Don't Rock The Cradle - Episode V

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Omalicha pulls out of the pool of darkness, this time a little less disorientated, but just like last time her vision is a blur. She knows it's only temporary.

Woman: I've been waiting for you.

She recognizes the voice, it's the woman that ran out of the water, the one talking about travelling through time. That's completely ridiculous, isn't it? Yet again, she has just seen the battle of a lifetime and people shouldn't be able to do the things she saw. Even the most formidable dibia that she knows cannot do those things, controlling nature's elements like beans. At this point she will believe almost anything, at least, until there is a reason to believe otherwise. Her vision is clearing, as expected.

Woman: It's been almost a year. I was starting to think you were never coming back.

Omalicha: *silence*

Seven cycles of the four days is one complete cycle of the moon, an "Onwa", and a woman carries a child in her womb for Onwa-iteneni, nine full cycles of the moon. Omalicha was doing the numbers in her head, she had always been good at this. The woman is breastfeeding a baby, she cannot be lying, time has past. Still, Omalicha only stares.

Woman: My name is Ebiuwa and my daughter...

The woman looks down at the baby in her arms, sucking from her breast.

Woman: ...is beautiful, isn't she? Tell me, do you have a sister, or brother?

The question is odd but Omalicha reluctantly decides to answer, "What do I have to lose", she gives up in her head. Her father drummed it into her ears not to talk to strangers, a warning she received every day she left the house alone. "Don't talk to any body you don't know," he would charge and she would finish, "...especially strange men!" then laugh as she ran off. "What an over protective old man", she would think but now...

Omalicha: Your daughter is beautiful but no, I don't have siblings. I am my mother's only child and she died giving birth to me. My father never re-married but now he too is gone.

She still hasn't fully accepted his death because she doesn't want to be alone. Her father was all she had and that is why she is here, where ever here is. She was trying to do something stupid, she knew it then and she knows it now. A broken heart can make a person do very stupid things.

Ebiuwa: I am sorry to hear that. Would you happen to know if your mother had siblings, or your grandmother perhaps?

Omalicha pauses to think for a second. She recalls the times her father would sit with her after the day on the farm, telling her stories about her mother. Her mother was the most beautiful girl in Onitsha he would say and Omalicha looks so much like the woman he married he would always add with a smile. Reluctantly, she continues.

Omalicha: My grandmother had only a daughter, my mother, that's what my father told me. My grandmother herself had siblings, that's what my father also tol.. wait... no, my grandmother's father had four wives, she was her own mother's only child. What does that have to do with anything?

Ebiuwa: I see. I will tell you why you saw me running, why those men were after me. I will tell you everything you need to know including why the women in your lineage only have one child, a girl.

Ebiuwa begins:

I came from Benin, the ancient Kingdom across the great river. 

Esere Osaredion Obamwonyi, the head of the Oba's household workers, decided that we would be the offerings for his next sacrifice. There were five of us including my sister and I don't know how he found out but we all had that blood flowing in our veins. There are two ancient bloodlines, one is man and the other is hydrosapien. It is said... no, there is no time for that now, you could disappear again at any moment.

We served in houses dedicated to serving the Oba's palace so if we went missing, not too many eyebrows would be raised. People disappear every now and again but no one ever asks questions for fear of becoming the next victim. The second ancient blood flowing in my sister and I was strong, much more so in my sister than myself. I often teased her, saying that was the reason she was a fighter. I on the other hand prefer my own company.

My memory is as clear as a moon-lit sky. That night, we received a warning and I can still feel the horror. Etched on the inside of our hut was "Sacrifice, Run, Water-Blood!" Someone did not want us to die. We ran out and went for the others, getting to Omoruyi and Aizehi in time but it was too late for Osaze, he was already being carted away when we arrived. I remember his voice, it was heavy with tears.

Osaze: Please! Pleaase!! Leave me! I'm begging you, please!! I didn't do anything wrong, pleaaaasseee!

Guard I: Shut up! You should be happy to be a sacrifice.

Guard II: It is not your place to say that.

Osaze: Iyemen! Me!?? Sacrifi...

A savage blow was administered to Osaze's jaw as if he was a common criminal, a thief, a murderer, but he hadn't done anything wrong. None of us had.

I'm certain he never made it into his hut because both Omoruyi and Aizehi got the same warning we did, he would have escaped. The race had begun and we were running for our lives. We headed East because we knew the Benin Empire had influence to the West, the North was not an option because our blood is attracted to water and the Northern lands are dry. We never considered the South because none of us had ventured that way before and besides, Aizehi had traveled towards the East as a child so she had an idea of the way. 

From Abudu to Agbo, Umunede to Okpanam we ran past several villages until we got to the great river. At Okpanam, Omoruyi chose to sacrifice himself. He bought us some time by standing against the advancing guards. Having the hydrosapien blood coursing through his veins, he was strong, stronger than the average man and he stood well against the them. Guards are fortified with an array of charms and so even the lower ranks are not to be taken for granted.

Omoruyi stood until they came. He didn't stand a chance after that. Fighting one alone is an uphill battle but then there were two. You saw them, didn't you? The men that crossed on the surface of the great river to hunt me down, Esere Osaredion's personal guards.

At the edge of the large river, Aizehi decided that she too wouldn't be going any further. She was much older than my sister and I, and was tired of running. She was like a mother to us and taught us everything we know about who we are. Aizehi stepped into the river until the water was at her waist then she began.

Aizehi: Step into the water, I may not be with you or teach you anymore but you will survive and fight back if you have to. We are descendants of hydrosapiens not goats for the sons of man to offer to whatever gods they please. 

We did as we were told and stepped in. She started her incantation and the river responded, the water around us circled us. She pulled out the small goat-skin sac from her waist and let it drop. A pillar of water the size of an open palm rushed from the surface and caught it. She pulled out a dagger, again from her waist, and slit her right wrist, letting the blood drop into the sac. She had decided to sacrifice herself for us, what she was doing was forbidden.

Life is interesting. There is always something mysterious hiding around the corner, like a catfish that sinks because of its heavy head there are many ironies in life. To give us the power to save ourselves, Aizehi was giving up her life.

From between my feet, an egg plopped out of the water. I looked over at my sister but before I could make out what she received, the water around her shot up to the sky, forming a cylindrical wall. I looked up and I could see from the inside of my own wall that the water reached as high as the clouds, it was endless.

I knew I had to swallow the egg, somehow the water was speaking to me, so I did. I had never felt a rush like that before, all my senses came to life and I was aware of everything! I could sense Amenze, my sister, I could tell she was still within her wall of water. Aizehi was still waist-deep in, smiling as her blood continued to flow into the sac, but she was losing consciousness.

Then they came within range, their combined aura was outrageous! Aizehi noticed them as well and with the last of her energy, she turned Amenze's cylindrical wall to a spherical ball and shot her far into the land. I could see all of this from within my wall.

*slash*

Tears ran down my eyes as one of the guards unleashed his wrath on her, letting us escape did not sit well with him. The water in front of Aizehi tried to rise to protect her but the force behind the energy-wave emanating from the guard's blade was brute. She was already trading her soul for this ritual and so there was nothing she could do, whatever power she had was draining away. She turned to my direction and her last words were clear, "...run."

With tears falling down my eyes, I obeyed. My wall of water dropped in an instant and I ran. I saw her falling back-first into the river, tears rolling down her cheeks, my own tears accelerating in response but I didn't stop. I sensed an aggression behind me and that was when I realised I was running on water. The guard had moved more than three farm plots in the blink of an eye and in panic, I dropped to the bottom of the river, he missed. 

For some reason I was not choking or drowning. I didn't stop to think, I kept running. I ran till I came out at the other side and that is where Izunna appeared. I never imagined that a single person could defeat Esere Osaredion's personal guards. It was almost too good to be true. This is his baby by the way, I think she has his eyes, her name in Adanna. 

He and Amaka, his first wife, over there are celebrating. She's pregnant again for her second child. They are both professional palm-wine drunks, never try to compete with them. They are probably already tipsy. Ebube over there is the second wife so I guess that makes me the third. The baby boy with her is Amaka's son but Ebube likes to take care of him, he is fond of her. His name is Akunna and I haven't decided if it's a good thing or not but he isn't afraid of snakes.

You have the blood of the hydrosapien flowing through your veins, I sensed it the moment I heard your voice but not just that, you are my child, my blood. I have been at Izunna's side for a year now and I have learnt to protect myself. I went through Amaka then Ebube before I could face him so I believe I am ready. I will leave Adanna with her father and I will place the egg in Ebube's care, I will cross the great river again to look for Amenze.

Tears are running down Omalicha's cheeks now, she doesn't know when her eyes started leaking. She feels she has met the mother she never got to see, maybe that's why she felt safe talking to her.

*Gasp*

Like clockwork, Omalicha feels the squeeze on her heart, it's time to go but this time it's different. It feels like a hand from the darkness is pulling her back into the pool. She doesn't struggle, the tears keep rolling down.

Ebiuwa: I'm sorry for the pain my chil...

*Darkness*


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