Short Stories

                                                      The Deadly Artifact  

                                                      By Bruno Emeka Onuoha

CHAPTER ONE

The crows of some cocks could be heard as daylight swiftly displaces darkness. It was morning in the Village of Ezuhu, a peasant Community whose dwellers were mainly farmers.

The Village was straddled between a river and a hill. The river known as Iyi-ukwu provided an alternative source of living as most of the villagers fished in it.

The narrow foot-path leading to the Iyi -Ukwu river was filled with women and children that morning.

An eerie atmosphere seemed to hover over the Village. From a distance the hooting of a dove could be heard yet the sky above the village was empty as the birds were nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly, the sky darkened; with spontaneous lightening flashes illuminating the skyline and then thunder rumblings, just as the rain began with droplets and then full shower. This prompted many villagers who were on the road to scurry to nearby shelters.

The rain pattered for long and  subsided. Just then cries were heard somewhere in the village prompting many of the villagers to start running out of their various houses to know where the cries emanated.

“Where are you coming from?” quizzed a woman to an elderly man. “Ukandu…” The man muttered, shook his head thrice and proceeded on his way. "Ukandu... what happened to him? please tell me," The woman asked curiously. But that could not stop the man in his tracks as he walked on, still shaking his head. Thus the woman began heading towards the house of Mr Ukandu - the palm-wine tapper.

At the home of the Ukandu’s people were trooping in and out, with curiousity and gloom written on their faces respectively. “What is the matter?” quizzed a Villager to another. “my dear, what my eyes saw is incomprehensible. It is better you see for yourself”. she replied and walked away.

Inside Ukandu’s compound, people were already clustered at the entrance door. Obiageli, Ukandu’s wife was sitted on the bare floor. She spotted a well-structured nose, round but smooth cheeks which seem to have a permanent dimple on both sides. She was attired in black, from her bust region down, leaving her shoulder bare. Her hairs were unkempt though a scarf was tied round it. Tears were streaming from her somewhat oval face down onto her smooth dark skin.  Some women clustered around her offering words of consolation. Just then she became quiet and stared into empty space. Her mind races to the far end of the compound and onto the surrounding bushes as she switches her imagination randomly from one line of thought to the other. Just as she suddenly screamed in a painful voice.

“Ukandu eeeh! Odoemena eeeh!! Chijioke eeeeh!!!”calling the names of her husband and two sons. Her screams drew tears from the women around her who struggled to wipe tears with their wrappers.

 Shortly some elderly men began converging within the compound in trickles speaking in low tones, unease written on their faces.

Suddenly, two young men ran towards the elders panting. “Our elders, we saw the Chief Priest coming towards this direction” uttered one of them breathing heavily. The elders adjusted their sitting positions in anticipation of the visit of the reverred Priest.

Soon the Chief priest of Ezuhu shrine entered the compound. He was holding his staff of office - a walking stick with tiny bells attached that rang as he moves with it. He walked towards Ukandu’s house. As the women saw him approaching, they moved with Obiageli to an obscure corner.

Still on his tracks, the Chief priest stopped and then said: “I need six-strong men to follow me”, and continued on his track untill he reached the entrance to Ukandu's house and stopped. Then he stuck his staff on the ground and it stood with the attendant vibrations that made the bells to ring louder. He motioned to the young men to enter the house, while he rummaged his bag in search of something. At last he found it, as he brought out his hands, clutching in his palms a small metal container. From the container, he poured using his right hand, a powdery substance onto his left palm, raised it up towards the east, made some incantations and blew away the substance into the air and then moved inside the room where the corpses of Ukandu and his sons were laid.

Shortly, the Chief Priest emerged, followed by the men; with two men each carrying one the bodies. The Chief priest immediately grabbed his staff, turned and moved towards the exit of the compound, with some elders and the young men carrying the bodies following behind from a respectable distance.

As they moved out of the compound, and headed towards the evil forest where the bodies of Ukandu and his two sons were to be dumped - a place reserved for dead people who committed abomination in the land. Obiageli rented the air with cries.

(To be continued)

CHAPTER TWO

Towards dusk of that day, the Village town-crier’s gong and voice were heard. “Our people listen. The Village Head has directed that all elderly men and the youths should gather at his palace at dusk!” announced the town crier. “Any person who flaunts this directive would be penalized"  He beat the gong repeatedly as he moved from one location to another.

Along the villages’ major road, a man walked, singing a song in the local dialect. He attired a black trouser and a faded shirt with several patches and stitches on it. He was light skinned and  slim built. His neck was tattooed and running down the left side of his face, from ear to chin was a thin scar. He moved mechanically, his dull eyes seemingly unseeing and his skin was oily as though from the overflow of too much lubricating fluid.

Soon he came across another villager and stopped. “Look at him, greedy and evil man. Some of your type were smashed by Egbe-enigwe - the god of thunder today. It will reach your turn soon. Ogudoro, I said, if you don’t change your evil ways, you’ll die".

“Shut up drunkard. One day the gods will remember you too. This village has taken enough of your embarrassments Kosingo!” Ogudoro retorted. He was huge and looked tough, with a rock-hard body.His eyes were buried deep in their sockets and seem to have a hypnotizing effect on whoever they focused. He drew closer to kosingo with a clenched fist.

 “What are you waiting for? go ahead to hit me and see what it means to fight and survive two world wars”. Kosingo said.

"Which world war? Are you claiming participation in the two world wars just because your grandfather and your father fought in both wars respectively?” Ogudoro asked with a derisive grin.

“Yes I am. Is anything wrong with that? As the first and only son of my father, I am required to claim every legacy they left behind - including the two world wars. And to show you that I am a fighter take this” Kosingo stated and struck out a fist towards Ogudoro. But Ogudoro dodged the fist. Being the second in command in the villages' security council, he had acquired various combat trainings. Having missed the target, kosingo lost his balance and crashed to the ground like a felled tree. Ogudoro though would have loved to deal with him, but he walked away as Kosingo continue to issue series of threats while still on the ground.

Kosingo was a man known for drunkenness. But he always get the respect of the villagers because of his honesty and boldness in challenging some of the ills of his society. He had also earned the admiration of the villagers because of the his hardworking nature and constant advice to the young ones not to take after his drinking lifestyle.

At dusk the men gathered at the palace of the village head. Who came out shortly. He was a dark,tall man in his late fifties. He was wearing a royal regalia made of leopard skin with a big red cap. On his neck and wrists were beaded laces.

He walked across and sat down on his royal chair which has inscriptions of lions on it. At his sides stood two men who serve as bodyguards with sheathed cutlasses hanging on their girdles.

“My people I greet you all” The village head greeted in a monotone voice and paused for response from the villagers. And then continued: “You all know what happened in our Village today - as regards the death of our kinsman Ukandu, the palm wine tapper. So you have to pardon me for not presenting kolanuts now. It is due to the urgency of the matter". He paused again to clear his throat. “My reason for calling this meeting is for us to put heads together as to fashion out ways to deal with the issue at hand".

He then asked for opinions and someone raised his hand from where the cabinet chiefs were seated. It was Ekwedike’s - a dark stout man and the next in rank to the village head.  He stood up, cleared his throat and said, “Our people, one cannot be in the river and allow the foam from soap to enter his eyes. Our fore fathers also used to say that it is better to look for the black goat, while it is daylight, before darkness creeps in. I am therefore suggesting you tell our people how this whole drama started because many of us do not know what actually happened and then seek the advice of the chief priest on what to do to avoid the wrath of the gods".

"You have spoken well Ekwedike. It all began forty-market days ago, when two men from Isieke village visited my palace asking to see the chief priest of Ezuhu. I told them to come back in four market days, before which I would have informed the chief priest as he was not allowed by custom to see strangers without notice.

So, they left, but on the appointed date they didn't come. So the chief priest was annoyed, having left his shrine for my palace, to wait for the men.

“Three market days later, my officers informed me that the two men from Isieke in company with some white men were seen at the house of Ukandu. I therefore summoned Ukandu to find out their mission to his house. He told me they came to buy palm wine. I therefore over looked their visits, as they frequently visited our village. That was all I knew until the statues at the great shrine of Ezuhu and the two hunchbacked men who serve at the shrine disappeared.” The village head concluded.

After few suggestions from some cabinet chiefs, the elders agreed to invite some elders from Isieke to the meeting which was rescheduled the next day.