Aláàfin: Irúnmölé

Chapter 29

VICE CHIEF PRIEST OLABODE
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         After calling on workers of my plantation to come with donkeys at which they can carry the wounded Akogun members. Me on a donkey with my brother and the rest of the war troupe that he brought along with the Te Fo spell. A worker of mine with BABALU-AYE’s Ashe manages to quickly concoct an ointment using herbs in the farm, to soothe the wounds inflicted on the Akogun. But for one of them, it won't do much good for Agbábiàká, champion of the Agbaje family because he has lost an arm.
      
        With the rest of his left arm from the elbow chopped off, he sits upright on top of the donkey carrying him. With skin color like that of a dry cocoa bean, he has the stature of the average Agbaje, gaunt with long arms and legs but with muscles that hold great strength and explosiveness. His face has a lean look but he's fairly good looking with two tribal marks at each side of his face cheeks. His hair length is close to nothing for the Agbaje warrior family don't encourage keeping of hair as it could used against them in battle. A family that breeds for war indeed………
        
           He and my brother are the only ones conscious among the Akogun as we head to the city. He continues to stare at his bandaged arm with a look filled with disdain.  But in his eyes, I don't see a hint of relent or surrender in his eyes. For a warrior that wields the spear, he doesn't look remorseful of the fact that he lost his means at engaging in combat. But instead his eyes bear unreal resilience and rage in them. Well….spite can only take you so far, sooner or later he will come to terms with his situation. Might as well hope his fellow members of the Akogun take it upon them to carry out revenge on the one that took his arm for his sake.
    
       Speaking of the rest, their leader , the Soun of Ogbomoso…. Ògúnlolá regains consciousness. Waking up in shock as if he were still in the field of battle, startling the donkey he is on and the man pulling it. He falls to the ground wailing about something concerning his warbow. This egbon and his drama shaa….
       For a man nearing his sixties, he still seems very athletic and agile with arms that carried hefty muscles because of his bow craft but with a stomach that reflected the habits of an alcoholic. He has a large beard upon his wrinkled face with his hair length very short. His eyes held a conflicting look right now but regardless of his present circumstances, it's always the mannerism that they carry. His eyes were always anxious , searching because of his nature as an archer.  He gets up as the man leading his donkeys aids him in doing so.
         Looking dazed, he says to the man
   “ Do my eyes deceive me?  Katunga leleyin now~This is Katunga now. How did I get here?!!”

       “ Baba calm down, I brought you here…...”

         My brother, Jakuta says as he looks behind at Soun Ògúnlolá from the front for his donkey was ahead of the rest of us. He was still suffering in pain from his wounds but he insisted that the worker with the BABALU-AYE Ashe treats the rest of the Akogun before himself. With his slim dreadlocks swaying to the motion of the wind, he looks back at Ògúnlolá explaining to him how he brought him and the rest of the Akogun but to Katunga with Te Fo. I really don't see it but it is said that we share a strong resemblance.  With his skin color as dark as mine, his large oblong shaped head that hosts three tribal marks at each side of his cheeks as well as a large, muscular body to carry it. His frame is the perfect display of a Yoruba warrior in his best form.
        
        With the Akuta tied to his waist by it's chains, he ends the conversation with Ògúnlolá as he continues to feign ignorance to my presence since we left the shrine. Knowing him, I am quite sure he's furious at the fact that he was in a situation where he was dependent on me, despite how little my aid was. All I did was give him immediate treatment after he uses my shrine as an anchor for his Te Fo spell but yet it must be of great annoyance to him. For the wielder of AKUTA shouldn't draw strength from any except his own might.
        Let him wallow in that thought tho, it pleases me. Now he gets what he means for him to be my position, not matching expectations. With the last of the Akogun, Gbadamosi Setemi behind us, we finally reach the city.