Chapter 1

Once upon a time, in the age of war, magic and cruelty. "Adesuna"

became the King of "Odudu," a kingdom located in west Africa.

 The foundation of "Odudu" was laid at the expense of the blood of Warriors, "Odudu" Was one of the most powerful kingdoms in the region of West Africa, "Adesuna" king of "Odudu" was the only son of Adeshina, a Yoro by tribe, he was a valiant fighter from his youth, who latter became a mighty King, he became a sorcerer when human strength couldn't face the tide of time. It was an age when men fought to own anything, warriors fought for lands as well as kings, every king was a warrior-king. The language of this time was the language of combat, a language that is not taught by men but experienced on the battle field, men even fought with all brutality to get married even within their own kingdoms and among

their own people, it was a period when possessions were measured by strength, the more powerful you are, the more things you were liable to acquire.

Kings fought for power, dominance, fame, influence and survival. The fretful weak lived under the mercy of the strong, in order to escape the aching pain of boredom. Warriors fought to both

acquire and secure what they had already accumulated, the only route

to peace was war: endless of deadly wars of bows and strings, arrows and archers, every man's soul lingered on his ability to make use of the sword. War was the code of the time. The horror and the terror of the time had made blood bath a daily routine, the feeble were slaves to the strong,

and the bravest of men were the fortresses of every kingdom. Adesuna was the fortress of the Odudu kingdom.

An age of spears and bows, the chants of war were the music of the

moment, every show was a show of brawl: their festivals were fighting

contests, every bit of entertainment was to see men and women display

their prowess, even brothers fought themselves to inherit lands owned

by their fathers, kingdoms were conquered by the bravery of men; they

were very few men who were considered to have immortal powers, these men gulped wine from the skulls of humans, Adesuna was the chief of

these men, every brave man had his own brainpan whereby he drank water

and wine from, these skulls were their medals and a prove of their

victories over enemy kingdoms, the men considered as immortals had

records of unprecedented victories and feats.

Some of these men, were so addicted to the ways of war that they could

detect the smell and the clamoring sounds of war from a distance, a battle could surface at any moment, the crucial moment made everyone's fate to lie solely

on his ability to make use of the major weapons of the age: shield and

spear, bows and arrows, people live daily with a full preparedness for

war, men would never make the mistake of going to the farm or

vineyards without their spears and shield or bows and arrows. Kings

were enthroned by the degree of their strength. Adesuna was a warrior

and a king to be reckoned. Every ruler was a warrior-king who was deep

in the practice of magic.

King Adesuna had lived almost all his life as a warrior, he had

conquered so many kingdoms and had upheld justice on behalf of the

feeble.

Adesuna didn't assume his kingly position in a day, there is a story

behind the surface of the glittering glory that he had: the fuming of

cruelty, wickedness and tyranny on his rural enclaves were his stepping stones to such a majestic height. Odudu itself was never a kingdom to be feared, or a kingdom of brave fighters, there was a dark tunnel process.

Odudu kingdom from time immemorial was a small village in west Africa, the village where King Adesuna was born to Adeshina, a local hunter who was also a farmer, Adesuna was the second child of Adeshina, and was

the only male child of the family, when Adesuna was born, the Oracle

visited Adeshina, and foretold that the child will be a mighty ruler,

his father never could comprehend what that meant, "I am not a king."

he told himself "...and by the way, I am not even from the lineage of kingship." 

Several years later, Adesuna was then twenty years, he was very brave, not one of his mates could dare the things he dared, he was afraid of nothing, he could go to nearby bushes in the black night to grope for rabbits all in the name of hunting, in spite of the menacing darkness, he wasn't bordered about the threats of war that faced his community, they had just fought a war not very long, they lost a vast portion of land to the kingdom of Agbadu- a portion that was earmarked has a danger zone to the people of Odudu, everyone was compelled to

stay within the boundaries of their kingdom. Adesuna's father gave him

several strict warnings, to deter him; but he was unyielding still, his insistence in daring the uncommon was beyond parental control, at several times he would accompany his father for a hunt into the vast forest of Ama, One day, as it had always been, Adesuna accompanied his dad to the forest of Ama for a hunt, as they hunted around and wondered in the forest in search of

a game, Adesuna who's ears were as sensitive as that of a hare, heard

voices of men and some footsteps approaching them from a thick bush

nearby, but before he could pay a keen attention, the voices faded as

the footsteps also faded, "father, did you hear any sound?" Adesuna

asked his father, "I didn't," his father responded, "You, did you hear

any noise?" his father asked, Adesuna nodded positively, "shortly before

now, I guess I was hearing footsteps and voices of men." Adesuna

explained. But his dad paid a little attention, as the issue seemed to

be a child's matter, while they were still in the center of the deliberation, four men dressed with the attire of Warriors jumped out of the hide, Adesuna and his father were halfway surrounded, startled by the strange looking men, Adesuna and his father  zoomed out of the halfway circle, towards where their feet could find the narrow way that leads to their village, Adesuna, whose feet were like a gazale whisked passed his father, his father also a semi smart man followed suit. The men ran after them chanting similarly to the sound of a gorilla, the men gave them a hard chase, as they run, Adesuna paced like an antelope and was very far ahead of his dad, his father hit his leg against the trunk of a huge tree; he somersaulted, and fell badly, before he could quickly jump up to his feet to resume a run, the strange men where

already two steps away from him, they quickly seized him and bound him

both hands and feet, two of the men gave Adesuna a hard chase but were

of nowhere close to him, so they turned back. Adesuna, who had managed

to escape their catch acted cleverly, he hid behind a huge tree to

watch the direction that the strange men had taken, he pondered over

the strange men and where they had come from, he followed them

carefully tracing every bit of their movement, while he followed them,

he over heard one of them saying that his father was the sixth

person they had apprehended that day from the village of Odudu where

he had come from, he then knew that his father was in a real trouble,

one of the men said that they should hurry up to meet the other

company beyond the Ama valley, as they went, Adesuna followed them

carefully to see where they had camped, as he followed, the place

seemed to be farther than expected, he had followed them for almost a

mile, his throat had become patched like the dryness of a desert, he needed water, but insisted in following them, he made up his mind not to turn back until he had located

the place, when he sighted where the were camping, he drew very close,

he tried to recognize the men he saw but couldn't recognize any, they

were all strange men, when he again drew closer, he heard one of them

who said, "the King will be paying us handsomely," "king? Which king

were they referring to?" Adesuna muttered to himself, then he

attempted stooping down under a huge tree, and suddenly stepped on a

dry stem of a trunk of wood that was on the ground, it uttered a sound

like a sound of a broken stick. "who is that?!" One of the guards

asked with a horrible voice, and started walking towards the huge tree

where Adesuna had stooped down, when Adesuna heard the sounds of

footsteps approaching him, his heart pounded rapidly as he leaned upon the the tree, if he is caught, all hope will be completely lost, this time, he was halfway frightened and could scarcely breathe. He quickly picked up a stone; he threw it a little distant from where he had stooped, this was to cause a distraction to the man approaching him, the man quickly lifted up his sword; he tip-toed swiftly sounding like the clopping hoofs of donkeys towards where Adesuna had thrown the stone, the man checked for a while and when he was unable to find anything, he retired back to his duty post. "Did you see anyone?" A fellow

colleague asked him in a deadly tone, he responded as he shook his head sideways, all the captives were yoked together in a single file with a huge stick placed upon their shoulders, when they had forcefully made them to sit down, one of the men said, " let us relaxed for a while, then by night

fall we shall be crossing the Ulu river with this bunch of bastards."

The man seemed to be in charge. When Adesuna heard that, his heart bit

even faster, all his attempt to signal his father that he was around

ended up in futility, tears blurred his vision, his father's head was hung downwards as all hope

seemed to be lost, after several attempts, Adesuna paved his way out

of the forest in a wild run, and headed for his village, hunger stole upon him slowly, accompanied by a clamoring sounds protruding from the nudging of his ribs, he was starving already, the way back seemed to be

confusing as he grew dizzy and his vision seldom dim; although he was able to navigate his way through the bush paths,

before long he was out of the forest, as he passed through a compound,

he heard the cry of a family, "a member of this family could be a

victim of the strange men that apprehended my father." A thought

whisked passed him, on reaching home, Adesuna's mother and sisters

were surprised to see only him return home. "Where is your father?"

his mother asked with an almost sneering tone. Adesuna, who had ran

all the way home stood panting, he took a deep sighed and said: "some strange men took father away." "What!" his three sisters stormed simultaneously. "What

did you just say?" His mother questioned him frantically, this time, tears had began to stream down his chicks, " some men bound father and took him away." "Away...? Where...? How...?" His mother who at this time

had started to scream, questioned in perplexity. 

His mom held him tightly on his arm as they hurried to inform the

King of the sad news, reaching there, they found other families with a

similar trauma, Adesuna quickly voiced out to the King that he knew

the exact place where they had camped, he explained to them how he had managed to follow them behind to be able to locate the place, this

statement of Adesuna, released an ounce of relief on the bereaved,

and even on the whole people present there. The King quickly summoned

the chief warriors, who also came with about thirty of other warriors,

they quickly took their swords.

 The King instructed that Adesuna

should be served with a little meal to regain his energy before leading the warriors to the hoodlums, he also praised him for the display of his courage, Adesuna gobbled the meal of boiled yam and red oil and munching the little yam that he was served with, with the vivid image of the incident running through his head, and quickly led the men into the bush paths, "may the

gods go with you," the King quickly wished them a successful adventure

into the forest of Ama, the Sun had gone down when they ventured into

the forest, "I pray that nothing happens to my father," Adesuna

prayed, after they have walked for a while, one of the warriors turned

to Adesuna, "young man! are you sure you know where you are leading us

to?" "Yes," Adesuna responded with a low tone. Suddenly, they finally

could see signs of activities, the cave where the men of Agbadu

kingdom had kept the captives hostage was spotted, at this time one of the men was in view. The warriors

quickly crept close to the cave where a guard was manned to watch

as a watch man, then they quickly surrounded the cave, some men were

asked to go behind the cave, as others remained afront, from behind, Ajaka

the chief warrior of Odudu walked stealthily towards the standing guard; he ran him through with

his sword into his side, when the guard was pierced through, he howl loudly as he struggled for

life, the sight of the helpless man almost cause Adesuna to tremble with fright. when the men in the cave heard him shout, they moved briskly from the cave with their swords and spears, but were enclosed by the unexpected attack, Adesuna had been asked to stay afar off from the scene of attack. Where Adesuna stooped, the wind whistled past his ears. They all collided in a blood fight, two of the men struggled and escaped, whilst the other men were killed. When the atmosphere was cleared, Adesuna budged into the cave, as he met the warriors struggling

to untie the captives, he quickly glanced for his father, when he saw

his father, he smiled and embraced him tightly. On reaching

home, everyone rejoiced greatly when their men were rescued

successfully. There was joy in Adesuna's house, the man of the house is save and sound, once again, the King praised Adesuna for his act of bravery. "you are a brave boy, my son." The King said has he

promised him a reward. When the King of Agbadu realised what had

happened to the men that he sent and learnt that the kingdom of Odudu was

responsible, his anger flamed up, "I will deal with them, I will deal

terribly with their king, they should be prepared for an unending

war." He said bitterly, The Kingdom of Agbadu had been one of the

greatest rivals to the kingdom of Odudu. When the King of Odudu learnt

by divination that the men that were killed by is warriors were from

the Kingdom of Agbadu, he knew that he should start preparing his men

for war, laying a hand on the people of Agbadu portends a war.