The daughter of the forest

part 4

When I got back, I rinsed the ponmo and the fresh pepper and started grinding it.
"You know what, I am going to Iya Apeke's place to plait my hair tomorrow, you will follow me so you can make yours too. We'll leave early so we can so we can meet Akanji. He is an handsome young man of marrying age and I hear his yam farm did very well last harvest. The few times I've met him, he has been very respectful and he would make a wonderful husband for you. His mother told me he does not have a bride yet."
"But maami, my hair is not rough, I just made it three days ago. And besides, I have clothes to wash tomorrow"
"That is not an excuse, omodebinrin yi. I will wake you up as soon as the cock crows. I will not need your help in the kitchen tomorrow. You can use that time to wash your clothes and do your other chores. You do not have to make your hair, you shall accompany me so you can be introduced to the young man."
"But maami, I..."
"Don't but maami me," she said cutting me off. "You are going and that's final. You are not getting any younger and both your father and I want grandchildren before we join our ancestors in the afterlife. I want to be called Iya Agba too."
"If you what grand children so much, why don't you pester Oyeyemi as much to get himself a bride. He is older than I am with five years
"You know it doesn't work like that.Your brother is a man and you are a woman .It is not frowned upon if your brother is not married at his age, but you do not have that privilege my dear .Ile obirin okin pe su. your mate's have already given birth and you're yet to bring a man"
"But it's not fair ma"
"No,it not ,but its what we have to live with".
After that we focused on our work while she told me the latest gossips in town. Apparently, prince Aderemi was found drunk at the town's square this morning. Although that's no longer new. Also, Iya ibeji's second daughter was pregnant out of wedlock at the age of 14.
The village's annual sacrifice and festival that was supposed to have been done 3 months ago has been postponed again and it is causing unrest in the town. Even I'm getting worried about that one and I can tell my stepmother is even though she's trying not to look it.
My brothers can home with good news. Our cassava farm was doing really well and in about two weeks time, they will be able to harvest it.
We sat down outside the house on a rafia mat to eat our dinner of Ekuru and Eko while waiting for my father to come home. We always eat outside because my stepmom says the fresh air aids digestion. And after dinner, Baami tells us stories from the African folktales or stories of our ancestors.
But he came home very late that night we had all gone to sleep except maami. I didn't see him till the next morning although I heard him talking to maami in the midnight when I woke up to ease myself and he sounded very worried.
At breakfast the next morning, we asked him what happened and he explained to us that Baba Fayemi, the towns chief priest has warned the chiefs that they had 5 days and 4 nights to offer the sacrifice or else the wards protecting the town will fade away completely. It started waning the day the sacrifice was supposed to be offered and has continued to deplete ever since. The ancestors have tried their best to slow it down but they can no longer do so because the Gods are angry and before long the barrier between the land of Aberi and the forest that keeps the dark things away will disappear completely leaving the town and its occupants vulnerable to attack.
The sacrifice can only be offered by a male of royal blood and has always been done by the reigning king, but king Adeite has refused to do it. He said he cannot enter the forest to perform the sacrifice and one of his chiefs should do it for him but Baba Fayemi said that anybody who goes into the forest except those required for the sacrifice will lose their lives and the sacrifice will not be accepted.
This news put a damper on all our moods that maami completely forgot about her matchmaking quest for the day.
At that moment I missed our former king, king Adeolu. King Adeite is not a bad king, but the way he became king is questionable at best but nobody could refute his claim to the throne.
His brother, Adeolu, the former king of the land and father to prince Aderemi was a great king. He, the queen, their two daughters and their last born son died under mysterious circumstances 11 moons ago leaving prince Aderemi as the only survivor of their family. The town mourned him as he was not just a good king, he was a great person. He was fair and just, he listened to the people and offered good advice to the people when they needed it. The land blossomed under him and the people were happy, which was why the whole town mourned his loss so much.
A week after their death, the lady love of Aderemi and our future queen decided to join Yeye Osun as an apprentice. This meant that she could never marry or give birth as she had sacrificed all those for the Osun, the goddess of water. The poor prince was left heartbroken and refused to leave the palace to address the people.
Adeite, the younger brother to Adeolu then came up and took the throne for himself claiming his nephew was indisposed and could not be trusted to rule over us.
And so Aderemi lost everything in the span of two weeks, his family, his love and his throne.
A month later when the whole issue had died down a bit, Adeite named the parents of Aderemi's lady love as chiefs of the town. That was when I started to suspect there was foul play in the death of the king. The whole town just assumed that the king had done something to anger the God's and had accepted his family's death as punishment.
And now King Adeolu has refused to perform his duty to the town by going into the forest to perform a well needed sacrifice and save his people from death. What a Coward!!