PROLOGUE
Her name was on everyone’s
lips. She was the most beautiful woman that ever walked the face of the earth.
Her people regarded her as a goddess because according to them only an immortal
could possess her kind of extraordinary beauty. Her statue was standing tall in the village
square and her people made it a duty to visit and pay homage on daily basis.
They practically worshipped and honoured her.
She was every man’s dream, but
by the ordinance of the gods, she was already betrothed to a crown prince. Her
marriage to the prince was expected to restore the lost glory of Umuezu Kingdom
and everyone looked forward to the D-day.
But funnily, Ugomma was yet to
be born. In fact, she was yet to be conceived.
Chapter One
Umuezu Kingdom was a very
famous community located in the east of the River Niger. It was the envy of the
neighbouring communities because of the abundance of gods’ blessings upon the
land and the people. The lands were very arable, holding water bodies that
haboured assorted fishes; and forests filled with wild animals. Underneath the
ground were plenty of solid minerals such as gold, diamond and iron ore.
The people were mainly
farmers, hunters, fishermen and goldsmiths. They were very prosperous people. Everything
they needed to prosper abounded in their Kingdom hence they rarely sojourned to
other Kingdoms in search of greener pastures. Instead, people from neighbouring
Kingdoms and beyond, trooped into their Kingdom either to settle or to buy and
sell. Umuezu kingdom had a very big market known as Eke-Ezu market. The market
opened for business only once in four days but whenever it did, traders from
far and near gathered in their numbers to transact businesses and any commodity
that wasn’t available in the market didn’t exist.
Umuezu Kingdom was the pride
of the Igbo land until suddenly things fell apart. They woke up one morning to
discover that their waters had lost all their fishes; that their forests and
bushes haboured no more animals; and that their mineral resources were gone. Dead
fishes were seen floating on the waters while the forests and bushes were littered
with dead and decayed animals. That year, locusts came from nowhere and ate up
every green leaf in the Kingdom. Things that never happened before started
happening. People started dying untimely and even pregnant women started dying
while giving birth to babies that also died in the process.
That year Umuezu Kingdom
witnessed total drought and consequently famine as their hitherto arable land
yielded poor harvest.
Ezezu was very worried as the
situation got worse with every passing day. He had convened meetings of his
council of elders to find solution to the calamity that had befallen his land,
but they couldn’t come up with any solution. In one of the meetings, he
summoned the Ezemuo and mandated him to enquire from the gods why the Kingdom
was being punished, and the remedy. He was certain that an abomination had been
committed, but by who, when and how? Ezezu could not understand why the gods
were punishing the entire Kingdom instead of singling out the culprit or
culprits as the case might be. Ezezu had no answers to the numerous questions plaguing
his mind but hopefully, Ezemuo would. But unfortunately, he didn’t. Ezemuo
claimed that the gods had refused to reveal the answer to him.
“The gods are angry with all
of us,” Ezemuo had revealed. “Their anger has put a dark cloud between us and
them thereby preventing their blessings from reaching us. The dark cloud also
prevents me from receiving messages from them,” he had concluded.
Ezemuo had never failed
before. He was the man who lived in the past, present and the future. He was
the eye of his people and they had so much confidence in him. So when he
couldn’t come up with the reason why calamity had befallen the Umuezu Kingdom,
everybody became mournful. A cloud of despair descended upon the land. If
Ezemuo had no solution, then the situation was very serious. There was no hope.
Ezezu was particularly
disturbed because he knew that his people were looking up to him for solution.
Very soon they would run out of patience and he feared that they might revolt
against him. In a desperate effort to save his people and also secure his
throne, Ezezu invited seers from neighbouring Kingdoms but none of them could
see the cause and solution to their problems. Nevertheless, one of the seers
suggested Ononando, the greatest seer of all times.
That evening, Ezezu gathered
all his people in his palace. “Our salvation is near,” he declared. “We have
been informed of a great seer who could reveal the causes and solutions to our
problem,” he stated and the crowd cheered with joy. “His name is Ononando,”
Ezezu continued when the cheers died down, “and we are convinced that all our
problems will be a thing of the past once we are able to bring him here,” he
said and the crowd cheered again. “But the problem is how to reach him. He
lives in a faraway land and our inquiries disclosed that the paths to Ndoki are
hazardous. Very few people have succeeded in reaching him. Many either gave up
and returned home or died in the process.” Ezezu’s despair was palpable.
“Cha, cha, cha, Umuezu kweenu!”
Ikuku hailed the people as he took the stage without invitation.
“Yaa!” the crowd chorused.
“Rienu!”
“Yaa!”
“Muonu!”
“Yaa!”
“Zuonu!”
“Yaa!”
“Kwezuonu ooo!”
“Yaaaa!”
“Igwe, you shall live
forever,” Ikuku said as he knelt briefly before Ezezu.
“It shall be well with you,”
Ezezu patted Ikuku’s back with his staff.
Ikuku sprang to his feet and
danced about briefly. “Igwe, we will go to Ndoki Kingdom and we will bring
Ononando here,” he boasted, as the crowd cheered him on. “Igwe, have you forgotten
who I am. I am Ikuku amanonya, okara mmadu, okara muo. The only man that
wrestled with a spirit and defeated him,” he said, hitting his fist on his
chest severally, amidst cheers from the crowd.
Ikuku was the commander of the
Umuezu army. The army was very formidable - in fact, they had never lost any
battle. The fear of the Umuezu warriors was the beginning of wisdom. Members of
the army were selected by the gods themselves and as long as they lived, they
would neither marry nor have any intimate relationship with women. They also
were not allowed to own or keep properties. Their welfare was catered for by
the Kingdom. Those that violated the
rules either became mad or met their untimely deaths. And no one dared decline
membership of the army once selected. Doing so would equally attract the wrath
of the gods.
The warriors were responsible
for maintaining law and order in Umuezu kingdom and nobody was above the law. They
ensured the security of the Kingdom, making sure that the people went about
their businesses without harassment. And at night, while their bodies slept in
their houses, the spirits of the warriors transformed into lions, and patrolled
the length and breadth of the Kingdom and with this in mind, the people of
Umuezu could sleep with both eyes closed.
“Can we set out for Ndoki
immediately?” Ikuku asked Ezezu. Just like everyone else, he wanted a solution
as soon as possible.
“Calm down, my son,” Ezezu
advised. “You will go, but not today,” he said conclusively and Ikuku looked at
him with surprise. The crowd was equally surprised.
“Yes, you are not going
today,” Ezezu reaffirmed. “It is already dusk, besides, we need to fortify you
for the journey. You will also need to go with some food and water.”
Everyone was in high spirit.
Ikuku and his men would soon go to Ndoki kingdom and come back with Ononando
and their lives would return to normal, but Ezezu was troubled. He feared that
whatever that brought hardship and untimely deaths to his Kingdom could have
equally affected his warriors. What if they were no longer invincible? But
there was no need raising his concern as that would dampen people’s enthusiasm
and hope.
At cock crow the next morning,
the twelve selected warriors assembled at the Ezu shrine for fortification and
words of advice from Ezemuo. During the ritual, Ezemuo killed a white ram and
bathed the warriors with his blood. Rams
were the symbol of brevity and strength in Igbo land and it was believed that
the gods used their blood to strengthen their people. Umuezu Kingdom had always
performed this ritual before embarking on wars and other difficult tasks and it
had never failed them.
The delegates set out for
Ndoki Kingdom the moment the ritual was completed. They were expected back in
eight market days at most. Very soon, Ononando would arrive in Umuezu Kingdom
and his arrival would bring all their woes to an end, but their hope began to
dwindle as days rolled into weeks and weeks into a month without the return of
their warriors. After a full moon of waiting in vain, Ezezu gathered his people
once again, this time to mourn the warriors, for it was obvious that they were
dead. After a month, if they were not killed by the enemies, hunger would kill
them. They were patriots and should be honoured with a befitting funeral, not minding
that their corpses weren’t available for interment.
Everyone was in a mournful
mood when suddenly a very young man appeared in their midst, Ikuku appeared
with him. People’s initial reaction was to scamper to safety but Ikuku was able
to convince them to come back. Ikuku then narrated to the people how he and his
men were captured by some cannibals and kept in captivity; how their captors
killed and ate each of his men; how he himself was being prepared to be killed
and eaten before Ononando came to his rescue.
“The gods had revealed our
mission to the great seer and mandated him to come and save me. He had appeared
like a ghost, grabbed me and jumped into the fire my captors would have used to
roast me and the moment we jumped into that fire, we disappeared from the
cannibals and appeared here,” Ikuku explained.
If not that Ikuku was
available to convince them, the people wouldn’t have believed that the young
man in their midst was the great seer they were waiting for. They were
expecting a man with either bald head or gray hair, and long white beard and
moustache. Ononando was a very mysterious man. He had no beginning and it was
believed that he would have no end. He had lived for hundreds of years but had
not changed. Some people believed that he was a god living amongst humans.
When it was the seer’s turn to
speak, he revealed to Umuezu people that the gods were punishing them because
their crown prince mistakenly killed the princess of Uduaja Kingdom. According to Ononando, the prince had gone
hunting at the same time the princess of the neighbouring kingdom was taking a
tour of the woods. The prince had seen an antelope and fired an arrow at it but
unfortunately the arrow missed the animal, but pierced into the chest of the
princess, killing her at the spot.
“The gods had been enraged.
They would have struck the prince to death instantly but it was a mistake.
Besides, the gods wouldn’t kill a crown prince - instead, they would visit his
people with hardship and deaths.
“And until the gods are
pacified, the situation would not get better. In fact, it will get worse,”
Ononando stated.
The seer went ahead to
prescribe the solution which included confessing to the Uduaja people and then
performing a sacrifice as stipulated by the gods.
Without wasting time, Umuezu
Kingdom provided all the items needed for the sacrifice and much more. And it
was Ononando himself that performed the sacrifice. At the end, he decreed that
the gods had heard their cries of contrition and that things would get better,
but would only return to normal when one last condition was met.
“For many years to come,
Umuezu Kingdom will not witness the birth of a princess and as long as that is
the case, things will not completely return to normal. Honestly speaking, the
gods didn’t reveal to me how long the wait will be, but when the rains come in
good quantity and at the right time; the streams and rivers get filled with
fishes once more; the forests and bushes become populated by lots of animals;
and gold and diamond begin to sprout out from the ground like seedlings; just
know that the queen is with child. A baby girl! A princess! She will be the
only person that can purify and salvage the land. She shall be called Ugomma.
She will be the most beautiful creature to be made by the gods and her heart
will be more beautiful. She will love humanity with a passion. Fighting for the
less privileged will be her greatest source of joy. But most importantly, she
must marry the crown prince of Uduaja Kingdom. Her marriage to the prince will
mark the climax of a reparatory process that started today. Let me warn that if
for any reason Ugomma fails to marry the crown prince of Uduaja Kingdom, she
will die a miserable death and Umuezu Kingdom would be visited with even more
hardship and deaths than she faced in the last few months. Be warned,” Ononando
admonished, jumped into the bonfire made for his transport and disappeared.
And the wait began.
