CHAPTER 4
King Ikenna was reclining on his throne, sipping palm wine, when two soldiers burst in with the news that the sacred sword had vanished from Ikenga's temple. The king frowned and sat frozen for a moment. He wanted to ask questions, but he couldn't get his words out. His hands went limp, and the cup of palm wine slipped from his fingers, shattering on the stone floor. Without a moment of hesitation, he leapt onto his horse and rode to the temple in a fury, confirming upon arrival that the sacred sword was indeed gone. The king almost lost his balance, too shocked to take in the reality. The sixteen cabinet chiefs had also arrived at the temple, which was a very large stone house. They began questioning the soldiers on duty that day, but the soldiers were visibly shaken, struggling to provide coherent explanations. "How could the sword vanish without any sign of forced entry?" one of the chiefs demanded. The soldiers shook their heads, unable to give a valid answer. "We've searched the entire temple grounds," the temple commander stammered. "There's no evidence of human invasion. It's as if the sword vanished into thin air."
"Thin air?" the king grabbed the commander by the throat and pinned him against a wall.
"But who could be powerful enough to invade the temple without being spotted by the soldiers guarding the shrine or even being stopped by the powerful spell protecting the temple?" one of the chiefs asked.
"The Binis," a chief answered.
"The Binis?" King Ikenna said, releasing the commander. He then turned to the chief.
"The Binis have the strongest witchcraft on the planet. They must've used their powers to bypass security and steal the sword from the temple," the chief said.
"Or maybe they bribed one of you," the king turned to the soldiers. "How much did they pay you? Tell me how much!" the king yelled, grabbing the commander's neck and pinning him against the wall again. The soldier gasped for air, his eyes rolling into their sockets. The other fifty soldiers knelt, their hands trembling with fear.
"They're not to be blamed," the first chief said, tapping the king on the shoulder as he struggled with strangling the soldier against the wall. "They wouldn't dare bribe our soldiers; our soldiers are men of integrity. It wouldn't do our nation any good if people thought our soldiers could be bought." The soldier collapsed on the floor with his hands on his neck, gasping for air as the king released him.
"What do you think happened here?" the king asked.
"Witchcraft," the chief said, walking closer to the statue of Ikenga and touching its arm. "The doors are not broken and the guiding spell didn't work. What does that tell you?"
"They mustn't have gone far," King Ikenna said. "Get me a thousand soldiers. We're going after the Binis," he said, and with that, he walked out of the room.
King Ikenna and his army arrived at the site where the Binis had camped the previous night and saw that they had left their horses behind. King Ikenna presumed the Binis must have used the powers of the sword to hasten their return to Bini, which infuriated him even more. In history, since the existence of the sword, no foreigner had held the sword or taken advantage of its magical powers. King Ikenna went on a hot pursuit against the Binis. The Binis were riding in the chariot when a new day began to dawn. They entered Bini and were nearing the city when the sun's rays pierced through the clouds. The chariot and the horses vanished, throwing Chief Ebikaler and his entourage heavily onto the ground. The sword fell and sank deep into the ground. Chief Ebikaler and his men strained with all their might to pull out the sword, but it wouldn't budge. After several unsuccessful attempts and sighting the Agumban soldiers approaching, they abandoned the sword and fled. They entered the city and took refuge in the palace. King Ikenna and his thousand soldiers approached the site where the sword was lodged into the ground and tried their best to pull it out, yet the sword could not be pulled from the ground. "What sorcery is this?" he said and looked towards the city with a clenched fist. "To the city," he pointed. They marched into the city without any resistance from the Bini forces, though the Bini army was armed and battle-ready, but King Ikenna had not come to fight. When the king saw the Oba, who had come to meet him, he dismounted his horse and walked towards the Oba. "Why did you send thieves to steal from me?" he demanded. The Oba stood frozen, shocked to hear that. Chief Ebikaler had told him about his encounter in the forest, and the story had shown no signs of theft or invasion of any sort. Chief Ebikaler said that the sword was given to him by the gods on their way back home, but King Ikenna's question shook him. He only shook his head and said "No" repeatedly. He knew he could not afford to be enemies with Ogodo and at the same time with the kingdom of Agumba. "I give you five days to return what you stole from me or I'll burn this place down to its foundations," King Ikenna said and rode off with his army. The Oba was too shocked and confused to utter a word to deny this allegation. He didn't know if Chief Ebikaler had lied to him or if King Ikenna was making threats based on false accusations. After the Agumbans left, he summoned Chief Ebikaler and his men for interrogation. "I swear by Ogodo that I didn't steal the sword," Ebikaler protested. "I was in the forest when a creature appeared and gifted me the sword. I swear, your majesty, I didn't steal from the king." The Oba remained unconvinced by Ebikaler's story, especially since his men had revealed that they hadn't seen any creature matching Ebikaler's description. Instead, they claimed that a mighty tree had fallen the night before and when they looked, Chief Ebikaler was standing close to the fallen tree, holding the sword. The Oba gave the order; Chief Ebikaler was arrested and taken to the shrine to swear an oath and clear his name. The chief was taken into a wagon guided by eight soldiers into Agboveri forest, the priest was standing at the shrine entrance with a steaming pot in his left hand waiting for them. "Is this how you treat a chief, like a common criminal? Let him go!" the priest thundered. The soldiers unlocked the wagon, and the priest took the chief by the hand, leading him into the shrine. Emerging moments later, the priest ordered the soldiers to go back home. The Oba assembled the strongest men in the kingdom to attempt to pull the sword from the soil. Each man strained with all his might, but none could budge it. They tried digging around it, but a single strike of the pickaxe revealed that the ground had inexplicably hardened, defying even the sharpest tools in the kingdom. It then dawned on the Binis that Ogodo was resolute in his determination to punish them. The Oba went to the shrine of Ogodo by the invitation of the chief priest. The priest was sitting on a wooden stool within the sacred room as the Oba arrived; the Oba sat on his wooden stool opposite Ogodo's bronze sculpture. The priest positioned the steaming pot between the sculpture and the stone tablet. The rising steam condensed into droplets of water, gently misting the sculpture and the stone tablet as the priest consulted the gods. It was revealed that Ogodo hadn't seized the sword, dispelling speculations that the gods were behind its seizure. The Oba's eyebrows shot up as he struggled to contain his anger when the priest claimed that the sword's presence had appeased Ogodo and that Chief Ebikaler had been chosen as the high messenger of the gods, a position revered so much in the kingdom. "If Ogodo wasn't responsible for the sword, why then has he promoted the man who brought the sword? Why has the presence of the sword appeased him?" the Oba asked the priest. "I am just the messenger of the gods," the priest replied. "I've said what they told me to say."
"So, the man is innocent?" the Oba asked.
"He is," the priest replied.
"If he is innocent, then who stole the sword?"
"This is the mystery you must uncover by yourself."
"What about the kingdom of Agumba?" the Oba asked, fearing that Agumba might wage wars with him if the sword is not returned.
"The gods will defend the land," the chief priest said. While they talked, the Oba heard the cries of babies.
"Witch Amieta's babies?"
"Yes, Amieta's babies," the priest glared at the Oba.
"Can I at least see them?"
"To kill them like you killed their mother? I don't think so," the priest replied. The Oba mounted his horse and left the shrine in a rage. "How dare he restrict me in my own kingdom?" the Oba growled. If not for Ogodo's fierce protection, he would have removed the priest from his place or even killed him. The Oba arrived at the city and halted at the palace gate; he got down from the horse, and his personal bodyguard took off the cloak of invitation from the Oba's shoulders, worn by those invited to the shrine. The Oba called for Osaro, the royal secretary. Osaro presented himself before the Oba and bowed. At the palace gate was a giant stone statue of Ogodo, identical to the one in the shrine. Two statues, adorned with heavy beads intricately carved around their necks, stood guard on either side of the gate, positioned opposite each other. Their swords crossed, forming a symbolic beam at the entrance.
"Summon my chiefs, tell them it's an emergency," the Oba commanded. Osaro bowed and departed. When the seven cabinet chiefs arrived, they found the Oba pacing anxiously in the throne room. The throne room walls were adorned with numerous bronze artifacts that reflected the legacy of his predecessors. Fifteen, six-foot-tall statue stood sentinel behind the throne, with the majestic sculpture of Ogodo at their center.
The Oba revealed that Ogodo had been appeased by the sword's presence, but in turn, they had incurred the wrath of Agumba. "We must prepare for the worst," he said gravely, before taking his seat on the throne. Chief Ogon, who was not a fan of the gods, frowned. He stood up and bowed before the troubled Oba. "I think this time the gods are trying to destroy us more than you believe they're protecting us. Who doesn't know the kingdom of Agumba and their military strength? Everyone, even Ogodo, knows how kingdoms fell before these people; these people have the most advanced military and siege equipment on the planet, and Ogodo is making a mockery of them? We risked everything to make peace with them thanks to our fertile land, and now that the peace has been achieved and stabilized, Ogodo shows up and tries to destroy the peace we've built for so many years?" Chief Ogon yelled.
"Don't say such things about the gods," the Oba said, pretending to love the gods, but he doesn't.
"The gods did not invade Ikenga's shrine and steal his sword; one of us did," a member of the cabinet said.
"No one invaded the temple of Ikenga. Chief Ebikaler said that the sword was given to him by a being that looked like the gods," another member of the cabinet said.
"How did he describe the creature?" Chief Ogon asked. "He said its body looked like a tree trunk and its neck looked like it was infected with some sort of disease," the Oba answered.
"The forest Nimf?" Chief Ogon said, staring at the Oba.
"Forest Nimf, what is a forest Nimf?" the Oba asked, narrowing his eyes.
"They are some beings who claim to be the keepers of the forest; yes, it is them. They deceived the old chief. They have always been against the peace between Bini and Agumba," Chief Ogon said.
"Am I now a stranger in my own land? How is it that I don't know about the forest Nimf? First, it was some sort of dwarf creature they said was the witch's servant and now the forest Nimf; is there anything else I don't know in my own land that any of you would want to tell me? Huh, is there?" the Oba yelled. There was silence for a few minutes as everyone glanced at each other to see if there would be another revelation, but it never came. "Assemble the army!" the Oba said, breaking the silence.
"Your Majesty, we cannot afford to fight Agumba; they'll wipe us out from the surface of the earth," Chief Ogon said.
"The gods are with us," the Oba replied.
"The gods are but illusions created to control our minds; they do not exist and cannot protect us," Chief Ogon shouted and then pinched the top of his nose and exhaled deeply. "I am sorry, my lord, for raising my voice," he apologized, but the Oba did not feel offended; in fact, he loved the word 'illusion' the chief had used to describe the gods. "I suggest diplomacy is the best option here. Let's inform the people of Agumba that the sword was taken by a forest Nimf and assure them we're willing to work together to resolve the issue." Chief Ogon added.
''And then?' the Oba asked, eager to hear more.
"And then," Chief Ogon continued. "As no man is capable of pulling the sword out from the ground, I believe only Ikenga could. I suggest we appease Ikenga with whatever is required; perhaps he would forgive us and remove the sword from our land."
''That's the most unwise suggestion I've ever heard," one of the chiefs said.
"Why would you say that?" Chief Ogon and the Oba asked in unison. Chief Ogon shot the chief, whose name was Ebie, a hateful glare. This wasn't surprising, given their history in the cabinet, where Ebie had consistently countered Ogon's contributions, and Ogon had long resented Ebie's influence. Furthermore, Ogon had recently accused Ebie of being one of the key sponsors of witch killings, a claim that had prompted Ebie to also accuse Ogon of fathering the late witch Amieta's children. Ebie had alleged that Ogon had shamelessly taken advantage of the unmarried woman, and due to the intimate relationship between him and the late witch, he had since then resented whoever he thought had a hand in her death, though Ogon had denied these allegations, dismissing them as petty and unverified claims. However, the claim managed to circulate for weeks, prompting those who disliked Amieta to point accusing fingers at Ogon, alleging that he might have known the source of the late woman's power. "We're the only ones who tried to buy one of the swords; during the bargaining, it vanished. Chief Ebikaler claims the Agumbans witnessed his entourage attempting to pull the sword out of the ground, which they took as proof of theft. Even if we capture the Nimf who led the chief into the temple of Ikenga, it won't be enough to appease Agumba," Chief Ebie said.
"What do you suggest we do?" the Oba asked.
"It's unwise to mention the Nimfs, even if they might have been the ones who invaded the temple. Instead, we'll take responsibility for the crime. We'll get Ebikaler to confess in front of King Ikenna and persuade him to reveal what's needed to appease Ikenga, so he can remove the sword from our land," Ebie said.
"Confessing to the crime will give them enough ground to invade," a chief said.
"They already have the evidence they need; it's better to sacrifice one man than risk the whole nation to invasion," Ebie replied.
"We can't touch Chief Ebikaler; remember, he is now the chief messenger of Ogodo, and anyone who touches him will answer to Ogodo," the Oba said.
"If Agumbans get to dictate the terms of appeasement, do you think they'll leave out Ebikaler? If he's untouchable, then Ikenga can't be appeased," Ebie said. The entire cabinet was nodding at this revelation except Ogon, who kept a straight face. Chief Ogon stroked the beads on his neck; he knew for sure that Ebie had made a valid point, but his ego wouldn't allow him to agree. When the Oba asked for his thoughts on the idea, he glanced at Ebie, sat up, and said, "Well, that's the best I've ever heard him say." The whole cabinet burst out laughing.
"On the quest to appease our gods, we angered another, and now we have to appease a foreign god," the Oba said, shaking his head. The Oba agreed to talk to King Ikenna about pacifying Ikenga, but he insisted that the entire army be mobilized and battle-ready in case Agumba tried to invade. He also ordered Chief Ogon to mobilize able-bodied young men and train them to be fit for battle. The Oba sent envoys to Agumba to inform and persuade King Ikenna into agreeing to pacify Ikenga with whatever was required. When the envoys arrived at Agumba, King Ikenna had them whipped for daring to come before him without swords and then sent them back to Bini. The envoys returned to Bini and told the Oba what had happened to them. The Oba was terrified, and it then dawned on him that they had become obnoxious to the Agumbans. He feared that Agumba might attack Bini at any moment. Following the meetings and discussions about the kingdom's safety and defense, the Oba retired to his chambers, looking exhausted and deeply worried. He sat on a chair, took a jar from the table, and poured some wine into his cup. When he drank too much wine and was very drunk, he sank into the chair and fell asleep. His mouth was slightly open, so he snored. While he was fast asleep, he had a dream where he was walking around in the town square, smiling and feeling strangely happy. He sat on the ground and began to play in the sand like a child. On the other side of the square were two brothers playing with a small wooden image of Ogodo. The boys, aged six and seven, were playing a throw-and-catch game. The younger one threw the toy too hard; it fell into a bush nearby. When they searched for it and couldn't find it, the older brother started yelling at his brother, and at one point, they got into a fistfight. The Oba, on the other side, frowned at the conflict between the two boys because the toy wasn't lost; it was, in fact, stolen by a strange kid who was enjoying the fight between the two boys. When the Oba saw the toy in the possession of the strange kid, he growled, pointed towards the strange kid, and told the two brothers who their enemy was. The younger brother moved in, punched the stranger hard in the face, and snatched the toy away. With that, peace was restored, and they went back to playing. A broad smile spread across the Oba's face as he watched the children playing and laughing again. When the younger boy saw the Oba smiling, he turned to him and said, "Do the same!" The wave of the voice pushed the Oba off his feet; he jerked and woke up. "Oh," he moaned and held his head. He realized he had slept for too long, and it was already morning. He got up and took some steps; the voice from the dream echoed in his head again, and the headache got worse. He hurried to his garden at the back of the palace, plucked some herbs, and chewed them. They were meant to relieve the headache. He stood in the garden with his hands folded across his chest, remembering his dream. "Do the same," he mumbled and then hurried back to his room to change.
The Oba was seated on his throne; Chief Ebikaler, now the special messenger of the gods, sat prominently at the center of the six cabinet members. Chief Ogon stood up and bowed before the Oba. The Oba had requested someone with a special gift for tracking spirits, believing that such a person could trace the Nimfs and uncover their hidden lair. "There are those who could have effortlessly tracked down the Nimfs, but they're gone. They were falsely branded as witches and brutally killed. I'm afraid we are left with no one possessing the gift… except..."
"Except…?" the Oba asked, eager to hear more.
"Well, unless the Oba gives me his word not to kill me or anyone I reveal to him now, I cannot say a thing," Chief Ogon said.
"You're safe to say and to reveal whatever you wish; you have my word on that," the Oba said, extending the small elephant tusk in his right hand in a solemn oath. Chief Ogon moved forward, touching the tusk as a binding seal of the promise. "I know of a boy, a very young boy whose mother was killed because she..."
"I don't want to hear about the mother; tell me about the boy," the Oba sharply interjected, feeling guilty for having killed the witches. Chief Ogon bowed and continued.
"The boy, due to the campaign against his kind, left Bini and took refuge in a cave in a faraway land. I believe he has a special ability to track spirits and things our eyes cannot see; I think he's the man for the job.
"Do you think he merely claims to have this ability, or does he genuinely possess the gift to track Nimfs?" the Oba asked.
"I mean he actually has the gift, and he's a trustworthy fellow," chief Ogon replied.
"A boy?" Chief Ebie turned to Chief Ogon. "Just tell us he's your estranged son from your days with the late witch; I heard he escaped."
"Enough!" the Oba barked, "This is not the time for gossip and throwing shade," he said to Ebie. He then turned to Ogon. "Find the boy, but don't bring him to me. I don't want to see him. Instead, make him track down the Nimfs and uncover their strongholds. The Nimfs are now Bini's greatest enemy. If he can locate them, I'll ensure we eradicate them before the Agumbans do the same to us. Finding the Nimf who stole the knife might be our only chance to avert the war. Go, find the boy, and if he succeeds, I'll welcome him back with guarantees of safety. But be clear; promise him wealth and protection, not the doom that looms. Keep the truth from him." Chief Ogon bowed once again and started walking towards the door. Before he could walk out of the room, "Hasten up, Chief; we've got no time!" the Oba shouted another command.