OBIAGERI
Obiageri – Episode 10
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“Ezenwa leave my chamber this minute… you have no right to barge in here. I’m with my wife and your presence here is not needed…”
Ukadike ignored him and remain seated, he did not utter a word as Prince Aka went on ranting ângríly.
Aka later said
“…i’m going to report you to father right away… father needs to do something, I can’t take this insult from you…”
Aka left the the chamber to go and report to igwe.
I was watching everything happening from one corner of the big chamber, I’m struggling to understand the fact that Ukadike is igwe’s first son and his name is Ezenwa.
It sound and looks so unbelievable.
After Aka stormed out of the room angrily, Ukadike gently turned and looked at me with a straight face, the usual face he wears, you can’t tell if he’s happy or not.
He looked straight at me but never said anything and when I found my voice I asked.
“Why didn’t you tell me, why didn’t you tell me Ukadike… you lied to me by pretending to be something you are not. you confused me and everyone with your identity. I was close to you yet you hide your identity from me. I thought you… you love me? you deflowered me Ukadike…I’m and tha…
He spoke out, halting me from talking.
“I’m really sorry…I really do love you Oby, I did what I needed to do. what was required of me by my father. it was supposed to be a secret which no one within the wall of this palace is allowed to tell. I have live far more in different villages, searching and learning without people knowing my true identity, I became like everyone, I grew up outside there in different kingdom more than this village or the palace, I became a warrior, a hunter and a farmer because I needed to be like the people before I can rule them…”
“…i feel what they feel and understand them more. I came across you unexpectedly, I have known and seen you even before your first encounter with Nduka or with me. I watch you from on top a tree most times, I see you go in to check your traps, you were different, you appear special and I’m not a man with many words, I could have stopped you and get acquainted with you but I allowed time to pass until the day with Nduka…”
He heaved sadly
“…there is alot to tell but I will let it be for now. I’m sorry that I…i..deflowered you, i wanted you for myself…I don’t want another man to take it away from you, I did what I have to do just to keep you. I’m sorry Oby, please forgive me…”
He frowned after a long sigh
“… but did Aka knows that you are not a virgin?
“He doesn’t know yet Ukadike or should i call you prince Ezenwa? he doesn’t know I’m not a virgin and I’m afraid of many things right now… why will your brother chose me in the first place? in the midst of so many beautiful maidens… why will he pick interest in me… that’s one question I’m yet to come to terms with…”
“Akabugo, my brother knows that you are the one I want, he has somebody giving him information and spying on your movement, right from the time i agreed to fight Nduka, so he came after you just to spite me. I didn’t want you to go to the festival or Virgin parade because I felt something like this will happen but I couldn’t stop you either, that will be revealing my full identity which I have hidden for years…”
I sighed sadly
“I thought you disappeared, I thought I won’t see you again. I was heart broken uka…dike… I’m sorry, I’m not use to your other identity. just realising it alone is still a big shock to me. I have not seen my monthly flo…”
Before I could complete my sentence prince Aka stepped in with the Igwe.
I knelt down in greetings and later stood at his command.
Ukadike stood up and bow to his father as Igwe gently came in with his royal walking stick. He stood in between the room
Aka stood beside his father as he spoke out ângrily.
“Father… you need to tell Ezenwa to leave my chamber. I deserve some good time with my wife. He doesn’t suppose to be here, Ezenwa should go and find his own wife, I chose Oby and paid her bride price. father you even sent your blessings to her father, why will Ezenwa, who has lived outside the palace almost all his life came back now to claim my wife? he was going to be the Igwe after you, I’m not dragging that with him…he should respect himself and stay away from me and my wife…”
“…we want some privacy… father, Ezenwa has done your bidding by living in the bush and outside here all his life, he will listen to you if you tell him to leave me and my wife alone. he should go get his own woman, Oby is mine. all the whole strength and might he possessed he still can’t find a woman who will love him, I will never ever allow him get close to my wife. Oby is my virgin bride who will bear my children, Ezenwa is not man enough…”
I watch Ukadike move his muscle as his brother insult him, he could have pounced on him if his father was not present.
I watched him take a chair to his elderly father who sat down quietly still holding his walking stick.
The Igwe looked at prince Aka before saying
“Akabugo, you have to learn to respect your elder brother, you disrespect him greatly with your tone of voice and words, even if you want to make a point make sure you pick your word wisely. do not be foolish son and as for the present case at hand, Ezenwa saw the maiden first, He passed through all rites which was required of him, he lives in the means of his own people as a stranger, fought battles and won, live like an outcast, travel from village to village just to gather and learn different patterns of traditions so that when he takes over the seat of power he will rule with wisdom and full knowledge of the land. I made a mistake in mine, in choosing a bride, I do not want your brother who is the heir to the throne to fall short like me…”
“…The maiden here is whom he has chosen, he delights in her greatly, i never knew until he returned back saddens by your actions,
already I have sent my blessings to the maiden’s father without knowing. Akabugo, I know you paid her bride price but it needs to be returned. she belongs to your brother, don’t do this to him, to me or the entire kingdom…”
“… your brother is the heir to this entire kingdom, finding a selfless bride was the last part of the rite and he has fulfilled all of it until you picked interest in her. Akabugo, Che ma ihe uche…(Akabugo, think deeply about this things.) okro adighi agari onye Kuro ya( okro can not grow more than the farmer “riddles”).
Prince Aka was not having any of the things his father was saying.
It was obvious that the Igwe takes great delight in Ukadike, his first son.
Prince Aka walked round angrily at his father’s word.
“I will not take it father, never. even if mother rose from the grave today and tell me to give my wife to Ezenwa I will still not. nothing will make me give my wife to him. Father, I expected a better judgement from you, you have always favoured Ezenwa… always. You never consider my own feeling, it has always being Ezenwa. ihuru ya na anya gari sie ( you love him more than me) but there’s no problem. Oby is my wife now, she is my virgin bride. I will not give her out to him, give my own wife to Ezenwa…may the gods forbids it…”
He kept talking, Ukadike looked at me and bent his head.
He spoke out to his brother directly, shocking him.
” I took her virginity, I deflowered her even before the maiden’s parade and I’m not sorry I did. I’m glad I did it, I took what belongs to me because she is mine and will never be yours. go and collect back your bride price from her father, Obiageri is all mine and I will not let you have her…”
Prince Aka was shock in learning that i wasn’t a virgin, he sat hard on a chair and stare at me in disbelief.
I looked away avoiding his intense look
“Ezenwa, you are not sorry that you defiled my wife, you are not sorry you stole my wife’s virginity and she paraded herself as a virgin with other maidens in the presence of everyone? you are glad that you did an abominable act before the land and the gods. Ezenwa, I hate you and you just stroked me hard in the wrongest place and the bitter thing in all this is that father will always support you…”
“… you all make me look like a stranger in my own father’s house, father did you hear what Ezenwa just said? he deflowered my wife and he is glad he did that. Obiageri paraded herself with other virgins of the land when she’s not a virgin? Hahahaha! So my so called wife is not a virgin? Wow!..”
“…well, I will not still allow you to have her Ezenwa but I will disgrace her by going to her father and tell him that he sold expired product to me. I will go to the elders and let them know that my suppose virgin bride is a scam. she lied to the face of everyone, this is a big shame and I will disgrace her. She will serve as an example to many other defaulters. she will be an escape goat, i swear it…I will do all this and many more to her. I will hurt you with what you love most Ezenwa. I will never let you have her, she is mine and I will do whatever I wishes to do with her…”
Ukadike moves uncontrollable as he besieged his father to do something, he was ready to let me go because he can’t watch me get hurt.
I was scared, I swallowed hard as prince Aka throws his threatening words with so much ánger.
He was so pained that Ukadike took my virginity and I lied about it.
He did not hide his disappointment in me, it was written all over him.
Igwe hushed Aka to be quiet and he obeyed.
he told Aka to calm down.
The Igwe said with authority that he should be given three weeks to think of what to do with the present case and within this weeks I will have to be put aside.
None of the brothers should come close to me within this period.
I should be left alone until he thinks of what to do.
He asked Aka not to do anything harsh that he will regret later but Aka was grumbling, he has his own plans which I fear he may carry out his plans but I silently pray he listen to his father.
I was later put in a separate chamber, big room filled with different nice things,l.
everything I will ever need and a maiden was assigned to me.
I have to stay in the chamber and I’m only allowed to come out in the evening.
I know Prince Aka is so angry just realising alone that Ukadike took my virginity, he has planned to disgrace me Just to get back at Ukadike.
What if I’m pregnant that will be another serious fight.
I just hope I’m not, things are already complicated, pregnancy will worsen the present situation.
Aka is just complicating and threatening everything and everyone.
Ukadike is ready to do anything in other to let peace reign.
But he is struggling and ready to fight Aka so that he won’t succeed with his ill plans.
But Aka is more than ready for a fight.
(Do not take credit or Plagiarize AMAH’S HEART stories)
