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Chapter 11
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2024-10-29 19:42:56“WHAT DO YOU THINK OF IDITAN?” Oniko asked. Everyone else had left the mountains save the two of us.
I didn’t have to think much to give him an answer. “She is evil, and I think she hates me.”
Oniko smiled. “Why do you think so?”
“It’s glaring.” I shrugged. “Everybody around here knows this for a fact.”
“Oh?” Oniko raised an eyebrow. There is a quirk of amusement on his lips. “So she loves every other person asides you? Or she is being cold to just you alone?”
Love? Does Iditan even know what that is? But thinking on Oniko’s questions, Iditan was cold to everybody, making them take the extra effort to steer clear of her. But I still felt like she was always seeking me out.
Oniko’s quirk of amusement widened seeing as I took time to respond. “She relates with you just the same as with others, and from what I’ve seen of her Iditan seem to like you although she might not know that yet.”
I scoffed at the absurdity of
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Before the end of the week, the whole school had known there was something wrong between Kudaisi and I. Ours had been a wild wind romance, fast, burning—a envy for all. Whispers and talks abounded as I walked through the corridor to the schoolyard for the compulsory Friday afternoon devotion, with students openly pointing at me. For most time I was dead towards them, walking without really seeing or hearing any of them, but for a reason I felt curious, drawing magic to heighten my hearing and listen in on a group of girls to my far left. “She has no shame. First Stephen and now Kudaisi, and they both dumped her after a few weeks,” one of the girls said. “I’ve never seen a girl so lucky and unlucky at the same time,” another added. “I heard she lied to Kudaisi that she was a virgin, and when he finally got down with her, he saw her for what she truly was.” “What? She is a real definition of a whore!” I nearly lost control hearing that.
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I MOVED LIKE THE WIND, running so fast I was at the foot of the mountains and back to the starting point in a matter of seconds."Faster," Damola barked.I was not sure if she was talking to me or to the others who seemed to me to be moving like bicycle in a car race—the nighthawks in our team especially—but I put more effort, throwing all my frustration and negative emotions into my legs. I was in a race not only physically, but also a mental race to empty my mind.Damola had brought us for training away from the pressure of the mountains on the kilometers long field between the castle and the mountains, to test our speed for real life action against the cursed ones. The castle was still shut, as silent and as dreary as ever, but I have no time to throw questions about it and feed my curiosity like I would have done on a normal day.I reached the foot of the mountains yet again, still brimming with energy, and was returning back when a sharp
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“So you are a witch,” Kudaisi murmured softly. “I always felt something about you was magical, I never knew how close to the mark I was.” He chuckled softly to himself.“So you are one of the cursed ones?” I fired back, my voice coming out flat and without the steel I hoped it would have.Kudaisi chuckled again. “They chose to call themselves chosens.”Ibrahim appeared before us like the wind, making me bite back my sharp retort. “Take.” I instinctively raised my hands and caught the bottle of water he threw to me. It was then I sensed the great pangs of thirst from my throat which had become parched from all the screaming.“Thanks.” I smiled at him.“Is there any other thing you need?”I shook my head. “I’m okay.”Ibrahim nodded, shifting a glance at Kudaisi. He turned back to me, holding my gaze. “If you would take my
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We all trooped to Kudaisi’s car. He brought a convertible today, opening up the roof during the ride. The rush of the wind felt incredible, making me close my eyes and bask in it. The beach was sparse as it usually was during weekdays, and so we had fewer eyes on us. “Let’s go into the water,” Kudaisi said as soon as we got down from the car, stripping off his shirt to reveal his lean muscled abs. “I don’t think so.” I shook my head. Lara and I did not prepare to swim today and so did not bring any swimwear. “How do you propose we go inside the water? With our clothes?” “You could go in your—” Kudaisi eyed me and then Lara. I was sure he was looking through our clothes to the lines formed below. A blush creeped unto my cheek. “You wish.” At the end of the day we simply sat on the sand and watched the boys take a dip in the water wearing their boxers shorts, as loud music blasted from the car. They soon returned thirty min
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THE ANCIENT TRAINNING GROUNDS was cast in darkness, making the whole atmosphere which was always bright to look different. A large bonfire burnt in the middle of the clearing not far from the castle, and smaller fires with roast meat on them littered the around filling the air with scent of burning meat, pepper and spice. People gathered in groups around the smaller fires, while the matrons and the council sat the center, a few feet away from the larger bonfire.We sat before one of the smaller fires at the fore front of the gathering; I, Iditan, Chike, Ramatu, Biola, Kola, Irene and Bashir, and a wild pig sat roasting on our fire as we faced the council directly. Oniko was absent, out following a lead on the cursed ones, and Damola who had been monitoring the arrangements of the whole setup with the help of some of the older nighthawks finally returned to join us.“What is this all about?” I asked Damola as soon as she came back. We had arrived at the trai
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Only Iditan remained by our spot when I returned, staring at the merry makers.The larger bonfire was blazing hard, and almost every other person was there, dancing around it. I sat down stiffly, also watching them go at it. I caught sight of Damola dancing energetically with a younger man and smiled, seeing the light in her eyes. Hers was a mood I liked—she could let lose when need be and so also be all bossy and demanding as the occasion demanded, and let loose she did right now, trying out some crazy moves.Ramatu returned a minute later to join us and watch the proceedings, and then Chike who came to cajole me to the dance, staying back after I rejected his insistent urgings. Dancing was never one of my strong suits, and I always felt conscious doing so outside.With each face I beheld making merry before the fire, I began to wonder what they were like in the real world, their dreams, their aspiration, what made them tick. I shifted my gaze to our grou
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THE UNUSUAL SILENCE and darkness on the mountains was unnerving as I flew slowly to the seventh point where I met Iditan training by herself. She continued her practice without turning around, even as I knew she sensed my arrival, so I just watched her go through her forms.Iditan’s moves were unpredictable, I saw that glaringly now. Sometimes she was slow, so slow you feel like you could strike her with twenty or more moves before she brought up a defense, and other times she was fast, like the wind. And her leg work was just a work of art, like a dance.I was so lost watching her train that I nearly missed the dagger she threw at me. It was so subtly hidden in the wind that I only sensed it at the last moment, moving my head so it passed a hairs-breath from my neck. She came at me in the same instant, the lone dagger in her hands pointed straight at my head.Was she trying to kill me now that there are no witnesses? I back-stepped fast, my senses now hei
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I was yanked out of Kudaisi’s body as he came to. He was still in the dungeons, and the red matron stood before him with two of her apprentices.“He is not going to make it” the red matron says, looking him over wistfully. My heart skips a beat hearing her. “Someone has tampered with him or something,” she looks around, frowning.“What do we do no?” one of the apprentices asked.The red matron frowned. “Get me blood. We can’t allow him die like this. We will feed him blood to make him heal and continue.”“Okay,” the girl turned around and left the dungeon.I came awake slowly, taking a moment to get my eyes used to the dim lightning of the room. The thick pungent smell of drug and pills hit me hard, and as I tried to move my right hand a strong warm hand gently, but firmly, stopped me.“Finally you're awake.” It was Mama. She was seated on the bed by my side.
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There was no more me, only Kudaisi. I felt what he felt, saw what he saw. I had become him.As a little boy, after spending the better parts of the day playing and running around the whole neighborhood with friends, I would end up on Iya Agba’s bed after dinner with his head on her bony thighs as she either tell me a story or sing a song while her fingers softly caress his head. She will only stop when I’m drowsing to take me to his room, or after I doze off and I will wake up the next day to find himself in his own room, on his bed.One thing about those times is, I am always secure in the warmth of her bosom, like the kind of feeling a chick has staying under the wings of its mother. I was immovable, untouchable, I was free—unrestrained.The same feeling encompass me now as Iya Agba’s scent invades his senses—the scent of home, of love, of the feeling that nothing can ever go wrong.“Kudaisi.”I groan, re
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PAIN. ANGER. REGRET.I felt his emotions, every single part of it, as the Red matron who personally oversaw his interrogation tortures him again and again, taking him just to the brink of oblivion only to drag him back from falling into the darkness. Green vines bound his hands and legs, splaying him wide in the air in nothing but his boxer shorts, and his body shivered as pain racked through him with each slightest movement. His screams resounded loud as the red matron did something to him for some long minutes before stopping.I watched everything from the shadows, unable to move, speak, or even let loose of the floodgate of tears locked behind my eyes and vent the thick stifling pain which smothered me. He refused to speak despite whatever they did to him, refused to betray his friends.An image flashed through my mind—his mind. It was his late grandmother, Iya Agba. I looked at her with familiarity like I have known her for years, feeling from
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“YOU ARE LATE,” Kudaisi said as soon as I arrived at our rendezvous point. “What’s the problem?” he asked, seeing the worried look on my face.“Kenny…” my voice broke and I stopped.“What about him?”“I found him. He is already a cursed one.”“No,” Kudaisi hissed in shock. I nodded, turning my eyes down as he stared intently at me—barely holding myself together. “Where is he?”“With the witches at Olofi. They practically sent him to them with a note stating it was a gift for me.”“The bastards!” Kudaisi cursed. “How about Shola and Taiwo?”“I don’t know yet. I- I- I hope they are fine.” I nearly broke there, until I felt the white matron determining my location with her spell. “I need your help,” I said, raising my head.“You know I would—”&nbs
