CHAPTER THREE

Ada thought to herself she didn't care if he had conquered more battles than the Yan in her father's barn.None of this concern her and yet she had been chosen as a gift for his majesty,a prize for his achievements.

How can a man take a wife chosen by another?she thought to herself as she ran. She could already feel the blisters under her feet from stepping on Sharp Stones. The more tired she became,the more her mind drove her feet to go on.. She would not bring herself to do the bidding of the gods and people of afudo.

She nearly stopped when she thought of how much she was going to miss her little ones, the orphans she often sneaked out to feed with the leftover food from her home. Life was unkind to the orphans at Afudo. They had no food, clothes or proper shelter and roamed the village everyday seeking help, so Ada had made their welfare her secret responsibility. She would sit them at her favorite spot in the Afu forest and sing them the songs her mother once sang to her and her sisters. She worried about who would take care of them now.

She could come back for them when things quieted down,and in the meantime send food to them through travelers.she stepped on a sharp Stone and she jolted back to the reality of her plight. Here she was making plans ,When she had no idea what destination her jumping heart would lead her foot to. Running on toes that tremble from being caught and a heart that stilled at the sight of every tree shadounder the moonlight,Ada continue to escape from the dream every young woman in Afudo would die for. Three moon (three years) ago she had wanted to run away with the white men who visited Afudo, but papa would not hear of it.

'Adamma I have heard enough! Our gods is Amadioha and we must serve him u will stay here and marry the prince. That final; Nnayi Odiochior said with his back turned to his beloved daughter.

Now she had taken matters into her hands.She would go in search of the white men and learn to talk like them,dress in a long white gown with her hair cover; quietly count the balls on a long chain and talk about their God even if she did not understand.

Panting from the strides her feet had covered, she stopped and sat by a tree for a while believing she had travelled far enough and was therefore justified of this luxury; a moment of relaxation. As she drifted off to sleep,a heavy load fell on her shoulder. Caught unawares,she moved to push the tree branch that must have fallen on her, only to feel the pulse of a man's thick hand . As she struggled to recognize the face, she knew that she had come to the end of her escape plan.

Moments later, tears slid silently down Ada's cheeks as she rested uncomfortably on the shoulder of the man who was making his way through the very same path she had just tried to take to escape from Afudo. Ada wept at the thought of the life that awaited her a jarring entry into the world of unfulfilled womanhood; the result of a baseless tradition.