Chapter Six

Four weeks later

Chief Halaam danced majestically to the palace. Today, the whole county would know him as a legend, second only to King Chatta II. What the king could not do, it would appear that he had just done in one night.

There would be no more terror, and he would be the angel who brought peace to Daaji.

As he strode into the compound, all the palace guards rose and bowed down before him, giving him the reverence due only the king of the land. They had heard of his prowess and now accorded him more respect.

All the chiefs would be jealous, Halaam thought, and he laughed satisfactorily. As he kept walking, he noticed a man seated at the back. He wasn’t jumping and dancing over his presence like the others, and this made Halaam feel small.

“You at the back, why are you still on your seat? Do you not know who stands before you?”

“Good morning, Chief Halaam,” Madeyo said calmly and rose.

“Are you mad?” Halaam said, but Madeyo looked unfazed.

“Do you know before whom you stand?”

Other palace guards were pulling at Madeyo, whispering to him to kneel, but Madeyo remained standing.

“I bow only to the king, and my God,” Madeyo proclaimed, and there was silence at the gate, everyone bewildered by his audacity to speak to a council chief so boldly.

“You Yoruba slave! Because we made you important by assigning you this role, you think you can have an opinion? I will make you regret this.”

“Try, if you must,” Madeyo said, and went back to sit by his post while Halaam stormed off, his happy mood ruined.

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For the first week of their marriage, the king and queen had been out of sight. In fact, people made jokes about how the king had been bewitched by his queen.

Azari didn’t want to sit in meetings with his cabinet, he didn’t attend ceremonies, he ate in his room, and didn’t release Eniola to go back to her room. Whenever he had a meeting, he made her come with him, so that she could rate his performance and share her opinion with him later in the day, when they were alone together.

Some were happy that the royalties seemed to be happy with each other, while there were those who found it irritating that a king would subject himself to become any woman’s pet, when he still had liberties to marry others.

However, the sweet phase had ended three weeks ago when more attempts were made from different rebel factions to kill the king.

Azari had ordered Eniola to be confined to her chambers and guarded round the clock. He had been so busy that he did not summon her again.

“My king, you look worried, it’s obvious,” Abe said as he walked with the king to the throne room.

“We should all be worried. Terrorists don’t play by the rules of war, and we have one on the loose.”

“You have done the best that you can to contain them. Maybe you need a distraction to help you relax, should I summon the queen?”

“I need to see this through first, now is not the time for that.”

The chiefs had created a plan to silence the rebels, and were going to give him a report today. For the first time, Azari couldn’t wait to see his chiefs.

“Your Highness, we have good news,” Chief Goze said as soon as Azari entered the room.

They all bowed down to greet him.

“We definitely need some good news. Rise up, and tell me.” Azari said

“Halaam, this is your news to share.” Kayari said and Halaam rose up majestically.

“Last night, my men and I fished out the group of Ugbari rebels in their meeting at the Adula cave and ended them.”

“Ended them?” The king asked curiously.

“Let’s just say that we wouldn’t be hearing from them again.”

“If that isn’t good news, I don’t know what is”, the king said, rising excitedly, raising his staff of honour to pat Halaam affectionately.

“You have done well, Halaam! What can we do to repay you?”

Halaam smiled.

“You can make me the head of your security team. I want to be able to continue to protect your land.”

“Security is the highest chieftaincy, why haven’t we given the title to anyone?”

“Because, your father was both king and chief security” Goze replied, subtly implying that Azari had neglected the role, that was why someone had to pick it up, but the king couldn’t be bothered.

“I will give the role to the man that can do the job, and that appears to be you, Halaam.”

Azari took out one of the five rings he always wore, and put it in Halaam’s fingers.

“The title is yours.”

Everyone cheered, and clapped, while Halaam bowed flat before the king.

“I promise to make you proud, and to keep Daaji safe.”

“I believe you will. Rise up, Halaam” Azari said, but in his heart, he had his doubts. Halaam was a product of his father, and wickedness was second nature to him. However, Azari felt he needed a strong man like Halaam to ensure that security wouldn’t be a problem.

Halaam rose.

“Today would have been the happiest day of my life but something bothers me.”

“What is it?”

“There is a group of people in our kingdom. They call themselves the Yoruba Christians of Odunmorin, and they will bow to no other god but theirs. They are a proud lot, refusing to take Daaji as their kingdom. If we don’t handle them, they will be the next rebels, and the gods forbid, but they have a number that is high enough to wreak havoc.”

“Hmm. What will you have us do?” The king asked.

Halaam smiled at the question.

“Let me handle them like we did with the Ugbaris yesterday, and ensure that there will be peace in the land.”

“You have your ring! You have the authority. Do what you must, to keep the peace.”

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Almost every Yoruba person living in Daaji crammed into Madeyo’s apartment. They were all talking at the same time, sharing their fears and thoughts about the king’s decree.

Mama Lekan sat on the floor weeping. Two women were consoling her but they were crying too.

“Let’s calm down,” Madeyo said.

“How can we calm down when we are doomed to perish?” Mama Lekan questioned.

“Pandemonium doesn’t help matters, let us trust God, He will never fail,” Madeyo assured the room.

“Easy for you to say sir, your niece is the queen,” Babatunde responded.

Madeyo bowed his head in silence. He was weary from trying to manage his people.

“One would have thought that the good news that would come from one of our own being in the palace was that through her, God would rescue us, but it seems both God and Eniola cannot be bothered about us,” Babatunde continued.

“Shut up.” Lekan barked at him. “Just because you lost the woman you wanted to a more powerful man, you are whining,” he added.

“Losing her should count for something,” Babatunde argued.

“Let’s leave Eniola out of this, the poor girl is probably suffering a terrible fate in the palace. My friend, Azarat, a palace maid, told me that the king has her under lock and key,” Rolake, one of the ladies consoling Mama Lekan said.

“The king may be protecting her from the terror in the land,” Lekan responded.

“Madeyo, please do something. Just because your girl is under protection doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do your best to rescue us. You are our leader,” Mama Lekan begged.

Madeyo looked round the people in the room, and wondered how he would deliver them from evil.

“Lord help me,” Madeyo said, as more people entered the room. They had just heard the news and had come to confirm it.

“We are looking up to you,” one of the elders added, facing Madeyo.

“We should all look up to Jesus,” Madeyo said, and suddenly, he knew what he had to do.

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Do you think Madeyo was foolish not to bow to Chief Hallam? Can you share any similar experience you’ve gone through in this modern time? Something the world termed “normal” but you stood against.