PAGE TWO
....
THE CHILD
A child that refuses to cry upon birth is one of three things, either dead, about to die or...
Came into this world bearing massive knowledge of the spirit world.
Young one you are neither one or two so you must be three!
*Ha ha ha ha ha!*
Cambali village has given birth to a child that the gods refuse to talk about,
You are destined for greatness young one.
Be it fortune or destruction you bear on your shoulders, this village will decide for you.
No child treated well by his mother will grow up to kill her for no reason".
A tall man immediately stepped into the thatched hut, fully aware of all the priestess had just said.
He slightly bowed to the priestess and she smiled at him.
"Omotayo you have made a good one hold your child",
Omotayo slowly stretched out his hands and gently took the baby off the hands of the priestess.
The priestess immediately headed towards the door making jingling sounds with every footstep , as she slowly pulled the straw covering apart exposing the house to some sunlight, she said,
"Omotayo this is a good occasion for cambali do not hold back, do what must be done".
She headed out while chanting incantations constantly.
Omotayo looked down and payed attention to his child for the first time,
Noticing the gaze his son possessed and the marks resting on his child's forehead he smiled.
"Ameno, you have bore me a good son, you have bore cambali a good son
rest well my wife,
i will arrange for a new House for you closer to mine. You are not an outcast to my family".
*Gentle sobs* could be heard coming from the woman laying on the ground as she covered her eyes.
"I will asign four men to protect you from now on, Three girls would be given to your household to maintain it you are not a curse, but a blessing ".
Without looking at her once or calming her tears he turned around to leave with his son. After stepping out of the hut and walking a few steps forward he said, "you are my wife and you will no longer bear any shame again".
At the front of the hut, fifty built men stood wielding weapons ranging from spears, bows, machetes and bone clubs, they said nothing and all their eyes fell on the arms of their clan chief.
"kamal!,
Yes clan chief.
from today you stand as the protector of my fourth wife. Harm shall not befall her under your watch till the day her son can protect her,".
After the statement he immediately looked up an shouted
"Men of cambali! Men of cambaliii! A warrior of cambali has been born".
this caused a loud turmoil as the men stomped their foot and shouted.
"For his birthing ceremony he shall bath in and drink the blood of an uthang.
our village has a chance to stand tall, and we shall take it",
The warriors continued shouting as people of cambali gathered around.
"Bring the cauldron of uthang blood here, he shall be reborn in front of his mother".
*A few minutes passes* six bulky men could be seen carrying a pitch black cauldron two meters in diameter with intrinsic tribal markings that seemed similar to the markings the men of cambali bore. When the cauldron was dropped a small sound resonated showing its weight Which caused a slight tremor in the heart of all the vilagers present. The cauldron top was taken off revealing A very viscous smelly black liquid. Bring me the uthang diamond
Instantly the whole place quieted down
As a small leather bag was given to omotayo. He emptied the bag on his left arm as he held the baby on his right
On his palm was a small translucent crystal with faint red markings on it, he smiled and was about to place the crystal in the mouth of his son when three old men forced their way out of the crowd with a loud shout.
*STOP OMOTAYO!* "omotayo that is not something for your child, that is fortune for this whole village you want to place in the hands of your son".
Can you bear it if the elders refuse?
Can you bear it if the uthang diamond takes away the blessing this village has been basked in?.
Laughter slowly reverberated in the square.
"This uthang diamond belongs to my family, my grandfathers grandfather killed the uthang and left it for his children to use, now its about to be used you and the elders are trying to stop it"?
The faces of all the elders changed instantly.
"Your fathers grandfather was a man of cambali, and this benefits cambali this is something every elder has to consent to first"!
Omotayo walked towards the cauldron, placed the diamond in the mouth of his son without glancing back, "when i come to your house and tell you elders when to eat the food harvested by your family and when to sleep with your wives, then i will listen to you on using MY family's uthang diamond". He then dropped the baby in the cauldron of black liquid.
Instantly loud cheers and tribal songs began.
all the elders present looked like they had eaten flies as the leader of the three men said, "very good omotayo, very good. You place one child before the village very good let us hope this child can accept the uthang diamond ".
Omotayo turned his head and scoffed slightly, these elders are thinking up something and this might be their starting point. He then looked inside the cauldron and smiled deeply, "a true warrior is being born this is all for cambali".
Two hours thirty minutes passed and the singers and dancers in the village had begun to slow down wondering what was happening. Birthing ceremonies in cambali usually took about thirty minutes to one hour.
bathing the baby in the blood of a demon strengthened the baby's physique, allowing him to contain twice as much energy while cleansing and strengthening his heart paving his way as a warrior.
The strength of the demon played a major role in determining the length of the ceremony and the physique of the baby, every regular warrior spent roughly thirty minutes in the blood of a regular demon and less time in stronger demon blood, when they came out they posses the charm of a warrior, some even obtained blessings from the demon blood.
Some villagers began to mutter, "the chiefs third son, Wale spent one hour and fifty minutes in the cauldron Filled with a tree banshees blood ant it was a high five gin demon, why is it taking so long for his fourteenth child"? "I heard a rumor once that the chief spent two hours inside the cauldron during his birthing ceremony". *WAAA*"just like wale doesn't that mean that in the future wale would be almost as strong as the chief? Explains why wale can already hunt a mid two gin demon at just twenty years old, doesn't that mean the longer you spend the stronger you are"?.
"it doesnt always work that way, some babies die if they cant handle the blood of the demon and the chief gave his son the uthang diamond so...".
as the villagers talked amongst themselves the chief still had high expectations as he stood in front of the cauldron. *Two hours thirty minutes*, *three hours* no one said anything and the whole place had turned quiet.
*RAAAAARG* "OMOTAYO we warned you, three hours thirty minutes have passed and your child has not cried yet, you have passed the fortune of this village to a dead child" omotayo said nothing as he continued looking into the cauldron while thinking to himself in enthusiasm, "it was told to me by my father himself that his fathers grandfather had stayed four hours and ten minutes during his birthing ceremony, and by sixty he killed an uthang. I expect nothing less from you my child".
*four hours* *four hours and thirty minutes*, nothing had happened and the face of the clan chief slowly began to darken. *five hours* the elders scoffed and began walking away knowing all their words was falling on def ears taking away a portion of the villagers that lost interest in the ceremony. "omotayo, you are no hero, you are the curse of this village". Even with the venomous words omotayo remained silent with doubt completely clouding his heart and finally he turned around to walk away at the sixth hour. After taking seven steps he could hear muffled wailing like that of a baby and his body trembled.
he turned around and looked deep at the cauldron wanting to verify something and the sounds only grew louder.
The villagers remaining all felt their hearts trembling in rhythm with the soft wailing coming from the cauldron, "im...impossible" he only started crying after six hours, this is impossible, is the son of the clan chief human"?
Omotayo ignored the comments coming from his surroundings and walked to the cauldron "even i underestimated the power you hold my child" slowly the wailing got louder, six hours twenty minutes the hearts of everyone trembled as the sound got louder,
six hour thirty minutes a loud explosion suddenly came from the cauldron and the villagers clearly heard the sound of the child crying, the weaker villagers surrounding the cauldron began to fall unconscious,
the stronger men of the village could only feel a strong sense of dread as the child's wailing penetrated into their hearts resting on their very souls. It felt like a wild beast was in their midst causing them to want to drop their weapons and flee. Omotayo walked towards the cauldron and noticed with every step it took it got harder to approach his son, only three steps were left but taking those steps felt heavy.
"this village has bore a king, my son is a king," omotayo kept muttering to himself as he put his arms in the cauldron.
As omotayo held his child up, revealing a pitch black crying baby,
"Cambaliii!"
"My son has come,"!!!
*LOUD CHEERING* "his name will be orire from here on, he is a pure born cambali man"...