"Who do you seek?" The first enforcer asked, holding his palm in front of the Babalawo's chest.
"I was told to meet someone called the governess here, I have business with her," Edaho replied, adjusting his rumpled tunic. He would buy a new tunic the next time he visited the market, he was sure of that. The enforcer turned to face his comrade.
"Who sent you to seek the governess, do you have a written note?" The other bull-man asked the Babalawo.
"Polymus sent a royal messenger; he was the one who told me to meet the governess here." The sun was getting hotter and Edaho wanted to get into the building as soon as possible. He had become sweaty and his tunic was beginning to get scratchy.
"Okay, you may pass." The enforcers put away their whips and moved aside. They never joked with a member of the King's Elite. "Walk past the first room until you reach the wooden door, you will find the governess in there."
The Babalawo bowed under the doorway and entered the first room, he was glad to be finally out of the sun. A hundred faces stared back at him, the neat faces of the children of the elite. They sat on long benches and most looked surprised to see such a dirty man in their conditioning house.
"What is he doing here?" A girl asked, pointing at the Babalawo. The children's conditioner resumed her lesson, ignoring the intruder. The children were learning how to endure that workers and laborers performed at maximum input. Edaho noticed the drawing on the board, a cube with a man standing on top, what looked like an enforcer in the middle, and a hunched over man working on the farm.
The Babalawo glanced around the room; there were a lot of wooden doors, six of them in number. Which one held the governess? He walked over to the conditioner, who still pretended she couldn't see him. He must have been let in by the enforcers though, else she would have shouted for help.
"Excuse me," The Babalawo said to the young woman. "I am looking for the governess."
"Good luck with your search, mister." She replied, avoiding his gaze.
"I was told to go into one of the doors, which one is it?" He tried again.
"Pick anyone, you would surely find her in the end." The woman scoffed and turned to draw some diagrams on the board. She must really want to keep this job, Edaho thought. He left her and the children and walked in the direction of the first door. Before he could open it, a girl screamed from the crowd of children.
"It's the third one, the one with the crack in the middle." The Babalawo turned to see the little girl, the one who had pulled his tunic on the way to the Upper-city market square. He smiled at her and she waved back, a shy smile on her lips.
"Karen," The conditioner scolded the girl. "Sit." The girl tore her glance away from the old man and did as instructed. Edaho moved towards the third door, wondering what he would have found had he opened the first.
"Hello." The governess smiled at him from behind bespectacled eyes, her smile was forced, a trick learned over the years. Edaho tried to smile back but gave up, sitting on the chair in front of the woman.
"I take it you are not here for the conditioning, you are rather too old." The woman said, pulling off her glasses, which she wiped clean with a napkin.
"No, I was told you would lead me to my new house. Polymus send a messenger to deliver the message."
"Is that so? Well, we better get moving." The governess placed the clean spectacles on her nose and got up. She was a beautiful female specimen, with all the curves in the right places. Edaho would have been awed at her sensuality if he wasn't so old. "When you are done staring, follow me." She said and left the room. Edaho let out a nervous cough and followed the woman, who had a seemingly natural hold over men. The woman called for an enforcer and one rushed into the room.
"Yes. ma'am?" He said, already glancing at the old man, whip wielded. What was with these idiots and flogging?
"Kindly open the door and retrieve my jacket please." The governess said and the enforcer flinched. "Is it the first one?" He asked. Apparently, bulls were also petrified by a number of things.
"Yes. And quickly please." As soon the governess said that all the children silently filed out of the room; their conditioner following them from the rear.
Edaho wanted nothing more than to follow them; he knew he wouldn't like whatever was behind that door. The enforcer called for his comrade and they both pulled the first wooden door open. Inside it was a cat, the largest of all cats.
Edaho nervously slipped one hand into his bag, just in case. Prevention had always been better than cure. The tiger yawned and began to stare at the enforcers. Behind the large cat, and hanging on a balustrade was a red leather jacket, the same material as the governesses skirt. How did this crazy woman even get her jacket there in the first place?
"See that, children? What is that?" The young female conditioner pointed at the tiger and asked. "A tiger!" chorused the children, their voice intertwined.
"And where can we find tigers?" The governess asked. The children had no reply to this; they only stared at the weird woman wearing glasses. "You can find them outside the village. But if you obey the first rule we shall protect you. And what is the first rule?"
"No one is allowed to leave the village."
"Excellent."
The Babalawo watched in silence. These people were mad, raving lunatics. They were keeping their children in the same buildings with a large predator. Who knew what he would find in the other four doors. Gorillas? Spirits? Perhaps, a baby dragon that had just been hatched.
One of the enforcers finally used his whip to grab the jacket and the other slammed the door shut, a job expertly done, even for bull-men. The governess let him to the hut after that; they were escorted by four enforcers. This governess must be a big-shot in the castle.
"There," She pointed at a medium-sized hut in the middle of the forest. "Is it good enough?" She showed him her fake smile again.
"Yes, thank you." Edaho nodded.
"It better be; it is the best I can afford at the moment." The governess gave the Babalawo the keys to the hut and left with her four enforcers. Edaho watched her sashay her way out of the forest. There were many others like that in the other kingdoms, courtiers who played games with the royals for a promotion. People like the governess were the best kind of hypocrites, hard to find and good for government.
The Babalawo moved into the hut with his only belonging, the bag over his shoulder. The insides were a bit dusty but it could be transformed into a comfortable living space in no time, a little interior designing here and there and it would become a home.
He walked into the bedroom and found two beds, one on each side of the room. The beds, unlike the other pieces of furniture, looked new; they must have been recently installed. While uttering a silent prayer to his gods, Edaho sauntered over to the bed and pushed it down with a fist. This was too good to be true. He threw his bag on the floor and dived into the bed, sinking into the velvety folds of foam.
"Yes!" He shouted. Who knew these Lower-people actually lived like kings? Well, it made sense. They were being forced to make the beds. The Babalawo jerked as the realization hit him.
"They know!" he exclaimed, remembering Bonny and what the man had said. These Lower-People were not that stupid after all, they fought in their own way. They made soft, comfortable beds for themselves and delivered those evil things to Vothland. How many of them knew they were being controlled? He remembered the gypsy woman and her smuggler son, maybe they were part of the uprising. The Babalawo laughed at himself, he was having these thoughts just because he found a soft bed. It didn't hurt to create your own theories thought. The Babalawo suddenly remembered his ikere leaves delivery; he reluctantly got up from the soft bed and picked up his bag. This new bed would have to wait.
"How was your stay in the Upper-city?" The gypsy woman nodded when he ducked under the stall.
"Vothland was just as I expected, thank you. Do you have my good now?" The Babalawo replied, fidgeting with his tunic.
"Wait," The gypsy woman moved into the shack. She would have been stealthy, if not for her continuous bobbing of the neck. "Here you go, expertly blended, to your requirements." She handed him a large bottle with a greenish liquid swirling inside. The Babalawo hurriedly snatched the bottle from her, into his bag it went.
"What time did your son arrive?" He asked, patting down the cover of his bag. His precious cargo had arrived, at long last.
"Doesn't matter now, he left as soon as he dropped the new goods." The gypsy woman nodded.
"My payment. . ." She said.
"Right," Edaho pulled out a large golden coin from his bag, it had been buried at the bottom and concealed between two folds of leather. "This should cover the costs." He threw the coin and the woman snatched it midair.
Edaho turned to leave; his presence was no longer required here. Excitement built up in his chest, he had gotten his ikere leaves, even though it was in liquid form.
"It's not enough." The gypsy said to the Babalawo's back.
What? Edaho's head swiveled and their gazes met. What did she mean about it not being enough? "That is what I have always paid you, a gold coin." That gold coin was enough to purchase a year's supply of food, she should be glad he even did business with her.
"Two gold coins." She held out her hand. The price of food in the Lower-city had doubled; businesses need to follow suit or risk bankruptcy."
"If I find out you cheated me-"
"Do what you will just pay me the money first."
Edaho sighed and fished out another coin. There were only a few coins left and none of them were golden, he would need to find another job. It was forbidden to use juju to acquire wealth.
"You can have it." He threw the coin at the woman.
"Nice doing business with you." The woman caught the coin and it disappeared into the folds of her clothing. Edaho would have called it magic if he didn't know any better. He grunted in reply.
"Did you hear?" The woman said, her head bobbling so fast it looked like was deliberately planning to snap her frail neck. Edaho had no time for gossip; he needed to make it back home as soon as possible. Whatever hear-say she had could wait, the ikere and his new bed could not.
"Save it for another day woman." He said and began to leave.
"It's about the prince!" She called out and the air carried her voice to Edaho's ears. It was possible that news of the prince could reach her before him; after all, he was currently residing in the forest. In the end, curiosity got the best of him and he walked back to the shack.
"I knew you would return." The woman said her head stationary. It was a real-life miracle, Edaho thought, and a whole four seconds at that!
"What prince do you speak about?"
"What other prince do you know?" Edaho grimaced. He hated it whenever a person replied to his questions with another question.
"Just tell me, I don't have all day." He didn't.
"I heard from my sources that the boy is sick."
"What sources?"
"Okay, don't be too grouchy. The king sent a messenger to all herbalists and native doctors; they said the prince required our help and that the boy's health was deteriorating. The boy's birthday is tomorrow and preparations have already been made, we need to fix him before the ceremony begins."
"I recently saw the prince, he seemed hale and hearty."
"All I know is I better get my medicine prepared. Two hundred gold coins, that's what I get paid if I heal the lad. Two hundred gold coins!"
"Why didn't I also receive the message?" The Babalawo sat down on a stool, for the first time he was intrigued by petty gossip and the amount of gold coins. He was the best Babalawo in the land, why wasn't he invited? An herbalist needed to graduate into a native doctor before they could become a Babalawo, king of the forest. He was the last Babalawo in the land, and this was the type of job he loved doing. Why didn't the king send for him? There was something fishy going on in this village; he didn't like it, whatever it was.
"Look behind you. Use this." The gypsy woman pushed a mirror in front of the Babalawo. He took the mirror and saw nobody, only trees.
"I don't know what you expect me to see-"
"No, look in the trees." The gypsy woman tilted the mirror and he saw. There was someone concealed high up in one of the trees, Edaho saw what the man wore and gasped.
"He wouldn't dare. I haven't committed any crimes."
"It seems you have," The gypsy woman nodded. "Why else would he send them after you?"
The Babalawo took one last look before the mirror was snatched. The image was seared into his head, a man dressed in black leather and golden sleeves, the attire of the agents. The king had sent a messenger to him after all, the agent must have been sent to make sure he never reached his destination. Agents of the crown were never good news.
The Babalawo thanked the gypsy woman for the news and got up the stool. He would go to the hut and prepare his juju with the ikere, and then he would appear at the palace tomorrow and heal the prince. Polymus had overplayed his hand by sending agents to spy on him. He would show all of them his true power, all of the so-called elite. He would heal the foul-mouthed prince. What could possibly go wrong?