THE CURSED LANTERN Episode 11 By Okafor Erasmus Ugochukwu

THE CURSED LANTERN Episode 11 By Okafor Erasmus Ugochukwu

The princess couldn’t sleep all through the night because she was concerned about Amandi’s welfare and that of the Oduma kingdom. She didn’t sleep a wink, and when she finally did, she continued having a dream where she saved Amandi from falling into a deep pit. She woke up out of fear thinking it was real. When she realized it was all dream, she shrugged and got up. She waited for the first crow of the cock but heard none, so it dawned on her that it wasn’t morning yet. She laid back on the bed and tried to call back the sleep that just left her eyes but couldn’t. She was full of thoughts and wondering what the fate of the entire kingdom’s being ravaged by calamity would be.

When Ugegbe knew that she wasn’t going to sleep again, she got up and opened the door of her hut. Looking out into the large compound, she saw a shadow of someone sitting by the quadrangle and hunched over his laps. She shuddered. She felt that someone strange may have entered the compound. She looked around and saw the guards on their duty posts but none cared to ask the stranger who he was. The princess felt that all wasn’t right, so she summoned courage and began to go closer.

The moonlight made it seem like it was already morning, so she was a bit confident that the person she saw wasn’t a ghost. When she got closer to him, she then saw that he was covered with a wrapper made from the skin of the elephant. She then smiled knowing it was Amandi because she was the one that gave him the cloth considering the warnings from Ozioma.

The princess saw how he shivered even while covered with the thick cold-protective cloth. She was bothered by that, so she touched him gently on the shoulder.

Amandi was too disturbed to be startled by her unannounced presence, so he slowly raised his head and looked wearily at the princess. He tried to stand to pay homage to her but the princess prevented that.

“You don’t need to do that, dear,” she said in a meek tone and sat beside him.

The guards saw that the princess was out by that time of the night; shortly before done though.

They came closer to protect her but she signaled to them to allow her to have a moment with the visitor.

There was an ample silent wavering in their midst as if they were tongue-tied and unable to break the serenity. The breeze was playfully mischievous while providing the cold that would have made a sleep dreamless. But unfortunately, when the mind is troubled, sleep becomes an unaffordable luxury.

The princess knew that Amandi was bothered about something but couldn’t figure out what it could be, so she slowly but uneasily dropped her hand on his shoulder. He expected him to complain but he didn’t, so she cuddled him and rested her head on his shoulder.

Looking into the serene environment, the princess continued to think of what to say to Amandi to make him feel better, as well as make him understand how she felt towards him. She continued to stay that way until the silence led to a song that graced her lips. She continued to sign that sorrowful but consoling Ijeuwa (life’s journey) song. In the song were embedded lots of meaning and exhortative words for Amandi.

The young man who was almost lost in the abyss of silence and thoughtfulness began to understand what the song was all about. He didn’t need to be told that in that song, there were loads of consolations and encouragement for him to move on and face life head-on.

After a while, Amandi smiled sadly and said: “My princess, you just dug into my life and summarized it in a few lines of this endearing song. How did you know that life has become so complicated that I found it hard to explain it?”

The princess was happy that Amandi talked to her. She was pretty sure that her song had the desired effect, so she parted her lips into a smile.

“Your story is no more hidden,” the princess said and took his hand and placed it on her shoulder to make him cuddle her too.

Amandi wasn’t comfortable doing that, so he hesitated but still had to obey her. He felt he was under a royal order to obey, so she held her but not as firm as the princess wanted to be cuddled.

“When I was growing up,” Amandi started while the princess listened keenly, “my uncle, Obidinazu always told me that nothing will make me behold my father’s ikenga as long as he was alive. He even boasted saying that even if he dies; the stuff dies with him,”

“What did you do to him to have attracted such inhumane treatment?” The princess asked feeling concerned.

“He vowed to make my life a misery,” Amandi muttered disgustedly, “since my father died, he started to make me feel like an outcast. He’d beat me and still instruct me not to cry. Most of my weeping was innate. I dare not shed tears before him. He kept saying that whatever he couldn’t do to my father, he’d do to me. He said that I’d pay for my father’s sins. I never knew my father because I was young when he died. My mother died too but I can’t recall how they look like because I was very young then. I dare not ask him questions. If I could, I’d have loved to hear about what my father did that made him transfer the entire hatred to me. He finally succeeded in making me conflict with my earth-mother. But I know that one day, the gods would fight for me,”

The princess smiled on hearing the last part.

“That’s all I was waiting to hear from you. The vengeance belongs to the gods and not mortals, so allow them to fight for you. Once your hands are clean, you shouldn’t be afraid of anything,”

Amandi couldn’t just help but imagine how good the princess was to him. He was reminiscing on the role the princess had played around him just in a few days he’d encountered her benevolence. The one that he couldn’t wrap his head around was how the princess who was highly placed could be so good to someone as lowly as he was.

Ugegbe felt the racing heartbeat of the young man she snuggled into his arms. He knew that he probably was thinking about something but couldn’t figure out what he could be thinking about.

“I want to sincerely thank you for being the person you’re to me,” Amandi said thoughtfully. “You’ve shown me that someone as common as I am could have blessings from above being showered on him. May the gods bless you richly and give you the best man as a husband,”

“Iseee (amen),” The princess said and smiled. “I wish the husband-to-be would be like you in everything. You’re a kind man and the one that every woman would dream of as their husband,”

Amandi was excited to hear that, so he smiled. He began to blush around the princess because no one had ever praised him that way or made him feel so special.

“Well, all I can say is thank you,” he said whisperingly as if he didn’t want anyone to eavesdrop on his conversation, “This is the first time I’m being made to feel this special and happy,”

The princess couldn’t believe what she heard. She was so excited that she made Amandi feel so good and happy. “But Ozioma is always there for you,” she added shyly, “she must have told you how special you are. She also must have made you know how she feels about you,”

Amandi was surprised to hear that from the princess, so he was wowed. He didn’t know what to say or how to respond to that, so he just hummed. He cleared his throat as if he wanted to talk but lost the right words and kept mute. He wasn’t a dunce that he couldn’t detect that the princess had an affectionate feeling towards him. He simply was uncomfortable about it because he felt it was anomalous having anything to do with a lady with a rich background let alone royalty.

“Well, I don’t know what you’re talking about, my princess,” Amandi said and stifled the incoming smiles.

“He is pretending and I know that,” the princess said jestingly, “why can’t you accept that what I said is true?”

Amandi was a kind of uneasy discussing that but he just had to make the princess feel better by giving her an answer. “Women aren’t my concerns now because I have to be a man first before thinking of a partner,” he answered without mincing words.
The princess was so proud of him because of the way he answered shrewdly. She just felt happy being around a man with so much focus in life.

“So are you trying to say that you didn’t notice the way she feels or you don’t care?” she asked trying to feed her curiosity with answers.
Amandi had more pressing issues in life other than discussing women’s issues, so he felt uncomfortable talking about it.

Mentioning Ozioma even reminded him of what Ikem clued concerning his parentage. Amandi was lost in thoughts trying to understand how to solve the problem of those kids that always appear to him in dreams. In those thoughts, he shifted his attention away from the question asked by the princess.

“Those kids wouldn’t allow me rest,” Amandi said feeling disturbed, “it seems they are angry that I am not responding to their cries. Now they want to hurt me, except for the last girl that always saves me,”

Amandi’s statement reminded the princess of the nightmare she had while asleep. She began to figure out the connection the dream may have had with a real-life situation. She shrugged and snapped her fingers unwittingly.

“What’s going on, my princess?” Amandi asked confusingly, “why snapping your fingers?”
The princess was quiet for a while but still had to share her dream experience with Amandi.

“You almost died in the dream and I saved you,” The princess said meditatively, “I can’t vividly remember the details of the dream but I did save you from danger. I pray that nothing bad happens to you,”

Amandi then began to think about it. He shook his head and said: “I woke up from a similar nightmare but the person that saved me came with my face. He looks like me as if I was divided into two. He was a female but with my face. Those kids came to me saying that I am one of them. They said that I must appease the gods and stop the ongoing madness in the village. They said I need to seek the attention of an old woman that will link me to my destiny. I don’t understand it,”

The princess tried to make a connection between her dream and that of Amandi but she wasn’t getting it; especially when he said that it was a woman with his face that saved him.

“Why then did I save you?” the princess said bemusedly, “But why will the gods be so silent for a long time as if they don’t care about us anymore?”

Amandi tried to figure out what to say but was benumbed about ideas. He knew that many answers were lurking around him but how to harness them was the uphill task. He simply looked at the sky and said: “If my uncle and his wife could be this wicked to me without the interference of the gods, then the gods are sleeping indeed,”

“They aren’t sleeping,” the princess corrected immediately, “Don’t attract the attention of the gods with your Google utterances. It’s either they are on a mission or they are silent for a reason,”

Amandi was excited about that clever reply, so he bowed to the princess with respect. “I have noticed that you are always clever with talks and you know how to make someone feel better. I admire that about you and if I must confess, the feeling is mutual,”

The princess was flabbergasted hearing that for the first time. She felt as if she was dreaming or the young man wasn’t serious about what she said. She stood and sauntered thinking about what she just heard. After a while of excitement, she came back to Amandi and stooped before him.
“Did you say that you love me?” she asked confrontationally, “do you smile when you think about me? If yes, what about Ozioma who feels the same about you?”

Mentioning Ozioma made Amandi a bit moody because his constant stay with the widow made him closer to her emotionally without even knowing it. He didn’t know what to say; whether to accept or to refute what the princess said.

The princess didn’t have to guess that Amandi was confused about his feelings. She was jealous that what Amandi said to be him, he may have said the same to Ozioma. She tried as much as she could to control her feelings and not wallow in sadness and be barricaded emotionally.

“I think I have to go to bed now,” Amandi said just to have ample time to figure out what was going on with him. He felt that he was being lured into emotional issues while he had more important things to think about.

The first crow of the cock was heard making it obvious to Amandi that it was dawn. The excuse he’d have presented to make him end the conversation just lost its wait. He looked at the face of the princess and chuckled.

“You’re very beautiful, my princess,” he complimented. It was the first time he took his time to look at her to observe the beauty of the young woman. “I am usually shy to look at your face but now, I am a bit bolder and I appreciate you for that,”

It was clear to the princess that Amandi was bolder and more mature with talks than the timid boy she used to know. She was so happy that the handsome boy before him could look her in the face to tell her how beautiful she was. Even though she’d always heard lots of compliments pouring in, she never felt as good as she used about it. She was so glad that the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with felt the same even though there was a hindrance somewhere.

The princess blushed around him, so she smiled and said: “Thanks, my handsome friend, but you need to take your time to figure out how you feel. Ozioma is a very good girl while Ikem will always want to be your adopted son by getting married to his mother. The boy is already your best friend, so being your son isn’t a bad idea,”

Amandi didn’t know if the princess wanted him to stay or go away from her life. Her utterances were conflicting, so the young man was confused. She felt bad thinking that the princess may be pushing him away. But on the other hand, he realized that the princess was even more confused about her true emotions.

“What do you want, my princess?” Amandi asked and started leaving.

The princess didn’t know what to answer. She just realized that Amandi wasn’t demanding any reply but simply left the question for her to figure out what she wanted. She watched Amandi go into his hut without having the audacity to call him back and give him a befitting reply.
When Amandi got into the hut, he lay on the bed; with his mind burdened with thoughts and confusion.

The princess felt so sad for not telling Amandi how she felt outrightly. She wished she didn’t bring up Ozioma’s issues but focused on herself. She felt like going into Amandi’s hut to tell him how she felt but she couldn’t because she considered it belated.
Silent tears blurred her eyes as she felt she just chased Amandi away with her indecision. But on second thought, she realized that she was just being a woman. After all, it was Amandi that was meant to show her his interest and not the other way round. With those thoughts, she felt consoled, wiped her tears, and started entering her hut.

When she got into her hut, she met Osinachukwu her maidservant waiting for her. She was startled on seeing her. She never expected to see anyone in her hut without giving her permission to do so.

Seeing the princess, Osinachukwu got up immediately and bowed respectfully. “My princess, I am sorry I entered here without your permission but I just have to talk to you,” she said feeling moody that the princess could be mad at her.

Ugegbe was concerned but felt happy that the ever-silent maiden decided to talk to her for the first time.

“It’s okay,” she said and sat on her bed. She tapped twice on the bed signaling that she should sit beside her.

“Thanks, my princess,” she greeted with a curtsy, “but I’d rather stand,”

“I insist,” Ugegbe said smilingly to make her feel free to say whatever she wanted to say.

“If you insist,” Osinachukwu said and sat but didn’t say anything. She waited for the princess to give her approval for her to talk.

“You must have known by now that I don’t like that rigmarole,” the princess said and patted Osi’s back gently, “You don’t need my permission; at least not while we are alone here,”

“There is a secret I want to share with you,” the maid said feeling frightened

Her body language made the princess keen to hear what she wanted to say.

Ugegbe was so curious and restive all at once.
“Can you start talking immediately?” the princess said hastily, “for someone like you who doesn’t talk to come to me, then this is so serious. Talk to me, my subject,”

Osinachukwu waited for some time to be ready while the princess waited too; though itchy to hear her out.

After a couple of minutes of deafening silence, Osi said: “The lantern woman is my grandmother but no one knows about it,”

The princess was shocked to hear that. She didn’t expect to hear that the woman considered to be a cursed Witch was related to her maid. She tried to understand the statement but she couldn’t. According to rumors, the supposed Witch killed her children and ate them; even though no one knew about her marital status. Ugegbe moped absently in that silence as her heart raced faster.

“And you still serve me?” Ugegbe asked feeling uneasy around her, “how can someone related to such a woman be in this palace?”

A tinge of fear wafted through the maidservant making her wish she never divulged any information. She felt like taking back her words but it was already let out. She felt that the consequence of being in the bloodline of the supposed Witch would be grave, so she felt like running away.

“I can’t say if she is cursed,” The restive maiden continued, “In my family, we fear her too because she’s always aloof and withdrawn. We kept our identity hidden so that no one would know that she is our grandmother. Since I was a kid, her bulging eyes made me dread being around her. On that Orie market day when I was off duty, I went to see my mother but she wasn’t around. I decided to check the bush side where my mother sometimes goes to give her food. I searched around but saw no one. It was then that I heard someone moaning in anguish in the old woman’s hut. I knew it was her, so I felt she was trying to lure me just to kill me and drink my blood. I became so afraid and wanted to disappear from that lonely place but it seemed my conscience began to disturb me at the moment. Sudden pity for the old lady overtook me, so I was forced to go into her hut. On getting to the door, my hands quivered. I trembled strongly trying to brace myself and face whatever lied behind the closed doors. When I made up my mind, I pushed the door open but stayed a few meters away in case I needed to bolt for safety.

The princess at this time got her fright heightened as she expected the next statement from Osinachukwu. “Don’t tell me she hurt you or transformed you into a witch,” she said with awe and fright.

Osi took a deep breath and said: “My grandmother lived all through her life in penury, even when she was not the cause of her misfortune,”

The princess was surprised to hear this. She didn’t understand why Osinachukwu would suddenly be defending the old woman she was meant to abhor. She began to feel that the maidservant sitting next to her may have been bewitched. She felt like calling on the guards to rescue her. She even started thinking about how reserved the maid had been since she’d been working in the palace. It was then she knew that Osi may have taken after her grandmother that was always alone in life.

“She has influenced you,” the princess said and got up suddenly feeling agitated. “Leave my hut now or I’ll shout,”

Osinachukwu felt embarrassed and worked up by that statement. She knelt before the princess and held her feet even though the latter tried to force her feet away from the maid’s grip. She wept on the princess’s feet, making the feet to be watered by her tears.

The princess was impervious to pity at first, but the tears of the maiden got her moved, so she slowly held her shoulders. “Maybe I need to listen to you and know what you have for me. Then I’d judge,” Having said that, she pulled the maid up and gave her a warm embrace. She felt the pulsating heartbeat of the heartbroken girl, so she gently stroked her back to make her find solace in that cuddle.
When Ugegbe felt that her actions helped, she took the girl to the bed and made her sit.

Osinachukwu felt loved, so her lost confidence was once more conjured. She smiled, making the princess see the maid’s beauty with the help of the mpanaka (lantern) that was casually positioned by the side.

“Go on, your princess is listening,” Ugegbe said exhortatively, “I’m ready now, trust me. I want to hear it all,”

The maidservant cleared her throat and took a deep breath to be ready too.

“My grandmother wasn’t and isn’t a witch. She was just a victim of love-starvation. Her foster father hated her from toddler stage, so she lost all fatherly love she was made to get from a loving parent,”

“I need to hear this,” the princess said acutely as she listened.

“When I finally pushed the door open,” Osinachukwu continued with her narration, “I saw a dying woman who was fighting to be alive. I felt sorry for her, so I rushed to her and held her. I told her it was me, making her smile faintly as if she was already waiting for me. She was happy about my arrival. She said that I was the one that took after her in everything, but I never knew it. I didn’t understand what she meant, so I probed deeper to know more. She said that they were five in her family but she was the last. When her mother was pregnant with her, life became unbearable for her father. It was as if difficulties and tribulations crippled his household. The poor pregnant woman suffered until she delivered her baby. After giving birth, she died,”

The princess was so sympathetic when she heard that part. She felt the pain of a mother who suffered and died during childbearing. She quickly cleaned the tear that just got pronounced in her right eye. “Continue,” she said in a husky tone.

Osinachukwu held the princess’s palm and caressed it gently to make her feel better. “My grandmother’s father was so enraged when he realized that her wife was dead. It was then that the baby was termed an evil child. He angrily collected the poor child from the midwife and headed into the bush forthwith. He dropped the baby in the bush to die, went home, and mourned his dead wife. Without consulting the elders in the village, he went behind his house and buried the wife there. Out of heartbreak, he committed suicide because he couldn’t withstand seeing the source of his happiness depart from him into the afterlife. The love that existed between the couple made them inseparable,”

“This is too much,” the princess uttered with a broken heart, “I wish he didn’t kill himself,”

Osinachukwu who was already filled with sorrow had to continue the story because she hadn’t gotten to the part that would interest the princess.

“The child stayed for about seven market days in the bush before she was discovered by Dandakwara, the great hunter. Being that the story of what happened to the parents of the poor child had towered the entire village, he needn’t guess who the child was. He was even surprised that the baby didn’t die, even after seven days without breast milk. It became obvious to him that the baby was an evil child. He took the child home,”

“That’s good of him,” the princess said and nodded.

“My princess, you would have waited a bit before the commendation,” Osinachukwu said and hissed, “The man didn’t take the baby home to keep her alive but took her home to make her life miserable. He aimed to kill her slowly and make her suffer. Mazi Anyampia, the one-eyed man being my grandmother’s father was the best friend to Dandakwara. The death of his best friend made him angry and wicked. He made the child suffer but the child refused to die. The poor baby defied all tortures and inhuman treatments. When the child grew, she became accustomed to pains. Every night, she was always seen with a lantern searching through the bushes. The life she lived in the house of Dandakwara affected her psychologically. She was always searching for her parents in the bush believing that one day, they’d talk to her. That behavior became a habit. Even until this present day, she always roams alone with a lantern at night; still seeking to find them. That was why they nicknamed her Nwanyi Mpanaka (the lantern woman)”

The princess cried at this point. She felt that the old woman was suffering even without knowing what was making her fate so tilted into difficulty and anguish. She felt that Nwanyi Mpanaka was just a victim of what she knew nothing about.

“But it’s possible she is a witch,” The princess said observantly, “if her arrival into the family of Mazi Anyampia doomed the erstwhile peaceful home, then the child may have been cursed,”

“That was what the old woman thought of herself too,” Osinachukwu replied, “But at a point in her life, she began to see things that negated that long-held belief,”

“And what could that be?” the princess asked curiously looking so keen and enveloped in fears and concerns.

“Nwanyi Mpanaka started seeing a little girl in her dreams,” she continued, “the girl was always so sad. She felt that…”

“Wait!” the princess interjected excitedly, “did you say she saw a little girl?”

“Yes, she did,” Osi replied forthwith.

“Does the little girl cry whenever she sees her?” The princess asked trying to connect the dots.

“Yes, exactly,” Osi replied feeling wowed that the princess already knew the story, “how did you know?”

“Just continue,” the princess encouraged and listened, “It’s no more just a child that needs attention; they are many now,” she informed her.

It took Osinachukwu sometime before she made up her mind to continue the narration. “The child always cries whenever she sees her,” she went on, “The disturbance continued making my grandmother so eager to talk to someone. But unfortunately, no one talks to her. She was excommunicated with the belief that she was cursed from birth. The old woman always saw that girl with a lantern. It was then that my grandmother began to feel that it was because she always goes about at night with a lantern that made her start seeing the child who does the same too. Even the chief priest never wanted to listen to Nwanyi Mpanaka. This made the estranged woman drift away into the oblivion of melancholy and depression,”

The princess was lost in thoughts because she just discovered that the lantern woman had the same destiny as Amandi. At this point, she began to feel the need to rush to Amandi’s hut and tell him everything. She knew that the coming together of the two visionaries would provide a solution to the problem at hand.

“I need to inform Amandi immediately because he sees everything the woman sees,” the princess said with excitement and got up to leave.

“But she is dead already,” Osinachukwu announced sadly lowering her gaze; her eyes teary already. “She died shortly after telling me the story of her life,”

Having heard this, the princess became so dispirited feeling that the solution that was close at hand just vanished into the thin air.

“All hope is lost,” the princess said angrily. She felt like waking the old woman up.

“No, it’s not,” Osinachukwu announced making the royalty be shocked on hearing that, “all hopes are not lost,” she reiterated.

“How, please?” Ugegbe asked feeling confused, “were you joking while saying she was dead?”

“No I wasn’t,” Osi replied.
“Then what are you trying to say or prove?” Ugegbe asked fidgeting in thirst for answers.

“Nwanyi Mpanaka is dead but alive inside of me,” Osinachukwu replied boldly, “since her departure into the land of the dead; I began to see the things she saw. I took after her; even against my will. There must be a fight if Amandi must discover the person that will unlock his true purpose in life. You can call in wrestling. It was revealed to me while asleep. So I decided to talk to you first since I started seeing that you are getting close to him. I was shocked when he appeared from nowhere and began to act strange before the king. Whatever he saw last night, I did too but had to run away from the crowd so that no one would notice me. Now, I am Nwanyi Mpanaka the second, and you’re the first to know. Even my mother doesn’t know about this. Keep my secret, please,”

The princess was both excited and frightened. She didn’t even know what to say or do. She was aghast at the latest development; especially when Osinachukwu said there must be a fight. She didn’t understand what the fight was to be about and how it would take place. Understanding the connection between the problem at hand and a fight was an uphill task. She just remembered what Amandi told her a couple of minutes earlier when they discussed. Amandi said that the children he saw in his dream told him to seek the help of an old woman. Ugegbe never knew that the supposed old woman wasn’t even the lantern woman but her handmaid that represented her. At this point, she stopped seeing Osinachukwu as a mere handmaid but a means to achieve an end; therefore, her unalloyed respect for her was birthed.

#OpraDre THE CURSED LANTERN THE CURSED LANTERN THE CURSED LANTERN THE CURSED LANTERN THE CURSED LANTERN THE CURSED LANTERN THE CURSED LANTERN THE CURSED LANTERN THE CURSED LANTERN THE CURSED LANTERN THE CURSED LANTERN

To be continued…

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