The Tenth Generation

CHAPTER THREE-1

CHAPTER THREEThe worshippers of Alaogbaga were also excited at the news of Obi’s death. Everybody had been very scared of him when he was alive; he had terrorized the villagers so much that they dare not utter their displeasure in his presence. Obi had chosen to oppress everybody around him, even his friends. He got the most favor from the god because knew how to get whatever he wanted from it and they couldn’t really understand.

But he was gone now. And even though they still felt wary of each other, they believed they could handle the present situation. Anything was better than not having Obi around; a dead lion was still preferable to a barking dog.

They didn’t see his son as a threat; they believed they could deal with him. They believed he did not know much about the great god like his father knew and he would have to come to them for advice on how to please the god and get his favours. They knew that Obi had always wanted his son to be a strong member and was doing his best to ensure this, but what they really didn’t know was the extent Obi had gone in imbibing the ways of Alaogbaga.

But they intended to make him inferior; they wanted to get back at Obi through his son. The boy might think that he was just going to continue from where his father had stopped or that they would just give him his ways just as they had done to his father. Well, it was their strength against his. The first step, they decided, was to make him feel very threatened; perhaps this threat might subject Chika to step down from taking over his father’s mantle. They would see that he was a nobody. He was going to pay back all that his father had taken from them.

************

Chika had been very much eager for the morning to come, and when it finally came, he woke up very early, got himself psychologically ready and went into his poultry to pick the healthiest white c**k. He was going to offer it as sacrifice to the great god.

Chika was very optimistic that the outcome of his mission was going to be good. He didn’t allow any negative thought to come into his mind because he could not afford to let his father down, he’d rather die than become a failure. If his father did it, he could do it, he thought. After all, wasn’t the same blood running through their veins?

The shrine was situated about two kilometers at the outskirts of the village. Although Durujians knew its location, they still seldom went anywhere near the shrine. They chose to avoid farming on lands close to the shrine, thereby leaving the surroundings of the shrine looking much unlike a forest. The children had already been warned not to even go towards that area because of the horrible stories told to them about the shrine. The only road that led to the shrine was a road track that was almost covered by bushes due to few foots threading on either sides of the path. And within a few rainy seasons, even the middle of the road would sprout shoots. The quietness of the track that led to the shrine made it even scarier for anyone who was not a worshipper to walk alone.

Chika was not even aware of how quiet the road was. Of course he had never been; all he cared about at that moment was how he was going to succeed in his mission. He got to the shrine. It was built entirely with raffia and bamboo sticks, not a single brick could be seen among its minute architecture. The shrine swayed to the right as if it was going to collapse but it had been in that position for over twenty years now and no breeze that had ever blown had ever been strong enough to bring down this little edifice. Chika believed that this was because the oracle resided therein; the oracle controlled not only the lives of the Durujians but also the Durujian elements. The two guards who usually stood at the entrance of the shrine were not present and Chika began to wonder if he had come too late. He wondered why the shrine looked so still and deserted and thought maybe the priest and his servants had gone into the forest to get some shrubs for ritual or even to perform some rituals there.

While he was still standing there in thought, one of the chief priests' messengers came out of the shrine. He was a young man of about twenty years old. Chika was familiar with him; he was the younger of the priest’s messengers. He wore a piece of animal skin around his groins to cover up his genitals, there was white chalk painted all over his exposed upper body.

He didn’t look surprised seeing Chika at such an early hour. He took his normal position and said, “Good morning Mazi Chika, please sit down here, the chief priest will see you after his morning prayers.” His chalk-stained face was expressionless as he pointed towards a thick log of wood very close to him.

Chika was about to sit down after thanking the polite messenger when the chief priest spoke from inside the shrine in his husky voice. “Let him come inside, I will see him now.”

Chika quickly entered the shrine. It was a small room with an inner chamber. On the wall opposite he hung a black clay pot with palm fronds and other leaves shooting from the inside, these leaves were always fresh and Chika could not tell if they were changed every morning or were kept fresh by some magical means. The wall behind the pot was painted black and on the floor stood animal bones and strange materials lying carelessly. There were also smaller pots filled with some liquid substance and shrubs.

“Greetings, oh great one! The only one who has the power to see and hear from the great Alaogbaga, the god of our ancestors.”

“What is it that brings you out so early at this hour, son of Obi? The toad does not come out in the daytime for nothing.” the chief priest calmly said. He was a small man in his late forties. His eyes were wild with a white substance thickly painted around them. It was believed that the white substance made it possible for him to be able to behold the great god of destruction. Since the day he became the servant of the great god at the age of nineteen, the priest had never cut his hair, making him look wild and fearful. On his hair were three strange-looking feathers of which the source could not be determined. He walked around bare-footed and bare-chested, with a piece of animal skin around his waist. His body was painted with the same white chalky substance with beads of different sizes hanging down from his neck. The calling of the chief priest and his servants was a divine one.

“Oh great one, he who only can speak with the great god of destruction; he who is blessed by the god to see him. I come that I may be blessed by the great Alaogbaga.” Encouraged by the silence of the chief priest, Chika continued, “I come that I may receive the protection of my father from the great god. I pray that the blessing and honor that my father once received from the great god may also be granted me.”

There was silence for some minutes, it seemed like an hour to Chika. His head was bowed towards the black pot by the wall. The chief priest picked up some cowries on the floor, and began to communicate with something invisible. This seemed to be taking more time than Chika could bear. He wondered what was happening. Was the god rejecting his request? Had his father done anything that might have incurred the wrath of the great god, causing it to reject his son?

At last, the priest looked up at him; he stared at Chika sternly in the eyes and called him by his name. “Chika, the son of Obi.”

“The great one.” Chika answered immediately.

The chief priest repeated his name twice and asked him to come with him. They walked to the back of the shrine and Chika had the opportunity to see how it looked like for the first time.

Surrounding the shrine were clay pots similar to the ones inside and some wooden sculpture similar to the ones the village masquerades danced with. There was a small tent like a resting place for the priest and his servants just near the shrine building.

They walked into the tent and sat on a big log. There were some burnt wood indicating that the chief priest and his servants did their cookings here.

“There are lots of sacrifices you have to make before you can become as great as your father. I am sure he did not tell you some of the important ones he made to Alaogbaga.” The chief priest said.

“Great one,” Chika began, “You know the challenges that I have to face out there in the village now that my father is dead. It is a tug of war for me. Everybody thinks this is their opportunity to get back at my father through me. I am not willing to let either my father or myself down.

“You must be careful for what you desire son of Obi. Alaogbaga is ready to give you whatever you desire, but I doubt if you are capable of reciprocating his gestures.”

“I am!” Chika almost shouted. What was the chief priest thinking? That he left his house so early only to be doubted?

The chief priest stared at him for a long time then said, “Your father gave his life to Alaogbaga. Nobody in Duruji village had ever made the god such an offer and that was the reason Alaogbaga made him so great even...”

“His life?” What do you mean by giving his...”

“Be quiet and listen, young one. You must listen to me. Your father’s death was as a result of the covenant he had with the great god. Twelve years ago. Obi asked the god to make him greater than all his peers in Duruji village. Your father wanted to acquire everything and he asked that his life be taken from him after fifteen years in exchange for a wealthy and powerful life.” He kept silent for sometime allowing Chika to absorb the little he had said, then he continued, “The god refused to grant him his wishes, for the reason that fifteen years was too long, but he was later granted twelve years by the great god and after that he must die. This was accepted by your father and so a covenant was made.”

“But my father was always making sacrifices to the god; I thought his faithfulness bought the favor of the great god.”

“No, no,” the chief priest shook his head, “Those were the sacrifices required of him as a true worshipper. Offering libations to the god was his obligation. He was made great above all because of the life sacrifice he made. You see, nobody understood the story behind his greatness and even the story behind his death. He went to the grave with his secret.”

Chika was short of words, he sat quietly his face revealing obvious confusion, he was thoroughly amazed. So this was the reason why his father died such a strange death? This was beyond his expectation, he had never expected this. What was he to do now? Despite the fact that he desired such greatness as his father’s, even more, he didn’t think he was able to make such a life sacrifice.

The chief priest heard the sound of someone greeting and excused himself. Before he entered the shrine he said, “You can now see, the ball is in your court and for your information, there are men who are ready to do whatever it takes to be in your father’s position, they might not be as great as he was, but you will have to fight very hard to be able to contend with them.” Having said that, the chief priest left the confused Chika in a state of abject bewilderment.

Would he be able to take such a decision? Would he be bold enough to emulate his father? It was just too obvious that he wouldn’t be able to do it. He was still a young man for god’s sake! He had not even seen his first child yet. No, he would not allow his greed to make him give his life to Alaogbaga. But his mission still remained unaccomplished. Would he be able to face the intimidation, oppression and humiliation that would come his way? What should I do? He kept on asking himself.

By the time he looked up to the sky, he realized that it was almost mid-day; he didn’t know that he had spent almost the whole of the morning pondering over his problem. He decided to go home and think of another solution to the problem. He stood up and slowly walked out of the small shed. The chief priest was attending to somebody or people in the shrine. He asked the messenger to keep the rooster he had brought for the priest, and he was about calling on the priest to inform him that he was leaving when he discovered that the herbalist and his guests were coming out of the shrine.