The Igbo Sorceress episode 1
THE IGBO SORCERESS – Episode 1
With his feet pounding the ground, he meandered through the thick bush like the Australian bush man. He wore only the blue Chelsea shorts he bought at Boundary Market, before he left Lagos for Lokp-nta. Being the diehærd Chelsea fan that he was, he made sure to update his collection of Chelsea kits every new season. “The beast has been captured! The beast has been captured!! The beast has been captured!!!” he shouted as he ran back to his village residential settlement. He was overwhelmed with joy to be part of the hunt and to be amongst his kit and kin. He would give anything not to leave Lokp-nta again. He was seventeen years of age, and all of those years had been spent in Lagos. He didn’t know who his father was and had no siblings. Whenever he asked his mother where they came from and where his father was, she would reply, “Anyi bu ndi Igbo, (we are Igbos). As for your father, he left us for his bevy of sluts.” His mother had frowned when he joined the band which went in search of the mad cow. She had felt the behavior of the cow had something to do with maneuvers of Nwanyi nmuo – the Igbo sorceress. She had chosen to keep her feelings to herself so she won’t look stupid in the eyes of her relatives.
There she stood just as Daniel made it out of the woods, scre-ming at the top of his voice. “Shut up Daniel! It is not a beast! It’s only a mad cow!” Maureen cautioned. “Do you have a dictionary at all? Why don’t you look up the meaning of ‘beast’, before you attempt to correct me?” Daniel breathed as he sped past her. “Lagos fools! When you say ‘beast’ the idea people get is a lion, crocodile or a serpent. Learn to say what you mean, anu ohia (wild animal!)” Maureen shouted after him. Daniel ignored her and continued to shout, “The beast has been captured! The beast has been captured!! The beast has been captured!!!”
Thirty minutes earlier
“I have saved you from death many times. Have I not? I need you to do me a favor. Let the men in pursuit of you catch you.” Adaku said to the mad cow. “Mmuuu!” the cow bleated, pounded its hoofs on the ground angrily and blasted a rush of breath from its nostrils; indications of its dissent. “Calm down mad cow, I am not called the sorceress for nothing. I promise, I will get you out of the village alive. I cannot enter the village on my own; I need a host to get me into it and you t perfectly. I have to get into that village and give them a taste of my rage. No one hurts a sorceress and walks free,” Adaku said as she inched closer to the cow. Raising her hand, she began to stroke the head of the cow. The cow submitted by lowering its blood stained horns – vestiges of its last human victim. In an ash, Adaku transformed herself into a resplendent fume and wafted into the nostrils of the cow. The cow stood to its feet and ran amok a few minutes and then sat still on the ground, breathing heavily.
Ngozika’s House
Ngozika was on the balcony of her four-bedroom bungalow feeding her newborn baby. in,side the house, five-year-old Ifeoma was busy playing with her younger brother, Gerald. Suddenly she covered her ears with both hands and began to scre-m in a high pitch voice, “Arrrgh! Arrrgh!! Arrrgh!!!” It was as if Ifeoma was trying to shut out mystical voices from her ears. Gerald took cover under the bed in fear. Ngozika almost threw her baby away while she hastily tried to get up to her feet. She had only a wrapper around her body, she did not care that it fell off as she made a dash for her children’s room.
Ifeoma was on the floor scre-ming with her eyes wide open as though an invisible force held her gaze through some magical spell. Ngozika grabbed her daughter with one hand while she held her baby with the other. “Jesus! Jesus!! The blood of Jesus! I plead the blood of Jesus!!!” she shouted. Ifeoma seemed to calm at the mention of that name. Tears pooled from her eyes as she shook from head to toes. “What is it Ifeoma? What did you see?” Ngozika asked, p-nting heavily. Ifeoma looked sideways and blurted, “The mad cow…the mad cow should not return to our village! They should kill it in the bush!”
“Another vision; I see,” Ngozika said thoughtfully. Then she looked around her children’s room and realized she had been stark unclad. In shame, she bolted out of the room. When she returned, she had dressed up and had her baby tied to her back. “Where is your brother?” Ngozika asked. Ifeoma pointed toward the bed. Gerald almost immediately crawled out, looking terrified. “It’s okay; it’s okay my son. Your sister is ne now. She had one of those her visions… I need the two of you to come with me now. We have to tell Nze about what she just saw,” she said and hurried out of the room, her two children tagging along behind her. At the balcony her children took hold of her hands after she had locked her iron door – an attempt to assure themselves they were safe.
Nze Emeka’s House
With half run, Ngozika and her children made entry into Nze Emeka’s compound, looking the part of those who had seen a ghost. “Nze birikwe o! (Nze may you live long!) Ngozika greeted. “May you live long too Ngozika. Why do you look this much afraid? Is your husband okay?” Nze Emeka asked, having taken note of the look of his guests.
“Nze the mad cow should not be brought into our village!” “And why is that?!” “Something evil will happen if that is done!” “The elders have decided and I am in support of that! By the way, who said so?” Ngozika looked down at her daughter and replied, “My daughter, she just had a terrible vision. If the cow is not killed in the bush and allowed to come into our village, it will bring some evil with it. Please Nze, my daughter’s visions have always come to pass. I beg of you, give order that the cow be killed out in the bush!” “Hahahahaha!” Nze Emeka guffawed. “Women, you never stop to amaze me. Do you really expect me to overrule the decision of the elders because of the dream a little girl had?”
Ngozika shook her head vigorously and said almost with tears in her eyes, “Nze, it was not a dream. It was an open vision. She saw something evil. Please give the order!” “Have you not heard, a runner from the bush, the Lagos returnee, has brought word that the cow has been captured.
The wh0le village has almost assembled at the town hall. There the mad cow will be killed in full view of the village. After that no one will ever live in fear of the mad cow…” “It is not mad,” little Ifeoma said deantly. “What did you say little girl?” Nze asked. “The cow is not mad,” Ifeoma replied. “Little seer, if the cow is not mad, please tell me, what is wrong with it then?” “She made the cow to look mad. She wants to use the cow and return to the village. She has a plan, an evil plan. I saw it,” Ifeoma said boldly. “Who is this ‘she’ you speak of, little girl?” “I cannot speak of her name, she will get me,” Ifeoma replied, holding onto her mother as if afraid of the ‘she’. “Please listen to the little child Nze, her visions have not failed to come to pass for once.” “You are not listening to yourself Ngozika. Do you really want me to take the words of this little girl seriously and give order that the cow be killed in the bush? We are talking about a cow which gored two pregnant women to death, trampled three children to death and killed two elderly people in its mad rampage through the village! Look at our farms and you will shudder at how much havoc one cow has wreaked.”
“One cow is not capable of that Nze, something is using the cow against us! Please listen to us!” Ngozika pleaded. “Go home and lock yourself securely behind the door. Thankfully your husband is still at Umuahia, he cannot get hurt either.”
Just then two young men arrived, brandishing their machetes menacingly. “Nna anyi, the cow has arrived at the town hall,” said one of them. “Ngozika, as you can see; it is time for me to leave. Go home and lock yourself and your children behind your iron doors,” Nze Emeka said derisively. “I will do just that; but remember that the blood of our people who will die this day, shall be on your hands!” “Yes Ngozika, let it be on my hands.”
“What is it Nze?” asked Kenneth, one of the two young men sent to fetch Nze Emeka. “It is nothing Kenneth, just the ramblings of a scared woman and her little daughter,” replied Nze Emeka. While Nze Emeka and Kenneth bantered, Ifeoma pulled at her mother’s hand and whispered, “He will not come back alive.” Kenneth was sure he heard what Ifeoma said to her mother, and so he turned toward her and asked, “What did you just say Ify?” Ifeoma covered her mouth with one hand and looked down to the ground.
“Nze, if this little girl has seen anything concerning our village, please take her to the elders,” Kenneth requested, sounding a little bothered. “Don’t be a woman Kenneth!” Nze barked. “Do not be offended Nze, I know this little girl and her family, her visions are like the words of a prophet. They have never failed for once.” Nze Emeka sighed and stormed out of his compound with the other young man. “What did your daughter see, Ngozika?” asked Kenneth. “Come with us, I need to get home and lock and the children and myself behind the door.” Kenneth lifted Gerald and they all hurried back to Ngozika’s house.
TBC