Women Of Steel | ✔

XVII

The council of elders isn't entirely made of elders, three women who only look a few years older than me are seated to the right of Maami, and they are the only women in this musty smelling hut apart from me and Maami.

When Zahir, my father and I trekked far into the desert, past even the slavers' settlement, I had conjured images of where this secret meeting could be held, I had been surprised when we encountered a small village - if it could even be called that with only about fifteen huts shrouded in the night, the biggest hut amongst it was in the center and it had been our destination.

Although my disappointment fizzled when Zahir had had to recite a secret answer after knocking on the door, it returns now when it begins to drizzle lightly and half of the twelve of us have to shift to the other side of the room because the roof is leaking rain water.

I shiver as I scoot closer to Zahir, wishing I had chosen to bring a head scarf to sit on like he does instead of sitting on cold sand. As if he notices my leering look, he shifts and pulls the scarf from underneath him and hands it to me.

I wrap it around my shoulders, deciding that my bottom can handle the cold but my body needs the warmth.

The eldest man in the room, hunched over his crooked walking stick settles down in the middle of our little circle and nods a greeting at my towering father.

It makes me wonder if any of them knows what he truly is, who he truly is. My father is well older than any man here, and when they were children, they went to sleep of stories of the god of mischief. I would have been proud of him, this time proud of him more than I could ever be proud of Gbadamosi because he is a good man. I would have, if he weren't a big baby.

The old man smiles a secret smile as his eyes meet Maami's and I half expect him to pull a small calabash of kolanuts from underneath his big robes and make it like the meetings of elders back in Ile Wura, the one children, most especially girls were forbidden from attending, still I used to hide and peek from the cracks in the mud walls outside of the war room.

Instead, he clears his throat and asks Maami to mutter a prayer in a strong voice that surprises me.

"May the gods be with us." She says quickly and I could have sworn that she shared a glance with my father. And when I glance at him, a small smile plays on his lips and his eyes seem to flash to a deep gold before the colour flickers in tune with the lantern in front of him.

I shake my head, knowing now that the flashing of eyes is nothing but him showing off. It is something he can control.

"Remilekun's army is complete now!" the elder man besides my father exclaims when the silence drags for a second too long. He is a short stocky man with a bald head lined with chalk that tells me he is a priest. "She has all her girls."

"I knew nothing good could ever come from such cursed children." the youngest of the women says, a scorn punctuating her words.

I flinch and Zahir casts me a concerned look. Before I can stop the words, they tumble from my tongue.

"You only call them cursed because you fear their blessed abilities." I say and almost regret them when she turns her furious look on me.

"Baba Iroko, can you hear this girl?" She scoffs, turning her eyes to the frail man in our middle. "What do you know about what is blessed or cursed when you have been sheltered under evil your whole life."

I should shut up now, but I don't.

"Like you say, I have been sheltered under evil my whole life, I should know what evil is and is not."

The room quietens, somebody coughs into her palm, a cough that suspiciously sounds like a muffled laugh.

The elderly man, Baba Iroko clears his throat again, this time the sound is filled with humor that makes me certain that he was the one who laughed.

"Atinuke," He addresses the girl. "We came under this hut in one unity, we don't fight our allies. And Omolara is right, one does not see an axe lying on the ground dangerous, it is only a weapon in the hands of a human being."

"There is also the matter of the riots tomorrow night." Zahir says, I startle at the sound of his voice and hesitantly, I break my stare off with Atinuke.

The men talk in hushed tones among themselves, glancing at Maami every time to ask for her opinion, the drizzling rain makes it hard to hear what they discuss. And when I glance at Zahir, he just shrugs and runs a hand through his thick hair.

Baba Iroko jabs his stick at the ground thrice and there is silence again, even the rain seems to pause for a second to listen to him.

"We do not just fight against what we think is coming with Remilekun but we also oppose everything Wazobia stands for - even if it is a unification of all the three kingdoms, but the riots are not a just noise, it is just foolish merchants protesting because they wantmore profit out of the business the night bazaar is becoming." Baba Iroko says in his raspy voice.

"There will still be honest men and women amongst them." Maami points out, a hardness in her voice.

"You will always defend the merchants, soothsayer," The third man says with an eyeroll.

"I am a merchant first, Alabi," Maami counters with a taunting smile. I see him grind his teeth visibly, for a so called council they sure are divided.

"This is our chance to strike, to fight back and rescue many girls those slavers have taken from our communities." He argues, a tortured look on his face that tells me that his fight is personal. "We use the riots as a cover, the riots are not any secret, the slavers will be waiting to defend their precious bazaar and it is then we should strike."

I want to whoop a shout in agreement but I see nothing but hesitation on the others' faces. Even Zahir's.

"We are not all fighters." Baba Iroko finally says.

"I have seven sons." Alabi says, waving a fist in the air, almost hitting my father in the face. My father who has been silent all this while. I narrow my eyes in suspicion at the contemplating look in his face. "We can count on other boys from this small village, we don't need an army."

"We can make it look like one of the rioters did it."

"And we will be starting a war, the slavers can burn this village to the ground." Esu says.

"Only if we are caught, they cannot kill us when they suspect us last, look at this village, who will believe that we can achieve such?"

I frown as Alabi continues to talk as if this is a victory already won. It is foolish, Tade would have said.

Baba Iroko starts to stand and I begin to lean forward, on instinct to assist him. I lean back when I catch Atinuke watching me.

"We vote on this now, the five of us." He says when he stumbles to a stand and jerks his head at Alabi, his companion, Maami and Esu.

They stand up and hesitantly follow him out of the hut, I almost smile when my father has to bend himself to leave. When they leave, Atinuke mutters among her two friends and I turn to Zahir.

"What do you think?" I ask when I catch him nibbling on his bottom lip.

He pauses and casts me an look. "I think this is foolish, I think we are declaring war and carrying weapons to a battle of wits."

I hiss. "The greatest revolutions were never started with wits, battles are not won with only wits, glory and blood are family."

When the elders return, the downcast of Maami's shoulders tells me enough. Tomorrow, we take the fight to the slavers.

***

A Crown Of Fool's Gold is just really A Crown Of Political Intrigue and Strategy. I promise all the actions are coming next update plus a tender scene with Omolara and a certain prince.