Chapter 2

The Kingdom of Agbadu is a kingdom surrounded by sky scraping rocks,

they are well trained in fighting amidst rocks and they also practiced

divination. They had been an enemy kingdom to the kingdom of Odudu for

ages.

The King of Odudu after he had learnt that his kingdom will not escape

the oncoming war, he quickly assembled his wise men to seek out their counsel, they advised that he visits the chief priest, then they

marched together to see the chief priest, the chief priest, an old looking man, with a bent body, he glazed with his almost closed eyes, looking gnarled with his veined twisted hands,

 did some incantations and chanted some songs, he turned to the King, he spoke toothlessly. "King Ogedengbe! do not be dismayed, do not allow fear to take root in the chambers of your heart, the gods are on our side, in

the space of three years, I see a tempest that will come strongly from

the south, that wind comes with strange chants, it will be a battle of

mortals and immortals, I see a strange god, a strange move from the

KIngdom of Abgadu, Oh king! it will be heavy." "you must prepare your

warriors, your fighting men, the war will involve both spiritual and

physical preparation; let more youths be recruited, these are the

words of the invisible gods." He spoke with a cracking tone shivering from the impulses of his withering body.

The next day, King Ogedengbe summoned his chief warrior Ajaka and gave him the instructions given him by the Oracle. By next week, the

training had commenced fully, Adesuna was among the people selected for the oncoming war, they both comprised of male and female fighters... Gender was not a factor in the selection of Warriors. Adesuna regardless of his age was tall and had a broad chest, his fortitude and consuming passion amazed every

one, another lady that was enlisted had a masculine figure of a broad

shoulder and almost flat chest, she was taller than all the new intakes, she is Topke, another was a left handed man, a friend

to Adesuna, by the name Adisa, with other numerous youths, the

training was not easy, they were trained both on land and water, every

one had to master these two habitats. The selected prospective

warriors were put under the tutelage of three prominent warriors: the

first of them was Ajaka, the chief warrior, he had killed more than

any warrior in the Kingdom, his chest was has broad has that of a

chimpanzee. the second was Agbana, a female warrior who is seven feet

tall and very giant, she could break a spear with her giant arms,

during every fighting festival, the warrior who emerges as a winner will combat with her, barely will the warrior throw her to the ground. The

third was Funsho, a hairy giant masculine warrior and the closest

person to the King during any war, he had been the second person who

had successfully thrown Agbana the giant to the ground.

For three solid years, those that were selected went through an arduous

training; they were trained how to use the spear, sword, shield, bow

and arrow. Adesuna was very quick together with few others who in a

short time were able to master all the available weapons and could

display any fighting technique without stress, Adesuna could slice a

pawpaw tree in one strike with a single hand, most people got puzzled

by the skills Adesuna displayed, he was seen as a promising warrior,

news about him and other prospective warriors, got to the King. At this point, the King's proclivity for Adesuna thickened.

Adesuna was fast in learning, he was very good with his unpredictable

moves when he handles the sword, during sparing, he almost was able to

defeat the others, his speedy moves during combat was unmatched

compare to any, although he could be easily distracted... The new recruits were also trained to survive three days without water and food, most of

them passed out even on the first day.

As time slid passed by like the speed of light, the third year had

finally surfaced, everyone kept their ears on the ground to hear the

advent of the foretold prophecy by the chief priest of Odudu Kingdom.

One morning, as the King sat on his throne in a good spirit, a young

man was dragged to his palace by some of the newly enrolled warriors,

the King at first was surprised, "Who is this young man?" he asked,

"He was sent by the King of Agbadu kingdom, he has refused to tell us

anything, but has insisted that his message is to you from the King of

Agbadu." One of the warriors explained, "leave him let him speak!" The King ordered. The young man said he was sent by the King of Agbadu to

to tell the King to choose between three options: the first option was

that the King and all the people of Odudu should evacuate, the second

was to prepare for enslavement and the third was for them to prepare for

war... ...all the warriors laughed to scorn when they heard the

message. The King was not surprised, he knew such a time will

definitely come some days, he quickly summoned the warriors and told

them that the foretold war had finally caught up with them, "warriors

of Odudu! oil your swords and dust your shields; prepare your bows and

arrows." After he had addressed the warriors, he sent a messenger to

the king of Agbadu that his people are not people of words but of

swords and that the battle field should settle the scores, when the

King of Agbadu received the letter, a wicked little smile crossed his

hard face, before the messenger could bolt away back to Odudu, the

cruel king ordered he should be seized, "cut off his left ear, this will be a message to that cowardice king of Odudu and his sheepish people," the King instructed, at the instance, one of the warriors cut off the messenger's ear without hesitating. with a roaring voice he said: "listen to me messenger, tell your king that in three days time, by noon we shall be meeting at the

valley of Ama where I shall be cutting off his head!" the messenger

who's ear was bleeding was attended to and then sent off to Odudu,

when he arrived at the kings palace, he delivered the message verbatim.

That evening, the King quickly summoned Ajaka the chief warrior, he

instructed that by tomorrow night, every warrior should assemble in

the village shrine, where everyone of them will be fortified. The

chief priest had set a huge pot on fire, he invoked some spirits and

then poured into the big pot some black liquid substances as he

uttered a few enigmatic words, then he fetched a cup full of the

concoctions and gave it to every warrior, he then sprinkled some of

the liquid concoctions on the warriors each, the King was not left

out.

After the fortifications, the King opened his mouth and spoke to them,

"warriors of Odudu! fighting men of our land, be courageous, and allow

your gazes to be shifted from your fears, take your gazes to victory,

treasure your swords for it is yours, by the dawning of the day, we

shall be matching into the valley of Ama, where we shall be stepping

on the heads of our enemies, do not allow your minds to be divided;

for those of you who will be fighting for the first time, have it in

mind that nothing is new under the sun, your eyes will behold terrible

things but do not be dismayed. you must be strong, the enemies that

you will be facing today are not gentle people, they want to chop off

your heads from your shoulders, do not permit that, rather be the one

to chop off their heads. The enemy would want to thrust his sword into

you, do not also permit that, be the one to thrust your sword into the

enemy. valiant men of Odudu Kingdom, war is not won by number but by strength, power and fortitude, we shall be victorious because the gods are on our side." When the King was done talking, the troupe recited

their war Anthem.

"we are the men of Odudu, the men of war, our name sounds the alarm of

threats! mountains skip beneath our giant strides, our shield have

tasted the sweetness of blood, our hearts have been taught the ways of

war, the night has become our day, our eyes could see through the

walls, one of our men can bring down thousands of men, the songs of

sorrow we hear, are from afar, we have wrecked havoc on the kingdoms

of mother earth, our eyes are full of blood, our teeth have bit off

the the flesh of elephants our nose perceive the scent of blood, we

the Kingdom of Odudu are the men of war."

The troupe of warriors shouted at the top of their voices after they

had recited the Anthem, Adesuna, looked sternly at his father, when

his father smiled, he smiled back.

The next day, when it was almost noon, they chanted their war song as

the match their way into the valley of Ama; the King and the chief warrior led the troupe to the battlefield.