along with 2 wooden cups, her father sat back, with an impatient look on his face. “Nne what took you so long?, I almost summoned the town crier to come call you from the kitchen”, Belinda was flustered, she raised her head up a little bit and muttered an apology to her father as she went back to doing her chores.

“Do not scold her too much my brother”, Agoy (for that was his brother's name), said between mouthfuls of meat and wine, “You know she is just a child and cannot be as efficient as a woman, I even praise you and thank God for how well you have raised her and her brother singlehandedly without any one, I do not know if any man born of a woman can do achieve what you have”, he continued, Izevbhien smiled, never before had he seen his role in his children's life, as anything, he saw it as an obligation a father owed to his children, he saw parenting as a relay in which each member of a team passed the baton to the next, if one member of the team fell and could not continue the race, it would fall on the shoulders of the next person to continue, it was nothing special, it was just a duty that had to be fulfilled. “Thank you so much my brother for all the kind words”, he replied. “You are welcome my brother, I know you are wondering what this August visit is for, I assure you my brother that it is not an ill one, it is just a needy brother's way of asking for help from his brother who is more fortunate than he is”, Agoy said with a tight smile on his face. Izevbhien sensed that something was not right, this smile was forced and it was easy for anyone, even a child of three to notice that he was uncomfortable. “What is it Agoy, your smile does not deceive me, what is the matter?, If it is money you need, do not fret, I may not have barns filled with gold or silver platters, but I have enough to share with you, and if what I have is not enough, I can ask my son who lives in the big city of Benin to send me some money to add to it”, “It is not much of a matter my brother”, Agoy replied with a look of amusement on his face, “It is just that my wife just gave birth to our child and it was not an easy one, if not for the mercy of God on us, the child might have taken her life. As it is now, my wife is very weak and will not be able to take care of my home like she does normally, and you know my son is in the big city studying to become a banker, and we do not have any other person to help us, so I was thinking if you would allow your daughter to come over and help us for this little period before she goes to the big city to further her education”, Izevbhien did not understand what was wrong with his brother, why did he feel that he would refuse his request, they were family after all, and it was not news that they always rendered a helping hand to one another without question, so why would he suddenly feel that what he wanted was too hard for him to accept. “Agoy, my child is your child, all these pleas are unnecessary, you only need to ask and I will say yes, I know what it feels like to lose a loved one to untimely death, due to unnecessary complications, so stop begging me”, he replied as he walked towards the window, it was the holiday season so most streets were filled with playing children, then he asked, “ Will you want to take her with you when you are leaving?”, “Yes my brother, if it is not a bother to.....”, Izevbhien did not let him complete his last statement, “It is no bother Agoy, please drop the facade of politeness, she will leave with you at the c***k of dawn tomorrow, I cannot let you leave today, because it is almost dusk, these roads are not as safe as they used to be when we were young men, the stories of men robbed of their valuables and women r***d on the farm road is alarming”, “Okay my brother if you insist then” Agoy replied as he shifted his foot uneasily, this of course did not go past Izevbhien, for he was a man who had very quick eyes, something was not right about his brother's behavior, he was acting like a wealthy unarmed man who was walking on a dangerous road laden with bandits, looking over his shoulder constantly because he did not know how, from where or when he would be attacked. Izevbhien felt like asking him what the matter was but he dismissed the thought, he was probably worried about his wife and his young child whom he had left in the arms of an elderly neighbor whom he did not really trust, anyone would feel as fretful as he did in his situation.

Dismissing the thought was an easy task, but banishing the nightmares from his head was not so easy, they had been blurry and confusing the nights before but it was all clear this night, He saw himself giving a white spotless lamb to a monstrous animal, the animal was like nothing he had ever seen, it had seven snake heads attached to the body of a fox, it's hind legs were like that of a goat and it's fore legs were like that of a human, wrinkly, flaky and scaly, it's eyes were devoid of emotion, like a deep endless dark hole. When he gave it the white lamb without spot, it transformed into a young handsome man and the lamb turned into his daughter, only that this time she held a little version of the monster in her hands. Izevbhien woke up in cold sweat, confused and perplexed, the dream had shaken him from head to toe, was this a warning, was providence cautioning him from giving his youngest child to his younger brother?, No that was not possible, never before had it been heard of that the children of Oghogho had reaped evil from doing good, this was probably the handiwork of his enemies to stop him from assisting his brother who was in dire need of help. He rose up to check his daughter's room and she was nowhere to be found, he suddenly broke into cold sweat, just as he was about to shout her name, he heard her beautiful voice, she was in the kitchen as usual erecting a new fire place, seeing that it was a tradition in their land that the fore place be re-erected every day, because their ancestors visited the hearth of the living at night and if anyone reused the hearth from the previous day, he or she would die, so everyone erected new hearths every day. He did not need to talk much about her journey the next day, his daughter was wise and he did not need to tell her what she knew already, so he went back to his room, he was surprised that it was morning already, he thought that it was midnight, but he was surprised when he saw his daughter already at her chores. At the break of dawn, his daughter and his brother set out to Agenegbode, the visit was just for six months, as they got to the boundary between their village and the border town, she noticed her uncle was going in opposite direction to the bus station, Belinda was confused, maybe he did not know the way to the park, “Uncle”, she said touching his back to get his attention seeing that he was ahead, “Uncle” she called louder the second time, “This is not the right way to the bus station, you are going to the ghost market, and it is forbidden for those who are not initiates to go there”, At that he stopped suddenly and turned to face her, and all Belinda could remember was that the eyes on the head of that man were not the same with the eyes of the man who had visited her father the day before and had asked his brother to lend him his daughter for six months, the eyes that had looked into her were the eyes of death.

An hour passed after his daughter and his brother left his house and he was not comfortable at all with her absence from the house, it seemed as if someone had taken a vital organ from his body, this was not normal and he would get to the bottom of it. Immediately he stepped his foot on the entrance to the Eziza priest's compound, he heard a loud voice saying; “Foolish mortal, because you want to hold on to a tradition that is of no use to anyone any more, a tradition that no one in your family partakes in anymore, because you want to play the role of the good brother you gave Esu the only piece of in a puzzle we had been preventing him from having all these years, please do not step your feet any further, do not even come any closer, for my house is not an abode for foolish men who do not pay attention to the signs that the gods show them, go to your house now and entertain the visitors that await you, maybe by then you will understand the gravity of the mistake you have made”. Izevbhien was rendered speechless and thoughtless, he could not speak or hear, all he could hear was the voice telling him that he had given Esu a piece in a puzzle, by the time he got home, he saw his elder brother, and eldest sister sitting on the bench in front of his house, his eyes brimmed with tears, he could not bear it, it was too much. He did not know how long he stood looking at them before they dragged him to the bench and made him sit down, “Izevbihien”, his sister called to him, “We know how much pain you are feeling right now because of Agoy's death, but I will beg you to not feel it too much, God gives and he takes”, Izevbhien did not hear anything else she said, the only thing he heard was that Agoy was dead, “Iye are you playing tricks on me because of you are it is not funny”, “Izevbihien, why would I play tricks on you with something as serious as this”, “Because Agoy came here yesterday and asked me to lend him my daughter for six months to help him and his wife who had just come out from a difficult child birth, he claimed that his son would not be able to help, so when he asked for my daughter I had accepted without complain, I even walked them to the path that led to wards the park and now you are telling me my brother is dead?, This is a joke that is not funny in any way”, he said as he sat on the ground scratching out the sand around him. His sister; Ese was not happy at the sight before her eyes, her brother was clearly losing it, there was no way possible that their dead brother would suddenly rise up from the grave and start paying them visits, something had to be done about this quickly, if not they would lose another sibling. First of all they had calm to Izevbhien down, there was no way he was going to be of help to himself or anyone around him in this his current state, then they would go to the priest of Eziza and find out what could be done about his daughters disappearance and their brother's sudden return to the land of the living. Ese sighed as she sat on the ground beside her brother, “Please stand up from the ground Izevbhien, a crowd is gathering, it will not be a good thing if news goes around that Owain Izevbhien has suddenly lost his mind”, she said as she stood up and dragged him up, “Please Osas, help me raise him up”, she said to her other brother that stood a little afar of, raising him up was not a job for one person. They took him inside and laid him on the bed, she asked Osas to stay with him, giving him stern warnings not to let him out of his sight whole she went to the Eziza priest's house to find out what was happening because the whole situation confused her.

Belinda woke up to find herself in a room on a very large bed, it was very beautiful and had a fire place, the curtains were purple and looked so silky that she would have touched them if not that she was weak, as she turned on the bed she felt continuously lulled into slumber, she felt extremely comfortable, this was probably what heaven looked like, then she remembered, what had happened the previous day, “Osanobua”, she exclaimed, what happened to her and how had she gotten to this beautiful place, she did not care, she had to go back home, her father would die if he did not hear from her in a week, she had to leave this place as quickly as possible. Just as she made to rise from the bed, a door appeared from nowhere and a beautiful woman came in, she wore a long black dress covered with shells and feathers, she was attractive in a strange way, she had rabbit ears and horns like that of a deer, Belinda knew she was in danger but she did not know how bad it was. “Do not try to stand up, you will only fall down again because you are not stable yet”, the woman said to her in a perfect voice. Belinda felt soothed, it felt as if someone had massaged her body with a soothing balm, it reached into her bone marrow and removed all her fears, there was no other place that was made for her apart from this cozy room of hers in this grand palace, nothing else mattered just her. Just as Belinda fell into her induced slumber someone knocked on the door, before Etinosa (for that was the strange woman’s name) could ask who it was the door opened a c***k and the person walked in, he was a very beautiful man, for the word handsome was not enough to compare his comeliness, his black robe was made of the shiniest velvet that the world has ever seen and beneath his robe was a beautiful body that rippled with muscles, his hands were calloused from wielding whatever weapon that he used to destroy his enemies, his eyes were black like the robe that covered his beautiful body only that they were darker and void of emotion. He walked towards the bed and touched her feet and smiled, he knew she would not remember who he was, but he knew that once the memory spell was totally brewed, she would and together they would raise two warriors that will destroy the earth and pay them back in their own coin, his son and daughter would be lords, one would rule the underworld after him and the other would rule the new earth that he would make once he had destroyed those weak humans, evil people who stabbed themselves in the back, people who spoke of love but did not fully know what it meant to love, he did not care what the other smaller gods were planning, he did not care what Osalobue thought about his plan, but what he knew is that no human that came out of the loins of a woman would wrong him and go unpunished, he will utterly destroy their men, women, children, even their livestock. The new earth will be his new palace, a place where he and his family would live and raise a generation of demi-gods. A sudden shuffle of feet on the other side of the room brought him back to his current surroundings. He raised his head and saw that it was only Etinosa, his closest friend, she had been with him through his darkest and brightest days, she had helped him raise his powers from its piteous state to a better one, she had journeyed through generations and worlds in search of his long lost love, she had taken many forms, made many acquaintances among men, gods, demons and witches, many of whom were enemies all in support of his cause, she had never questioned his decisions and had always done whatever task was asked of her, no matter how daunting or dangerous it was. Esu (for that was the comely man’s name) did not know if she did all this out of love, gratitude or indebtedness, but whatever the reason was that she did all this, he knew that he owed his achievements mostly to this powerful woman that gave him her honest support.

“Do you still feel for her?”, Etinosa asked in Esu’s ear startling him, He walked away from the bed in order to mask his surprise “Yes I feel for her, it is like the day and the night; , are destined to be together”, “Pardon me my lord”, she replied bowing, “But if this lowly servant of yours may ask; Do you not think that Olokun will foil this plan of yours, you know that she is your father’s favourite child, loved dearly by him even in her moments of erring and you know how much she loves these humans, not just because of the obeisance they throw at her feet, but because she is a barren woman with no children and she considers them her children, she will definitely try to stop you just as she did the last time when you wanted to exact revenge on them, if that happens what then will you do?”, She asked him, still genuflecting “I will take care of that when the time comes”, He replied turning towards her, stroking her cheeks, He said “Do not worry your little mind my pretty bird, if I could raise you from a rotting carcass then this is but a small matter for me to solve, soon enough my slaves will wipe those weaselly human children of hers and no matter what plan she has I am already ahead of her by two miles”, He ended as he moved to give Belinda a kiss on her forehead before leaving the room.

Etinosa was not satisfied with Esu’s reply concerning this matter, yes he was her lord, and he was all-knowing and she had no right whatsoever to question his decisions concerning certain matters, but this was different, this was not just any conflicts with any of the gods, this was a conflict with one of the greater gods, this was a war within a family, a war that would never have happened if that night of foolishness had not occurred, a war that could have been avoided if Esu had just let go of that peasant human girl. It had all started during the festival of the gods, at the time when Osalobue; God of all creation and father of all gods both great and less was to crown his children as rulers and controllers of the different elements on which the foundation of the world existed, at such a time when there were no witches nor wizards, at a time when the scales on which the balance of the circle of life rested had not been tipped, a time when there was no veil between the land of humans and the land of spirits, when humans, gods and spirits traded in harmony without fear of each other. On that fateful day during the moon of the festival, Osalobue had asked his five children; Esu, Olokun Eziza and Oba to go to the earth to have a view of how the people on earth behaved, and so they had all gone in human form. As they crossed the boundary Esu walked towards a forest and saw a raggedy slave girl fetching firewood and that was how the tragic love story had started, he fell in love with her and continued to sneak out of the heavens during the festival to see her, all of these would have gone unnoticed if Esu had not walked in on her master trying to r**e her that fateful morning, he had knocked on the window of her hut and gotten no reply, he had turned to go but stopped in his tracks when he heard the cry of a maiden in pain, knowing that it was the voice of Aisosa, he quickly rushed to rescue her, on getting there, he saw her master trying to forcefully mate with her. This of course led to a struggle in which Esu had the upper hand, after binding her master down he quickly took her with him and raced towards the veil, just as he made to cross with her, she was shot down with a poisoned arrow, Esu quickly rushed to Olokun for help and she cured her. This of course would have been a beautiful story if they had been joined together as man and wife, but Osalobue would not hear of it for Aisosa was a slave who was not freed as death, Esu pleaded, he even offered to give his king of the earth and underworld to his younger brother; Oba who was lord of earth, his position was taken from him but still they were not joined in marriage, instead she was sent back to the earth to be a child of the Oba. Esu was so enraged that he destroyed most parts of the earth, Oba who was helpless had asked Olokun for help, she had raised connectors to stop the war of course and Esu was banished to the underworld for life, Aisosa had taken her life, swearing to come back every lifetime as the virgin bride of the god of the underworld. Seeing that he had been rendered powerless Esu had recruited Azeh and her league of witches to wipe out all humans, this did not go unnoticed by the goddess of wealth and the river, she immediately empowered her connectors, giving them the same power as of the lesser gods, and just when Esu had given up hope his bride whom he sought after was found in the body of a widowed farmer’s daughter, finally, he was complete.

That of course had been Etinosa’s thought when she found Belinda, she was happy that her lord had found that which he sought after for generations, finally he would be happy and his anger will be stayed his quest for revenge on his sister and the humans would finally come to an end. Etinosa was unpleasantly surprised when he told her that he would continue his quest for revenge and that he would raise children with Aisosa who will command the largest demon army in the universe, an army with which he would conquer his sister destroy the earth and its population and conquer his father. Etinosa was filed with horror for even though everyone else saw her lord as evil, she loved him greatly and would do anything and anyone, right now she had to protect him from a great foe and that was himself, this required her to make a visit to someone.