A Warrior's Faith

AI generated picture

Otunba rushed out of the king's chambers, clutching his skin bag and a machete in his right hand, his eyes fierce like those of a madman and bloodshot. Some villagers had gathered in the throne room; some were on their knees praying to the gods to save the king, while others sat on the floor or stood around at the corners conversing quietly and shaking their heads. When they saw him, they suddenly seemed alert. Those who were sitting stood up and all conversations ceased. He was the king's head warrior and the villagers feared him. His mouth clutched the anunuebe leaves the diviner had given him to chew on while his eyes scanned the faces around him. Beside the throne was the queen seated on the floor with her legs stretched out in front of her. She was looking up at him, her eyes begging him to save her husband.

On both sides of the throne were the chiefs, the elders of the Mbosi kingdom, sitting according to their titles; the Ichie first, who was second to the king, then the rest of the chiefs. The king's ofo lay on a stool in front of the throne, it was his staff of authority used by the Ichie to exercise authority in his stead. Then Otunba turned and stared at the door that led out of the throne room, and suddenly, as if controlled by the wind, he ran out. Some people rushed after him to see what he would do, but he didn't turn to the right or the left; he ran straight out of the palace gate, leaving the palace in disarray.

“Dim oma!” Someone yelled after him, “Dim oma!” The voice called again. It was his wife's voice, but he didn't answer. He increased his pace and soon, he was out of sight. Still, he could hear her calling to him, begging him to return in one piece. It all began before the last full moon, Otunba reminisced. They had received the first report that the great Urashi River had overflown and killed all livestock reared around its vicinity and that farmlands were destroyed. Otunba thought of his sister, who had lost her husband to the dreadful plague and heaved a sigh. Dead bodies had been found as far as the outskirts of the village where people had gone to farm.

“Otunba! Great warrior of the king, where are you going?” someone yelled as he ran through the village path.

Otunba did not turn to look, he had been warned by the chief priest not to speak nor turn back until he stepped foot into Uli village. He was sent to bring water from the sacred Uli river, that the water would heal the land and save the king who had suddenly fallen ill a week ago.

“Great warrior of our land, where are you headed?” This time, it was the voice of a child. Otunba wondered who it was speaking to him because he could see no one on the path as he ran, and he was almost at the outskirts of the village. So he brought out an egg from his bag and held it in his hand. He was going to break it the next time a voice spoke to him.

“Otunba, won't you stop for a drink? You must be thirsty,” a female voice said. By now, Otunba understood it was not a human being speaking to him but a spirit, so he threw the egg on the ground and kept running. He ran a great distance without hearing any voices until he got to the boundary between his village and the next village, then he stopped abruptly. Right at the end of the footpath, three trees had fallen across. A puzzled look glazed his face because the trees had not been there that morning when he and the warriors patrolled the boundaries and outskirts of the village. So he reached into his bag and brought out three pieces of alligator pepper. Each he threw at a tree trunk, then chewed on some of the anunuebe leaves and spat on the ground. Suddenly, the earth around him began to shake and split open. Otunba ran and grabbed a tree close to him. The earth kept splitting until it made a gulf and swallowed up the tree trunks on the path, then slowly, it came back together and returned to normal.

Otunba stood for a while looking at the spot where the ground had split open, his chest heaving heavily. He was a man of great valor and had the stature of a giant. Throughout the clans of Mbosi, he was feared as the king's most ruthless warrior and had never lost a battle. But for the first time in his life, he was afraid. He took out more leaves from his bag and pushed them into his mouth to replace the ones he had spat out. Then slowly, he picked up his weight and began to sprint again.

It was midnight when he stepped foot into the village of Uli. He could hear the owls cooing, and the crickets chirping from every corner of the thick bushes. Otunba knew the warriors of Uli were patrolling the outskirts of the village by now, so he took the path that cut through the evil forest; he was aware they would not come that far out for fear of evil spirits. But he was a desperate man and though he was afraid, he didn't care much about evil spirits. As he trotted the dark forest path quietly, he could hear the hissing of a snake nearby now and then.

He walked quietly looking behind him from time to time. He had entered Uli, so he could now speak and turn around. Halfway, he spotted a flickering light in the bushes, a short distance away from him. So he lowered himself to the ground and gripped the handle of his machete more firmly as he approached. It was a group of Uli warriors warming themselves by a fire. Suddenly, he heard a movement behind him and turned sharply, it was one of the warriors.

The warrior grabbed him from behind and yelled, “Intruder!”. Otunba could hear the other warriors running in their direction. He quickly put one of his legs behind the warrior's leg and pulled him up over his head, hitting his back on the ground, then fled into the bush. He didn't know where he was going but he kept running. Before long, the forest around him was filled with heavy footsteps and torches, and the screams of warriors announcing that a stranger had invaded the village.

Otunba ran blindly, pushing away branches and leaves from his face and dodging tree trunks. Soon, he ran down a steep hill and hid behind a tree, his mind racing frantically on how to escape. Suddenly, he caught sight of a little figure in the dark sitting a few distance away from him, illuminated faintly by a kerosene lamp beside it. His pupils dilated as he edged closer.

“Who are you?” He asked in a deep voice but noticed it didn't move. Slowly, the little figure reached out frail wrinkled hands and uncovered its head. It was an old woman.

“My son,” she said weakly, looking at the hefty man in front of her.

Otunba glared at her, he could hear the warriors closing in on him, so he didn't have time. “Who are you, old woman?” He asked, “Human or spirit?”

“What I am is not important,” she said and staggered up. Pointing at a path Otunba hadn't seen before, she said, “Take that path; it is the right path. It will lead you to the sacred Uli river.”

Otunba took a step forward to take a peek at the dark pathway, which suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and turned to speak to the old woman again, but she had vanished. He jumped and felt a sudden burst of goosebumps all over his body. While he was still contemplating whether to go or not, he heard scurrying footsteps nearby and turned, it was Uli warriors.

“There he is!” They yelled and began to run towards him, Otunba turned and fled in the direction the woman had shown him. But he noticed after a while that the warriors had stopped following, but he could hear them running at a distance away from him. He wondered if the path he ran on was invisible or if he was invisible. Shortly after, he burst out into an opening. He couldn't see clearly, but he could hear the sound of running water, and he could feel the cool open air and the scrunching of gravel under his feet.

He knew he was at a river bank. Soon, his eyes began to become accustomed to the environment and he could see the moving body of water that stretched out in a straight line before him and the tall, dark silhouette of trees hedging the edges of the water at the other side. Then he took out an empty wooden bottle and sheathed his machete before stooping down at the edge of the water to fetch. Slowly, he stood up and returned the bottle to his bag. As he began to walk back, he discovered the path he came through had disappeared.

His eyes widened as he struggled to understand what had happened. So he took out some anunuebe leaves and began to eat them again, muttering incantations. He couldn't turn back because he wasn't permitted to look back after taking the water. So he went forward and as he stepped foot into the forest in front of him, he discovered he was on the path again.

“The gods be praised,” he muttered under his breath, then began to walk, then run. He needed to be home before dawn. If not, the water would become ineffective. At the end of the path, he ran out with the resolve to fight his way through the warriors, only to discover he wasn't in the evil forest anymore but on the boundary that separated his village from the neighboring village. He laughed, then cried and fell on his knees thanking the gods. Then he stood up and ran the remaining way to the palace.

At the entrance of the palace, he could see there were still people there, and he could hear his wife's voice lamenting for his return. But he didn't stop; he ran through the throne room into the king's chamber and prostrated before the chief priest, who was seated on a chair beside the king, lying motionless on his bed. The priest took the water from him and poured it into the king's mouth, then walked outside to the front yard of the palace; the people and the chiefs followed. Otunba could hear the people answering “Ise” to the prayers of the priest, but he didn't step out of the king's chamber. He sat there on the floor until the king opened his eyes at dawn and uttered his first word after a week.

“Lolo,” he said, and the maid ran to call the queen.

It was then that Otunba knew that all was well with his people.

Mmeyene Joseph