Ring Of Fire

Ring Of Fire 25

In the palace of Ifite, the Seer had refused to sit. The ruler sat on his throne and kept watching him as he paced.

"You need to calm down" he said to him but the Seer kept on pacing, nonstop.

"Something is wrong somewhere. The Dark Men of Ifite have not sent us any update on their meeting with the witches. I'm sensing betrayal" said the Seer as he kept pacing.

"From who exactly, from our men or from the witches?" asked the king.

"there is no smoke without fire; of course from both parties. I must consult the gods to find out what has gone wrong" he said and matched into his shrine, sat and began to invoke the gods. At a point his mirror showed images of the ongoings at Anani. He was shocked to see the mother witch controlling the army of the Dark Men. He stood up and took two steps backward. He dashed out and went straight to meet with the ruler. On reaching there he saw a messenger delivering another message about the arrival of the king of Randa. From the palace they could hear the sound of the trumpet announcing the arrival of the army from Randa.

"They are here" said the ruler as he stood.

"Yes, we must form an alliance with the king of Randa and send messages to other allies for urgent answer" said the seer as he meant to step outside. The ruler was disturbed by his countenance as he held him and said, "You saw something troubling to the sight?"

"Not just to the sight but to the heart; the Dark Men of Ifite are no longer on our side" he broke the shell and the ruler managed to hold his breath as his jaw fell open in shock.

"What do you mean by this?" he asked anxiously.

"What I meant is that the mother witch of Anani is now in control of your army but do not let this show in your countenance as you welcome the king of Randa. He must not sense any atom of fear in your face and in your voice. You must be bold while you talk to him and welcome him. If he senses any weakness he might slide back with his aid and that will leave us to the mercy of two strong enemies; the one from Randa under the mission of the god of destiny and the Dark Men of Ifite; the bravest men Ifite had ever had and the witches; those ones are evil" said the seer as he waited to see the reaction of the ruler. The ruler thought for a while before he said, "Nobody is loyal to anybody"

"I am loyal to you" said the seer. The ruler looked at him and said, "Will you not abandon me when the going gets real tough?" he asked. The seer smiled and said, "If you know what my heart desires are you will know that I will live and die for Ifite. I won't allow intruders to interrupt what goes on in here" he finished saying and the ruler sighed heavily. "I gave the witch mother my land to nest with her witch sisters and now she turns against me and ready to match against me"

They both went outside to welcome the king of Randa who was still seated on his horse awaiting a befitting welcome from the ruler of Ifite. The ruler emerged with his seer and other officials and welcomed him. The army with the king of Randa waited outside the palace of the ruler of Ifite while he sits with the ruler in his receiving room to discuss on the next line of action. The king of Randa was sensing that something was wrong somewhere and so he stood and paced for a while before sitting back.

"Friend of mine, out with it if there is any problem" said the king of Randa. The ruler of Ifite took a glance at his seer and then decided to tell him everything.

"There is a fresh problem" he said and adjusted on his seat before he continued. "The one that comes from your kingdom is not the only problem we suffer from now but a betrayal from my own men"

"I'm familiar with betrayal and so I will understand. Go on" encouraged the king of Randa and the ruler of Ifite was spurred to continue.

"We sent troops to Anani, a land I gave to the mother witch who used to nest in the desert of...

"I know that one" cut in the king and the ruler of Ifite nodded and continued, "But she somehow has turned them against me and my seer just confirmed it"

The king of Randa was moved badly by these words as he stood and paced again, this time he was thinking deeply.

"How many allies do you have?" he asked as he went closer to the ruler.

"Only two allies; the land of Amori and of Ajasi. They have been my backbone for years but no other people have stood beside me the way the witches did" lamented the ruler.

"send for your allies" said the king.

"Allies won't be enough. If the witch mother could control the dark men of Ifite then she has really upgraded. Which is why as we are sending for allies we are looking for something else" said the seer but the two allies dismissed the suggestion and the ruler of Ifite dispatched his messengers to send a word to his allies; Ajasi and Amori. The messengers left at once.

**********

In Amori, the king of Amori was not comfortable that afternoon. He paced for almost an hour while his wife sat and continued to calm him down.

"Calm down you say? The ruler of Ifite has not compensated me for the aid I provided him during his war with Saddi warriors neither did he visit me after the war or invite me for a dinner. He uses me and dumps me like a w***e from a brothel but this time I am not going to answer his call for help" He said and sat down.

"You must answer his call. You have heard what our prophet had to say about the threat the ruler of Ifite speaks about. This threat is affecting us. If we don't aid the ruler of Ifite the one the god of destiny is sending will not stop his mission in Ifite. He might come here too and both of us know what that means. We have not been faithful worshipers of the god of destiny and from what I see this Dan Anoshi is more than a prophet but he is a messenger of death" said the wife of the king of Amori.

"A messenger of Death you say. I will go to answer the call and I will be telling the ruler of Ifite that when the war starts he must leave the witch mother of Anani for me for I long for the day I will hold her by the throat and strangle her to death" said the king of Amori and his wife smiled.

"You have to" she said.

The king of Amori beckoned on his general and commanded him to send word to the army of Amori at the camp and let them prepare for war against Anani and the Dark Men of Ifite and also against the man everybody is afraid of;

"the man from Randa" said the king and the general bowed and left.

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

In Ajasi, the king had just finished reading the letter and tossed it aside. I will not be a party to the mess the ruler of Ifite with his accomplice; the king of Randa are trying to make. Do they not know that I'm a devoted worshiper of the god of destiny now? I cannot offend him now by aiding men who are against his will" said the king of Ajasi and his prime minister rose and bowed before him. "If you don't answer his call; your brother's call in time of distress what is the meaning of the word brother? aside this; what if he come out of it victorious would he still consider you his brother and treat you as such?" asked the prime minister.

"I am not afraid of the ruler of Ifite nor am I afraid of the king of Randa. Aside that what makes you think they will come out of it victorious? have you not heard that the god of destiny wants to sweep out all those who are against him from the surface of the earth? His work is divine and I won't interfere by fighting the broom he is using to sweep it" he said while referring to Dan as the broom the god of destiny is using to sweep out his enemies from the planet earth.

The prime minister then sat back and said, "So we do nothing?"

"Yes, we do nothing" said the king.

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

Inside the hall of the ruler of Ifite he had stopped angrily and smashed the golden cup of wine in his hand on the floor.

"You need to calm yourself" said the seer.

"Do you know I could walk into Ajasi now and strangle the king of Ajasi with my bare hands? How dare him turn his back on me at this point I needed him the most?" The ruler continued to show his anger and disappointment when the voice of the king of Randa stopped him.

"I think I have a solution to this problem" said the king of Randa and the rest were eager to hear it. He walked close to the ruler and began, "Your seer said that he has seen the one from my land and he is heading to this place; then I would suggest that instead of attacking him we should work with him"

"Is that a joke?" asked the ruler of Ifite.

"I am serious with my suggestion. We have too many enemies now but with Dan on our side we will be victorious" said the king.

"You cannot get a man to help you if you do not know what to use to draw him to yourself" said the ruler of Ifite.

"I know what you meant by that which is why we have to start by asking; what does Dan Anoshi want?" this question from the king drew the whole attention of the other two.

"Are you saying that we have to dance to the tune of Dan?" asked the seer. "for if that is what you meant then I must decline for the land of Ifite will not follow the direction of a foreigner; a foreigner who has no respect for values"

"I think you are right king of Randa. We need Dan Anoshi on our side and we will dance to his tune for now if that is what it will take" said the ruler of Ifite, while paying no attention to the Seer's show of disapproval.