Akin's Witty Escape

Akin jumped from one tree to another using all the strength he had at his command, he had tried every trick he knew to confuse his pursuers to no avail, and the only thing keeping him together was his training, even now he can feel the cold fingers of fear grasping his heart, numbing his nerves, slowing him down. Instinct is the only thing keeping him on his feet and instincts are the only thing screaming out the words he desperately needs "Survive!!" His memory suddenly gave him a quick flashback of how he was able to escape his captors.

The moment the Jamas had taken Akin into the forest, they began to speak in their native language, whether it was Fulani or Hausa Akin could not tell but he could guess the topic of their discussion. They were planning on how best to kill him without causing an alarm, so he decided to plan a method of escape himself.

"I want to wee, wee," Akin said following up on the half-wit character he had been using earlier

"Don't worry," the nearest Jama said "You will be allowed to urinate the moment we reach the forest"

"I want to weewee, now!" Akin shouted, unconsciously deciding to use the character of an innocent retarded child, to make the Jamas think he is just a weak and defenceless child and thus they foolishly let their guard down thereby facilitating his escape.

"When we get to the forest," the Jama shouted in a murderous tone

"I want to weewee, I want to weewee, I want to weewee" Akin shouted rolling into a ball like an armadillo and then rolled about crying the words 'weewee,'

"Alright" the Elder Jama shouted "Eti-aja take him to a nearby bush and watch him"

One of the Jama's walked forward and grabbed a hold of Akin's right arm, savagely dragging him towards the bush where he could handle his business.

"Are you my daddy?" Akin asked using his naïve voice.

"Be silent child" Eti-Aja growled

As they reached, the weed Akin drew out a large white stone (An Ẹṣọ's tool) from his Ṣokoto, now he had a plan, all those years of being with Ṣeyi blaming him as he was blamed now paying off. Then it hit him Ṣeyi had always been faithful, the blame game was only used to distract those who intended to punish them, no Ṣeyi is not to be trusted

"You are not supposed to look," Akin said, "especially when I'm wee weeing"

Alright, said the Jama right before he turned away, Akin smiled and threw the white stone as high as he could, his mission was not to knock any of them out, the real goal was to distract and cause the Jamas to lose their perception for a few precious seconds. Men who are trained for war are always alert, sensing everything going on in the environment so the white stone would instantly attract the attention of all the Jamas while Akin made his great getaway. Akin threw the stone as far as his strength would allow and the result was instantaneous at first the Jamas were looking for the enemies within the immediate vicinity, then they scouted the environment for hostile charm, then it hit them, they had been fooled Akin had escaped.

Akin ran with all his might for the first seven minutes then he jumped into the trees, hoping that the Jama's would think he was still earthbound but Jamas learned quickly. It is only his instincts that told him not to stray too far from the village instead he circled it, jumping through some hidden places known only by himself and Ṣeyi. His wits told him that if help was coming it would come from the village, all he needs is to buy himself some time, his life was at risk and any false move could have serious consequences, Akin quickly moved towards the east of the village and prayed the Jama's had not anticipated his next move

Ṣeyi Vs Eti-aja (Ears of the dog)

The five Jamas followed, furious that a half-wit hunchback got the better of them; they had assumed that the hunchback was a poor defenceless child oblivious to the politics around him only for them to find out that the little fool was using his humility as a front to deceive everyone around him. He is cunning the elder Jama observed and that makes this hunt far more satisfying. "Run child, just remember there is nowhere to hide" the leader shouted in a triumphant tone.

An hour later the elder Jama realised his hypocrisy, first, they were strangers in this land, they lacked the knowledge of the terrain and failed to map out the environment, thus, in the process of chasing a foolish hunch back, they ended up completely lost. Secondly, they completely ignored the fact that the ways of the Yoruba warrior or the Ẹṣọs of Ilu-inọ are different from the ways of the Jamas of Ilọrin. By now, the Balogun of the village must have noticed that the hunchback was missing, by now she must be organising a search party. And finally, the time for killing the child is limited according to their employer today is the only day in which the hunchback wouldn't be guided by members of his own tribe because of one festival or another, should the day end without the child's death, there will be no second chances. The elder Jama growled in frustration

"Agba," one of the Jamas said to the leader, "there is someone following us"

"How many?" The elder growled

"One," the other replied "seems like a weak, helpless boy, it's almost difficult to sense his Agbara. And he is wearing a Yellow native"

"Oluṣeyi" the elder Jama smiled "Eti-aja! (Ears of the dog)"

"Agba" Eti-aja responded

"Kill the boy that follows in our shadow," the elder commanded, "our employer promised to pay extra if we can bring in the head of that one too"

"Yes Agba" Eti-aja replied

The elder Jama observed as Eti-aja drew out his blade in preparation for the upcoming kill, the man had an obsession that never fails to impress the elder Jame, Eti-aja enjoyed playing with his food before he ate it. Unlike other assassins who simply kill their victims using the quickest, cleanest methods, Eti-aja prefers to take his time, enjoy the moment, to allow his victims to suffer the last moments of their worthless lives

********

Ṣeyi followed the eagle diligently through the forest and though the bird made no sound, it led him onwards. Circling the village to Ṣeyi's confusion and if Ṣeyi fell too far behind the eagle would patiently wait for him to catch up. That didn't mean that Ṣeyi fell behind, with every single tree that he found scared with the blade of a Jama he quickened his pace with the urgency of a wild cat on the hunt. His best friend's life is in danger, he cannot afford to be slow and he will never forgive himself if he's late in saving Akin's life, above all he owes Nike big for wasting so much time in informing the Balogun.

Suddenly a small hunting knife whizzed by nearly slicing his left shoulder, the blade ripped the fabric of his clothes. "Ṣeyi you fool," he whispered to himself "How dare you let your guard down"

"Lucky shot, but you missed" Ṣeyi mocked "Are you sure your eyes are functioning properly?"

"The first attack was a warning" Eti-aja gloated, "I only did that to gain your attention; the next one is definitely going to end up in your beating heart"

"That is if you're a good shot" Ṣeyi mocked "and from all indications, you need a new pair of eyes"

"How dare you insult me" Eti-aja growled "I'm going to enjoy making you beg me to kill you, you are going to suffer, boy" and then he began to chant

"I am Eti-aja the one who bears a thousand swords with one handle

The one who listens when the gods are asleep

The Jama, who descended from the great priest of the gods

I am Eti-aja the throne breaker, the night stalker, the mad hunter

No one insults the great Jama of Ilorin without facing the consequences"

Ṣeyi stood quietly listening to the Jama chant his personal Oriki, and as soon as the Jama finished, he gave the Jama a sceptical look "That's it, just a three-second-long name chant?" Ṣeyi mocked "How disappointing you are the weakest"

Eti-aja growled in a rage "I am going to tear you into pieces!" He attacked and his aim was true, he felt the slight tug on his sword which told him that his opponent had been impaled, but the voice which came from the opposite side of his attack spoke otherwise. In addition, to his shock, he realised that he had attacked a log of wood that he could have sworn was not there in the first place.

"Like I said you have a problem with your eyes" Ṣeyi mocked "At least your name is Eti-aja and that is because you have good ears if your name was Oju-aja (eyes of the dog) then I would be worried" he chuckled

"Bastard!!" Eti-aja cursed, and then without any premeditation, he started to attack, he brandished his sword skillfully accumulating enough Agbara for a special chant, all Ṣeyi could do was wait preparing himself to deflect his opponent's blade. The attack was so sudden that Ṣeyi very nearly got hit by the flying missiles aimed at him, "so his sword has the ability to lunch smaller blades into the environment," Ṣeyi observed. To Ṣeyi's displeasure, the penetrating force of each dart is far more than he imagined, obviously, each small blade is chanted, so hiding behind any tree is out of the question. The dart would simply drive its way through the tree to get to him, what he needs is a plan of attack.

"Catch me if you can" Ṣeyi taunted and Eti-aja faithfully followed, "this man is just too gullible," Ṣeyi thought rejoicing in his heart. Keeping the distance between them is the first plan, the next is to force him to follow him into a trap

Ṣeyi quickly jumped into a very tall tree, springing from the lower branches to the higher ones to attack from above, shouting "Oju-aja" at the top of his lungs, to keep his opponent angry and on his trail. Then he stopped to look down at his opponent beneath him.

"There is nowhere else to run boy" Eti-aja growled "Come down here and die like a man"

Ṣeyi screamed in defiance and then he jumped down towards Eti-aja with the intention of a full-frontal attack. Eti-aja laughed at the fool, attacking an armed man without any weapon is a foolish move. The Jama angled his sword into a position that would impale Ṣeyi using his own velocity, "come, child, I'm going to run you through" Eti-aja whispered in triumph.

Moments before impact, to Eti-aja's shock Ṣeyi vanished, only to be replaced by an elephant-sized rock "Yowaaaaaaa!!" Eti-aja exclaimed, unable to escape the sudden reversal of fortune. The rock drove him down to the forest floor and every tree, in the forest trembled at momentum as the rock made an impact with the ground. Ṣeyi observed his fallen foe for a few seconds, then he ran off towards the direction of the other Jamas not even caring to check if Eti-aja survived the fall.

"Like I said, he had bad eyes" Ṣeyi concluded.