Chapter 1
We opened on the plains as Bini youths chased after a powerful witch, the last of her kind. She was tall, slender and had a long dreadlocked hair. The scent of arcane spices oozing from her body was aromatically enchanting, prompting the mob to cover their noses to block out the supposed spell. She carried a basket woven from dried palm stems; in the basket were her crying babies, twins (a boy and a girl). Despite the weight, she ran with remarkable speed, leaving the mob fearing that she might've used a speed spell on them; because amongst them were sprinters, and yet they couldn't catch an old lady carrying the weight of two babies.
The witch's name was Amieta. Prior to the lethal chase, she received a message from a palace informant that the Oba, the king of the kingdom of Bini, and his cabinet had voted to execute all the witches in the kingdom, starting with her. But before she could take her valuables and escape, a mob of angry youths were already sneaking through the bush near her house intending to catch her unaware. Sensing their presence she grabbed her children and escaped through the back door. The mob's failure to catch her even after surrounding her house sparked debate, fueling speculation that the witch had employed an obscurity spell, and truly she did. Some youths hiding nearby in a bush, closely monitoring the back door seemed to corroborate this theory and they blamed it on each other. "Enough finger-pointing!" a soldier, the leader of the mob shouted. "We've got a witch to catch!" He said, refocusing the mobs determination.
Witch Amieta was a respected witch doctor, who by her powers had healed stubborn ailments and diseases. Her gifts included clairvoyance, hypnotism, and fortune-telling. Additionally, she was an herbalist, a healer and a necromancer, and people loved her gifts and respect for nature. However, her family had a deep-seated feud with The Oba, and people rumored that this was behind the current campaign against her. No one was entirely sure, but some believed it was. The Oba's cabinet accused Amieta of being involved in children's sacrifice and possessing a dark magical elixir she intended to use in enslaving people's minds and make them slave to her will, a claim many found absurd; despite this, the Oba managed to influence the youths' fervor in eliminating the witches.
Amieta ran from the angry mob not because she wanted to save her own life, but because she thought that her beautiful children were too young and innocent to experience the cruelty of humanity. She ran into a forest called Agboveri forest, thinking they'd be spared given the laws guiding the forest. It was forbidden to hunt in the forest, because it was the sole property of Ogodo the god of Bini kingdom. Her eyes darted around as she panted heavily and parted leaves to make her way through the thick rain forest. Everywhere was calm in the forest except of course the chirping of different wild birds and monkey calls, which was typical in a monkey-infested forest. As she pushed through the dense rain forest, she came across a gigantic tree, and because she couldn't hear any intruding footsteps, she first scanned around before setting down the basket containing her crying babies to ease her stressed hand. She leaned against the tree, putting her left hand on her chest, thinking that the mob had gone back in respect of the law guiding the forest. As a witch, she understood the language of birds and knows each bird by their physical and spiritual abilities. She can understand the flirtatious chirp of birds down to their nervous mourns. Some flap of their wings and the clicking of their beaks could be a message only a calm and peaceful mind could decipher. And that very hooting from an owl that moment was clearer and more distinct than every other sound in the forest. She closed her eyes to calmly receive the message from the owl but her heart was beating so fast and her breath heavy, hindering a connection between her and the bird, even though she had said a spell that could connect them. Connection spells wouldn't work in an agitated mind such as hers. When she opened her eyes; an arrow was flying right to her face. She moved her head. The arrow struck into the tree.
As she ran, the mob shot arrows at her but none hit her. Of all places; agboveri forest was the least she expected the Oba's mischievous hunters to be. The mob was even more enthusiastic in the forest than anywhere they'd chased her through. The forest was the sole property of Ogodo the great god of Bini Kingdom, and was home for different wild animals. The mob chased her through the forest in an attempt to kill her and curb witchcraft from Bini kingdom forever. Amieta ran into the sacred shrine which was located deep into the forest. She kneeled in front of Ogodo's stone sculpture and with teary eyes; she presented her twin babies before Ogodo asking him to protect them. Her eyes were red with snot dripping down her nose. The mob's eyes widened in shock and they lowered their bows, stunned that Amieta would dare to enter the sacred shrine uninvited. At the sight of her in the shrine, the mob halted and glared angrily at her. They knew they wouldn't dare enter the sacred shrine uninvited, the consequence has always been instant death; it was believed that Ogodo would strike to death anyone who entered the sacred shrine uninvited.
Gigantic trees surrounded the shrine yard, and due to the densely intertwined branches above, one could barely see the sky. Thousands of bats roosted in the tree cavities, and it was believed that they were the messengers of Ogodo who monitor the surroundings of the forest and bring reports to the gods. The shrine layout was carefully arranged, with three large huts at the rear belonging to female shrine servants and three at the front belonging to male servants. The huts had a dual room design, with doors at both the front and back. The stone house with several rooms served as a sacred repository for ancient artifacts, sculptures or ritualistic items, stood a short distance away from the male quarters. The walls had unique and intricate carvings of different spiritual signs and languages. The entryway contained a large six feet tall wooden sculpture of Ogodo, intricately carved with heavy beads on the neck, bead bangles on the wrist and anklets on the legs, all complemented by a wooden staff. The inner room contained a large bronze sculpture of Ogodo, and a large stone slab was placed by the right side of the sculpture, engraved on it were ancient signs and languages that no one, not even the chief priest could read or understand. By the left side of the sculpture were well preserved lion fossil believed to be Ogodo's forest guardian at a time when he walked the mortal realm. Few yards away from the house was a giant stone sculpture of Ogodo and behind it was where witch Amieta hid her twins and then came out to face her chasers gnashing as though she would grind her teeth to dust. She wailed in anguish, her loud cries swallowing the cry of her babies. The mob was standing outside the shrine open mouthed, and none had the courage to enter the shrine for fear of being strangled by Ogodo. They watched open mouthed as witch Amieta walked out of the shrine unharmed. They glanced at each other's faces and uncertainty was written on them, and their eye balls nearly popped out of their sockets. With those reactions, it was easier to guess their thoughts, and of course, they were all thinking the same thing. They wanted to ask that question pressing hard at the tip of their tongues but their mouth was too heavy to even utter a word.
"I curse the age of your generation, the brightness of your light, the wealth of your community and the future of your children. Peace will cease to be, happiness and laughter will soon be forgotten and your young ones will starve. You will continue to live in fear and agony just as you made me and my kind, until the seed…" witch Amieta was saying with hot tears running down her cheeks.
The guts of her saying such things were even more exasperating than what they accused her of but they were highly incapacitated by their fear of Ogodo. A man from the mob who was skeptical, doubting Ogodo's ability to strangle anyone who invaded the shrine, given that witch Amieta survived, stretched the string of his bow and shot witch Amieta in the chest before she could finish cursing; she fell back into the sacred shrine and died. The man who shot her froze into stone and began to melt away until the ashes was dissolved to the ground, out of fear, the mob abandoned their weapons and fled.
When the report went to the Oba that the famous Witch has been killed. He threw a big feast to celebrate the news. The Oba was a tall slender man with broad shoulders. His hair and beard was white even though he was in his mid forties. The Oba organized a feast to celebrate the news. In his speech he addressed his subjects.
"Good people of Bini, as you all know, over the years I've been on a campaign to curb evil from our land, the witches have been a thorn to our flesh, those who practiced dark magic, thereby cursing our beautiful land with their evil practices; our land died from their magic, our crops yielded no food, our trees became barren and worst of all, our children were fuel for their stinking magic. I banned those practice with a penalty of death, you're lucky you have me as the Oba otherwise the witches with their dark magic would've killed this paradise and intentionally enslave our minds. But the good thing is, I hunted them, I killed them, and I have good news for you all, they are no more!" the Oba said in excitement. The people who came to celebrate with him cheered in happiness.
The Bini kingdom is known for its beauty and its exceeding prosperity, a kingdom renowned for its exceptional artistic sensibility, agricultural excellence and its remarkable architectural advancement. Their decorative arts and signs were a beauty to behold. And because of their ability to produce large quantities of farm produce coupled with their techniques in food processing and storage made them achieve diplomatic peace with their neighbors especially the kingdom of Agumba.
The Oba was seated on his throne smiling while watching the women dance on stage; he wore a white gown draped in elegance, covering one arm and flowing freely down the ankle. His crown was made of interwoven pearls of the highest quality. And series of red beads adorned his neck, his wrist and ankle. His chiefs were seated beside him wearing a white overflowing skirt. Beads of different sizes adorned their necks. The Oba was nodding to the flutes enchanting pitch, the drums, xylophone, and other traditional musical instruments were cooking a sweet music coupled with the foot work of dancers kept the crowd in a spell of entertainment. They were drinking the best palm wine smiling at the dancers. Some were tapping their feet and nodding to the rhythm of the music. They were celebrating the death of their enemy witch Amieta, which they believed was the nastiest of all the witches. Witch Amieta was the only witch who had criticized the Oba's misconducts and challenged him especially when he made a decree allowing people to hunt for fun and not for purpose, activity that had been forbidden for centuries. But at the depth of entertainment, when the dancers' beads bounced violently on their twerking waists, the oyo rattled in the rhythm of the song. The chief priest of Ogodo, a tall slender man in his seventies with grey receding hair lines entered the arena, fidgeting and murmuring some incantations. The music died down and the dancers left the stage. The Oba was seated on his throne bemused and thought that the priest shouldn't have come in his presence in a time like that. He hated him and the news he always brought. The priest is renowned for bad news, and of course he brought bad news just like always. He said some spells; the clay pot balancing on his head began to steam; he shook the small ovu in his hand at the faces of the Oba's guests. "When a bird has eaten and had its fill, it will challenge its god to a fight. A fly that does not heed the warnings of the sun will become a meal for the toad. When the heart is making merry, the head wanders aimlessly. Whoever touches Ogodo must feel the shock," The priest spoke mostly in parables throwing the crowd in confusion. He fidgeted swiftly as though he was dancing to a tone only him could hear, his eyes darting angrily around the arena. The priest put his left hand to his ear, as if straining to hear a whispered secret. "Who is beating an innocent child," he asked, his gaze sweeping over the Oba and his chiefs. "The fawn lies abandoned, bleating helplessly, as the beast licks its mother's blood from its mouth," he was saying and pacing around. Perhaps it was the spirit who was playing some mystical music, his feet were swift and his right arm shook the small red ovu, and despite his moves, the small clay pot stood firm as if it was a natural extension of his head. The pot steamed as though his head heated whatever was in it. He spoke in a strange language that the royal guests and the cabinet chiefs began to murmur in confusion, though the Oba and some wise chiefs read through the lines of the parables and understood the message it portrayed. Two young chiefs who couldn't pay attention to understand the message tried to calm the agitated guests who were trying to flee the arena, but the hot steam from the priest's clay pot turned them into stone, out of fear, the Oba's guest fled. The priest approached the throne and whispered into the Oba's ear. The Oba raised his eyebrows, shocked. When he wanted to speak, the priest vanished and immediately, the cabinet chiefs who were turned to stone were restored. Their joy suddenly turned to sadness and they began to whisper, no one kills anyone who takes refuge in Ogodo's shrine, but sadly, witch Amieta was killed right in front of the shrine. Ogodo seeks vengeance and if he's not appeased before sunrise, his hands will fall heavily on Bini and her people.