Chapter 61

"It doesn't matter how old I'm. Just look around... We keep walking deeper and deeper into the forest. Are you sure that we are not lost?" Kikelomo asked with a frown, looking around.

"No, you are not!" A voice said and both women turned around to see an old woman leaning on a stick. "You are welcome, mother and child."

Kikelomo frowned now, glancing at her mother. The looks of the old woman disgusted her, especially the hunch on her back. "And who are you?" Kikelomo asked in a disrespectful tone.

"I'm your great, great, paternal grandmother and I have a very important mission for you. It's good that you have come just like I told your mother three years ago; I've waited all these years." Bukunmi said.

"My great grandmother? A mission?" Kikelomo grumbled in confusion then turned to look at her mother. "Maami, what is going on here?"

"Be patient daughter of mine." Bukunmi answered instead. "Follow me." She beckoned with a hand as she turned and started to walk away. Kikelomo was reluctant to follow the strange old woman until her mother nudged her forward. They soon reached a hut surrounded by three trees and from the branches of the trees, hung the dried carcasses and the skins of snakes.

"I don't think that I want to be here." Kikelomo stated, looking around in disgust.

Bukunmi chuckled. "You do not have a choice, child. If your mother had not brought you like I instructed that she should, I would have come for you myself." Then she glanced around at the carcasses and said, "As for these creatures that disgust you, worry not, they will soon become a part of you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kikelomo asked but the old woman gave her no answer but simply led her into the hut. 

The hut was dark and had no windows, not to mention that it also smelled nasty. It was lit by several oil lamps placed on strategic places on the floor. In the middle of the room, there was a big cauldron on a big fire and it made the room hot. When the old woman reached the pot, she turned sideways to look at Kikelomo. "Undress and enter the pot."

Kikelomo and the queen stared at her with a surprised frown on their faces. Kikelomo took a step forward, craned her neck forward and peeped into the large pot but she could barely see a thing because of the cloud of steam that kept rising out of it. She didn't need to imagine that there was something definitely in the pot when she heard a continuous boiling sound of liquid. "Wait, you want me to undress and enter the pot so that you can cook me alive?" The princess asked in disbelief.

"Yes." The old woman nodded.

Kikelomo scoffed now and looked at her concerned mother. "You brought me here to die?!"

"No... I never knew that there was anything like this...erm Olori..." The Queen stepped forward to intercede on her daughter's behalf. "...e dakun (please), I don't understand why you are doing this but my daughter can't go into that pot. This is suicide."

"Stay out of this woman!" The old woman scolded. "This is between the child and I, and you are not to interfere unless told to."

"I'm not getting into this pot!" Kikelomo resolutely stated.

"You will, child. It's for your own good. I have to cook you with potent charms to make you a better rival; a better adversary who will be able to weather the storm ahead."

"I'm not going to die for your selfish reasons, old woman, I'm going home!" Kikelomo stubbornly said. 

"Very well then, let's do this the hard way!" Bukunmi took two steps towards Kikelomo and tapped her on the forehead with her four fingers and Bukunmi froze, instantly hypnotized as she just stared blankly at the opposite wall. "Now, undress and go into the pot... Your mother will answer questions on your behalf now."

Without a word and without blinking, Kikelomo slowly undressed and stepped into the pot then crouched till only her head was visible. The Queen was greatly distressed for the well-being of her daughter but she could say nothing but watch.

"Olori..." Bukunmi said to the Queen. "Go to that calabash near the door, dip your hand in and you'll find a tortoise, bring it here." The Queen obeyed and hurried to get it. "Snip some of the hair on your head and your pubic hair and put into the pot." Bukunmi told the queen who quickly did as you were told.

 After that, she watched her great-mother-in-law and more items which she had no knowledge of into the pot then covered the opening of the pot and Kikelomo's head with several banana stems. "Now, we will let her cook for a while, which after we will move on to the next stage. Stoke the fire and make it hotter by also adding more firewood." Bukunmi instructed the frightened queen who reluctantly did as she was told then both women sat down to wait. 

The Queen expected her daughter to be screaming in pain but Kikelomo did not move or try to jump out of the pot. When Bukunmi noticed that the queen kept glancing at the pot, she said, "You seem to worry greatly for the child."

"Pardon me, Olori..." Began the Queen. "...but every mother would worry...she has been in that pot now for several minutes...how do we know when it's time?"

Bukunmi gave a confident smile and replied. "Worry not, when it's time, she will come out of it herself."

"But how?" The Queen asked, not satisfied with Bukunmi's answer. "How will she do so when she's hypnotized?"

"She's hypnotized doesn't mean that she does not know what's going on. I only took away her will. She was being defiant and I've not waited all these miserable years only to be turned down by a stubborn child." Bukunmi answered. Just then the banana leaves moved and fell to the floor as Kikelomo rose to her feet, still staring blankly. Without being told to, she stepped out of the pot, dripping wet, and the Queen rushed to examine her body. Much to her astonishment, she discovered that her daughter's skin was absolutely fine; if anything, they had improved to be the finest skin ever to be seen and every blemish or scar she once had was gone, even the minor pimples and blackheads on her face.

"Not only is her skin well-polished, she has the perfect figure too...fuller flesh in the right places..." Bukunmi said, pleased with how Kikelomo's skin and hourglass figure had turned out. "Now, she'll easily attract men with her beautiful since their lot easily fall for what they see and their lust shall be their folly...now, over to the next stage..." She moved to a wooden tree trunk which had a hollow part carved into it and was big enough to contain a human. When she removed the mat covering the hollow part of the trunk, the Queen gasped in shock when she saw what was within it.

The hollow part was crawling with snakes of different species and different sizes. There were venomous snakes like cobras, vipers, mambas and non-venomous snakes such as pythons and boas and other constrictors. 

"Come, child." Bukunmi beckoned Kikelomo. "Come lie in this and merge your spirit with theirs. They are your kin from now on."

Kikelomo approached the trunk and lay down in the hollow and the snakes began to crawl over her naked body. A viper crawled up her belly then began to twist itself around her young breasts, rubbing under its head against her right nipple while it rubbed it's belly against her other nipple, curling the lower part of itself around the breast.

"What is it doing?" The curious Queen asked.

"It's sharing its hormones with hers. Any man who comes too close to her will be instantly aroused. This way, she can charm a lot of men and make them do her bidding, Eve kings. Men love sex and it's their greatest weakness the same way that it's their greatest desire." Bukunmi explained.

Suddenly, the snake opened its jaws wide, baring its fangs and hissing and before the Queen could figure out why it had made such a reaction, the snake sunk its fangs into Kikelomo's right breast. The Queen screamed and rushed towards the trunk but the snake snarled at her, made a sharp turn and bit Kikelomo's left breast, drawing two tiny beads of blood each from the spots that the viper's fangs had punctured.

"You had best stay away." Bukunmi warned the Queen. "Out of all the snakes, this one has chosen her and has decided to imprint on her. It will regard you as an enemy if you try to stop it and probably bite you to death. Let the two of them be. It is now her alter-ego." 

"B...but..." The Queen replied, trembling. "It just bit my daughter! It just bit my only child!"

"She won't die..." Bukunmi stated. "Instead, it will boost her immunity, sharpen her senses and brighten her aura. In fact, from now on, snakes will be easily attracted to her because they will now be able to pick up her scent."

Much to the Queen's dismay, she watched the snake crawl down Kikelomo's stomach to her pelvic and bit her inner thighs before it crawled out of the trunk and dropped on the floor. In terror, the queen quickly jumped behind Bukunmi for protection as the snake began to slither on the floor. 

"O ka re! (Well done!)" Bukunmi commended the viper. "You have done well... From now on, you shall not only be her guardian to watch over her but you shall also protect her and be her eyes and ears...go on, protector... Scour the forest and make it your abode once again...but heed her when she calls for you and never hesitate to do her bidding...go on and never be too far from her...GOOOO!" Said Bukunmi as they both watched the serpent find its way to the entrance and slithered off into the forest.

Both women turned their heads now to see Kikelomo's beautiful skin alternating between the skin of a human and the scaly-patterned skin of the viper that had bitten her. When she slowly sat up, her pupils narrowed into snake-like slits then returned to normal. Bukunmi moved to a corner and returned with covered clay bowls. 

When she uncovered it, the Queen was shocked when Bukunmi told her that it was snake blood. Moving closer to Kikelomo, Bukunmi placed the end of the drinking bowl to her lips and tilted it downwards, cajoling Kikelomo to drink it. 

A few seconds after Kikelomo was done drinking the blood to its last drop, she suddenly snapped out of her hypnosis with her lips stained with blood. She wrapped her arms around her body and shivered.

"Why am I so cold?" She asked, shuddering. "What happened?" She asked, also regaining her senses and looking around.

"Now that she's almost cold-blooded, make sure she spends most of her time outdoors, especially in the sun." Bukunmi told the Queen. "I've fortified her so well that she's ready to battle those who have wronged me. The whole village will fear and revere her from now on and she'll be heard of in the four kingdoms for her renowned powers."

"Okay." The Queen answered, helping Kikelomo out of the trunk and helping her dress up too.

Bukunmi stretched out an open hand to reveal a kola nut then said to Kikelomo, "Take this, break it into five and give each one to your four friends. They shall be powerful but not as close as you are, for they shall be your minions and do your bidding. Go now and make your presence known by wreaking havoc in the village. When you come before a great challenge which is difficult for you and your serpent, call on me and I shall come to your aid immediately!" Bukunmi stated. "GO!" She placed a hand on Kikelomo and her mother and they both vanished and appeared on the spot the guards and maidservant were waiting, startling them and they began to wonder how the two had appeared out of nowhere.

"Be at ease!" The Queen quickly assured them. "It's just us!" When the Queen noticed how the guards were smiling lewdly as they lustfully stared at Kikelomo, she reprimanded them. "Eyes off my daughter! Let's begin our journey back to the village!"

"Yes, Olori..." Sheepishly, they quickly answered, bowing their heads in apology and the journey back to the village began but now following from behind, the guards couldn't keep their eyes off Kikelomo's buttocks which had grown fuller and rounder. 

A few feet behind them, the viper stealthily slithered through the brush and away from the group and no one noticed except Kikelomo who sensed it and turned her head towards the direction that it had taken. Throughout the entire walk to the village, she didn't utter a word.

                                                                                   ★★★

Three Years Later...

As the years slowly passed, Ewatomi stayed away from home the more. She grew closer and more attached to her grandfather, Oyediran, and the lonely old man taught her a lot of things about nature and everything she ought to know about hunting, just as he had promised. 

As time flew by, Ewatomi seemed to derive more joy from spending more time in the forest and other desolate places in the village. She grew more beautiful but made herself scarce in the village, especially when she found out that boys and men were beginning to make silly passes at her, despite the fact that she was just sixteen and her ultimate rival remained Kikelomo. 

Men flocked her like bees and she enjoyed every bit of the attention she got from all the men coming from the four kingdoms to admire and feast their eyes on her beauty, including respected men like chiefs, kings and men in high places. 

Despite how Kikelomo and her friends oppressed the people, Ewatomi realized that Kikelomo's friends still feared and respected her as much as the other villagers did, except Kikelomo who now always tried to spiritually bully her.

 Ewatomi hardly spoke to anyone, except her mother, Ireti; her father, Babatunde, her siblings and Oyediran. Anytime, her mother needed things like firewood, bushmeat or water from the stream, Ewatomi would return home to help her fetch them which after she would return to the forest and dwell there for days. 

She stopped using her powers and did every chore or task physically because she noticed that the more she expended what was left of her powers, the weaker and more human she became.

Her long absence from home didn't really bother her parents. They were rather very understanding and didn't really mind as long as she came around to the house once in a while and they could attest to her well-being. They knew that she could take care of herself anywhere she was despite being a female.