The Lonely Hunchback

The Balogun summoned Ṣeyi very early in the morning the next day, she had organised a small band of Ẹṣọs from a nearby village under the authority of Ilu-inọ. According to the Balogun, the mission was a non-aggressive venture to improve trading relations and the tributes being sent to the provincial headquarters. Then the Balogun gave them her blessing and ordered them to come back alive. Before they left the Balogun pulled Ṣeyi aside and sternly warned him not to try anything foolish while he was on the mission unless she would think of an even worse punishment to unleash on him with so much force that it would hunt him for the rest of his life. A punishment so severe that he would be fearful to tell his children the horrific story, that is if he survives.

Throughout the entire period, Akin stood upon the dead tree stump watching the events transpire painfully, There were traces of melancholy in his nature and a sad aura radiated about him. It seemed like the Balogun had sentenced Akin to a slow and painful death, "I'm doing this for your good," she said in a calm tone, with the hope that Akin would recover within a few days. As the days passed Akin showed no signs of recovery, he simply remained on his tree stump without speaking a word to anyone, without eating and without making a single inch of movement, and this made the Balogun a little uneasy.

"How long will he continue to brood?" She whispered to herself

Akin stayed on the tree stump for three days, sometimes looking into the night and at other times weeping silently. Every morning after the morning training session, which was part of the new routine for all new warriors, Kenny and Modupẹ would try to convince Akin to come down and join the rest of the Ẹṣọs, to mingle with others and to stop punishing himself. But all their pleading fell on deaf ears, Akin simply wouldn't listen to any of their words, he had no intention of leaving the sanctuary of his tree stump.

Dawn on the fourth day Akin finally mustered the strength to jump down from the tree stump, it took all of his courage to walk along the busy walkways in search of the rest of his team-mates, Akin found himself the subject of intense scrutiny and cold scowls. He found it difficult to locate a single pleasant face, if only Ṣeyi were here, no one would dare treat him in this manner. Ṣeyi was quick to champion him with a war of words that would render all hostile glances into hiding.

"My son" Someone called from behind "Finally you've decided to leave your hiding place," Mama the old woman who lives by the borders of the village said. He was opportune to encounter her as he searched for his friends.

"Mama" Akin greeted, hoping that she still saw him as a son

"You look quite lost without your friend," Mama said in a tone of pity "When a farmer leaves his hut at dawn, he would return to his hut by dusk with a bountiful harvest, Ṣeyi will come back"

"Mama, I'm only worried that he would be like the hunter who dares to venture into the evil forest never to return home to those who need him," Akin sobbed

"Come with me Akin, and keep an old woman company, it will make the time move quicker"

"Yes Mama" Akin replied in a quiet tone

She took Akin to her hut and kept him busy, she made him pound the yam, fetch some water, sweep the house and do a host of other household chores. In the attempt to take Akin's mind off worrying about his best friend, an attempt that almost succeeded. The chores only made Akin more miserable than before because they reminded him that all the household chores would have been performed with Ṣeyi by his side, it was as though there was a void within him that yearned to be filled. At noon, Mama offered Akin some Yam and stew, but Akin politely refused to eat, he claimed that he did not feel a little bit hungry though he did accept a small calabash of Kunu. Mama was surprised by Akin's refusal the hunchback usually jumps at the opportunity to shove food into his face but now it seems like he was on a fast.

"Akin you need to stop depending on Ṣeyi, You need to be independent, to stand on your own like a rock that stands upon a mountain" Mama encouraged

"Ṣeyi is like my brother," Akin protested

"And the two of you will forever remain brothers and my sons and as my sons, you two must be happy"

"If Ṣeyi is here, then I will be happy"

"Pray for his safe return so you two will be happier, or do you think Ṣeyi wishes for you to be sad?"

"No Mama" Akin replied

"Then be happy for his sake," Mama said in an as of matter of fact tone "and put a smile on your face in his honour" In reply Akin smiled

"Good boy" Mama Approved

"It's time for evening practice, Mama," Akin said in an elevated tone

"Go, my son," Mama said "and don't let anything take your happiness away from you, remember even in his absence Ṣeyi is close, his aura is strong in you" That's right, Akin realised. The entire village had always been against Ṣeyi all on account that he was accursed, but Ṣeyi never allowed this to break his spirits.

Akin grinned again and ran proudly towards the village square, Mama though an old woman had cured Akin of his depression. Unfortunately, the day had not yet come to an end. On his way to the market square he met another onslaught of unpleasant faces and became a subject to rude gestures, Female gossipers pointed in his direction and those of his age shouted at him as though he had committed a serious offence

"Is it a crime to be ugly" Akin wondered continuously. "No, it's a curse" his subconscious would reply. "The evils of my forefathers are being demanded from my hands, I am destined to be punished for the crimes I never committed" Akin concluded "a rejected stone, I wish Ṣeyi was here, he would understand," Akin thought as he reached the village square on a discouraging note.

Akin reached the market square a little earlier than usual, most of the female Ẹṣọs had already arrived and many had begun warming up for the evening lessons. Only a few males were present as compared to the females and to Akin's disappointment, Modupẹ and Kenny were nowhere to be found, at least those two would have kept him company and defended him should someone dare to speak against him, he knew that they would keep their promise to Ṣeyi and keep him safe. They were the only few who could tolerate the ugliness of his face.

Akin walked quietly towards the tree at the edge of the market square trying his best not to attract any attention to himself, picking his way carefully.

"Akin" Ṣodipọ mocked, "Finally, you are alone, without Ṣeyi you are nothing but an empty shell"

"Ṣodipọ please leave me alone" Akin gritted out "I am not in the mood for insults" determined to avoid a fight with the cocky Alaramide member

"Who dares address me" Ṣodipọ demanded authoritatively "Ho, yes the rejected stone of Ilu-inọ village"

"I am not a rejected stone," Akin growled

"Do you hear that, Akin says he is not a rejected stone" Ṣodipọ mocked and the girls behind him laughed and started to sing mockingly dancing around Akin calling him the fool of the village ("it" meaning Akin) seems like Ṣodipọ had been preparing for this moment for quite a while.

Look at that thing

Hay!

Is it a man?

Hay

Is it a boy?

Hay

Is it a woman?

Hay

Will it marry?

Hay

Our village fool

Hay

Tell me what is its name?

Hunchback Akin,

Hay!

the village fool.

This was the most humiliating moment of Akin's life he covered his ears and closed his eyes, forcing his tears not to fall from his eyes, wishing very deeply that Ṣeyi was present.

"You think people love you" Ṣodipọ snapped, pleased that everything was going according to plan, "Nobody loves you"

"Ṣeyi is my friend" Akin replied desperately

"Ṣeyi was only using you, he hated you from the very beginning always getting you into trouble, you are nothing more than his toy. His worthless toy," Ṣodipọ said with a smile

"It's a lie," Akin snapped using only his willpower to deny Ṣodipọ's taunts.

"If it is a lie, then why did Ṣeyi blame you for all his crimes" Ṣodipọ snarled "After all, it's not the first time he abandoned you when the elders caught the both of you doing something wrong"

There and then Akin saw some truth hidden within the words of Ṣodipọ, Ṣeyi had always blamed him for all the mischief they had committed, Akin got into a lot of trouble because of Ṣeyi and whenever Akin would ask Ṣeyi why, Ṣeyi would reply with the words "you must be smart". From the look on Akin's face, Ṣodipọ gladly realised his verbal assault had hit home and this encouraged him to continue.

"You are nothing but Ṣeyi's toy," he gloated

"It's a lie," Akin said, unable to keep his tears from falling

"Ṣeyi hates you just like the rest of us, and I will prove it," Ṣodipọ said

Using a stick Ṣodipọ drew a long line on the ground and announced, "If you're for Akin, on this side of the line and if you're against Akin on the other side of the line"

To Akin's intense disappointment, all the females stood on Ṣodipọ's side of the line with a few younger males who didn't know Akin that well in support of Ṣodipọ, Nobody stood up to defend Akin and this broke his tender heart, he couldn't say a word and his face was full of tears.

"Time to die, Akin," Ṣodipọ said, sensing Akin's weakness and his loss of will, it was obvious the hunchback would fail to defend "By the pride of my tribe, your life shall end here" Ṣodipọ finally attacked with the speed of lightening, hoping to end Akin's life with a single decisive blow. To put an end to Akin's nuisance before someone else comes in to stop the execution, he could see it in Akin's eye, the hunchback was too discouraged to save himself and foolish enough to accept death with open arms. However, his swift attack was foiled by an even swifter defence, deflecting his attack with a vengeance then it was followed by a sudden counter-attack which was close to knocking Ṣodipọ unconscious. His new opponent moved with blinding speed and landed another hit to his mid-section with the aim of sending Ṣodipọ flying as far away from Akin as possible

"How dare you try to kill my favourite wrestling partner?" Lekan snapped

It took a while for Ṣodipọ to recover from the multiple blows that Lekan had graciously delivered; the moment he recovered, he was furious, his entire body trembled with rage eating away at his entire being. He would have challenged Lekan for the insult, but presently he had no chance of victory, especially against the son of the great juggernaut of Ilu-inọ.

Akin felt a gentle touch on his left, as he turned to see the one who rescued him, it was then that he noticed that the rest of the Ẹṣọs of Ilu-inọ village was standing up for him along with two girls. Modupẹ and Amina and from all indications they had all just arrived, the one who held his shoulder was Bọlaji the one who accompanied him and Ṣeyi on their first mission.

"Ṣeyi will not be happy if Ṣodipọ succeeds in killing you," Bọlaji said in an encouraging tone "and neither will we and one more thing Akin (he whispered) Now you know who your friends are"

Akin smiled and threw his hands around Bọlaji's waist in a brotherly hug, (since he was not tall enough to hug him like a man). "Thank you, my friend," Akin said and then turned to look at every female face that supported Ṣodipọ and made a bow. He made a promise to himself to make, each of them regret the shame they had caused him.

"Amina!" Ṣodipọ snapped, "Why are you in support of that filthy hunchback"

Judging from the irritation in Ṣodipọ's voice, everyone could see that the heir to the Alaramide tribe had a personal agenda for Amina. It seems that despite the efforts of all the other pretty young females of the village, the noble who seems to be the subject of their affections had plans for another woman and this disconcerted them greatly.

"Since when did you start making decisions for me" Amina replied, "and Akin is not a filthy hunchback" she continued sternly

"What!!" Ṣodipọ exploded, "You even dare to reply me so rudely" he gritted like a man who's about to punish his wife "By the pride of my tribe I will put you in your place," he barked, but before he could take a step towards Amina. Akin, Lekan and Bọlaji stood in his way, shielding her from Ṣodipọ's wrath.

Lekan chuckled at the situation, "So this is how far the cursed pride of the Alaramide tribe had gone" for Ṣodipọ to think that he had the right to claim anything and anyone just because he could.

"If Ṣeyi were here, he would have said 'Ṣ-O-D-I-P-Ọ Ole!, Olodumare blessed you with as many women to marry as you want and still your greedy eyes are upon the wife of another man, Are you not ashamed and now I am beginning to wonder if there is a limit to your greed"

Lekan's words sunk deep, Ṣodipọ tried his very best not to expose any kind of reaction to Lekan's verbal assault but the feat seemed almost impossible. He felt his entire body tremble with anger but held his peace, better to lose the battle today than to press on in this losing fight. He still needed to keep ahold of his dignity. Amina gladly thanked her three champions and spoke encouraging words to Akin, It was at this moment that the Ọtun-Balogun arrived and with a sharp command, he had everyone in training.

Since then Akin spent his time with all his friends, he avoided Ṣodipọ and all his female supporters even though they only supported him because of his status and family position. Now he couldn't care less because he was in the company of his friends and now he had found a way to cope with Ṣeyi's absence, unfortunately, the words of Ṣodipọ taunted Akin until the return of his best friend.

Bọlaji's resolve

The events at the training ground with Akin finally solidified his decision, the words of the watcher had proved to be heavier than he had expected. The trees always spread their seeds a considerable distance away from themselves with the hope that each and every seed would become prosperous in the next generation, but the birds and the insects bring the seed back to a satisfactory location, the flower bed of the parent plant and thus the offspring becomes a nuisance. He was about to become that seed and soon his parents would swallow down a very bitter medicine, the action that the Watcher gave him required a great deal of mental fortitude. First, he needs to give Jaguna Baṣọrun one last chance to remedy his error, in this way he would not be forced to betray anyone, the watcher's advice was a situation for a worst-case scenario.

Bọlaji rehearsed the words carefully, Jaguna Baṣọrun was not an easy man to talk to especially when his pride was at stake. The strategies in his head continued to cancel out based on the Jaguna's selfish personality, is there a way for him to feed the man's pride and then place his request? No, it's impossible. The Jaguna was an impossible leader, ridged and unmovable, blindly following his own decisions no matter how misguided or well-intentioned they were. Bọlaji finally decided to use the direct method, no beating around the bush, no feeding of egos and no evasive wordplay. Nothing, the only method he was going to use was facing the wild elephant head-on even if it had all the intention of going on a wild rampage. Bọlaji reached the front of the Jaguna's hut and found the man in the front of his home with a calabash filled with a burning concoction. The Jaguna noticed the approaching presence of Bọlaji and turned to smile at him, in an attempt to ease the tension between them.

"Bọlaji, it is good to see you" Then he placed the calabash down on the floor in front of the idol he was worshipping. "Have you come to apologise for your rudeness?"

"I have" Bọlaji replied, he hoped a formal apology would tear down some of the Jaguna's mental defences

"Good," The Jaguna said with a smug expression in his voice, "Sit down, we need to talk"

"Yes sir" Bọlaji replied

They were soon seated in front of the hut The Jaguna helped himself to a cup of palm wine, there was a loud resounding silence between them that lasted for more than 5 minutes.

"They can never become Ẹṣọs" Jaguna began breaking the silence, "They are nothing but grass for the elephants to trample upon. I believe they are useless, useless men are cast aside"

"That is the reason why I came to see you," Bọlaji said as he felt his heart rate increase, "I believe that when a seed is planted, with the right amount of water and sunlight that seed can become the mightiest tree in the forest. Please, give them a chance to prove themselves"

"I said it before, and I will say it again," he said in a firmer tone, "They are weak and they will only give the Ẹṣọs of the village a bad name"

"Is that why you told all the other Jagunas not to recruit them as well?" Bọlaji inquired as he felt the tension of the atmosphere increase.

"I did it for them" the Jaguna replied, "They would fare better as guards for the king, this way their weakness would be a burden to no one" Now Bọlaji felt his blood boil, this man did not care about the feelings of others only his own. He judges people not based on their potential but based on his biased deluded opinion, he might as well be arguing the merits with a mud wall.

"Has Ṣeyi ever offended you? Because it seems like you have a personal grudge against him" Bọlaji asked in a controlled voice, "I saw the tests given by all the other Jagunas, and each one of those tests was rigged for them to fail" he said with a slight growl in his voice "Ṣẹgun Mofedamijo's test was by far the most ridiculous"

"I don't know what you're talking about" the Jaguna replied with a hint of warning in his voice indirectly telling Bọlaji that he should choose his words very carefully. "No subordinate should dare to speak so freely to his superior, there is a difference between the elephant and the ant"

Time stood still as Bọlaji stared into the Jaguna's eyes challenging him to lose his cool, and then he gave up should there be a fight or an argument he was going to be on the losing end. He had no fear for the Jaguna but his credibility would be questioned and that would stop him from carrying out the watcher's plan, right now The greatest weapon in his arsenal is his image. So he did what would feed the man's ego, Bọlaji softened his facial expression in defeat giving the stubborn Ẹṣọ the chance to gloat.

"Forgive me," Bọlaji said in a defeated tone, "I promise not to speak to you on this issue again" Then to add action to words Bọlaji prostrated in humility, further swelling the Jaguna's pride.

"I accept your apology"

If only the Jaguna could read minds he would have known that Bọlaji was planning something malicious and his outward display of humility was just for show, if only he knew that Bọlaji one of his strongest warriors was about to stab him in the back he would have rethought his actions but now it was too late, Bọlaji had made up his mind.

"Thank you, sir" Bọlaji acknowledged

"Bọlaji" Jaguna called as he observed Bọlaji walk away, Bọlaji stopped temporarily to listen to his superior "You are the most talented warrior under my command, the reason why I recruited you into the Ẹgbẹ Alagba erin, (the mighty elephants) is that I believe in your skills even though you don't have an incision you had raw talent. That is what makes you stand out"

"Did I ever disappoint you?" Bọlaji inquired

"Who will ever be disappointed in the person who defeated the most powerful Jama of our time, no if I was to measure your power, I say that you're almost at Balogun level but nowhere near me. Which is why I don't want you to ever involve yourself with those who are cursed, I know they will stain your future with their weakness"

"Thank you" Bọlaji voiced with a little effort, then turned away from the Jaguna. His mind was made up by the last words of his leader, they serve as the reinforcement of his resolve. This is how leaders operate, covering their wickedness with the excuse of a noble act. He made it look like he was doing it on their behalf, Bọlaji felt his entire being vibrate with suppressed rage. Who was he to make decisions concerning the future of people who are not his children? He had to calm himself down to avoid making any mistakes, The Balogun might be a demanding woman but she was also someone that he could reason with. It took him ten minutes to reach her hut and the moment he knocked on her door the reply was instant.

"Bolaji" the Balogun greeted

"I'm here ma" Bọlaji replied

"It's good to see you," she said as she walked outside her hut to talk to the boy. He could smell a foul-smelling substance emanating from her front door, She must be in one of her creating moods or maybe she's trying her clumsy hands at cooking again.

"I need your help in something Important" she began like a woman and completely different from the character of a Balogun "Which one of these leaves is more potent? Ewe Alubosa (Onion leaves) or Ewe Dongoyaro?"

"I'm not sure" Bọlaji replied in a disgruntled tone, "It depends on what you want to use them for"

"To cure the common fever," the Balogun said

"Definitely Onion leaves with some other herbs, Dongoyaro when boiled with the root of a different tree of the same species is good for sickly women" Bọlaji replied with a smile

"Thank you, Bọlaji," the Balogun said with a smile, and then she rushed into her hut to quickly drop what she was doing. Bọlaji chuckled to himself, The Balogun might look all tough and in control but deep down she was still a woman. He had to wait for a few minutes before she finally returned from her hut, she walked out fully dressed in her official clothes.

"So Bọlaji," She said, "why have you come? I believe there is something you want from me"

"I have come to plant a seed" Bọlaji replied,

"What kind of seed do you wish to plant?" she inquired in a serious tone "The seed of discord, hate or vengeance?"

"The seed of betrayal and my conscience" Bọlaji replied

"Explain" the Balogun demanded

"I will go straight to the point," Bọlaji said in a calm tone, "I want to be given the title of Jaguna"

"What?" the Balogun said incredulously "Are you serious? Jaguna Baṣọrun is going to explode if he finds out you're out to betray him"

"Ṣeyi needs my help" Bọlaji replied, "All the Jagunas have agreed to end Ṣeyi and his friend's career as Ẹṣọs, this is the reason for my decision. I believe in their strength and I know that they will grow into strong warriors one day"

"They agreed!?" the Balogun said in a disbelieving tone, then she decided to rethink the question; the Jaguna of the mighty elephant group is someone whose stubbornness knows no equal. "So you've decided to move on as a warrior"

"Yes ma" Bọlaji responded mechanically unsure if she was commending him or condemning him. "For any other reason, I would have said no but for the sake of Ṣeyi and Akin I will grant your unusual request"

"Thank you ma," Bọlaji said with a sign of relief.

"But" the Balogun continued, "You are not qualified to handle the task alone so these are my requirements, first you must have a minimum of 5 members not including yourself; second, you are to recruit at least one person of your rank or higher to serve as your partner and assistant. Do this and I will allow you to form your group"

"Thank you, it shall be done" Bọlaji replied with a smile, uneasy about who among his peers would be willing to join him in forming the new warrior group.