chapter 2

The journey from Umuolu to Umuoku was a tough one for the young children of Echi who he had purposely left. They were lucky enough to hide in a bush when the warriors of Umunsogbu came looking for them and burnt the whole of Umuolu to the ground. If not for a bird that whistled past them, they would have been caught and driven to slavery like the rest of the children.

Ofu came back from urinating, moving like a fallen warrior. He squinted his eyes, searching around and looking for any sign that would spark a run but there was none. There was no strange figure looming around or any warrior setting a trap for them. He stretched his hands and sat on the wrapper that was lying on the grass with eyes still watching for any dangerous movements. Still, there were none. A slight cough startled him. It came from Abuo. He moved towards Abuo and covered his mouth as quickly as possible with a cupped palm to prevent him from coughing.

“Remove your hands from my mouth,” Abuo said, trying to remove Ofu hands from his mouth.

“Calm down and reduce your voice. The warriors of Umunsogbu can be searching the bushes to find us,” Ofu replied.

Abuo stopped coughing and Ofu removed his hands from his mouth.

“Where is Ato?” Ofu asked.

“He has gone to pluck some fruits from the fruit trees behind us.”

“Which trees are you talking about?”

“The mangoes trees we passed. Don't you remember?”

“Yes I think I remember.”

They sat silently until the grasses moved violently and a grass cutter came out, running passed them with a speed that terrified them. Ofu stood up and looked above the short grasses that shielded them from being discovered by the warriors of Umunsogbu.

“I am afraid,” Ofu said. “I can't believe Ato went alone to pluck those mangoes.”

Abuo dragged Ofu down as he heard another strange sound which was caused by another grass cutter that was slithering round the bushes.

“Your head is meant to be below here and not up there,” Abuo said.

“True! I was just trying to make sure that there were no warriors around here.”

Ofu sat down and spread his legs on top of the wrapper. Tiny brown insects passed him with stiff regular steps. He followed the insects with his eyes until they disappeared into the green leaves. Ato remembered when his father had told him one certain time that ants were the king of insects when they saw a pile of brownish-red ants marching in accord with the crumbs of food stored in their invertebrate backs.

“Do you think that father has died?” Ofu asked, turning towards Abuo.

“Father is a brave man who has fought many wars for Umuolu. There is no doubt that he will survive,” Abuo replied confidently.

“What of those men that burnt down our village. How can they burn our village down if we have not lost the war?”

“Umunsogbu warriors probably managed to get away from our warriors but that does not mean they have struck our warriors down. What if the gods wanted our village to be burnt down?”

“I doubt that the gods would derive joy in our downfall. I feel Isiewu must have been informed by the gods about our destruction. I wonder why he did not let some men to stay and guard the village.”

“Our chief priest is a fraud who calls himself the eyes of the gods,” Abuo said.

Mockingly, Abuo let out a jestful laughter. It was sharp and quick.

“I saw Isiewu running away when a man, more like a messenger, informed him about our warriors that were slaughtered during the war,” Abuo added.

“Are you sure of what you just said?” Ofu asked. “Did the messenger say that all our warriors were killed?”

“Maybe all of them,” Abuo replied boldly. He was quickly adjusting to his new life - run and hide.

“Father must have been killed too,” Ofu declared.

“But he said he wouldn't die.”

“All lies. Since father was among the warriors who went to fight against the people of Umunsogbu, it is very certain that he must be among those that were killed.”

Ofu did not look as if he felt the pain of Echi's death because long ago he had accepted it. He knew that his father would die during the war because of how his face went blank when they talked about the war.

“So you are sure that father has died in the war?” Ofu asked.

“I am almost perfectly sure that he is gone.”

“So does that mean we are all alone like orphans?”

“We are not all alone. Besides, the gods are our fathers so we shouldn't see ourselves as orphans.”

The insinuation that Echi had been killed in the war between Umuolu and Umunsogbu left a fatal blow in the young heart of Ofu. He cried because he had never expected that the messenger who brought the message of the death of Umuolu warriors was also indirectly telling him that his father was dead too. Ofu stopped crying when Ato came back in the evening with some mangoes he kept inside Echi's goatskin bag he had carried along with him before they left Umuolu.

“Why did you run away?” Ofu asked as Ato dropped the goatskin bag on the grass.

“I was hungry and both of you were also hungry. We would have had aching stomach tomorrow morning if I had not taken the decision to risk my life just to bring us these mangoes,” Ato replied. His voice sounded rigid.

“Did you see any warrior of Umunsogbu?” Ofu asked.

“I saw only a few men just moving around. They were hunters who had come to hunt grass cutters. Nothing big to worry about.”

“Did they see you?” Ofu asked again. He spoke quickly while Ato spoke slowly with little rush when he said his words.

“One of the men saw me when I was coming down from the mango tree,” Ato replied. He raised his voice higher. “He asked me what I was doing in the forest all alone and I told him that I wanted to bring some fruits for my brothers who were badly wounded. I also told him what happened to us and he suggested that i should meet him in the same tree I plucked the mangoes by tomorrow morning with both of you. I believe he will take care of us.”

“Do you really trust this stranger?” Abuo asked.

“We have no choice.”

Abuo stared at Ato and then at Ofu who was looking furious. He wanted Ato to tell Ofu that they would be happy to meet with the stranger tomorrow and accept his help but he didn't say anything. 

“The man promised he will take good care of us. He promised he will give us some food and a hut to live in,” Ato continued then stopped. His white teeth gleamed and formed a smile.

“Which village is he from?” Ofu asked. He spoke more like Echi, confident and bold.

“He is from Umuigwe,” Ato replied.

“There is nothing wrong with Umuigwe and I believe he is a nice man,” Abuo cut in.

“It is not in your place to decide if he is nice or not. The gods will decide that,” Ofu replied.

Abuo sighed as though this was the right time he needed to tell Ofu that all of them were born on the same day, as though this was the right time to inflict some sense inside Ofu's head.

“I am going with Ato,” Abuo said confidently.

“We are not going anywhere,” Ofu blurted.

“Why can't we go?” Ato asked shrilly. “The hunter is a good man who has decided to help us.”

“You should have done the right thing and told him that you didn't want his help,” Ofu replied.

“But that is a lie! Why should I reject his help when it appears that we are not doing fine,” Ato said.

“We should follow this good hunter,” Abuo adviced.

“No! we should only follow the gods,” Ofu replied firmly.

Abuo dropped his hands down. Hands that had been kept high for a long time. He did not turn to stare at Ofu instead he took his gaze far away to a tall tree with branches spread out proudly.

“Ato! We are going to meet our mother's people very soon. Our mother's people are in Umuoku and not Umuigwe,” Ofu said calmly.

“How are we sure that we are following the right way to our mother's village?” Abuo asked with quizzical eyes.

“Father, carefully described the path to our mother's village. He explained the way to mother's people clearly when I asked him about it.”

“And you believe him?”

“Yes! I believed him.”

“Ofu! Father can lie. Didn't he lie to us when he told us he would return from the war? Where is he now?” Abuo paused and touched Ofu on the shoulders. “Father is dead now. He is gone and there is nothing he says now that can be trusted or proven as true. The gods knows that our father was a good man that was why they have sent a good man in form of a hunter to us. Ofu! This is our opportunity to stop hiding and running away from Umunsogbu warriors. The war has ended and no one in Umuigwe knows we are the children of Echi so we will be treated well but in Umuoku, some of the people know about how our mother was abducted by our people and we may be treated badly there. Let us follow this good hunter and end this fear once and for all. He is our only hope of surviving right now.”

Ofu said nothing. He watched as Abuo and Ato bend down and crossed their legs. They were eating the fruits that Ato had laboured to get. He picked one of the mangoes and ate it slowly with no appetite. Later, he dropped it and laid down on top of the wrapper, bending his head and allowing the weight of Echi's words to descend on him. To some extent, Abuo and Ato were right in some aspects. The people of Umuoku might decide to kill them if they found out that they were the sons of a man who married their daughter against their wish. He started to brood slowly, and only came out from his thoughts when he heard the loud whisper of Ato. He did not believe it was Ato until he turned to see the determined face of his last brother staring at him.

“Will you go with me?” Ato asked. The sun had slowly departed, making way for the crescent moon that glisted in the sky.

“None of us is going anywhere. We will move together and find Umuoku together,” Ofu replied. 

“Umuoku might not be safe for us. You know what am saying is true.”

Ofu paused and frowned, “Umuoku people might punish us for the sins of our father. They can treat us badly but they won't kill us because we are part of them. We share a part of their flesh and blood.”

“You are stubborn and you don't listen. It is wise for us to follow the man from Umuigwe,” Ato defended his words boldly. 

Ato turned and looked at Abuo. Thin lines of tremor had encamped around his shoulders. They were lines of fear. Lines that spoke of how him and Ofu had attempted to kill him when Umunsogbu's warriors had blazed fire on their father's hut.

“As long as I am the first son, no one is following that man from Umuigwe,” Ofu declared.

“You can't force me to do what I don't want to do,” Ato retorted.

“Try my patience and you will see how evil I can be.”

Ato did not argue with Ofu again and this made him feel better because the silence and darkness surrounding him kept his mind at ease. It made him think better, more faster than he ever did.

In the morning, Ato was gone. He carried Echi's goatskin bag along with him. He left alone because he knew nothing would change Ofu's heart. His face was filled with grief as he touched Abuo for the last time. It was his last symbol. The symbol of the unity he shared with his brothers. When Ofu woke up and discovered Ato was gone. He did not feel angry neither did he feel sober for his absence. Rather, he tapped Abuo gently and folded the wrapper they shared together before they continued their journey. It was still very early in the morning but they had to leave quickly for fear of being discovered by an angry warrior.

“We were lucky,” Abuo said as they leaned on a large palm-tree with long branches.

“How were we lucky?” Ofu asked.

“Snakes!” Abuo echoed. “We could have been bitten by large snakes in the forest.”

“I doubt that. Our gods are very much alive.”

“I thought so too.”

Abuo picked a small stone and threw it at a lizard that darted quickly as soon as the stone touched its fragile body.

“Do you miss Ato?” Ofu asked.

“He had his own decisions to make. He chose to follow the hunter and leave us. Should I miss him for not taking me along?”

“I knew that he would leave. I just sensed it.”

“It doesn't matter now,” Abuo said absent-mindedly.

Abuo skin was more lighter than the rest of his brothers who had darker skin colours. Sometimes people thought he was from a different mother and often used it to tease Echi.

“How was your third night away from home?” Ofu asked, looking at Abuo. 

“The gods made it good.” Abuo managed to say. “What of you?”

“Mine was bad,” Ofu said scratching his head. “I had a terrible dream last night about our father.”

“So he still disturbs you after he has gone to reunite with our mother?”

“Not really.”

Abuo took a small stone and threw it at another lizard that was speeding past them.

“Father was not disturbing me. He was only apologizing for leaving us alone,” Ofu said.

“Why won't he beg for leaving us? He is in a better place than where we are right now,” Abuo said and sprung up.

He quickly ran to where the lizard was. He had gotten the lizard. The reptile was shaking its tail because of the impact the stone had made on its slimy body. Abuo smashed the lizard with his right foot then carried it on its tail before returning back to the tree.

“Finally, I have gotten one of these lizards that keeps running around like a mad dog,” Abuo said.

“Just throw that thing away. We need to start going.”

“But I just caught it now.”

“Set the lizard free. It is already dead.”

Abuo took Ofu advice and threw the lizard as far away as possible. He brushed his hands against each other to wipe the dirt that had surface on his palms.

“Where are we going to follow now?” Abuo asked as he looked at the two opposite paths that both seemed to point towards Umuoku.

“This must be the path that father told me about,” Ofu said.

“Which path are you talking about?”

“This path,” Ofu said and pointed at a path with scanty trees by its side.

Abuo followed Ofu through the path, moving both legs from one tree to another. The path was smooth. It was not like the usual paths in Umuolu which had sharp stones scattered around the ground like abandoned termites who had just lost one of their colonies.

“How far is Umuoku from here?” Abuo asked.

“Not too far from here according to the way father described it. We are getting closer,” Ofu replied.

“There must be something wrong with this path. It is filled with stupid insects that loves sticking to someone's foot. Are you sure that father did not make a mistake when he was describing this path to you?” Abuo asked.

Abuo raised his hands and slapped an ant that was piercing his knee cap. He hissed as he watched the ant fall down to the ground.

“You are slowly becoming like Ato. If your mouth is not talking about how tired you are, you must complain about insects. If it is not insects, it is hunger. I am just tired of your constant complains,” Ofu said. His voice frightened another buzzing insect who quickly aborted its mission to sting Abuo. “I have a feeling that you and Ato don't like father. I just knew it. All you do is play like a man with no future plan. Watch those insects that you are complaining about. Look at how determined they are to sting you. Though you may slap time or kill them but they will still return back to complete their mission but look at you that is wiser than them, you cannot simply bear a little pain and follow me to Umuoku. Instead you want to act like Ato, you want to behave like a coward and run away in the night. You are free to run away anytime you want, it is your choice.”

“I was not planning on running away,” Abuo retorted.

Ofu turned and surveyed the land way ahead of them. 

“You don't have to lie and deceive yourself. I saw how you felt when I told Ato that we were all going to Umuoku. You wanted to follow him at that moment. You would have ran away if the opportunity had come but selfish Ato did not think it wise to drag you along in his solo adventure.”

'You' and 'Running away' were the words Ofu kept repeating as they walked slowly. Together. The words were so familiar with his lips that anytime he turned to Abuo in annoyance, the first words that came out were those two distinct words. Different from each other but yet connected in some way that made his passion for their unfaithfulness make sense.

“I love father very much,” Abuo said as they reached the center of two adjoining paths.

“Let us rest on that tree over there. We will continue our journey tomorrow,” Ofu replied.

Abuo silently laid down on the scattered leaves that were dispersed on the ground. Ofu was close to him, resting his back on the tall tree. He knew Ofu would say anything just to taunt him, just to make him feel that he didn't love Echi enough but he let himself believe that he did.

“Why do you hate father so much?” Ofu asked. 

The question did not startle Abuo because he was expecting it.

“What makes you feel I hate our father?”

“Because you enjoy disobeying our father instructions.”

“How?”

“Why have you let the evil spirits to dwell with you?” Ofu asked, ignoring Abuo's question.

Abuo did not reply.

“Oh! You have refused to speak because what I say is the truth and your conscience is judging you. People can disobey their father, disregard him and even dishonour him. That is why the gods are up there, to put things into order down here,” Ofu said and removed his head away from the tree before running his arms around Abuo's neck. “Ato Is a fool who thinks running away is bravery. I just want to let you know that he was the one that made the plan to kill you when Umunsogbu warriors attacked our village. All those good deeds you see him doing are all covered with bad intentions. He is a fraud and a trickster who believes he can mess with your mind and get away with it. But you are different from him. You are special and have been chosen by the gods to be a diviner and also a chief priest who would carry their message and help his people. I am insisting that we go to Umuoku so that your gifts won't be exploited by other people but by our mother's people.”

“The gods have never chosen me to carry their message. It is just one of those Isiewu's lies that he tells to deceive our father.”

Abuo felt more at ease talking about Isiewu's prophecies than their dead father.

“Isiewu can be a joker but not a liar. Most of his prophecies have come to pass. How about the one he prophesied about our mother's death after giving birth to us, didn't it come to pass,” Ofu said and let go of Abuo's broad shoulders. “I love you as a brother and as a diviner specially chosen by the gods. What you possess is a rare privilege.”

Abuo let the leaves that he was playing with slip out if his hands without hesitation. Nobody has ever condemned and cherished him at the same time like Ofu did. Sometimes he felt Ofu must have mourned too much for their dead mother, Olanna which have affected his thoughts and made him act against anything that condemned her.

“We must sleep now. It is getting late,” Abuo said after some silence.

“You are now acting with your right senses,” Ofu complimented.

“You have made me understand how important going to Umuoku is for both of us. Hopefully, we will get there by tomorrow. By the mercy of the gods, we will reach there before nightfall.”

“I knew you would change your mind if I gave you a piece of advice. Now, the rotten brother in our midst is gone, we must start afresh again. I know father will be happy wherever he is. He will be happy that we would meet mother's people tomorrow.”

Ofu smiled and closed his eyes as he heard the sound of the insects that had come back to take their vengeance on Abuo. Tomorrow before they leave, he thought, he will make sure they did a blood covenant to express the bond they shared as brothers.

Ofu felt something pulling at his legs, just before the sun had started sharing its magnificent light. It was morning of the next day. He woke up from his long slumber only to find a little ant circling rount the ball of his big toe of his right foot. He sat down and slapped his foot and watched as the ant sprawled on the ground.

He turned and looked at the spot where Abuo laid. It was free. Abuo was gone. He gave a loud hiss of frustration and stood up. It was a painful hiss that stung him. Somewhere within him, he blamed himself for shutting the voice that was telling him that Abuo would follow in the footsteps of Ato. He let himself believe that both of them were afraid and hated Echi. It made him feel better knowing that he was the good son among them who did not disregard his father.

He folded his wrapper, conscious of his loneliness. He took a deep breath, his strength was failing him but yet he wanted to just move. Three quick looks in opposite directions, he still could not figure out the right path to Umuoku. After some futile efforts of searching through his memories, he just picked a path and started moving. Whether it was the right or wrong path, he did not care. All he knew, all he was aware of were the movements of his legs. They were moving in a particular direction he was not sure about but the intensity and zeal to move was there, imbibed in the blood that flowed through his veins. 

After sometime, he was jogging with his hands raised up. He jogged fifty or sixty strides before the feeling of loneliness descended in him, more, made him run like a victim of war. He kept on running in his disastrous state of mind till he reached the boundary of Umuoku and stopped. The boundaries were surrounded with plantain trees at both sides of the path just the way Echi had described it. Welcoming and vivid were the words Echi had used to describe it. Ofu picked up his pace back as he saw a girl fetching water from a stream then he stopped when he got to where she was and started talking to her. The girl he was talking to on that day in the stream was the only daughter of Olanna's best friend in Umuoku who would later become his wife.