“How do you play the game?”

He tilted his head towards me and smiled. I couldn’t help but note that he blushed a little as he spoke. Another act? “Boju-boju, oloro nbo, shey kin shi?” He sang. Close your eyes, close your eyes, a masquerade is coming, should I open my eyes? It was the first time I’d heard him sing, he had a beautiful voice. “The goal of the game is to disappear completely before your opponent opens their eyes, because once they open their eyes, you know that the masquerade has come. So, you aren’t just hiding from your opponent, you’re hiding from the masquerade. But the masquerade knows you so well that the only way to hide from it is to hide from yourself. You must become someone new. You become a servant and get lost in the toils of labor. You become an orphan and convince a stranger to take you in. You become a hawker and fade into the crush of the market. I would always find Lola. She could never find me.”

“So it’s all a game to you.”

His smile faded. “Life is a game, isn’t it? What are we if not toys the masquerades use to amuse themselves? The more skilled we are at playing, the more we impress them, and the more they favor us. I seek the masquerade’s favor, Tan. In all my life, I have only ever sought a few things more than I seek the favor of the Eyo masquerade.”

The cool breeze came as a surprise to me. We’d gotten outdoors.

“Can we speak in private?”

“What?”

“Your guard, can you order him to stay behind?”

I turned to find Eghe frowning. He clenched his spear in his hand and glared at the back of Debisi’s head. I flicked my fingers, giving the order for him to back away, but not to leave. “He won’t hear what we say.”

Debisi nodded. I noted that he didn’t turn around to see for himself how far away Eghe was. He crossed his hand behind his back. “I don’t act with you Tan. I’m good at it, boju-boju, the game of the masquerade, but I don’t play it with you. It’s why I love you, I don’t have to pretend when I’m with you.”

It’s why I love you. It seemed as if my heart stopped beating when he said it. It’s why I love you, so casually, as if he was stating a fact, a nugget of information that we’d shared and exchanged so often that it could be uttered in casual conversation. My mouth dried. I found my head turning back, looking for the familiar figure that usually trailed me. But she wasn’t here, I’d driven her away last night, I’d sent her running with tears in her eyes.

“You are a fraud, Debisi.”

He stopped walking.

“I wonder if you can even help it. Maybe you played your boju-boju so much you don’t even realize you’re a fake. Or maybe you’ve gotten the lies so mixed up you can’t tell what the truth is anymore.” I was surprised to hear how calm my voice sounded. I’d thought I’d be arguing when we had this conversation, screaming, demanding the truth. I hadn’t thought I’d sound or feel like this. I was calm, accepting.

“When have I ever been fake with you?”

I couldn’t even…I was at a loss for words. “When you told me you didn’t want the throne? When you told me you would always choose your brother over power.”

He looked sad. “I don’t want the throne, I told you that, I just can’t let Taiso take it. And I would always choose my brother over power, but I won’t choose my brother over my conscience, over what is right and what is wrong, over what is best for our people. You think I want power? That I would fight with my brother for power?” He shook his head. “That’s Taiso, not me. You can’t even begin to imagine what Taiso is capable of, Tan, the things he will do to secure his hold on power,” he cast a nervous look around before returning his gaze to me, “the things he’s done here, in Ikeja.”

“Things like what?”

He lowered his voice to a whisper. “Ikejans call it the reaping. They say Oro mami watas are stealing their children, but I know it’s not true. It’s Taiso, working with the Nuri. I know it, and that’s why I cannot let him become Ooni. Anybody who is able to sacrifice innocent children cannot be allowed to rule Bono. He is my brother, and I love him, but I cannot condone the things that he has done, and I cannot let him rule.”

I laughed. I watched Debisi’s features morph to shock and then apprehension, and all the while I laughed. It was ludicrous. First it was the Alake of Ikeja working with the Nuri, then it was Debisi working with the Nuri, and now it’s Taiso working with the Nuri.

“Tan?” He looked concerned. “You’re scaring me, Tan.”

“You know, from how I’ve heard it told, you’re the one behind the reaping.”

Debisi’s mouth hung open. He took a step back. Then he straightened and he became closed off. I couldn’t read any emotion, I couldn’t even look into his eyes and tell what he was feeling. “And you believed this?” he asked, carefully.

I didn’t know what to say. Did I believe that Debisi could be behind the reaping? I liked to think not, I hoped not, but I didn’t know who or what to believe anymore. Before all of this, I’d trusted Debisi implicitly, now, I just couldn’t.

“I see.” He took a step back, apparently taking my silence for an answer. “Revered,” the formal title stunned me. He closed his eyes and when he opened them, I saw the faintest traces of despair in them, he was letting me back in. “Tan,” he stepped forward, “did you believe it?”

“Maybe.” I sighed. “For a second. The truth is, when it comes to you, I don’t know what to believe anymore Bi.”

He changed, in front of my eyes, he became something else. If I had not seen the transformation for myself, I wouldn’t have believed so fully in the boju-boju game he mentioned. It was like I was staring at a different man, one who was cold and completely unapproachable. “If you believe that I am capable of something like that, then we have no business being together.” He was silent, staring at me with cold, emotionless, eyes, from a face that grew more distant with each second that passed. I couldn’t tell if he was waiting for a response from me, or of this was just another one of his many acts?

He cleared his throat. “There will be no betrothal, revered. I will keep my word, I will follow you to Nuri and I will scour that nation until Ayisha is returned to you, but after that, we are done.” He bowed to me and backed away.

I was wrong.

No, I shook my head. Maybe I was wrong about the reaping, and I hadn’t really thought he was capable of it, but he’d lied to me about the glasses. He’d lied about not telling anyone else that they were fake. He’d lied about why he started wearing them. He’d lied about Taiso not knowing they were fake. There was so much he’d lied about and he had the nerve to storm away from me! He had the nerve to break our betrothal! To act angry when he was the one who’d lied to me about everything!

I saw him walking into the stables and I stormed off after him. If he was going to act peeved, and behave like he was all innocent, then he damned well be able to prove his innocence. He rode out of the stables right as I got there.

“Saddle my horse!” I snapped the order at no one in particular. The nerve of Debisi! I was going to make him admit the truth of his lies. I was sure his anger was just one of many ploys. I was done with it. And I didn’t need him to come to Nuri with me. As if I needed his help to get Ayisha back.

A servant led a Bono horse to me. I jumped onto the saddle, not particularly paying attention to Eghe who raced to catch up with me. I followed behind Debisi, tearing through the streets of the ogiri, scattering people with my horse.

He rode out the gates of the ogiri and I remembered that he was the one responsible for keeping us locked out of Ikeja. And he’d had the guts to say he’d never acted with me. I should have knocked him to the ground when he’d said that. I should have hit the lies right out of his mouth. All he did was lie, but he was the one angry? How dare he storm off before I had my say!

“Revered, stop!” Eghe struggled to catch his breath beside me. “Where are you going?”

I dug my heel into the horse. “I’m going after Debisi!” I yelled back.

“But he’s riding into the Oro forest. Stop, please, revered, we don’t have enough guards with us. We can wait till he comes back out.”

“Stay out here if you’re scared of mami watas!” I snapped at him. I pulled at my reins and sent the horse flying. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been this angry with someone.

ObehiD this one is short naw and until Saturday again
Haba now, I will send the Mami watas to you oh

Ghost reader still activated

Let me just comment once

Thumbs up

Okay, marching forward
Aunty tan, just go back to your kingdom oo
Leave afonja folks alone

Debisi is giving me Musa kinda vibes

Haha @obehiD, over short is worrying this update ooo

Way too short, and had to wait till next weekend
Kai this is serious mental torture.

This was honestly supposed to be half of the chapter, but I've been really busy I wasn't able to write the full thing this week. I have a really full schedule right now so I'm trying to squeeze in as much writing as I can, but it's been difficult. I'm really sorry about the length

Really do appreciate your efforts, and your explanation just melt my heart, please do take your time and sort yourself out,

obehiD:
This was honestly supposed to be half of the chapter, but I've been really busy I wasn't able to write the full thing this week. I have a really full schedule right now so I'm trying to squeeze in as much writing as I can, but it's been difficult. I'm really sorry about the length

Given that this is a first, understanding is easy to come in.
Thumbs up all the same, you still have us on the edge of our seats.

Just take ur time, Obehid. We'll be waiting. Nice episode

obehiD:
This was honestly supposed to be half of the chapter, but I've been really busy I wasn't able to write the full thing this week. I have a really full schedule right now so I'm trying to squeeze in as much writing as I can, but it's been difficult. I'm really sorry about the length

Please how many Alakes of Ikeja do they have, cos it's seems like they are two, Debisi and the main Alake, the father of Kola.

Please clarify me

till Saturday

NoChill:


Please how many Alakes of Ikeja do they have, cos it's seems like they are two, Debisi and the main Alake, the father of Kola.

Please clarify me

You're right, I made a mistake in the last update. Debisi is the Alake of Ibadan, that's his title, it was a mistake when I wrote Alake of Ikeja. There's only one Alake of Ikeja, that's Kola's father

22

My heart slammed, beating in tune to the steady rhythm of the racing horse beneath me. I watched the fume of dust kicked up by my horses spurs and dug my feet into its side, pushing it to go faster. The deeper we got into the Oro forest the denser the cloud of dust grew. We ripped through it, and for a second each time I was enveloped by the scratchy heat of moving sand granules suspended in plumes of dust. I almost choked on the dust, almost suffocated on the granules I huffed in, in my deep inhalations. Perhaps I would have, if my mind was solely focused on the simple thoughts of breathing and sustaining my life as I raced to confront Debisi.

I guess it was lucky for me that there was so much more.

I thought of Debisi’s words. His stony silence, the emotionless mask he’d donned in anger just moments before. I thought of the den, of the Bono men at the bar, of the agreement that Taiso had told me about, the endless stream of lies. They occupied my mind, filling my thoughts with a frenzy that had me blinking angrily at the wetness in my eyes when the cloud of dust sent detritus settling behind my lids.

I rode hard, clamping the horse’s sides, communicating my anger and frustrations to it, and in turn it sped ahead. Thin branches of strange trees slapped angrily at me in retaliation for my invasion. I counteracted them, jerking to the side whenever my thoughts of Debisi faded away long enough for me to pay attention to my surroundings. But those moments of lucidity where few and far between. My thoughts were so focused on rage that it took me much too long to realize that Eghe no longer rode behind me, and the thought passed as a fleeting observance, quickly buried by my ire at Debisi’s daring.

When at last I found Debisi, it was thanks in full part to my horse. I had been in a blinding rage, so vexed that I hadn’t paid much attention to my surroundings. Once I saw Debisi, once my mind cleared long enough to take in his appearance, it was as if reality crashed in on me. I looked at my arms, at the film of dirt that clung to me, like a second skin. My dress was completely stained, so browned with the dust from my speed chase that I could barely make out the rich red of the velvet material. My hair was in disarray, the hasty morning bun I’d made long since undone. The strands of my braid hung haphazardly from my head. Even these usually black locks had taken on the dirty brown of my thoughtless travail. I ran my hand through my hair and felt the rough texture of all manner of debris between my braids, the sharp rugged edges of leaves, the smooth roughness of slightly warmed pebbles, and the sharp points of broken twigs.

I could not believe how flustered I had allowed myself become. It gave me pause for a long moment, long enough for my racing heart to slow to a much more normal pace. It was not that I had gotten angry, but the extent of my anger, and its cause. That Debisi had driven me to this, that my anger at Debisi had made me ignore the sane advice of a man I trusted, a tumbler I respected, and that that same anger had caused me to ride so hard that I’d lost my single guard in the maze of this forest, that was what gave me pause. It wasn’t till that moment that I realized just how much I’d come to care for Debisi and how deeply his lies hurt me. Before I’d confronted him, I’d been able to push all the tales aside, to convince myself that it would all be better once I faced Debisi. But it hadn’t and now I had to accept the reality that it might never be.

I turned around, searching for Eghe much too late. There was no sign of him, nothing around me but foliage, a forest left for so long to its own design that there was nothing but trees, sand and grass for as far as the eye could see. Behind me that was. In front of me, there was Debisi, sitting on a large stone rock and staring into a surprisingly charming pond that had sleek black fishes swimming in it.

When exactly had I lost Eghe? Had he followed me into the Oro forest against his judgement? I knew he had. Even if I’d been riding into sure death, Eghe would have followed me. We must have gotten separated somewhere in the forest. But where? And how was I going to find him? The answer was obvious, sitting on a stone, staring straight ahead. If Debisi knew the forest well enough to find his way here, he was my best chance of finding Eghe without wasting too much time. The sun was already starting to rise. I knew that my brother would wake up to find me gone and he would worry. Would Mede worry too?

I led the Bono horse to a tree beside the pond and tied its reins around the thick stem, giving it enough room to drink from the pond, which it eagerly did. I couldn’t help noting that Debisi had done the same thing for his horse only a few trees away from the one I’d chosen.

He had to have heard my approach. The closer I drew to him, the more obvious that fact became. Dried leaves crinkled loudly against the soles of my sandals. That combined with the grinding of lose gravel beneath my shoes was enough to warn anyone of my presence. But Debisi didn’t turn around, not even when I drew to a stop behind the rock he sat on. Either he’d become deaf in his ride through the forest, or he was completely secure in his safety that he saw no reason to check for threats, or he’d already seen me coming. I had a strong feeling it was the last option.

He’d taken off the glasses, I could see that now that I stood so close. I stared down at the creamy curls of his hair and remembered all the times I’d run my fingers through it.

He sighed. It was a rough sound, drawn out, as if he found relief with the exhale, as though he released his frustrations with the air he forced out of his nostrils. It made me aware of how tranquil it had been before. The musical chirping of forest birds, the occasional splash and slap of fishes swimming.

“You should not have followed me.”

He didn’t look up, his profile remained as it had been, staring into the pond. I moved around the rock and sat on it, beside him.

“If you didn’t want me to follow you, you shouldn’t have done such a thorough job of pissing me off.”

He snorted. He still didn’t turn to face me. I was sitting now so I could see the way his hands went through sporadic jerks of clenching and releasing on his knee, the slow rise and fall of his chest. He’d ridden through the same path as me, but somehow his clothes were as clean as they’d been before, his skin fair, without the blemish of dust that coated mine.

“Sometimes I wonder what pleases the Eyo masquerade most? What human passions most entertain it? Does it glory in our successes or simply set more traps for us to overcome? Does it languish in our pain and seek to comfort us, or does it simply laugh and send us more anguish? Different oracles teach different things, but I cannot help but seek the masquerade’s truths for myself. If it enjoys the sorrows of humans, then this morning it must be feasting with its mami watas on my grief.”

I clenched my jaw.

“I should be overjoyed either way, for what am I but a servant of the Eyo masquerade, set on this earth to please it. And I do seek to please it, I seek its favor above all else,” he broke off, “well, above almost all else. Perhaps that is why this happened, perhaps this is my punishment for daring to love a human more than my masquerade.”

I could feel the anger start to rise again, the heat of that strong emotion flooding my veins. I knew what he was insinuating, and it enraged me. I clamped my mouth shut against the first string of hateful words that threatened to burst out of me.

He kept talking in the silence.

“My pride tells me to remain aloof, to shut you out, to find the words that will hurt you the way you hurt me this morning Tan. My pride tells me that you are not worth the ache in my heart. It hurts. And my brain…my brain tells me to walk, no, to run away from you. I know you’ll hurt me. You already have, and if I give you my heart, you’ll rip it to pieces, you can’t help it. You’ll never return even a fraction of the love I have for you.” He blinked, the veins in his eyelids distended, poking out beneath the skin, showing the amount of strain he was under. He blinked some more, and tears fell. I watched the trail of moisture run down his cheek. “You flirt with others in front of me.” He said. “You make it clear that I can never have you to myself. And it’s too much, I cannot share you, I cannot live with you and watch you be intimate with others. I know I should walk away, but I can’t. I just can’t. So, instead I teach myself to endure it, I tell myself that it might be different when we’re married, but it won’t, will it? How could it, when you encourage my sister in law to flirt with your brother? You have no respect for marriage, it means nothing to you, and I cannot stand it, I cannot be in a marriage like that. I stormed off last night and I knew that I should end it then, that I should walk away, that my sanity could not take it any longer. But still I found myself at your door this morning, like a beggar, desperate for whatever scrap of affection you deem fit to gift me. And what do I get in return? You tell me that you don’t know me, that to you I could be a slaver, a kidnaper, a traitor to my own nation, the vilest sort of fiend? I have shown you everything, the truest parts of me, I have allowed myself to be completely vulnerable with you, and what do I get?” He laughed through his tears. “The masquerade must be truly entertained by my follies when it comes to you Tan. Perhaps the pain is worth it for the masquerade’s favor. Sadly, the thought does not console me as it would have before I met you.”

I hated him. As soon as he was done speaking, it was the first thought that crossed my mind, the first emotion I felt. Cold hatred. But it didn’t last, it came and went, leaving a hollow emptiness and a searing pain. His tears kept falling and it broke me. I hated to see him in pain.

“So that’s your story? You stormed out of the dinner yesterday because you were angry with me, and not because the guard from the gate was conveniently waiting outside the door?”

He exhaled, letting out a choked sound that sounded like self-mocking laughter, cut short. “Is that what you thought? You are far more scheming than me then. I watched you flirt with the noble in Lekki, flirt with your tumbler Mede, and then just before dinner you made it quite obvious that you intended to frequent a den of iniquity with your male tumbler. How was that supposed to make me feel? I was angry. And my sister in law, a married woman, was throwing herself at your brother. I let out my anger on her. And you supported her! I walked away from the table angry with you. The guard just happened to be standing at the door.”

“And did the money you paid that same guard at the Ikeja gates just happen to fall out of your pocket and into the guard’s hand?”

“No. I bribed him to deliver a message to a noble in Ikeja on my behalf.”

“What message?”

“Why should I tell you that?”

“Weren’t you the one who just said you showed me the truest parts of yourself?” I teased. “Or were you just playing another role in your boju-boju game?”

His hands clenched into fists on his thighs. The tears no longer fell. All I saw in his face now was a clenched jaw and a throbbing vein in his temple. “Are you really so cruel that you would tease me with those words? Was I completely mistaken in you?”

How was it that he was the one who lied and yet he somehow managed to make me feel guilty? That was about to change. “How about you tell me about your arrangement with Taiso? According to Taiso, you’ve tried to kill him a number of times. According to others, you only wear those glasses because Taiso made you. And, contrary to what you would have me believe, your fake glasses are not quite a secret are they Debisi?”

He stood up and paced. Then he stopped in front of me. “You believe Taiso over me?”

I shrugged. “Tell me why you are lobbying nobles to your cause? I saw you do it in Lekki Debisi, so don’t you dare lie to me!”

“When have I ever lied to you?” He yelled back at me.

I rose to my feet, forcing him backwards. I was so annoyed, I wouldn’t have cared if he fell back and drowned in the pond. “You admitted to lying to me just this morning! You admitted to lying about whether or not you wanted to be Ooni!”

“I told you that I don’t want to be Ooni! I never have! Until a few days ago I was doing everything in my power to support my brother’s claim to the throne. Taiso is suspicious, and skeptical. I’ve always known this about him, and I’ve always put up with it, because he’s my brother, but I know now, that he cannot be Ooni. Still, knowing this, I do not want him dead, I just cannot allow him to succeed our father.”

“So, there is no arrangement with Taiso?”

He shook his head. “No. I chose to don glasses of my own free will, and I have told no one but you that they are fake. I swear to it on the masquerade, whose favor I value far more than my own life.”

“But others know. There are rumors, Debisi, rumors about you. Rumors that the glasses are fake, rumors that you are a great fighter. Rumors that others claim you’ve spread.”

“And you believe them over me? I swear to you Tan, I do not fight in front of people. Since I decided to wear glasses, I’ve practiced by myself, in forests, when it’s dark, when I can be assured of my solitude, only then. You and your tumblers are the first ones I’ve shown my skills to in a very long time. You are the only one who knows about the glasses. The only one.”

“I’m telling you that others know.”

“They did not learn it from me!”

We were at a standoff. I stared into his eyes, trying to see past the anger at me that glared out from those orbs. How could the man at the bar know about Debisi’s glasses if Debisi didn’t tell his niece as he claimed? Could someone else have told his niece? Could someone else know about Debisi’s secret? But who had anything to gain from spreading it? Certainly not Taiso. Debisi’s fighting skill and fake glasses were things that made people root for Debisi over Taiso. Taiso would never be behind spreading that.

Debisi frowned, his anger momentarily forgotten. “Are there truly rumors?”

I nodded.

“It wasn’t me.”

All the evidence pointed to the contrary. I knew I shouldn’t believe him, but I couldn’t help it. I trusted him. My instincts told me that I could trust him, and my instincts had never failed me before. But if it wasn’t him, then who?

“Could there be another player?” He mumbled to himself. Then he glanced up at me, as if only then remembering that he wasn’t alone. When he continued speaking, his voice was louder. “If Taiso truly believes that I tried to kill him, that I’m spreading rumors about myself and my skill, then he’ll think I want the throne.”

“Why did he tell me you have an arrangement? He couldn’t have made it up Bi.”

Debisi’s gaze snapped to mine. A flash of red stained his cheeks. It lasted long enough for me to realize what I’d called him, and the tone I’d said it in. Then it faded. “I swore to him that I would not challenge his rule. Maybe that’s what he meant, but it wasn’t an arrangement. I told you, it was when I went to him to tell him about the nobles who wanted me to kill him. I swore to him then that I didn’t want to be Ooni.”

“But you do.” I stated.

“No!” He swore.

“I saw you in Lekki, Debisi, I saw the way you won the nobles to your side.”

He shook his head. “I wasn’t trying to win them to my side.”

“Don’t lie to me!”

“I wasn’t, I swear. I was trying to win them to yours, Tan. I want us to join Bono and Isan, I want you to rule over both nations. It’s what I’ve wanted from the moment I realized that Taiso could not be Ooni.”

I was dumbstruck.

The dinner in Lekki flashed through my mind. I remembered the impassioned speech that Debisi had given. I remembered the effort he’d made to tell them that it was I who’d killed Oza Onitsha for his crimes against a Bono noble. I remembered the way the Alake and her family had looked at me. The respect, the faint traces of allegiance in their gazes. I remembered thinking that Debisi had just won me their loyalty with his statements, and at the time I’d struggled to figure out why.

I somehow managed to find the rock and get myself to sit on it while my head spun.

“What?” I struggled to come to terms with what he’d said.

“You are a good ruler Tan, a great ruler. Of course, I want you to rule over Bono. I could not do it, and even if I could, I would not want to. I am a last child. I was raised as a last child, to offer support, not to rule.”

“But why not Taiso?”

His jaw clenched. “I discovered some things about Taiso just before we left the palace. And that was before Ikeja, before I came here and heard the ogiri brimming with rumors of a reaping. When I got us barred from Ikeja, I was only doing it to try to weaken the Alake of Ikeja’s bond with my brother, I did not know that staying in the ogiri would give me the chance to learn things I could never learn in Ikeja.”

“So, it was you who kept us out of Ikeja?”

He nodded. “I was trying to kill two birds with one stone. Drive a wedge between Taiso and the Alake and try to find out what exactly it is that the Alake has over my brother. I have a feeling that that’s the key to getting Taiso to renounce the throne in your favor. I just need to find it.”

I watched him carefully. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this?”

“I was going to. After I’d gotten Taiso to agree to it, that is. I wanted to get that secret first. And in the event that I failed, I didn’t want Taiso connecting you to my plans. If I fail, Bono and Isan will still have to deal peacefully, I don’t want a war between our nations.” He frowned. “Not when the Nuri are a plague to us all.”

“So, you only just learnt about the reapings during this trip?”

His eyes widened. “Of course! Do you think that I would have allowed something like this to continue if I’d known about it? I would have told my father! We would have sent troops here, we would finally have captured some Nuri slavers! Bono children being sent into the Oro forest by their parents? There’s a part of me that still doesn’t believe it. My brother is a lot of things, but even I struggle with believing he could be behind something this terrible. That’s why I rode into the forest this morning. I have to see it for myself.”

“According to Ayomide, you already have.”

He frowned at me. “Who?”

“Ayomide, the teenaged girl you rescued from the reaping and sent to safety in the den of iniquity.”

His frown deepened. “I did what now?”

He looked completely at a loss. There’d been no flash of awareness when I’d mentioned Ayomide’s name. Either Debisi was the best actor I had ever seen, or the eunuch healer had been right, and someone had paid Ayomide to lie to me. I couldn’t believe that that innocent girl had lied to me. She was just a child!

“Exactly how young were you when you started playing boju-boju?” I asked Debisi.

“About six. Why?”

I ignored his question. “Do you think they play it here, in Ikeja?”

“Yes, especially here in Ikeja. In the ogiri they take the game to a whole new level. The best spies in this nation started by playing boju-boju in the ogiri of Ikeja. Why do you ask?”

It floored me to think that the eunuch healer had been right. His words from that night came back to me. There are no innocents in the ogiri of Ikeja, just hustlers and schemers. Little Ayomide. I told Debisi about Ayomide’s tale, about how she’d claimed he’d rescued her from the reaping.

Debisi gaped at me. He walked over to the rock and reclaimed his seat beside me. “I suppose there is some truth to it,” he said.

“What truth?”

“I did meet Mamus in this forest after slavers branded him. I did not know about the reaping, nothing like that, just him. I knew about the Nuri sneaking into Bono to kidnap young nobles. They’ve been doing it for years, and as far as I knew, that’s what happened to him. His father certainly didn’t send him into the Oro forest as a sacrifice, he just happened to be riding when the Nuri found him. They branded him. He said it was so painful he passed out, but when he woke up, they were gone. They left him, no explanation, no messages, nothing. They just left him branded, with his horse and weapons, alone in the Oro forest. I found him here, sitting by this pond, crying. He had a dagger in his hand, and he kept looking at it. I could tell from the way he examined it, the way he kept weighing it, tossing it around in his hands, that he planned to kill himself. He knew that the Alake would disown him if he returned to Ikeja with a brand. The Alake of Ikeja has many bastards, you see, Mamus just happens to be the one he likes most.” Debisi stopped speaking. His face took on a faraway look. “I talked him out of it. It was about three years ago now. He was sixteen, young and afraid. He reminded me of his brother Kola, my sister’s best friend. So, I helped him cover up the brand. I’ve told no one since then. I cannot even begin to imagine how this Ayomide person learned about it. And why was she told to tell you what she did? How did she know that you would come to the den of iniquity that night and that you would go looking for her? That sequence of events takes a kind of cunning and planning that I shudder to think on. I have to find the girl. I must learn who put her up to it. Whoever it is, they’re motives trouble me more than I can say.”

I replayed the events of the night before. I’d found Ayomide because the eunuch healer had gone looking for her trying to get to what she knew. If Ayomide really hadn’t been part of the reaping, then what exactly had led the eunuch healer in search of Ayomide? I thought about the way that Ayomide had revealed Debisi’s involvement. She’d called him the Alaafin throughout, speaking with so much respect, I’d believed she was in awe of him. Why did she not call him Alake? Why had she called him the Alaafin? If she was indeed sent there to place the seeds of doubts in my head about Debisi, then she should have made it clear from the start that Debisi was the one she was referring to. But she hadn’t. She hadn’t mentioned it at all. In fact, if Mede hadn’t asked which Alaafin she referred to, I would never have connected Debisi to her. Or is that just what I was supposed to believe? Would she have found a way to put Debisi in if Mede hadn’t asked? Mede asking had led to a natural disclosure, which added authenticity to the tale. Had it all really been for show?

The flapping of wings tore my attention away from my thoughts. It was a pigeon. Debisi stood to receive it. He loosened a scroll from the pigeon’s leg before releasing the bird. It flew away. I watched Debisi read the note.

“What is it?” I kept my tone light, curious to see just how forthcoming he would be without prompting.

“A message from Mamus,” he replied, his eyes zipping over the parchment. “He was finally able to set up the meeting.” He smiled.

“What meeting?”

Debisi tossed the parchment into the pond, before turning to me, his eyes gleaming triumphantly. “Remember when you asked me why I kept riding out at nights during our trip over?”

I nodded.

“I wasn’t entirely forthcoming. I’d been communicating with Mamus throughout the trip. He was the one who barred our entry to Ikeja. Anyway, he found a link to the secret the Alake of Ikeja has on my brother. A Nuri man, one of the guards that the Eze of Nuri sent to deliver Kola back to his father. The Eze sent Kola back with a retinue of four Nuri guards. The Alake of Ikeja sent Kola back to the Nuri with three. The one that remained is the only person I’ve been able to connect to the secret. Mamus has finally been able to convince the guard to confess his knowledge of the secret and agree to speak with me for a price. He agreed to meet me this morning, in half an hour, the amount of time it’ll take me to get to the clearing in the middle of the forest. It’s all coming together now Tan.”

“How did he know you’ll be here?” It was rather convenient that this message just happened to find Debisi in the Oro forest.

“I told Mamus when we met last night that I’d be coming here this morning to examine these rumors of the reaping for myself.”

I nodded. I wanted to believe Debisi, I wanted to trust in the openness that he showed me, and there was only one way I could think of to find out once and for all if he was for real. “I’m coming with you.”

He froze and shook his head. “I don’t…”

“Do you want me to trust you?”

“You know I do.”

“Then I’m coming with you.”

He sighed. “Fine.” He pulled his glasses out of his pocket and put them on. Then he walked over to me and extended his hand to help pull me up. I found myself staring at his hand, the smooth white palm, the furrows that lined the surface of his skin.

I didn’t take his hand.

I wanted to. I wanted to reach out and place my hand in his, to stroke the tender skin, to look up and smirk at the blush that would no doubt form. But I didn’t. I pushed myself up to my feet and stared down at him, watching with a slight twinge of pain as his features tightened at my rejection. We stood there, the both of us, me staring into his face, him looking down at the ground. So much had been said, excuses, justifications, explanations, but there was still a lot that had been left unsaid.

When he lifted his gaze to mine, I wondered if he would speak then, and if he did, what he would say. I watched the uncertainty in his gaze, and followed the movements of his hands as they reached to fidget with his glasses. “You still don’t believe me,” he spoke so lowly it was a struggle to hear him over the chirping sounds in the background. “But you will, the truth always comes out in the end.” He turned his back on me. “For the sake of our nations, I pray to the masquerades that it is not too late when it does.” He walked over to his horse, untied its rein, and mounted. Then he waited, staring sadly at me, as he watched me do the same.

We rode through the Oro forest in silence. My head felt as if it was filled to bursting with contrary thoughts, and my heart the same with warring emotions. It surprised me how desperately I wanted to believe Debisi. I wanted him to return to what he’d been before we left the palace, the sweet boy, my sweet boy. But it was different, I couldn’t help the doubt. The seeds had been planted during this trip and now they’d grown roots. I wanted to believe him, but I needed proof. Maybe after we met this guard and heard what he had to say, my doubts would go away. Maybe talking to Mamus would help. I knew for sure that talking to Ayomide would. If that girl had been lying, then I needed to know who’d put her up to it. I wondered if I could find the nobles from the den. If I could, I could find the niece that had supposedly heard from Debisi about his fake glasses. If I could talk to her, then I could prove Debisi’s innocence. And I wanted that. I wanted to feel the confidence I’d felt in him before. I wanted to marry him, I think there was a part of me that was starting to love him. How could I not, if he was innocent, if the words he’d spoken to me were the truth, how could I not? And I knew they were, deep down, I believed in his innocence. But the doubts had been planted and they made me question myself. Ayomide’s presence, her story, the way she’d called him Alaafin and not Alake, or Alaafin Debisi, it wasn’t the sort of thing someone would leave to chance if they were truly trying to turn me against Debisi. Yet, my brain and my heart both rebelled against the idea that Debisi could have been lying to me beside the pond.

“Revered!”

Hearing Eghe’s voice was like been doused in an ice bath. I pulled tightly on my horse’s reins, shifting around in the saddle to locate him. It turned out I didn’t have to work too hard. He tore out from behind a thick wall of bushes, his arms and legs scoured and lacerated, his appearance just as unkempt as mine. He rode in, in a cavalry pose, leaning forward with his spear gripped in his right hand, the sharp point thrust ahead, while his other hand, controlled the reins.

“Eghe!” I sighed in relief. “I feared the Oro mami watas had swallowed you up and turned you into a lion.”

His horse pulled up beside mine. He flashed a grin at me. “I would only let that happen if turning into a lion was the only way to protect you, revered.”

I smiled at him, and he smiled back. He was like a breath of fresh air, easy, uncomplicated, and completely trustworthy. After the time I’d spent with Debisi, it was nice to have someone with me whose loyalty I did not question. I turned back to face Debisi and caught a glimpse of his pain just before he buried it. I remembered then what he’d said about me and Eghe, about how it had hurt him to know that I was taking Eghe with me to a den of iniquity. I sighed.

“It’s just a few kilometers ahead,” Debisi said, looking straight ahead. Then he dug his heel in and his horse went faster.

Hey everyone! For some reason my update is being banned by the antispam bot again, so my account has been locked, and the update deleted. I'm waiting for mods to restore this update and once it's restored I will update will the final part. It's a three part chapter.

Thanks for the patience

This is Obehid (btw)

obehiD3:
Hey everyone! For some reason my update is being banned by the antispam bot again, so my account has been locked, and the update deleted. I'm waiting for mods to restore this update and once it's restored I will update will the final part. It's a three part chapter.

Thanks for the patience

This is Obehid (btw)

We got it thanks

obehiD3:
Hey everyone! For some reason my update is being banned by the antispam bot again, so my account has been locked, and the update deleted. I'm waiting for mods to restore this update and once it's restored I will update will the final part. It's a three part chapter.

Thanks for the patience

This is Obehid (btw)

that antispam bot is a pain

A new chapter, a new twist. Thank you, more knowledge to u.

Thanks "Revered"

Make Miss Tan leave afonja folks with their dubious character jare
Time has taught us not to trust afonja folks
Go back to isan and enjoy ur complete loyalty
Obehid gracias

Make the mod self come out na

Btw Obehid, I have a partnership proposal on an idea, I will be glad if you can reach me via my signature

silverlinen:
Make Miss Tan leave afonja folks with their dubious character jare
Time has taught us not to trust afonja folks
Go back to isan and enjoy ur complete loyalty
Obehid gracias

Can't we just enjoy a good read without showing the world how daft we are.
Do you really have to bring the tribal rubbish to literature section, please some of us find peace and calm here,just take your "Afonja"/"Biafra"/"ipod" to the politics section, you'd find your likeminds there,don't polute our peaceful place.
I beg you.

dawno2008
I never mentioned your name when commenting
If u don't like my comment
You should keep it to yourself and stop quoting me
Abeg dey your dey

PEACE

Okay, the ban got lifted so I'm going to try to post the last part of the update now

“Revered!”

Hearing Eghe’s voice was like been doused in an ice bath. I pulled tightly on my horse’s reins, shifting around in the saddle to locate him. It turned out I didn’t have to work too hard. He tore out from behind a thick wall of bushes, his arms and legs scoured and lacerated, his appearance just as unkempt as mine. He rode in, in a cavalry pose, leaning forward with his spear gripped in his right hand, the sharp point thrust ahead, while his other hand, controlled the reins.

“Eghe!” I sighed in relief. “I feared the Oro mami watas had swallowed you up and turned you into a lion.”

His horse pulled up beside mine. He flashed a grin at me. “I would only let that happen if turning into a lion was the only way to protect you, revered.”

I smiled at him, and he smiled back. He was like a breath of fresh air, easy, uncomplicated, and completely trustworthy. After the time I’d spent with Debisi, it was nice to have someone with me whose loyalty I did not question. I turned back to face Debisi and caught a glimpse of his pain just before he buried it. I remembered then what he’d said about me and Eghe, about how it had hurt him to know that I was taking Eghe with me to a den of iniquity. I sighed.

“It’s just a few kilometers ahead,” Debisi said, looking straight ahead. Then he dug his heel in and his horse went faster.

I followed after him, careful this time to make sure I didn’t lose track of Eghe. Eghe did the same, he was not letting me out of his sight again. I wondered if he was curious about where we were going, or curious about where I’d been. He didn’t ask though, it wasn’t his place, he was my tumbler. Our roles were defined. After we got married, what would Debisi’s role be? After we got married? I shook the thought away, we were still a long way from that. But I couldn’t help but puzzle over Debisi’s latest revelation. He wanted me to rule in Bono. Me.

I thought more on it as we drew closer to the mud clearing. Did I want to rule in Bono? The answer was no. I didn’t even have to think too long on it. Isan, my nation, was more than enough for me. Besides, I did not understand the Bono. I did not understand their tenet of verdure that prized albinism over dark skin. I did not understand the tenet that forbade intimacy between those of the same sexes. I did not understand it, and I had no desire to learn. It was funny, in all Debisi’s planning, he’d just assumed that I would want to rule his kingdom. That is, if he was being honest, if he wasn’t just saying what he thought I wanted to hear.

While we waited in the mud clearing for the Nuri guard, I found my gaze trailing to Debisi. If only I could read minds, I’d know once and for all what the truth of all of this was. In my entire life, I’d never once had any reason to doubt my instincts as I did now. I wanted desperately for that feeling of surety to return.

I heard the rustling of leaves and my gaze snapped to the trees.

“Where is your contact coming from?” I asked Debisi.

Debisi’s gaze followed mine. “Not from up there.”

Bumps rose on my skin and I felt an icy dread of foreboding crawl down my spine. I extended my right hand slowly towards Eghe. “I am unarmed,” I said evenly to him, without taking my gaze away from the trees and the slightly shaking branches. Cold leather pressed against my palm. I wrapped my hand around the hilt of the dagger and pulled it closer. Then I reached for the ends of my dress and tore a long slit through it, in the front and back.

“Show yourself!” I ordered.

There was no response, just the trembling branches.

“There’s no one there, Tan.” Debisi’s fearful voice sounded more like he was saying what he wished was true, and not necessarily what he believed.

I swerved sharply to the side, left hand extended out, and reached through the muck for a palm sized stone. I threw it into the trees, and moments later I heard a groan of pain. Without hesitation, I tightened my hold on the reins, forced my horse around, and dug my foot into its side. It galloped, heading right for the edge of the clearing. One minute I was racing back into the forest, the next something hard collided against my stomach and I was tumbling in the air.

I fell hard on my back and had the wind knocked out of me.

I blinked a few times before the double images floating above me converged into one. It took a while for the ringing in my ear to go down. I tried to push myself up and stumbled on the first try. I made it to my feet on the second. There was a sharp pain in my stomach, from whatever it was that had been used to knock me off my horse. I looked around and found my horse lying dead in a pool of its blood, with a long gash in its neck. I kept looking and saw that I’d been surrounded. I counted fifteen men. All with Nuri bag masks over their heads. They wore green khakis and had painted their chest a matching green, the color of the leaves they’d hidden behind. They hadn’t painted all of their skin though, they’d left the part of their chest with their aha exposed, to show their stratum. It also showed the light brown of Nuri coloring. These were Nuri men.

They encircled me. Another group had encircled Eghe and Debisi.

“Who is your leader?” Debisi asked.

There was no response. He switched over to Nuri then. I could not speak Nuri. I held the last Nulin nation in such contempt that I had refused to learn the language. It had seemed like a worthy statement to make at the time. Where was Tiwo when you needed a Nuri interpreter? Eghe couldn’t speak the language either. Only Debisi, and I had no idea what Debisi was saying. I knew some Nuri words, like their greetings, a few words just the basics really, but Debisi spoke too fast for me to pick any up.

“We need to fight!” Eghe growled in Bono.

Debisi shook his head. “That is not wise, let me try negotiating.” He returned to Nuri.

And She got banned again!

Obinnau, Divepen1

your attentions are needed here

Okay, so I just tried posting a portion of the last part with a different account (to test it out) and it was deleted and the account banned. This is like the second time it's happening in a week and it was twice with this update. I guess I'm not too surprised that it's happening with this story, lol, but this leads me to perhaps an inevitable conclusion: I'm going to try moving this story off Nairaland. I have a personal blog I've somewhat been playing around with for years now, so I'll just post the chapters on there from now on. Anyway, I'm going to try getting it set up and then I'll post a link on here to where this chapter (the full chapter) is posted.