Chapter 5

THE MOUNTAIN WAS LONG and spindling, an interconnection of more than one mountains making it seem like one really big one, with huge mammoth trees having wide canopies about. There were hundreds of people of different ages separated into small groups training with different range of weapons, both male and female.

 “Welcome to the training grounds.” Iditan looked down at me condescendingly as I lay on the ground, awestruck. “Follow me,” She commanded, making her way forward.

I rose quickly to my feet, taking a moment to dust and compose myself. A soft pressure pushed gently against me as I tried to move forward, making me exert a little effort for every step I took.

Evil witch, I thought heatedly at Iditan as she soon left me behind with her long fast strides, breezing forward before I could ask about the pressure and how to deal with it.

So these were the Nighthawks? I stared at those training on the top of the mountain who barely spared me a glance as I skirted through them while they sparred with their partner or group. They were fast, each of their moves skillfully executed. How were they even coping with the pressure here? The pressure on the mountain increased steadily as I made my way forward, trying to hold Iditan who is far in front in my sight.

“You are doing it wrong,” a familiar voice said by the side. I turned around as Lara walked up to me. She looked at ease like she was in her elements here, wearing a black top and tight black pant pain. The pain of her betrayal struck me again as I saw her here, and I stubbornly shifted my gaze front, trying to struggle my way forward.

Lara appeared before me in a whoosh, forcing me to come to a stop.

“What?” I scowled at her.

Lara sighed. “Look I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you about these things earlier, I really wanted to tell you each moment we were together but I was under oath not to.” Her face took on a grim, sad look. “I’ve really missed us Toke, can’t you just forgive me this once?” she held my gaze pleadingly.

 My anger weakened at her words. If truly she was under oath then it was not her fault she could not tell me. I remembered Mama telling me my mother had made them all promise not to draw me into the whole business unless it was absolutely necessary. I sighed. “Okay.”

I found myself in her embrace in the same instant as she was unable to contain her joy. She drew away a moment later, beaming wide. “You should go to Oniko now, we will have time to talk later,” she said. “I’ll see you a little way off.”

I nodded. I was full of many questions I wanted to ask now that we were back together, but I held them for later.

“The pressure here is sentient; its major purpose is to train our will, perseverance and speed. There are seven points on this mountain, and the pressure increases after each point.” Lara divulged. “Passing through is the easiest provided you have the qualifications to, but only the witchlords and very few nighthawks can get to the seventh point. To pass through, you just have to let go, don’t struggle against it and your body will adapt quickly because of the magic you carry. When you train, the pressure will be even greater than it is now, but as you gradually adapt it will allow you become faster when fighting.”

I stopped struggling as she said, and slowly I felt the area around me ease up.

“Let’s go.” Lara nodded with a smile, sensing the change immediately.

“The nighthawks, they all look so young?” I asked, looking at the training nighthawks as we passed by them.

Lara sighed. “For decades now there’s been no war and no real challenge against the witches’ authority from amongst the various magical beings, and so the council was always able to deal with most matters by themselves.” She began. “Overtime there was no real need to continue keeping the army and training large number of people needlessly for no purpose, and so only the really exceptional witches were brought in to be trained and the nighthawks became like an elite guard with just few numbers. It is only recently that many people were brought in from all over to fill the numbers, and they had to be younger because of their ability to learn fast and draw out their potential.”

Lara came to a stop before a massive Iroko tree which according her marked each point. “This is the fifth point, I can’t go further than this. Just continue going straight till you see Iditan.”

“Okay,” I smiled, reluctant to leave her side.

“Go,” she smiled back and turned around, walking towards the group sparring here. 

I arrived at the seventh point to meet Iditan sitting on a small outcropping rock and watching a group of three who were the only ones around there. Two of them, a boy and a girl sparred against each other, while the third, a lanky man watched.

“I thought I would have to come pick up your broken body later.” Iditan passed me a snide glance as I arrived.

You wish, I scowled, fixing my focus on the spar between the boy and the girl. They were both fast, even faster than those Nighthawks I had passed, and the skills they displayed looked surreal as they struck hard at each other. They had to be witchlords too, and the man Oniko the captain.

Oniko turned around just as I was thinking about him, a frown masking his charcoal black face. He took a step and appeared before I and Iditan like he teleported. He was even faster that the two who were sparring!

“So you are the one who gave a summons in the middle of the day?” Oniko asked as I tried to regain my composure from seeing him appear before us so suddenly.

The intensity of his eyes shook me as I looked into them. “I-” I began and stopped, swallowing nervously.

Iditan snickered by the side.

“I will make a warrior out of you yet,” he said, sizing me up. “Ramatu, Dike, come over.” he called to the two who were still sparring.

I saw their faces for the first time as they came towards us. The girl had a coffee black skin and her hair was braided into two long ponytails reaching to her back, while the boy was fair, short and stocky. They arrived sweating and breathing hard, with two long knives held loosely in their hands.

“This is, Toke, a white witch and the last witchlord,” Oniko introduced me to them. “Toke, meet Chike, a Black, and Ramatu, Red. They are fellow witchlords like you.” He pointed first at the boy, and then the girl.

Chike smiled wide, giving me a wink, while Ramatu simply nodded.

I smiled at the both of them, hoping they are nothing like Iditan.

“Go continue with your practice.” Oniko waved them off.

“Follow me.”  Oniko led me to a group of logs arranged in a circle under a shade formed from the broad canopies of two trees, with Iditan trailing behind us. “Have you been told about the cursed ones?” Oniko asked as we sat down.

“No.” I shook my head. “Are they also a part of the witches?”

“No,” Oniko growled, a look of pure hatred surfacing quickly upon his face. “They are demons who used to be humans, blood drinkers, and they are very fast, powerful and deadly.”

I frowned thoughtfully. “You mean like vampires?”

“Yes, I think that’s what you call them.”

“Vampires don’t exist!” I blurted sharply, looking back at Iditan for support. This had to be a prank or something. “They are—”

“A few days ago you wouldn’t believe that witches really existed, or Emeres for that matter,” Oniko cut in.

I swallowed hard, trying to digest his words.

“Vampires have never before set foot into Africa until a few months ago, and we can never exist side by side with them so we have to eradicate them before the threat becomes more than this,” Oniko continued.

“But they are supposed to be faster and stronger than humans,” I argued from what knowledge I had from books and movies.

“They are, but we also have magic to deal with them, and that’s where you come in as a witchlord. You can be just as fast and strong as any cursed one, even more so.”

Was that even possible, a human going against a vampire? Everything they said sounded so unreal I felt like pinching myself to confirm it was not all a dream.

“You will get used to all of it later,” Oniko pronounced. “But first before you can be of any use and start training proper, you need to learn how to connect to your magic at will which can take hours. Now get up and follow me.”

I stood up grudgingly to what would be the beginning of the most strenuous moments of my life.

*

The next day, Sunday, I had to make the journey back home because of school on Monday, but not before mama explained majority of the questions I had about the witches, broadening my scope. Despite having spent hours training to control my powers and failing to the amusement of Iditan who would not stop mocking me, by the time I returned home it was only three o’clock in the morning, making me fear I had somehow spent a whole day and some at Olofi until Mama explained that time moved slower there than on earth. And arriving back I felt refreshed despite the heavy stress I went through at Olofi.

 By night of that day when I had gotten back home, after retiring from dinner and waiting till the whole house was asleep, I personally left by myself to Olofi, opening a portal just like Oniko taught by gathering my magic and concentrating on where I wanted to reappear—which was outside the forest leading to the ancient grounds—and I spent the whole hours still learning to harness my magic under the harsh guidance of Oniko. The sentence I hated the most soon became; “From the beginning, again.” as Oniko made me perform each exercise over and over again.

Arriving in school on Monday morning, Kudaisi accosted me on the corridor just as I pulled off my raincoat and hung it up.

“Toke why have you not been picking my calls?” Kudaisi asked with a displeased frown. Two female junior students who were passing by heard his words and slowed their steps till they came to stop meters away, hoping to listen in on our conversation.

How do I go about this? I sighed, thinking. Since Shola and the Twins showed me the news article on Kudaisi on Friday I had begun to doubt his intentions, and then my acquaintance with the witch’s world had come, totally taking all my attention. The plan had been to cut myself away from him, I had promised my siblings even this morning as we left the car, but looking into his eyes as he studied my countenance I knew for certain I wouldn’t be able to do that.

“Follow me, let’s talk.” Kudaisi grabbed my hand and began to pull me along. I followed him noncommittally as he led us into the empty school hall and shut the door. “What is it?” he asked.

I sat on one of the benches, making space for him as he joined me.

“What do you want from me? Really.” I asked, staring into Kudaisi’s eyes.

Kudaisi raised a questioning brow. “I just want to be friends.”

“And that’s all you want? No other hidden intentions?”

Kudaisi sighed, his face taking on a look of contemplation. “For now yes. I don’t know what the future might bring, but we will move according to the dictates of our hearts.”

I smirked. “I know about you.”

Kudaisi was taken aback, a look of shock taking over his face. “What do you mean?” he asked in a heavy tone.

Was I imagining things? I thought, recoiling as the air around Kudaisi slowly became stifling and his amber eyes began to glow. He seemed bestial at the moment.

 “I know you are a billionaire and that you are after me just to satisfy a perverse fun of yours or something.”

“Oh.” Kudaisi sighed, his aura seemingly retracting to its usual calm. It was silent between us for a moment before he replied. “I never hid the fact that I was a billionaire or anything, and I don’t have any evil designs towards you, this I promise you.” He said, holding my gaze.

I sensed the truth in his words, but I wanted more than just that. Why was he here? Why was after we met at the garden he suddenly came to our school and enrolled to be a student when it was not absolutely necessary? Kudaisi saw those questions running through my eyes as we stared at each other.

“Remember that night we first met?” Kudaisi asked. I nodded. How could ever forget that night. “Seeing you that night made me understand that I was missing out most of my youth frolicking around old men and just thinking thoughts of business, and it was killing me from within literally. I wanted things to be different, to live like a normal young person free of worries and not care about things like taxes, profit, business expansion and the likes. And then I also found that I liked your personality and wanted to get to know you better...”

He paused for a moment before he continued. “…So I left the company in capable hands and decided to live for myself, to move with my peers and see the world through their eyes again. And what better way to do so and also see you who I had developed an interest in than to come back to school?” The sound of ringing bell cut him short, signifying the beginning of classes.

“I harbor no thoughts of taking advantage of you, none at all. I only wanted to be friends, at least at first...” his voice tapered off, coming out low towards the end.

A thick air of loneliness surrounded Kudaisi as he fell silent; unraveling the mask of confidence and self-assuredness he usually had on all the time. For the barest moment I felt what he was feeling and it nearly overwhelmed me. It was like being alone in the middle of a raging storm, lost and alone, but struggling forward due to sheer force of will. I thought I saw the warm smiling image an aged old woman in my mind’s eye, but I couldn’t be too sure as the feeling stopped at that moment. 

He had lost so much and yet asked so little, I thought as I studied his countenance, resisting the powerful urge to hug and comfort him.

I stood to my feet still holding Kudaisi’s gaze as I came to a decision. I could not push him away, I wouldn’t. “Friends then?” I stretched my hand to him.

Kudaisi’s face split into a wide smile, blooming petals in my mind as I saw the lost look finally off his face. “Friends.” He stood up and took my hand.