Olokun pt1 (the wind of destiny)

Named Without Ceremony

Chapter 5

AUGUST 12 1891

She was named like a pauper, hidden from the prying public eyes not just because of the ominous events surrounding her birth but because there were rumors, evil rumors circulating in the village about the king's family, some said that Enogie was running mad, others said that the Enogie's wife had been impregnated by one of the pig bellies, while others said that the cabinet were planning to depose the Enogie and make the Ogiso king. Words, bits and pieces of truth spiced with enough lies to make it juicy as it passed from ear to ear, most of the words held little truth and was disregarded as idle gossip by many but it seemed that the most disregarded rumor was the one which held truth; the Enogie's deposition. Yes, the Ogele had decided to depose him and make his son of 15 rains Enogie, with the Ogiso as regent, a quiet and quick deposition. The reason for it was that the Ogele felt the Enogie's reaction on the day of his daughter's birth was a sign of the king's unclear mind and they believed that some time away from the stress of kingdom politics would be good enough for him. It was a good plan, it sounded excellent to their ears but no one was fooled by the Ogiso's ploy to take the kingdom for himself, it was clear that the king's son was nothing but a figure head, a simpleton who was nothing but a puppet drawn by the Ogiso's strings, the reasons the plan was not foolproof were numerous. First; what king was sent from his kingdom without any servant to attend to his needs, not even the lowliest maid in the palace was sent with him, only his fan bearer had stubbornly followed the king, their excuse was that they wanted his departure to be as quiet as possible so there was no need for such a fuss, secondly; if it was what they had said it was then why had the heir apparent to the throne not been chosen? Why had they bypassed the intelligent head strong warrior for the less imposing second son of the Enogie? ; their excuse had been that the king's reign had not ended and this was only a moment of rest for the king, a moment of rest?, Seriously?, A market day of rest is acceptable, even a moon or season is okay, a rain of rest might be too much but does not sound incredulous to the ear. The Ogele's idea of rest was seventeen rains, even a suckling babe would have blossomed into a betroth woman, it was enough time for them to turn the tides in their favor, a stupid but excellent plan. Even the Olokun priest was not spared, fearing that he would ruin their plans, the Ogele had asked him to follow the king on his great journey of rest. The Olokun priest saw the looming danger and the coming of the blood rain and he would have done everything in his power to stay behind and protect his people till the connector reached the prime of her powers but the gods had other plans for him, so he had no choice but to concede to the Ogele's requests and leave the land.

The land was gloomy, even though the Ogele had said that the king's journey was a quiet one, the whole village knew about it, tongues wagged, gossips had a field day, rumors flowing like the great Orogodo river through the land, some true but most were a spiced up versions of more lies, than truth. It was on the lips of everyone on every corner of Obti land, even as the king his family, chief priest and the fan bearer journeyed to a faraway land dressed as commoners, they found out what the villagers thought of the turn of events. Two women on their way to the market talked about the issue in a very sad tone;“I feel for the royal family" said one of them “ Their sorrow must really be great" , “Sorrow is an understatement" “ Anguish is a better word", replied the second woman “What hurts me the most is how their second son, the reigning king folds his arms and watches the regent make a fool of his family", “Is that one a human being?, someone who can barely differentiate between his left and right, even the food he eats and the clothes he wears are chosen for him by the regent, it is no longer a rumour that the regent even plans on marrying his youngest daughter to the king, the one that is known all over the village as local p********e", The second woman sighed, genuine concern was written over her face when she replied her friend, “But weakness is not a good reason for a man to abandon his family in time of need, or is it because he was raised by his aunt in another land?, that's not a good enough reason for a man to turn his back on the man and woman from whose loins he came", “Hmm what can I say? replied the first woman increasing her pace which was matched by her friend, “ Times are changing, bringing about strange and fearsome happenings, the only thing that we can do is to ask Osanobua the creator to protect us and our families from them, as for the royal family, there is nothing we can do for them except to pray that Osanobua will protect them and provide a better place for them to stay, somewhere far away from all the evil and wickedness of the Ogiso", she said turning to her friend only to notice that she was far behind her “Nnem, are you still crawling like a snail, please walk fast so we can get to the market quickly, I do not want us to be late, you know how things are now that the Agbor women are trading at our market, they buy the choicest parts of the foodstuffs and leave the rotten ones for us, so please walk fast", she said slowing down a little bit so that her friend who had been trotting would get to her and still have time to catch her breath, “ Nndor" she said when her friend finally got to get side “ I hope I have not made an elder run too much", “Mba, you have not done anything of that sort, you only brought me back to reality, the discussion about the royal family made me to forget that our brothers in the market have exchanged their blood relations for unmarried women with bulging waist purses", she replied as they walked faster, “Nnem you cannot blame them", said the first woman, one cannot cut blood relations and put it in a pot expecting it to turn to food that would be placed before one's children", “ You are very right my friend, these days one's friends are better brothers and sisters than those who share the same parents, was it not you who saved me and my children when my husband was newly buried from the loan sharks who would have sold my children to the man who looks like the belly of the pig due to the debt that his brothers had incurred? I remember running from one brother's house to the other and receiving the same answer, but I had not even finished telling you my story when you lended me the money", she said wiping tears which had come to her eyes with the edge of her cloth “ Nnem I have done nothing, I was only a broom used by the gods to sweep the dirt in your house, anyone else could have done it, so please forget about what I did, we are already at the market, it will not be good for someone to see you crying, so please wipe your eyes" and with this they walked faster, away from the hearing of the king and his entourage which included his wife, their baby, her immediate younger brother, the Olokun priest and the royal fan bearer, who the king had asked to stay behind but had refused saying that he would rather eat sand with the king than stay in a cursed palace, when the king had argued that he was not a king anymore and had no money to pay him, he had replied that it didn't matter and that he would work to provide for the king and his family because they were the only ones who treated him like a human being, after all these protests the king had no choice than to stop telling him to go back.

The king was perplexed by all the things he had heard from the market woman, his kingdom was in ruins but here he was running away like a coward from a boy and a snake in human form, no he would fight back, he would go back and show those useless people who called themselves Ogele why he was Enogie,he would cut off their heads and offer it to Azeh, mother of all witches, so he stopped. His wife as if she could read his thoughts stopped too, though she asked the rest of the entourage to continue without them and then she said, “Not today my Lord, not today, let us go to Ekpon where my sister lives and raise our child quietly, and once she has tapped into her powers, we will go back and take what is rightfully yours" she said. Looking at her like she had uttered abomination, he replied “ How long will that take woman?, Eighteen rains?, Seventeen rains?, or if the gods are merciful sixteen rains?, Will I still be alive at that time?, My skin would have rotted off my bones which would have already become dust by that time, no woman I cannot have such patience", he said with a note of finality “My Lord, the gods forbid that such a thing will happen to you, you will live to a very old age, you will hear the tapping of children's feet in your house, from your grandchildren to your greatgrandchildren, I have made a covenant with Olokun for your longevity and it will be given to you, your enemies will bow at your feet and beg for crumbs at your table, but for all this to happen you must take the wise decision and not the decision that will please your temper and pride, if it will please my Lord”, she said bowing her head “I will advise him to go to Ekpon and raise his children, teach them about his kingdom and prepare them for the journey ahead of them, please my Lord", she said kneeling, “ Rise my love“ he said raising her up, if it is your wish that we go to Ekpon, then we will, you know I cannot refuse anything you ask", smiling she thanked him and then they continued their journey to a new land, a strange land, to a people whom they have never met, a new culture, and civilization each of them silently begging Osanobua to help them find safety, peace and joy.