Chereads / Ultimate War! / Chapter 9 - Chapter Nine

Chapter 9 - Chapter Nine

The Niyeye sorcerer domicile was one of the largest building in Niyeye, inside it were also buildings. Many citizens of the empire did visit to have their prayers. Inside the domicile where different buildings were diverse of prayers took place. The buildings inside it were massive. The entrance was kinda a busy place before one could enter one would have to wait for a long period because people were attended to accordingly on a parallel line. At the entrance were some guards in white cloth and their weapons were also white. Some kids in Niyeye referred to those guards as angels. Any jurisdiction, where they were seen, people would have known they were the guards of the Niyeye sorcerer domicile. There were usually five of them at the entrance and two each at any other entrance in the domicile. The sorcerer domicile was built like a palace, it had all the features of the palace. In the domicile were also the seven kingmakers of Niyeye who were always in their building in the domicile praying routinely. They did sit with their legs under their bum and their palm together at the front of their eyes closed. They oversee everything transpiring in Niyeye. Nothing was happening in Niyeye that they weren't seeing. They also dressed in white. Before one could be allowed to enter the main buildings in the sorcerer domicile one must be dressed in white because it was a holy place. The building in the sorcerer domicile was painted white. It is sometimes called the holy city by both the people of Niyeye and foreigners. They did refer to it as a city because the interior of the domicile was like another world entirely. Almost all activities transpiring in the domicile were different from what's happening in the towns of Niyeye. The orderliness couldn't be compared to that of the towns of Niyeye because there were guards everywhere overseeing what every individual was doing. If anyone was found stealing in the domicile, she or he would be killed immediately. The Sorcerer was always solitary praying, he was also in another building entirely. In his building were crosses of different height, there were steps one would climb before one reached the top, the sorcerer building was sometimes referred to as the main building or temple. At the entrance of each building in the domicile was crossed which had nothing on it. There was orderliness in the domicile. Before one could be allowed in there were some criteria that one needed to live up to. The sorcerer always saw praying in the morning and around afternoon that's when he did attend to people that wanted to seek for his advice, prayer etc. Merchants were recorded as the highest number of people that did visit the domicile. The sorcerer was always perambulating around with a mini rod which was also white. The seven kingmakers only came outside in a year and maybe after the demise of a king and the need to reinstate another one apart from that the only period the seven kingmakers did come out was during the annual festival. They were present at the recently concluded festival and they did sit at a different place from where the royal seats did stay. The seven kingmakers were sometimes referred to as gods by the people of Niyeye. At the demise of any of the kingmakers, It was only the sorcerer that had the power to choose whom to replace the vacant position at the demise of any kingmakers, even in the domicile as a whole. If the Sorcerer eventually kicked the bucket, they did succeed by their coadjutorship. The sorcerer did have coadjutorship who would be helping in taking care of the wishes of the gods and the mediation. It was the only sorcerer that had the right to choose was deem to be his assistant. It was a position where one served as the link between the people and gods and anyone occupying such position wasn't privilege to has a child. The last four sorcerers of Niyeye had been a male, it was only twice it had been held by a sorceress in the history of the kingdom. People from other kingdom did come to Niyeye to consult their sorcerer on any complicated issue. People trusted the Niyeye sorcerer more than the ones in the whole of the west. Some kingdom sorcerer was so corrupt to the extent that they did give false revelation in other to frighten the psyche of their patroniser and extort their money. Though there were annual funds that respective kingdoms did allocate to the sorcerers were still corrupt. The Niyeye sorcerer was said to be one of the most reliable sorcerers among other kingdoms. In fact, everything going on presently in Niyeye were known to them. They knew the causes, and how it could be solved.

The King of Niyeye, his sons and daughters, Muhu, Yon, Dejoe and Onna were all present at the sorcerer domicile. They arrived at midnight after the prime minister advised the king to visit the sorcerer domicile for prayer because the crisis was beseeming worse. The prime minister and the Queen weren't with them at the sorcerer domicile as they stay back to administer all the activities of the palace. The two were hit by the rising crisis were the King and Muhu. Dejoe, Yon and Onna followed them because they weren't themselves since the condition of the King and Muhu had deteriorated. Dejoe on the other hand feared the wrath of the people as he saw the people clamouring around the kingdoms, he thought they could attack their family soon. The king was at the upper chamber of the sorcerer temple where the main prayer was being done. His eyes were closed, his leg was under his bum and his hand restless on his lap. Muhu was at the back of the king on the lower step down in the same posture as the kin. The king's face had become black like monsters and some holes could be found on his face as if insects fed on his face. Though Muhu's own wasn't as worse as the king's, Muhu began suffering from it some days after the king own began. The prime minister and the Queen did visit but were always late in the night so the people would not know what was going on. The sorcerer did join them after praying for a lengthy day. It continued like that for consecutive days as they were to spend seven days praying according to the instruction on the sorcerer.

Rumours continued spreading about the king's health and his whereabouts. Some had learned that he was at the sorcerer domicile. Some said he was dead that they didn't want to disclose it yet. The crisis continued rising. The might of Kenne market continued to depreciate. The price of goods continued to rise. The market continued to depopulate. Merchants that couldn't cope with the complications concerning goods in Niyeye so they had to leave most especially those who were aliens who only came because of trading. The people of Niyeye began to assemble at the entrance of the palace clamouring for the presence of the king, It continued like that for consecutive days. Despite shamans being arrested they never stopped coming out to spreading myriad of rumours in other to amass enormous money. Before the shaman could answered any question such a person had to pay. The crowd trooping out like army men going to war. The crisis was even made worst when the minister refused to disclose where the king was. The rumour about the king's death began to spread like wildfire when the king wasn't seen for weeks. When the rumour about the king's death reached the palace the Queen had to call on the ministers to discuss the need to reveal to people the truth about what the king was going through. The prime minister did as advised by the Queen. Initially, the only person working outside the palace that knew of the king's whereabouts was Chuchu and he had been warned not to disclose it. The prime minister and other ministers called on the people to address the issue of the king's whereabout.

When the ministers disclosed the king condition and whereabouts. The people sympathized for the king. Some still didn't believe it, claiming the prime minister hadn't told them the truth because they believed the king was dead. The clamouring about the king where about abate. The population at the sorcerer domicile continued to the increased when the people heard about the king condition. They began trooping their to pray for their king. They loved their king very much and couldn't afford to lose him to the disaster which the kingdom was going through. He had never treated the people badly. People wearing white were heading to the sorcerer domicile.

It was the seventh day, the Queen had already joined them. The sorcerer was about to attend to them. The king had planned to visit the sorcerer after the festival before he was pulled down by the illness. Because, before the festival, the king and the prime minister visited to have an overnight prayer before the festival in other for the day to be blessed but, a shocking a statement was uttered by the sorcerer which depreciated his mood but couldn't visit to get the real meaning of the statement because of his illness. When the sorcerer joined the king, Queen, Princes and Princesses. The sorcerer blamed the king for all the crisis which the kingdom had been passing through. The crisis wasn't caused by a single mistake but multiple; the king had visited the sorcerer it had been long until some days to their festival. The failure of the king to visit the sorcerer had kept a lot of things from being known to him. Another reason which caused the crisis was the accepting of the Yoe request to establish a camp in Niyeye, he accepted their request without consulting the sorcerer whether the gods were in support or not despite all the warnings he was given on the day he was inaugurated as the king of Niyeye. The king knew he was guilty of all the sorcerer claims. He had to ask for the forgiveness of the gods. The Queen also blamed herself of all the claims because he could have prevented them if he had talked to the king. The King's face was full of tears. He blamed himself for putting the people of Niyeye into all the mess they were going through despite making pledges not to put any of his people into danger or difficulties. He imagined what the people would have gone through during his illness. He had to pray for another seven days since he had to know where he was wrong and the need for the gods to forgive him and restore the peace of Niyeye and its people. During another seven days, the ministers began to visit him. His illness and Muhu's began to curtail. The Queen was also regaining his composure progressively.

When the seven days were completed. The sorcerer talked to the king concerning the Yoe that he accepted their request. The King was told to re-visit because they were some secrets that needed to be disclosed to him but it wasn't yet time, probably if the time to disclose it reached, he would send for him and warned him never to forget visiting the domicile as it was important to use his mouth to pray for Niyeye as the king. The king, Queen, Princes and Princesses returned to the palace after two weeks away. They were welcome. It was announced to the people. There was jubilation around the kingdom. A mini party was to be conducted to welcome the coming back of the king. The was wild jubilation all over the kingdom. The shamans and the gossipers that the prime minister ordered for their arrest were released. The kingdom activities continued to return to the normal position. Muhu as usual did visit his library to resume his daily activities. Friends, merchants were visiting to check on the king and congratulate him on his come back. The meeting was conducted in the Kenne market. The minister of trade was present and all the needed conclusion was made concerning the hike in the price of goods. The merchants were also settled in other for things to continue going fine and put laughter on both faces.

A day later, the ministers meeting had resumed. The ongoing crisis was discussed, everything was outlined and how it could be stopped. The king comes back ceremony was also discussed, it was said to be a mini party. The ceremony was a great one. There were also little contests to entertain the few people that were allowed to be present. The King was glad to be back. He always remembers the advice of the sorcerer concerning the kind of people he should associate with. The re-visit which he was told not to forget always flashes through his psyche.

At the Yoe camp. It was like another world entirely as everything was going well for them despite the hardship the Niyeye just recovered from. All their activities were going fine. Since the Yoe had allied with the Kohoe there had been a regular visit of the Yoe minister to the Kohoe kingdom. Spies had been kept on their camp but weren't told to spy on the Yoe minister. The people of Niyeye avoided the camp like a plague except those that were attracted to their ladies. They couldn't resist their urge for the Yoe ladies. Some men in Niyeye saw it as an opportunity and couldn't afford to lose those ladies. The merchants of Niyeye were the one that amasses the higher number of ladies. The Yoe had even built a place where their weapons would be made at their jurisdiction. Since the Yoe minister wasn't allowed to see the king, he didn't bother himself visiting anymore. He later heard of the king arrival when the welcome mini ceremony was conducted. He later visited the king. They had some discussion. But the word of the sorcerer continued running through the psyche when the Yoe minister sojourned. Tang had also recovered but didn't follow the Yoe minister when he visited the king. The king asked of Tang and his health. There had been several clandestine meeting that had been going on between the Yoe and the Kohoe outside the kingdom. They capitalised on the just concluded chaos in Niyeye to formed a good relationship with them by visiting the kingdom regularly when the king was away and was empty.

The Niyeye prime minister was also having a secret meeting with the spies he had kept on the Yoe camp when the king returned to the palace. The spies were able to produce a piece of reliable information concerning the Yoe but that information wasn't a hundred per cent. They disclosed the information of the prime minister and Tang regular visit out of the kingdom but didn't know where they did go to because they weren't instructed to follow them out but to only keep an eye on the camp. The prime minister was the one that was put in charge of the spies. All the information he had so far hadn't been disclosed to the king because he hadn't procured the root of the information he had. The prime minister became worried thinking of whom they could have to go out of the kingdom to meet. His Psyche couldn't resist bringing diverse thoughts. The information concerning the building of an armed house where sundry of weapon would be made became the most worrisome. He couldn't decode what they were actually up to because they arrived the kingdom it hadn't be more than two months, how they could have had such connection with people to the extent of going outside the kingdom was too complicated. They didn't go out of the kingdom only once or twice but multiple times. The prime minister had to choose two more experienced spies who were also part of the Niyeye soldier to monitor the movement of both the Yoe minister and Tang respectively. The prime minister knew the war was imminent. The worry of going to war this moment wasn't ideal and advisable because the kingdom was just recovering from the recent crisis it suffered. The prime minister made up his psyche not to disclosed anything to the king yet to prevent him from thinking because he just recovered from an illness. He called on Muhu who was his closest person in the palace after the king. He probably discussed the issue with Muhu and he answered some but, he couldn't get the clue of why the prime minister asked those questions, though it wasn't the first time the prime minister would ask strange questions like that.

Some minutes after the Yoe minister left. Muhu and the prime minister were still discussing under a chamber in the palace. Jangogo and Yon just burst into the palace shouting and jubilation like someone who won a large amount of money in a lottery. The psyche of the prime minister and Muhu was gone for a second. The shout was audible and unexpected that it could make someone lost life. The noise stole the attention of all the guards and maids who were present. The prime minister was sitting down looking at them from afar as they were running into the palace. Muhu was just jiggling his head like someone who was trying to remove something from the head by shaking it. When the king heard the voice he had to send a guard to check what's happening. The Queen on the other hand stands up immediately. The news they disclosed was the decoding of the dreamed armour. The King couldn't believe what he just heard from Jangogo. Even the prime minister was asking in his psyche if was true because he never thought Jangogo could decode it. They immediately mounted on their horse and head towards Jangogo workshop to confirm what he said maybe it was true. All of them went with the king except Dejoe and Onna who stayed back at the palace. It was a great day for the king and others who were present. The gods had answered the prayer of Niyeye they chorus when they reached the workshop. It was truly tested but was kinda heavier compare to normal armour people did wear. Jangogo vow to reduce the weight and made it wearable. Everyone returned to the Palace smiling.