Chapter 2

Achike the collector

No one knew the pain of war as well as Odunze, the great priest of Alammiri, did. He sat in the center of his earthen palace under a canopy built with rafia palms in the company of his friend from Ituku, Anayo. The entrance of the canopy was guarded by two hefty warriors who were as dark as coal, tall as giants, and held long spears.

While Anayo chattered, Odunze kept admiring the special stick his friend had brought from Ituku. He stared at it with his two wide white- circled eyes in priestly fashion. Anayo had just told him how Ituku was becoming the richest amongst the iboid tribes. Odunze could sense the envy in his voice despite the raucous laughter that tried to cover it. He felt it too.

He examined this great weapon that sounded like thunder, shot like an arrow and killed like the spear. Odunze remembered the days past with a smile. How he had run! How he had fought! Swifter than the eagles and sharper than iron! Now he looked much older. If only his father had allowed him continue in the ways of the warrior and become chief. In the open, he served the gods as well as he could but in private he had his regrets. Odunze kept the 'stick' beside him. He had a stern look while Anayo informed him that they were called 'guns'.

For years, no one had challenged Alammiri as the seat of the gods amongst the nine great villages. But with Ituku's growing wealth, it was only a matter of time. What no one else really knew was how much the gods had been involved in Alammiri's power but Odunze knew all too well. Although the gods hadn't shown him who these strange creatures with whom Ituku traded were, the remembrance of them haunted him.

At eleven years of age, he was taken. His father,...