14 Chielo

The man in front of the door soon reopened it and people started trooping in; first were three men Ego could 't recognize, followed by her mother-in-law Chielo, then Nnadozie and three other family members. They looked angry as if they just couldn't wait to lay their hands on her.

Chielo is a huge woman in her fifties, with broad shoulders like that of a man. She was a strong woman feared for her threatening features and booming voice. Nobody wants to get on her nerves for fear of what she would do. At her entrance, Ego remembered what her late husband told her about his mother that made her wary of the woman. According to him, when she was young and single, Akunna the village gossip, once circulated rumors that she (Chielo), was no longer a virgin and that she was going about sleeping with both married and unmarried men in the village. When Chielo heard it, she was furious as virginity was still sacred and a thing of pride for the woman and the man she gets married to, even her parents partake from it. Once this rumor gets out, it could terminate her upcoming marriage with Nnanna's father and reduce her chances of getting married to any man of value and substance because such men want to get married to women that have not been soiled by other men.

The next Eke day after Chielo heard the rumor; she confronted Akunna and asked her why she has been spreading false rumors about her. Akunna admitted saying that and even went further to taunt her to disprove it.

This provoked Chielo into giving Akunna a sound slap that drew everyone's attention to them. Before Akunna could recover from the adverse effect of the slap to retaliate, Chielo quickly bent down, pulled her legs from beneath her and in a blink of an eye Akunna found herself on the hard ground of the village market. Chielo wasted no time in getting on top of her, gave her few more slaps before feeding her with sand; forcing it into her closed mouth and eyes even nostrils. Akunna just lay on the ground helplessly struggling to get the furious young lady off, shouting for help at the same time. It took two men to pull the lioness from her victim. Four market days after the incident, Chielo got married to Nnanna's father.

They all went to sit in the benches that were arranged facing the altar, except Chielo who first went to hug and greet the old lady that was already seated in front. All Ego could hear was her telling the old lady that

"Thank you, priestess, for bringing her; It would have been really difficult getting her here".

Ego didn't hear what the old woman whispered back into her ears after she had nodded in agreement. Then she went to take her seat beside her son. From where she sat, she pointed at Ego and mumbled some words that Ego did not hear or understood.

When Ego saw them greeting, she felt so stupid, angry and disappointed at herself for trusting the old woman. She is a priestess that has been working with the enemy right from the beginning; she thought they were on the same side. No wonder she never answered my question about where she came from or how she ended up in the forest. She knew something was off about entering into this hut, but she did not trust her instincts and this made her even madder.

Just after that, a man came from the other door that was on the right side of the hut close to the altar. The man was a heavy-set man of average height, pot-bellied, dark-skinned, bushy goateed and dressed in a white wrapper. The wrapper was tied from one end of his shoulders vertically to the other side of his waist and down. The white wrapper was decorated with cowries. He also tied a piece of red cloth decorated in cowries on his forehead and on both sides of his head were the feathers of an eagle. His eyelids were painted with white chalk. He had a wooden staff with another small chi carved at the tip of it, which he stomped on the ground with every step he takes. It is obvious the dibia of the shrine has arrived.

He went to where Ego was with the hen in his hands; went in circles around her three times; then stood beside and took just the hen around her head three times without uttering a word. He went back to the front of his chi, then he raised the hen up saying "Our fathers we are sorry for disturbing you this night but you know when you see the rabbit in the afternoon, it is either because it has a stomach ache or an animal wants to make lunch out of it. We are here because we have a burden that needs to be resolved this night. This lady has been accused by her in-laws of having a hand in the death of their brother and son. Our all-knowing fathers, we are hoping you will provide us with the right answer whether she is involved in the death of her husband".

After all that, he began removing the feathers at the neck of the hen. He gripped its neck squeezing as hard as he can, suffocating the bird in the process. You can feel the life draining out of the bird as it closes its eyes, it did not make any sound. Still holding the neck he began twisting it slowly; after few twists, he ripped out the head of the bird. Suddenly there was a splash of animal blood everywhere – his face, cloth, Ego's face, and the chest of the men standing beside her. He quickly bent down and pointed the headless bird to the calabash in front of his chi. All this he did with no display of remorse on his face.

"My ancestors - Ogugu, Ahiajoku, Amadioha this is for you".

He said before giving the lifeless body of the bird to one of the men standing beside Ego, who took it out and came back with a little keg of fermented palm wine and some bitter kolas which he gave the priest. He peeled off the brown hardback of the bitter kola exposing the white remains which he threw into his mouth and chewed quickly. After taking in the bitter juice, he spat out the remaining over the chi, muttering some incantations. He drank some of the wine and repeated the process of offering it to his gods and muttering more incantations. Without looking backward, he ordered his men to untie the widow and bring her forward.

"Do you know where you are?" He asked