Chapter 65
"I think Osun is lying to us." The Cuban Mermaid Queen said to the others and they agreed. "I think she's hiding something!... Morowa..." She turned to the Ghanaian Mermaid. "You shall spy on her on our behalf since you can easily blend in with her kind, let us know if you find the one we are looking for."
"As the Head Queen as commanded." The Ghanaian Mermaid Queen bowed her head and swum away.
"You all can return home!" The Cuban Mermaid Queen announced to the others and they bowed their heads to her, turned and began to swim out of the cave.
★★★
The next evening, The Parish priest, the new priests and Babatunde were seated on mats around the table with a few chiefs, except the Kabiyesi who sat on a low stool at the head of the low table while his wife, sat next to him.
The place was lit with several lamps and the palatable aroma of well-cooked delicacies filled their nostrils. Although the food smelled different from what he was accustomed to in the East but he was certain that they would be delicious all the same.
Somehow, Vincent noticed that there was an empty space next to the Queen but he never gave it much thought until he realized that the king began to make small talk as if deliberately stalling before permitting them all to begin the feast.
Vincent couldn't understand the Yoruba language being spoken by the chiefs to them but he only smiled and nodded just to seem polite, instead of asking for a translation. The beautiful Queen, however, spoke less but only kept smiling.
She was very hospitable, for she had sent several baskets of local rice, garri, a dozen tubers, a big gourd of palm wine, a few kola nuts, a small basket of smoked fish and bushmeat and a Calabash of oil to each of them and they had all extended their gratitude to her but all she had done was nod her head and smile.
Just when Vincent was still wondering when the feast would begin, someone walked into the local dining room and all heads turned towards the direction of the newcomer who was rather late and it was no other person but the same lady that had stopped in front of the palace the previous to wordlessly stare at them before she had left.
Vincent however took note of every man's reaction towards her. The chiefs removed their caps as a sign of respect and followed her with their eyes as she walked behind them to settle down next to her mother. Vincent noticed that Babatunde however tried not to stare at her for too long, instead, he fixed his eyes on the dish of crab soup in front of him.
Vincent shifted his gaze to the parish priest and noticed how he lowered his head, did the sign of the cross then kissed his rosary. When Vincent turned to look at Gideon and Paul who were sitting next to him, he discovered that much to his surprise, Gideon was squeezing his groin in a tight grip while Paul openly gawked at Kikelomo who was sitting from across them on the other side.
After a careful observation, Vincent noticed that every single man was helplessly sexually drawn to the maiden except her father and it was as if she knew the kind of power she wielded over men and she reveled in it. He had also observed that she had paid no reverence to anyone, except her father.
When he tore his eyes from Paul and shifted them to Kikelomo, he was surprised that she was staring at him and there was something unsettling about her pupils that made a cold shiver run through his body- they were almost snake-like and he wondered if no one else noticed it. Vincent broke their gaze when the King loudly cleared his throat to attract everyone's attention. Even the chiefs had to quickly put on their caps again.
"Well, priests, it's a privilege to introduce my only child to you. The princess of this Kingdom and the most beautiful in all the four Kingdoms- Kikelomo. She's the heiress to the throne and any man whom she chooses to be her husband, automatically becomes the King."
While Vincent acknowledged her with just a nod of his head, his fellow priests had something to say.
"She's indeed the most beautiful woman I've ever seen." Paul said to the king, grinning from ear to ear.
"And very alluring too." Gideon added, smiling like a love-sick fool.
Pleased with the compliment from the other priests, the king moved his attention to Vincent and asked, "Father, don't you have anything to say about my daughter's beauty?"
From the king's unexpected words, Vincent instantly knew that the old man probably enjoyed hearing compliments being lavished on his daughter. Stuttering, he shifted his gaze to Kikelomo who stared back at him, the corner of her lip, tilted upward in a sly smile as if she knew something that he did not. Vincent tried to find something to say but no meaningful words would leave his lips.
"Something wrong with your tongue, father?" Kikelomo spoke now, that sly smile not even wavering. She cocked a questioning brow now to go with it.
Vincent cleared his throat and tried to find his voice but he knew that he had no compliment. After waiting for him to say something and he still didn't, she said this time with a wry smile, "Hmm...a coy man who doesn't speak too much... Interesting..."
Vincent sighed and stared down at the rosary wrapped around his fingers which were on his lap. "I'm rather reserved." He finally said.
"I like men who speak less." Kikelomo sultrily said to him. "They keep me guessing what they are thinking or what they might probably do next. Too bad that we have very few left. Most of my suitors are too loud and boastful that I've grown weary of hearing men compliment me for the past eleven years... It's good to have something different for a change, so I think I might just let you off easy for not complimenting my beauty." She said, "What are you called?"
"Vincent." He answered.
"Although, it sounds alien but it sure has a nice ring to it and I like it."
"Thanks." Vincent murmured. He was helpless that the princess was helplessly flirting with me in front of everyone and it made very uncomfortable.
Kikelomo turned to her father and said, "Father, shall we commence with the feast?"
"Of course." Said the Kabiyesi, signaling to one of the guards standing behind him to go fetch the maids who were waiting outside to serve the guests.
★★★
Five Days Later...
Vincent woke up in the morning with a start, breathing hard with perspiration on his brow as if he had just had a nightmare. He had had a reoccurring dream that someone had snuck into his room in the dead of the night and sat down on the old wooden chair and had watched him sleep for a while.
After that, the person had quietly approached his bed and had peered down into his face until he could feel the Intruder's hot breath fanning his nose and cheek. He hadn't seen the face of the person but he was certain that it was a woman. As he tried to figure out if it had really been a dream or not, he glanced around his room to see if he was alone and that was when he noticed the wet footprints on the floor, leading out through the open door.
Immediately, he threw the blanket aside, scrambled out of bed to the floor and examined the first footprint closer to his bed, and indeed, it looked feminine. As he bent, following the trail of wet footprints out, he almost ran into Sewa, the housekeeper, a chubby quiet woman who was in her early thirties and was coming up the stairs with a broom and a bucket of soapy water to sweep and mop the quaint living room with a rag.
"Good morning, father." She greeted and quickly averted her gaze when she discovered that he was only clad in his boxers.
Feeling a bit ashamed too after realizing what the cause of her reaction was, Vincent protectively placed his hands in front of his groin to cover it. "Good morning, Sewa, how are you today?" He asked.
"Fine, father." She murmured
"You came in pretty early, today." He awkwardly said.
"I'm always early." She reminded him.
"Yeah...right..." He swallowed hard.
"Are you looking for something?" The housekeeper curiously asked now, still facing sideways.
"I woke up this morning to find wet footprints in my room. Were you in my room while I was still asleep?" Vincent asked.
"No o..." The woman strongly denied. "I've been busy sweeping the yard and preparing your breakfast since I came. I was even about to come tell you that I've drawn your bath too then get busy with the parlor."
"Then if you haven't been upstairs, who came into my room?" Vincent asked, baffled.
"I don't know, father...All I know is that I was not the one."
"Did you see anyone on your way in?" Vincent asked again.
"I didn't see anyone."
"No one at all?"
"Not a single soul."
"But these footprints are still very fresh." He pointed down at the footprint at the base of the stairs. The housekeeper took a sideways look down at it but said nothing.
"Whoever had entered my room, definitely had no shoes on. Is there anyone in this village who walks around barefooted?"
The woman hesitated then murmured. "Was anything stolen?" She asked instead.
"No, but I still need to know... Something just doesn't sit right, Sewa.
"Well, father, I wouldn't know if there's anyone like that...most children play around barefooted."
"Sewa, this is not a child's footprint; this is an adult, specifically a woman."
"All the same, I don't know." She resolutely answered.
From her countenance, Vincent could tell that she was lying but he decided not to push it. "Alright then... I'll be down to have my bath soon. You can bring the food up to the living room." He told the housekeeper and returned into the room but paused this time when he realized that all traces of the footprint had vanished.
He walked to the window and looked out. He looked down, around and far but saw no one. He could see the sun rising in the horizon and he could hear the lively sounds of animals in the bush just rousing and moving around, besides the chirping of birds.
★★★
"Hey, priest" Kikelomo who was sitting on a rock, chit-chatting with her friends who were all seated around her, turned when she sensed the new priests coming down the bush path towards their direction.
"Me?" Paul asked, placing a hand on his chest as they all paused while Kikelomo's friends, giggled.
"Not you, the one in glasses...the coy one who barely speaks." Kikelomo pointed at Vincent.
"Me?" Vincent asked to be sure.
"Yes, you, come over here." She said, beckoning him with two fingers.
Vincent hesitated then turned when Gideon enviously leaned towards him and whispered. "What makes her think that she can order any of us like that?... "She's just a woman, yet she speaks to men this way! How insolent!"
"Well, she's the princess and we are on her land, so, there are just some things that we'll have to take... Besides, the Bible preaches humility." Vincent whispered back.
"Humility is different from being a foot mat, jare." Gideon protested.
"I'll advise that you see her, but let her know that priests like us must be treated with the utmost respect!" Paul whispered to Vincent. "I understand that she's a princess but it doesn't make her above us."
"Are you sure about that?" Kikelomo said aloud and the startled priests quickly drew apart, fixing surprised eyes on her and wondering how she had heard them. "Surprised that I can hear you no matter how very low you whisper? Do not underestimate me, strangers from the East. You just might know whom you are dealing with. I could make you do the most demeaning and despicable things ever that could make you ditch what you stand for and flee if you keep running those mouths of yours!" She threatened and the two men felt instant fear grip them.
"We apologize, Princess..." Gideon sheepishly mumbled, swallowing hard. "We mean no disrespect whatsoever."
"Good! You two had best be on your way now; I have something to say to the coy one."
"Urm...no offense, Princess, but the name is Vincent." Vincent politely corrected.
"I do remember...but what does it matter?" Kikelomo smiled said. "Anyway, stop with the princess thing, you can call me Kike."
"Very well then..." Vincent said and excused himself from his colleagues who hesitantly continued their walk, while occasionally glancing back.
Kike clapped her hands twice and her friends quickly strolled away but lingered a few distances away under the shade of a close-by tree, giving them some privacy. "So... you also don these ridiculous clothes, aren't you?" Kikelomo asked, running her eyes down his cassock.
Vincent glanced down at his cassock and said, "It's called a cassock and is the official clothing for people like me."
"Anyway, despite the funny dress, I find you quite attractive...but I must attest that you looked better in our traditional outfit which you wore to the feast a few days back." Kikelomo said.
Surprised by her words and not knowing the right response to give, Vincent simply settled for a- "Thank you."
"So, where are you actually from?" She asked. "The occasion we met did not permit me to get more acquainted with you the way that I'd have loved to."
"The Eastern part of Nigeria."
"What are the people like over there?"
"Mostly fair-skinned, merry and lovely." Vincent answered.
"I see... is it true that you men in white have sworn never to get married and have also taken an oath of chastity?"
"Well, yes, we have."
"Why would you sacrifice a greater part of your life for such a vain task?"
"So that it will enable us to serve God better without any sort of distraction." Vincent explained.
"God? You mean like a god?"
Vincent chuckled. "No, not at all. This God of mine is much higher than any other god there is."
"Blasphemy, priest!" Kikelomo cried out now, sounding a bit upset. "Blasphemy! Do you call our own gods weak and worthless?! Do you know what they are capable of? They could make you drop dead right where you stand."
"I think not..." Vincent said, undaunted as he glanced around him. "They are nothing compared to the Most High. You should get to know him, Kike... Unlike your idols, he sees, hears and speaks."
Kikelomo gave a wicked laugh now. "I'd rather not banter words with you...so tell me, are you going to be present at the New Yam Festival? I will want you to sit by my side."