THE NASTY

Chapter 8: The Oracle Takes Charge

Lade Square

Nana's resolve to take a brave stand suffered a terrible shock when the cart turned on the straight stretch of cobbled street to the Square! The Square was filled by a screaming crowd – men, women and children!

They vented their passionate wrath and hatred by throwing objects at him and the beast through the bars of the cage. They pelted him with stones, rotten vegetables, sand and even sandals.

Nana was appalled. He wondered how they could be consumed with such hatred for him in such a short while. He made himself as small as possible in the middle of the cage, folding his arms across his face to protect his eyes. He felt the sharp objects hitting him over and again. He did not lift his head until he heard a snarl-like sound from the nasty and opened his eyes a fraction.

The beast's tail was up once more, and it was moving around the cage violently, hissing at the people and shooting its tail through the spaces of the bars at them.

Its ferocity drove terror into their hearts, and they scrambled away from it, scared of what it might do to them. Nana watched with slightly closed eyes, wondering again why this horrible thing was protecting him, and why it seemed to have such allegiance to him.

Finally, they drove through the cordon of warriors who watched him with cold stares. The monster had calmed down again and was lying curled on the floor of the cage. Temi unlocked the door and grabbed the rope tying Nana's hand. He pulled violently, and the young prince was yanked violently out of the cart and toppled awkwardly. He tried to keep his balance, but he fell heavily on the ground as Temi stood over him with a fierce scowl.

"Get up, you murderer!" the warrior hissed venomously.

"Temi!" the Oracle's voice rang out sharply, and the warrior turned around to see the revered man standing on the edge of the platform and looking down at him from his bearded face with cold fury. "Who gave you the authority to touch the prince of Lade?"

The man's fierce and repressed fury made the warrior lick his lips suddenly with apprehension as he looked around for help but Biko and the Sage remained silent because none of them wanted to incur the displeasure of Oracle Kubi.

"Sir, he's…" Temi began.

"A murderer?" the Oracle asked softly. "I heard you addressing him as such. Perchance, have you tried him and found him guilty?"

There was silence now in the Square as Temi licked his lips again. Quickly he made the assessment and knew he was on his own and facing the wrath of, perhaps the most powerful man in Lade now.

He bowed suddenly and touched his heart area with his right hand.

"My mistake, sir," he said lamely. "I erred."

"You erred, and I am glad you understand the magnitude of your transgressions, warrior! And now, why is the face of the prince swollen and bruised? Perchance, did any of you lay your filthy hands on the prince of Lade?"

Temi scowled now as he looked down at the bedraggled figure of Nana still lying on the ground.

"It was my doing, and mine alone," Temi said suddenly. "I did it in the heat of the moment when I was mourning my king first, and my mentor Atorku second. There are some emotions a man cannot control, sir."

"Then you have a long way to go, warrior!" the Oracle said tightly. "Warrior Temi, you're hereby relieved of your status as a warrior until I have had time to look into this atrocity. Have I made myself clear?"

Temi looked at the Oracle with horror on his face and could barely move for a moment, stunned by the judgement that had been passed on him simply because he had roughed up this wicked kid who had killed his father.

But he did not speak; he just nodded, afraid that the Oracle would find more reason to be angry at him.

"Warriors, get the prince off the ground and send him indoors. Let him take a bath and change his clothing! Only then will the case against him be heard!"

"But, Wise Oracle, is that…" Biko said as he got to his feet.

"You prefer the prince of Lade, your brother, to be presented to the court as a filthy criminal, unkempt and unwashed and smelling foul?" the Oracle asked loudly with his face still filled with wrath.

Biko hesitated a bit then sat down beside his mother again.

"Cut the ropes!" the Oracle said. "Let him clean himself and present him to this court again."

One of the warriors stepped forward and bowed.

"It would be as you ordered, Honourable One."

***

For the first time in his life, Prince Nana learnt to appreciate daily activities like bathing and wearing clean clothes. It felt so refreshing to step out of his dirty clothes and take a long, cold bath in one of the royal resting rooms in the Square.

Afterwards, he was given a mixture of fruits to eat by sullen-faced warriors.

Finally, after drinking a cup of cold water, he was once again presented to the Oracle. Thankfully, he was not tied and dragged to the Square. He had decided to demand sheets, a quill and ink to write down his answers since he could not speak.

The Oracle was a discerning man, and Nana knew he would not deny him a fair hearing. The crowd still screamed and cursed him, but thankfully, no one threw objects at him this time.

When he sat in one of the witness boxes, the Oracle nodded at him, and silence reigned all around them. The Oracle placed his elbows on the table and formed a steeple with his hands. He touched his lips with his fingertips. His face was impassive, but there was a slight confusion in the depths of his eyes as he looked at the young prince sitting across the platform.

"Welcome, Prince Nana," he said finally. "Our elders say the child that learns how to wash his hands will always eat at the table of men. I, for one, was greatly disturbed by the things I have been hearing about your father's and Commander Atorku's deaths. But, today, for as long as it takes, we shall try to delve into the truth. Are you ready, and willing, to help with the proceedings of this hearing?"

Nana sighed and nodded. He lifted his left hand and gestured towards his mouth with a zipping motion, and then he made a writing gesture with his right hand.

The Sage put his head to one side and regarded him.

"You cannot speak?" he asked quietly.

Nana nodded emphatically, and this brought murmurings and exclamations from the crowd. Ama, sitting beside Biko on the platform, looked up sharply at Nana.

"And you will wish to write your replies?"

Again, Nana nodded emphatically.

"So be it then," the Oracle said softly. "Please, do provide the prince with a dipping pen, ink and paper."

Nana watched with relief when servants brought stacked white sheets and put them in front of him. A moment later, a quill, and bottle of violet ink, were put in front of him.

He looked at the Sage and noticed the instant coldness that crossed the man's face, a look of displeasure that was mirrored on the faces of the queen and Biko.

"Witnesses have come forward, Prince Nana," the Oracle said quietly. "We have written testimonies from some people. Mr Davi, the owner of the Sightings, has witnessed to the Wisemen. He claims he captured that horrible beast in the moat around the palace. He says he had previously seen you playing with two of them in the gardens, and made plans to steal one for his display cages. What this presupposes is that you intentionally brought these rather horrible and unknown beasts to the kingdom to help you kill your brother."

The angry cries rose once more, and again accusing fingers were pointed at the hapless prince sitting in the dock. The Oracle raised a hand, and slowly silence reigned supreme again.

"Warriors that came to the spot where the king died clearly heard him mentioning your name. That was his last audible speech before he passed on to the land of our ancestors. Again, many assume he was trying to mention the name of his murderer, and that means you."

The Oracle sat back and placed his hands flat on the table in front of him.

"Prince Biko also tells of how you used to have very bitter fights with your father, but whenever he chanced on one, the king, in his infinite wisdom, always told him there was nothing amiss. Your mother, the queen, also recalls how aggressive you have been in recent times, telling your father to divide Lade, at least, and give you half to rule over because, evidently, you crave to be a king so much. She claims this has been a bitter piece of rot between you and your father."

Queen Abena raised a perfumed handkerchief to her eyes and dabbed at her tears in anguish. The eyes of the Wisemen hardened. The crowd was agitated, and curses rang out now.

"The warriors recount finding you in the dungeon with the body of Commander Atorku on the floor, and that beast guarding you. Finally, your brother Biko told us of what happened at the cemetery after he successfully claimed his crown of glory. The moment he emerged from the cemetery with your father, that vile beast attacked him, and it would have killed him if the king had not jumped between him and the beast, taking the deadly sting. And the beast disappeared. Witnesses also recounted how you sought to protect the beast that Davi captured by preventing a crowd from killing it. There again, you were conspicuously missing from your brother's Crown Claim ceremony. Perhaps, you knew what you had planned, and sought not to be around."

Cries of 'guilty, guilty, guilty' rang out through the crowd.

A few objects were thrown at the prince, but they clattered on the platform behind the prince. The Oracle allowed the noise levels to rise to a crescendo, and then he slowly leaned forward again and fixed the prince with cold eyes.

"As the elders say, the same story can never be told the same way by two people," he said in the sudden silence that reigned. "Before I continue, and call other witnesses, I believe it would be prudent if you can recount your version of everything you have heard. To save time, just write the salient facts as they apply to the accusations you have heard. Can you do that for me, Prince Nana?"

With a heart beating with trepidation, Nana picked up the quill, dipped it in the ink slightly, shook it, All eyes watched him as he pulled the sheaf of papers towards him and his hand hovered over it.

Then he went still.

Nana raised a horrified face and saw the Sage looking at him with a twinkle in his eyes, and he knew evil was at play again. He just sat there with the quill gripped in his hand and unable to move his hands! The Sage took his voice, and now he had taken over his limbs too.

The silence was so complete that it was almost loud as they stared at him as he sat there immobile, his face an expression of guilt, the perfect picture of a young man who was stricken with fear and feeling guilty of a horrendous crime.

"Prince Nana?" the Oracle said calmly.

Nana remained fixed in his posture, and that was when Ama saw the quick look that passed between Sage, Biko, and the queen. She gasped and looked over at the shivering Nana.

"That boy makes me sick!" said Elder Baba, the head of the Wisemen Council.

"Prince Nana!" the Oracle said. "We're waiting for you. Are you willing to write?"

"He can't write!" Baba shouted angrily. "Look at him! His guilty conscience just caught up with him! Sentence him to the gallows already!"

The Oracle sat still for a while looking at the stricken prince, and then he sighed softly when he saw the tears running down Nana's face and dripping off his chin onto the stack of sheets in front of him. The old man stood up suddenly and walked towards the prince.

Sage Dusu got to his feet.

"What's going on here, Honourable Oracle?" he asked tightly. "Surely, we all see this as clearly as it was played out. We have here a greedy, murderous prince who planned to kill his brother most horribly, and only ended up killing his father!"

The Oracle stopped and looked at the Sage.

"You decide for me now?" he asked softly.

"No, of course, but –"

"But nothing!" the Oracle said sharply, cutting in rudely, and then he continued walking towards the prince. He took the quill gently from Nana's hand and put it on the dock, and then he pushed the young man gently until Nana was sitting back comfortably with his face awash with tears.

The Oracle linked his hands behind his back and regarded the young prince for a while, and then he turned around and walked to the edge of the platform and faced the crowd.

Their fury and agitation died down as they all stared at the Oracle of Lade.

"My fellow Ladeans," the Oracle said in a clear but sombre voice. "Our king lies dead on a cold slab in the premises of the royal undertaker. I thought, quite erroneously, that we could find out why he was killed, and then move on. But, clearly, that is not going to be the case."

"And why the hell not?" Elder Baba asked and got to his feet. He walked ominously towards the Oracle and stood facing him. "We have witnessed the guilt of the young prince and the greed that resulted in the tragic death of our beloved king. Why are you showing such unbridled bias in this case?"

The Oracle fixed the Wisemen with cold eyes.

"Oh, I am being biased now?"

"Yes, you are!" Elder Baba said scathingly. "Why else do you still refuse to decide on this case? You have heard the signed pieces of evidence of the witnesses, and witnessed this greedy pig of a prince sitting down and pretending not to be able to speak, or write!"

There were cries of agreement from the crowd, and once again their anger could be felt as it sizzled palpably in the air. Fists were shaken, and the unrest continued.

The Oracle pointed to the rolled scrolls on a small beautiful wheeled cart beside his desk.

"Somebody, please bring me the Royal Scroll," he said sharply.

One of the orderlies moved swiftly to the scrolls and picked up one in a beautiful cylindrical container. He brought it to the Oracle who carefully uncapped the cylinder, upended it, and drew a long, rolled paper out.

It had golden tassels with golden cords for handles, and he thrust it almost savagely into Elder Baba's hands.

"Read the Golden Royal Scroll!" the Oracle said fiercely. "Show me where it says a royal hearing can be heard whilst a king remains unburied! Go on, show me!"

The silence was sudden as Elder Baba looked at the scroll in his hands with a little bit of apprehension now.

"The king has not been buried because the royal cemetery closed in on itself, and is shrouded with thick fog that hides it! Evidently, we can't bury the king there!"

"That is all I wanted to hear!" the Oracle said.

"Maybe, if we find Nana guilty for his crimes, and he is put to death, the cemetery would open up again."

"It does not work that way!" the Oracle said, and his voice rose angrily. "We follow the laws as enshrined in our Holy Scrolls! And they state emphatically that we cannot enstool a new king whilst the body of the king is not buried! What we're doing here is just a whimsical vexation of passion! Since the king is not buried, and the cemetery remains closed, there is only one thing to do!"

"I do not agree with you, sir!" Sage Dusu shouted and got to his feet. The crowd began to applaud, and there was the sound of cheering briefly. "The Scrolls provide the body of the king to be laid to rest in another cemetery if the old one closes up!"

"That is true, but it also provides that a new cemetery would be used only if the old one remains closed after a Circle Hunt! Prove that wrong, Sage, if you can!"

There was silence as they all stared at the Oracle, and he did not allow any of them to wade in as he turned and faced the crowd.

"Do forgive me, but this charade cannot continue!" he said angrily. "The young prince – by some dark, sinister, power – cannot speak to defend himself, nor write his side of the story. The royal cemetery remains closed, and the body of our king remains unburied! My people, that only means one thing! The spirits of the elders still live, and they want us to know that there is something deeper going on that we cannot see with our human eyes!"

"What is that fool trying to do?" the queen hissed furiously.

Biko, incensed with rage, jumped to his feet.

"I am the new king!" he shouted. "Why do you glorify this murderer whilst I wait here, ready to love my people and be their king? Are you really going to usurp my power and demean the victory of my Crown Claim?"

The Oracle snatched up the scroll from Elder Baba's hands and held it up angrily.

"I am not the one saying it!" he said coldly. "The Scrolls says so! Are you going to go against the counsel of our scrolls?"

Biko looked at his mother helplessly!

The queen looked at the Sage with mounting confusion, and the Sage looked at them with wrath. All three of them were aware that the Oracle had cleverly managed to put Prince Biko in an awkward situation. The Scrolls were the laws of Lade, and even kings had to swear to protect the written laws and judicial procedures enshrined in the Scrolls.

A king willing to go against the counsel of the Scrolls was, therefore, no good king.

"Honourable Oracle," Sage Dusu began.

"I don't remember addressing you, sir!" the Oracle cut in brutally.

"Oracle Kubi!" the queen retorted sharply and got to her feet, her face indignant. "We all came here to resolve the brutal and cowardly murder of my husband, the king of Lade! The royal cemetery remains closed because of his murder! You have written testaments of how my son, Prince Nana, plotted and planned…"

"Is he your son, in every sense of the word?" the Oracle broke in calmly, his face still harsh, and there was a collective intake of breath around the Square that made Ama look at the queen.

It had always been a rumour, a murmuring that was rarely voiced, that Prince Nana was not birthed by the queen of Lade, that there was another whom the king loved, and had a love child with.

Could it all be true? Was that what the Oracle was alluding to?

"What are you insinuating, my Lord?" the queen asked, striving to maintain her fury, but it was evident she was suddenly cowed into docility.

"I allude to nothing," the Oracle said calmly. "I only see a young man who has never shied from speech when defending the righteous, suddenly unable to speak or write and allowing events to pile on him. I may be wrong, but a mother's instinct, surely, would have been to hear the admission of guilt from her son!"

"But he pretends!" the queen shouted with tears in her eyes. "Surely, you can see he is pretending, just to hide his dastardly acts!"

"Maybe he is pretending, yes! And, maybe, just maybe, his mouth and his ability to write have been taken away by the spirits for a reason! I will not partake in the judgement of a citizen of Lade where he cannot defend himself, so how much more do I condemn a prince of the land who only cries? This trial is not to be judged by mortals! The guilt of the prince shall be determined by the Spirits! I, the Oracle of Lade, standing in the stead of the fallen king, therefore sentence the prince – and his purported vile beast – to a Circle Hunt! He will be judged by the Spirits inside the Circle! If indeed, he raised a foul hand against the king of the land, he will not come out of the Circle alive! The Spirits will deal with him inside the Circle."

Even Ama gasped at this!

It would have been better to find Nana guilty and sentenced him to death by hanging than allowing him to go into the dreaded Circle to be hunted by men and beasts alike! Nana was not a warrior, and certainly he was not a violent man. He had lived a sheltered life within the walls of the palace, not even exercising well!

He would not last for a minute inside the Circle!

Ama had never witnessed a Circle Hunt, but the stories she had heard about it clearly showed that anyone condemned to the Hunt had never come out alive!

There was rapturous jubilation around the Square when the Oracle passed judgement. People applauded! They hooted at the prince and beat on objects in their hands.

The warriors looked on grimly, and she saw the brief looks of satisfaction that passed across the faces of Biko, the Sage, and the queen!

For a moment they had all thought the Oracle was going to set Nana free, but it seemed the boy's sentence to the Circle Hunt was now a relief for them. Ama looked at Nana who had now bowed his head, and for a wild moment, she wondered if, indeed, she had been right to abandon him!

She had seen the look on his face when he heard she had agreed to marry Biko! That look of pain, straight from his heart, could not have been feigned, not even by the devil himself!

But her wrath had been great, and her sense of betrayal and horror completed.

Oh, Nana, Nana, why did you have to do this?

"The hunt begins tomorrow morning!" the Oracle said and turned towards Prince Nana. "May the Spirits give you a fair trial, Prince Nana! Take him to the reserved court of the Hunt. Feed him well, give him what he craves, even a companion! Tomorrow, he faces his destiny!"

The crowd went wild again, and their ecstatic celebrations shook the foundations of Lade Square!