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EXILE - Chapter Thirty-two
He jerked as the sun shone brightly in the sky as if setting itself ablaze. Shading his eyes from the hot sun with two hands thrust forward, he felt the pain of a tight grip on his neck, squeezing his nape. It was a rope. He shifted his body and worked with his hands, loosening the rope that was strongly tied around his neck. After much struggle, the rope finally let loose, allowing fresh air to pass through his wind pipe. He gasped.
Dragging himself to a crouching position and pulling himself persistently, he moved slowly with the help of his bloodstained hands towards a mango tree nearby. He stumbled on a stone as he moved a few strides, crashing his head on pebbles lying aimlessly on the sand. Drops of fresh blood poured out from the wounded spot and a white flesh appeared. He groaned and trudged, clinging to his forehead and wheezing loudly and slowly. He tried to cry for help but his vocal organs failed him and only a breath of hot air came out from his mou
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Shading Black EXILE - Chapter Thirty-three
The two invisible beings withdrew their hands from Ibekwe's eyes when the sun was slowly departing. It was evening. He managed to get up from the bloodstained leaves and stroll to the village path that was close to him.By now, farmers were departing from their farmlands to their various huts. He turned eastwards, coughed and examined the path. He looked and closed his eyes for a while. He knew that the sound of the voice he had heard, came from the direction he was following but he had to be sure that he was right. He tried to remember everything that had happened but only blur memories filled his mind. He remembered the voice of his father speaking to him when he was young. The same calm and caring voice a father bore when advising his son. His room was cold that day and his father had told him to stack enough firewood to keep the fire in the kitchen glowing."Son!" His father had said. "There are two opposite components that revolves arou
Shading Black EXILE - Chapter Thirty-four
Akwaudo carried her husband's food and departed to his hut to serve him. The style of building in Umuise was not so different from other villages. The huts of the men were usually built separately from the huts of the women. A man is entitled to his own hut while his wife or wives are entitled to their separate huts with their children. This was done to create privacy for the men. In Okoli's compound, there were only two huts. One hut was for him while the other was for his only wife, Akwaudo and their son, Ifeme.Okoli had made a firm decision not to take another wife, though some of his relatives had advised him to marry a younger wife who would give him more children. His reason, was the simple belief that having more than one wife was having more troubles so he had decided to stick with his only wife.Okoli and Akwaudo have been love birds since they were teenagers. During those teen years, they exchanged messages and gifts
Shading Black EXILE - Chapter Thirty-five
The first person to wake up to the beautiful sunrise that descended on Okoli's large compound was Okoli. He carried his hoe which he had inherited from his father and the farm basket which Akwaudo had made for him. He stepped out from his hut and rinsed his teeth with some water that Ifeme had fetched for him the previous night.He appreciated the gods for all their blessings and protection towards his family before setting for work.He walked some few metres away from his hut then he stopped and studied the leaves that was growing inside Nnadi's farm."Harvest is close," he declared and knelt down. "Igweka-ala please grant me a good harvest. Let my yams be strong enough so that my efforts would not be in vain. Igweka-ala please hear my voice."He retraced his steps and went back to his compound. He passed his hut and stopped at Akwaudo's hut."Ifeme! Ifeme;" he called.&n
Shading Black EXILE - Chapter Thirty-six
Walking down muddy floors with bare hands apart, feet clustered together as the bells of frights rang so hard that one could swear he felt a limp or two within, Okoli rushed to the scene of his unconscious wife with Nnadi by his side. His blood was heating up and all he could feel was death as he laid his eyes on the body of Akwaudo lying still on the floor with Ifeme holding her chest and trying to bring down the pressure that was inside her. Okoli instructed Nnadi to get some water and some herbs while he checked her pulse."What happened to your mother? Why is she in this state?" Okoli asked Ifeme."I saw her like this when I entered the room. I am even surprised to see her lying almost like a dead hen when she was perfectly normal some minutes ago," Ifeme replied."Something is wrong somewhere. Someone or something must have made her faint. People don't drown in water easily without being lured by something they did not notice."
Shading Black EXILE - Chapter Thirty-seven
"In something that may seem bad, good always comes out from it," Okoli said. "This morning must have been tough for your mother but it brought something good. You are now on your way to work in the farm with me because of that boy that showed up in your room."Ifeme could feel the disappointment Okoli harboured just because of his attitude towards things that he considered manly, the way he felt and saw things differently. "Father," he said, "can I ask you a personal question?""You are free to ask me anything."Ifeme scrupled. "Do you want another son?"Okoli roamed his eyes through the thickets of green that were by their sides as if he had wanted to hear something entirely different. "What kind of son are you talking about?""A better one," Ifeme said. "A son that could give you all the qualities you feel I should possess but I don't have. A son that could do all the farm work
Shading Black EXILE - Chapter Thirty-eight
Ibekwe smiled in his mind as they left, feeling comfortable that he had been accepted into Okoli's family with just a simple pretentious act. He felt relieved knowing that he had done things his way rather than wait for Ifeme to act for him. He stretched out full length upon the bamboo bed and groaned. Then a voice came to his mind, telling him that what he was doing was wrong. The voice pestered him like a faithful fly disturbing a sleeper with no thought of mercy. It was his conscience. The loud demand of the tensity of his own body was a voice on its own that seemed to drown out the voice of his conscience but it didn't. He tried to stop the voice from rebuking him but he couldn't. In the frigid lightness of the room, it seemed that he was on some vast loop that spun him faster and faster, not looking at him, not stopping. He was conscious of nothing now but what his inner voice of morality wanted. He lay still, hearing the crow of two or three cocks and feeling the desires of hu
Shading Black EXILE - Chapter Thirty-nine
Okoli and Akwaudo were shocked when Ibekwe sat down like a healthy man and put on a fake smile. Relieved that he was feeling better, they asked him to explain what had happened to him. Ibekwe started with his banishment, then he talked about how he had spent the night with Ifeme in his room, how Ifeme had fed him and helped in dressing his wounds before he ended with his plan to lie on the path so that he would be noticed by Okoli and Ifeme."That was a dangerous plan that you made up in your mind," Akwaudo said. "But I understand why you had to come up with such a plan. Your life was in danger and you needed to survive. What you and Ifeme did, deserves an adequate punishment but because of your state of health and touching story, I will pardon you for your act of foolishness."Okoli stepped forward and looked at Ibekwe."I won't deny that your action is the reason why your people banished you. I won't also stand here and support th
Shading Black EXILE - Chapter Forty
The ceremony for the official adoption of Ibekwe into the village of Umuise took place in the village town square. It was a ceremony that was done when a new person is introduced into the village. For the new individual to be a bona fide member of the village, a ceremony had to be held in honour of that person. Since Ibekwe was not born or related to anyone in Umuise, it was expected for him to undergo some initiation rites before he could fully be a part of Umuise.Umuise consisted of a large number of huts but the number of people in the village were very few which made it very possible for everyone to easily identify one other without much difficulty. Many indigenes of Umuise had been killed in wars that occurred a century ago during the time of Ibekwe's great-grandfather, Echi and because of that reason, almost everyone in the village were related somehow. Only a few interrogation and careful understanding of the family tree, someone could easily see how he
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