chapter 0ne of 'My King and Husband'

 

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.