CHAPTER 8

Ada sat down on the cold morning shore of Ogba River, with her clay pot underneath her morning glowing skin. She wished she could be angry about how things had turned out, but she wasn’t; she had been angry long enough that being angry now was quite difficult. The sadness within her wasn’t even enough to pull tears from the well of the lachrymal, even if she wanted to, the pool of tears was suffering a heavy drought. This time she sat alone with her conscience dealing terribly with her thoughts. The ‘What ifs’ and the ‘What should have been’ kept floating everywhere in her head. She wished it was just a single thought; at least a solution might be lying in wait.

Over the horizon of the east and piercing the leaves of the numerous trees; as if mocking her to smile with its ray, was the yellow glow of the sun. The birds still rested in their nest but their silent songs could still be heard, atoned with the cricket’s crisps which betoned whatever silence should have been. The waving hands of the trees were invariably announcing the gradual departure of the harmattan cold. Soon it would be harvest, the time every farmer was waiting for. Soon the whole village and beyond will present their farm proceeds to the shrine of the diviner to bless, but the Igwe (King), will be the one to lead the entire village to the altar of the village Dibia (Diviner). So has been the custom since time immemorial, but, without the Ofor, that will never happen.

I ruined everything.

Ada felt a pit in her stomach. She knew it was over for her, this mistake was once in a life time, it will take her to an early grave. Early grave? Even death at this time would be a gift she would accept with a smiling face. What will she do? She doubts there is anything left to do; all she could do was watch the wind steer with the hands of time. Soon the whole village will know that the Ofor the king was using wasn’t the real thing. He just has to bring it out in broad daylight. The fingers would start pointing afterwards, and like an orbit; it will surely point back to her. The only thing that goes up and never comes down was age, every evil has its origin, and this time she was at the center of it.

Life is so cruel.

She never knew her parents. The King who had nurtured her and raised her as a maid in the palace, always told her tales about how great her parents was. Her father was a brave warrior who lost his life to the Great War between Alaocha and Ndiocha. Her mother who at that time was pregnant, had stormed into the enemy’s camp and poisoned their King, unable to bear the brunt and bitterness of the loss of her husband. Until her beheaded body was returned in a horse cart dripping with blood, nobody knew her way about. It was also at that time that the diviner had carved out the baby in her womb. It was a miracle Ada survived.

Life is unfair

She had lost both parents to a war she knew nothing about. A war that had eaten men, women and children. That’s why it was called the ‘Never-ending’. The war had cease because of the powerful scepter that was given to Alaocha by the gods, the weapon that only the King could weld, the Ofor.

But now it was gone. The Never-ending war was sure to start again no doubt, because I was too trusting that I disclosed a top secret to someone I love. Ada swallowed and wished the ground to open and swallow her. She deserves it.

“Useless life, stupid me,” she murmured angrily.

“Adaeze, why do you smell of grief and agony? Are they the only companion you seek?”

Ada felt a chill running from her head to the soul of her feet and back again. The words made her jump with fright. Not because she was startled but because the coarseness could send the devil running for safety.

Right next to where she had been sitting, was what should have been the calm features of the diviner, only that the numerous skulls of animals lining her clothing looks angry and agitated. Even the femininity in her nature, seemed to have been thwarted into building strengths, making her look like a warrior.

She is so muscular. The gods help me. I have seen her this close.

“Will you stare at me all day or will you answer my question?” The diviners said.

“So...ry….rryy….” Ada stammered not actually getting herself to think straight. “Ututu o ma Ezenwayi (Good morning queen mother)” she finally said. The diviner only nodded her head. If she was pleased with her greeting, nothing in her manly features showed it.

Silence enveloped them as Ada suddenly remembered that the diviner had asked a question. Ada could feel the eyes of the medicine woman walking all over her body.

“I wasn’t in agony great one… I was just having a quiet time,” Ada said politely. The roar of laugher from the diviner made her traced her step backwards. It sounded like two hard rocks gliding over each other.

“My dog bit my left leg last night and I came here to have a quiet time too,” the diviner said and burst out again with laughter.

Ada frowned, was the man…I mean woman trying to crack jokes? Strange, she never knew the diviner got any sense of humor.

“Don’t lie to me girl. Why are you here?” The diviner asked, more mean than before. Nothing showed she had been laughing a while ago.

Ada heaved and let the emotions flood in. She knew she couldn’t lie to this woman. She wouldn’t tell her the truth either, she just has to find a way to linger around something else that was troubling her, the truth that wasn’t the absolute truth.

“Life is so cruel; I think I have lost everything there is in this world.”

“Life,” the diviner mumbled and struck her scepter on the sand sating cross legs. “You see the way the river flows?” Ada followed the woman’s gaze. She suddenly felt comfortable in her present. The scary knot that had tied her stomach before was gone. Maybe because the way the diviner sat was less scary than her standing, authoritative posture.

“This river ‘Ogba’ is known for the abundance of aquatic life it has. It’s not just the way it flows, but the unique way it was designed by the creator to serve as a habitat and niche and source of life to both animals and humans.”

Silence

Ada decided to sit down, but not too close to the woman. They both watched the flowing water and its wave. When Ada thought the woman was done, she said.

“No matter how strong the river flows, only dead fish flows towards it direction. So is life dear child, you give it your effort, not flowing with it, not letting it toss you to and fro.” The diviner paused but continued “I remember that day when I held your mother’s lifeless body and cut you out from her stomach, everybody th…”

“Wait you knew my mother?” Ada asked and watched the diviner who shot her angry looks for interrupting her.

“Am sorry, please go on” Ada apologies.

“I knew your mother, a beautiful maiden, stubborn but beautiful. You took after her in looks, but you are too trusting like your father. Nobody knew when your mother left the village to Ndiocha, I was the only one who knew, I tried talking her into staying but she made a sacred vow not to return until she killed the King of Ndiocha. Anger begets anger and vengeance is but an endless cycle. She fulfilled her quest and paid the price with her life. It would have cost the life of her baby, well; she never knew she was pregnant though...”

“Wait I ca…” Ada interrupted again but the looks the diviner shot her made her swallowed. This time the diviner wasn’t angry, so Ada ceased the moment to asked her confused questions.

“Is that even possible, for a woman not to know she was pregnant? Was it an immaculate conception? She was beheaded and it’s a three weeks walk from here to Ndiocha. On horseback it is a day and half none stop. How come I didn’t die in her womb?” It made no sense.

“One question at a time girl, or else I will leave.” The diviner threatened

“Sorry, one at a time” Ada whispered, she was boiling inside. Too many mysteries she knew nothing about.

“Grief and agony was not the only thing that pushed your mother into the enemy’s camp. She saw in a vision that to end the Never-ending war, she needed to find the greatest weapon on the surface of the earth, the Ofor. It was in the hands of the King of Ndiocha, and so long it was in his hands, the war will never end. So she risked her life to save us and to give us the advantage.”

“She only succeeded in killing the king, how come the Ofor came to us after all?” Ada asked.

This whole thing was new to her. All her life she had grown to believe that the Ofor was given to the people of Alaocha directly.

“I don’t know how it happened but when I cut you out from your mother’s womb, the Ofor was in your hands. Whatever power was in it, I strongly believed it saved your life,” Ada stared with wide mouth at the diviner. Was the woman serious?

“Only the king can weld the Ofor, that power was snatched from you when you were a child. Now you have to get it back.”

“All this sound strange and new, how can it be, the Ofor is hundreds of years old…”

“…And how old do you think you are?” the diviner asked “don’t be deluded by your appearance girl, for all I could tell, you are over a hundred years old. This story I am telling you was told by my great grandmother and the mother before her.”

“Ha-ha,” Ada burst with laughter “a hundred years old?” Ada laughed again, much harder than before.

“Listen to me Adaeze,” The diviner bellowed with a hard voice “Only the royal house and the house of the diviners knows about this secret. You will be a fool to disclose it to anyone.”

Ada swallowed hard, how can she be a hundred years old? She remembers growing up with the prince, how can this be? Sweat was rolling down her brow. The seriousness on the medicine woman’s face was scary.

“How do you explain the King’s kindness and care? Because he loves you naturally? Wake up I said. They have been using you and now they are trying to destroy you. Even as we speak, you have been betrayed.”

“Betrayed? What do you mean?”

“That’s not important right now, I know everything. I know you came here because you think it’s your fault the Ofor is missing”

This made Ada changed her sitting posture uneasily, she averted her gaze, never meeting the woman’s eyes.

“Well, it’s your fault, you are connected with the Ofor and the moment you gave out its location, you gave out the power to weld it. Anyway, the Ofor is missing and you must find it, don’t go home to get prepared for your journey. You have been betrayed by one of your own, even as we speak, the King’s guard and a mob are searching everywhere for you. Run away Adaeze; find the Ofor before it falls into the wrong hands”

Ada stood up frightfully. The voice of the diviner was fading, together with her features. Like a puff of smoke, nothing remained to show that the diviner was once there.

“What did she mean? Who betrayed me?” That question was answered as Ada lifted her head and saw him, running towards her.

Life is so cruel, especially when love betrays.