CHAPTER 2: Inside the shrine
1107 Words
The door of Ikhianokpado creaked shut behind Osaze.
Darkness swallowed him whole.
The air was thick with the smell of dried herbs, palm wine and something older. Blood. not fresh. The kind that had been rubbed into clay a hundred years ago.
His heart was beating in his throat. Outside, the village was silent. Even the crickets had stopped. Only the wind in the silk - cotton tree.
"Ancestors of Uromi," Osaze whispered in Edo. "I have not come to disrespect. I have come for truth."
No answer. Just the sound of his own breathing.
He took one step, then another. His foot brushed something cold. He crouched and felt it. A cowrie shell. Then another. The divination chain Efosa used. Scattered on the floor. That was not how the Ohen left things.
In the center of the shrine was the altar. A low table of iroko wood. On it: three clay pots, kola nuts, bottles of ogogoro and the empty square of dust where the bronze had sat.
Osaze ran his fingers over the dust. He was disturbed. Not just from the theft.
Someone had been here recently. Tonight. There were fresh palm oil stains on the edge.
Then he heard it.
A shuffling. Behind the curtain at the back of the shrine. Where the ancestral marks were kept.
Osaze froze. "Who's there?"
Silence.
He reached for the lantern by the door and lit it with trembling hands. The flame jumped, throwing shadows across the walls. The ancestors painted on the mud stared down at him.
The curtain moved again.
Osaze grabbed a piece of firewood from the corner and held it up like a weapon. "Show yourself! in the name of Olokun and the gods of Edo!"
The curtain was pulled aside.
Eghosa stood there.
His grandmother. In a white wrapper, with chalk on her face. in her hands, she held the missing bronze.
Osaze's mouth went dry. "Eghosa.... what are you doing here?"
She did not look surprised to see him. She looked tired.
"Close the door, Osaze," she said quietly.
He did. The lantern light made her face look like a mask.
"You took it," he said. It wasn't a question.
"I moved it," she corrected. "Three
nights ago. After I saw Aigbe's boys near the shrine with torches."
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"Because if I accused a chief's son without proof, they would call me a mad old woman and banish me. And because I needed to see who would be blamed." Her eyes were wet."I did think it would be Omozuwa."
Osaze sat down hard on the floor.
"Osalumese is dead. Aigbe's son."
"I know," Eghosa said. "And that was not us. That was the gods."
"What do you mean?"
She set the bronze down on the altar. It was about the size of a goat's head, green with age, with the face of an Oba carved into it. "This bronze is not just metal. It is a witness. For 200 years, it has sat here.
When lies are spoken in this shrine, it grows hot. When truth is spoken, it grows cold."
She touched it. it was ice cold.
"The night Osalumese died, I came here to pray. I heard shouting by the river. I saw Aigbe and his son fighting. Osalumese was angry. He said he would tell everyone that his father sold village land to white men. Aigbe struck him. He fell and hit his head on a rock."
Osaze felt sick. "You are saying Aigbe killed his own son?"
"I am saying the gods saw it, " Eghosa said.
"And the gods are angry. But Aigbe is powerful. If the truth comes out, he will say it was Omozuwa, or me, or even you."
Osaze looked at the bronze. "So what do we do? The verdict has been given. Omozuwa Will be banished in 3 days."
"We give the gods a new verdict," Eghosa said. "But not with words. With proof."
She reached behind a pot and pulled out a small leather pouch. Inside were pieces of broken coral beads. Red. The same kind Aigbe always wore.
"I picked these from Osalumese's hand the night he died. They were torn from Aigbe's bracelet when they struggled."
Osaze took them. They were still stained.
Outside, a dog barked. Then footsteps. Heavy. Coming toward the shrine.
Eghosa's eyes widened. "Blow out the light."
Osaze did. Darkness again.
The door handle turned.
A voice called out. Aigbe's voice. Drunk, angry.
"I know someone is in there. The Ohen told me. Come out, thief!"
Eghosa grabbed Osaze's hand. She whispered, "The bronze. Take it. If he finds us with it, we are dead."
Osaze tucked the bronze under his shirt. It was cold against his skin. Colder than it should be.
The door burst open. Torchlight flooded in.
Aigbe stood there with two men from his compound. All holding cutlasses.
"What are you doing here, boy?" Aigbe snarled, looking straight at Osaze.
Osaze stood up slowly, hands empty at his sides. Eghosa stood behind him.
"Praying," Osaze said. "Like you told me to. To ask the gods if the verdict was true."
Aigbe looked around. His eyes landed on the empty altar. Then on the floor. The scattered cowries.
"Where is it?" he demanded.
"Where is what?" Osaze asked.
Aigbe stepped closer. He could smell the ogogoro on his breath. "The bronze. Don't play with me, Iyamu's son."
Behind him, Eghosa coughed once. Loud.
Aigbe turned. For a second his eyes met Eghosa's. And in that second, Osaze saw it. Fear.
"The gods are watching you, Aigbe," Eghosa said. Her voice was steady. "Even in the dark." She added.
Aigbe raised his cutlass. "Old woman ____
From outside, drums. Fast. Urgent.
"Chief" one of his men called out, "it's Efosa. He's calling everyone to the square. He says the gods have spoken again."
Aigbe hesitated. He looked at Osaze, then at Eghosa, then at the empty altar.
"This isn't over, he said. He spat on the floor and left.
When the footsteps faded, Osaze let out a breath he didn't know he was holding.
Eghosa touched the bronze under his shirt.
"We have until morning," she said. "At dawn, we take this, and the beads, to the square.
And we will let the gods give their real verdict.
Osaze nodded. His hands were shaking.
For the first time in his life, he wasn't sure if he was more afraid of the gods...... or of men.
THE END OF CHAPTER 2
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CHAPTER 3 LOADING......
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