CHAPTER ONE

Location: Northern Afara, Oumari.

There was a palpable excitement brewing. You could almost taste it in the air at Oumari. Their tribal chief, Eche Egwuatu had just died, and the mountain tribe was getting ready for the succession combat, otherwise known in the local dialect as Ogu. This combat would determine who their next tribal chief would be.

Usually, only young warriors participated in Ogu. The major clans of Oumari; the eastern, western, northern, southern, and central clans would each select a young warrior who had reached the age of eighteen but was no older than thirty to represent their clan in the succession combat. The selection of warriors was usually supervised by the war generals in charge of each clan. These war generals were a small group of seasoned warriors, they served directly under the tribal chief as a council and as military advisers.

During the tribal chief's reign, he would have named a possible successor from amongst his children. The successor would represent the family of the chief, in case the gods wanted the chieftaincy to remain in that family. As for the remaining warriors, the ones who would make up the numbers, the chief priest as dictated by tradition, had the right to name other worthy candidates randomly chosen by the gods. As a recent development, a candidate would be accepted from the Vodun clan to represent them.

Vodun was a tiny magic-wielding clan in central Oumari. In their local dialect, the general word for magic was chi, and every member of the clan had the innate ability to wield it. They had refused to affiliate themselves with any of the five major clans of the tribe for reasons known only to them. They were usually given a wide berth by the other clans when it came to things like inter-clan marriages due to diverging customs and beliefs.

Despite the segregation, they had helped Oumari win a war against their greatest rivals, the neighbouring Kainiji tribe. Their contribution during the Oumari-Kainiji war was what earned them the previously unavailable spot in Ogu.

Ogu, the succession combat, was usually a yield or die battle. It would take place in Ama, the tribe's largest arena, and last until a clear winner emerged. In the interim, the chief priest and the war generals would lead the clan in tandem in the place of a tribal chief.

Kaine sat still on a wooden stool in her well decorated and spacious hut, pondering these things as one of her maidens painted three curved lines of white dots on her forehead in honour of her late husband. They also made last-minute adjustments to her face, hair and outfit.

Her thick curly dark brown hair was being styled in four long braids which went down to the small of her back. Her almond-shaped light brown eyes and full lashes were highlighted with soot to make them more defined. She tried to smile at her maidens flashing the shallow dimple on her left cheek, but the smile didn't reach her eyes. Her maidens, however, seemed to understand her plight. It was no secret that Kaine had been very attached to her recently deceased husband. They knew that his passing would not be easy for her to bear so each of them tried in their own way to rally around her.

Almost all of Kaine's maidens were taller than she was. Kaine could hardly be considered short outside Oumari, but compared to many other women from the tribe, who were generally known for being large, she was petite.

She put on the traditional Oumari symbol of royalty, three thin intricately carved gold bands with tiny circles etched onto each one, on each bicep, to complete her outfit. In preparation for Ogu, she was dressed in tan coloured wrappers, which were tied across her chest in a style reserved for married women from the western clans.

Kaine, generally known as Kaine the beloved, was a legendary beauty in Oumari. She was also the fourth wife of the late Eche, a mighty warrior and a well-respected chief who had stood heads and shoulders above most men in Oumari during his lifetime. Despite his large intimidating stature, it was well known that he had a good heart.

As she thought about her husband, Kaine's eyes stung from unshed tears. She wanted to crawl unto her sleeping pallet and cry. She wanted to stay alone in her hut until the heaviness in her heart subsided and she couldn't feel the stark grief in her belly anymore, but she knew she had to pull herself together. At least for the sake of her daughter who needed all the support she could get. Eche would not want her to break down now.

She wrapped her arms around her torso, took a deep breath to steady herself and then blinked rapidly to keep the tears at bay.

Finding Eche dead on his sleeping pallet early this morning had been a terrible shock, one she wasn't sure she could ever recover from, but Kaine's heart was uneasy for other reasons as well. She had a strong feeling that something else was not right.

Isinne her only child would be participating in the sacred Ogu as Eche's chosen successor. This was a little strange in the predominantly male governed tribe. Even though Isinne was neither male nor Eche's first child, she had been favoured by her father since her birth. He had taught her many things including combat and diplomacy from when she was a little child.

Isinne had been raised to follow in her father's footsteps, raised to become Oumari's next chief.

Their first female chief.

This had of course greatly annoyed Eche's three other wives, especially his first wife, Jameela. It was no secret that she felt Isinne had usurped her son Taharaq's birthright because Taharaq was Eche's firstborn son.

To avoid conflict in the household, each of Eche's wives had a three-day rotation with him, and during their rotation they each took care of his meals and other needs.

Could it be a coincidence then that Eche had died from what seemed like poison during Kaine's own rotation?

Kaine herself had made the food he ate right before he slept and she had also eaten from the same pot.

Where had the poison come from?

Was somebody trying to direct the blame for Eche's death towards her?

Kaine wondered how Isinne was feeling. Isinne was closer to her father than any of her other siblings, naturally, she should feel his passing the most.

Eche's body had just been taken to the temple where the chief priest would conduct a divination ritual to determine the cause of his death and to rule out foul play since it had been a rather sudden death without any visible illness. After the cause of death had been determined, Eche would finally be laid to rest with his fathers in the sacred mountains of central Oumari.

The entire tribe was waiting for the outcome of the divination ritual, but the sacred Ogu must go on regardless.

In preparation for Ogu, Isinne and the other warriors had been taken to the shrine for purification rites. The rites, performed by the priests, would appease the spirits of the past chiefs, pay homage to the gods and ward off evil.

The eleven young warriors chosen to participate in this Ogu were Joku son of Ekor from the eastern clan, Nazora daughter of Achebe who was Vodun, a chi wielder.

Barika son of Nanka would represent the northern clan, Chewa son of Dimeari for the southern clan, Osei son of Jahye for the central clan, Eda son of Dariji for the western clan and Isinne the tribal chief's daughter would represent the Egwuatu family.

The last four warriors, Taharaq, Taofiq, Nthusi and Jesan were all sons of Eche. In a strange turn of events they had been selected by the chief priest to participate in Ogu.

In accordance with the will of the gods.

Kaine found the will of the gods strange indeed.