Visitors from Ọyọ.
The people of Ilu-ina gathered at the main entrance to welcome an envoy from the provincial leaders and the capital, the royal train boasts of more than ten representatives from the Adegunju tribe and fifteen representatives from Ọyọ. The procession was majestic. All the representatives of Ọyọ were richly dressed in the most expensive adornments and gabbed in rich Agbada. They were all on horseback. The Adegunju members were all covered from crown to sole in an obscure dark substance, keeping their secret intact; there was one in particular that stood out. The people considered him to be the Baṣọrun of the Adegunju province. The eagle team arrived when the royal train marched past the market square, and towards the king's palace; one of the chanters who ran from the palace began chanting in praise of the procession. Soon the drummer assisted, and then the singing and most of the youth started dancing to welcome the newcomers, typical of the ignorant Yoruba people to praise rich-looking strangers for no reason at all. It seems that the mindless celebration provided a result; the delegates of Ọyọ drew out their money sacs and started throwing cowries, beads and Manilla for the people.
The response was instantaneous; the people started to squabble over the money thrown about the area, and those who did not fall prey to the money on the ground intensified their praises to the gods and the Alaafin of Ọyọ. The praises continued until the royal train reached the village palace, that was when the unscheduled meeting between the villagers, the king, the representatives of the Adegunju tribe and the ambassadors from the empire's headquarters began.
The Ọba of the village stepped out from his palace, which attracted the praise of the villagers, and then all the villagers greeted the Ọba of Ilu-ina village in high spirits, then all the visitors except for the Baṣọrun of the Adegunju tribe greeted the Ọba humbly. The Ọba of the Ilu-ina nodded at the Baṣọrun in reference to his presence. The Baṣọrun was, after all, the king of the entire province. The palace guards then rushed in to provide a stool for all the dignitaries to sit while mats were produced for the males of the villagers to sit while the children and other lower ranking members stood afar off to listen to the announcement brought in from the empire's capital.
One of the dignitaries from Ọyọ, the capital of the Yoruba empire, stood to address the people of Ilu-ina village, the capital of the Adegunju province. He was a tall man with a large beard and chiselled muscles, and his voice echoed with a firm calmness. "Greetings people of Ilu-ina village, Ẹ ku jo ko oooooo"
"Ooooooooo" the villagers replied,
"I extend greetings from the Alaafin of Ọyọ, he wishes you prosperity and good health for all time"
"Aṣẹẹẹẹẹ! (amen)" the villagers greeted,
"I the most treasured servant of the Alaafin bring you great tidings on this auspicious day," he said with a smile that piqued the villagers' interest. "the Alaafin is going to visit this village in 3 market days"
The reaction was instantaneous; the village exploded into a loud round of applause and cheers, and the building excitement simply mounted into jubilations, singing and dancing. The celebration lasted well into the night with not one of the villagers willing to retire for the day, except for those who were greatly concerned about the visit of the foreign visitors. The Balogun gave official orders for all the Jagunas to see her on the third day. They couldn't meet the following day because the king would be busy entertaining the visitors along with the chiefs of Ilu-ina village. The representatives of Ọyọ, the capital of the Yoruba empire and the title holders of the Adegunju province, and the local chiefs had a lot to discuss.
***********
The members of the eagle team had just bumped into a large wall in their path, something that hurt their pride. Bọlaji was seated on a large rock, scowling at a small tree stump; Ṣeyi was banging his head at the stump of a Dongoyaro tree, saying the word "fool" repeatedly. Akin and the rest were all speechless filled with disappointment. The day's events had been painful for the whole team; under the supervision of their Jaguna, the Eagle team woke up bright and early the following day for their first training in the dark caves surrounding Ilu-ina village.
Bọlaji led the team towards the closest of the cave, the ritual post towards opening the secret entrance of the dark cave. "This is how you locate the cave, both the ones around the village and within the areas with high concentration of Agbara", he said, pointing towards a small strange-looking plant with reddish green leaves.
"Wait! What?" Ṣeyi said with wide-eyed curiosity.
"The ritual begins now." Bọlaji continued ignoring Ṣeyi's sudden outburst. He picked up a fist full of sand and chanted into it. "Olẹla (Reveal) a fẹ kọja (We wish to pass)" In an instant, the plants and shrubs gave way, and the entrance suddenly appeared along with it, the disappointment. The disappointment came in the form of two formidable Ẹṣọs who stood guarding the entrance; they were all taken aback by the new development.
"What's going on here?" Bọlaji demanded in a calm tone, "What seeds of deceit have been planted?"
"This place is under the supervision of Jaguna Baṣọrun and the Eagle team has been forbidden from using this cave" One of the guards declared,
"The Balogun gave us permission!" Lakan shouted in irritation,
"The Jaguna Baṣọrun said nothing about your agreement with the Balogun" another one of the guards replied, "Now be gone"
Lakan was about to explode in anger, but Bọlaji stopped him by stretching out his arm and shoving his head, dissuading him from taking any action. "If we should cause any trouble the Baṣọrun will use it as an excuse to disband this team," He exhaled in defeat then gave his command, "Let's go"
The eagle team returned to their hidden base with heavy hearts and little hope to salvage the situation. Lakan was beside himself with rage, he punched the nearest stone as a testament of his anger.
"How did they know that we intended to use the dark caves" He roared,
"Jaguna Baṣọrun always had it in mind to thwart our efforts" Bọlaji replied calmly
"Then we should use another cave" Kenny suggested,
"If there are guards posted on one cave then I assume that there will be guards posted at the rest as well," Yewande observed.
"So, what are we going to do now?" Modupẹ inquired in a worried tone. "Is this the end of our training?"
"No" Bolu replied, "Agba Bọlaji always comes up with a new plan"
"Fool, fool fool," Ṣeyi continued banging his head, ignoring the mumbling complaints of the rest of the Eagle team.
"We could just report this to the Balogun, but she's too busy with the delegates from Ọyọ and the Adegunju province," Bọlaji said.
"Reporting would only prove that we're weak" Lakan growled "The Balogun would expect us to solve this problem on our own"
"There doesn't seem to be a solution" Kenny said soberly.
Ṣeyi continued to bang his head on the tree, keeping his eyes closed in disappointment; now Akin looked at him suspiciously. He assumed that Ṣeyi was unconcerned by the scheming of the Jaguna of the Elephant team but something in his best friend's behaviour seemed off. Ṣeyi was more concerned with his infamous reputation for steering up trouble and "Akin," Ṣeyi responded, "there were seven dark caves around the village and we didn't even discover one" The moment Ṣeyi mentioned the number of caves in the village it caught the attention of the three veteran warriors of the eagle team. the fact that the location of all the dark caves lies beneath his nose, and he knew nothing about it.
"Ṣeyi?" Akin voiced, concerned. "Why are you so upset?"
"Did you say seven" Lakan snapped "There are only three"
"Nope," Kenny said with a slight smile on his face, "There are definitely seven caves about the village, Ṣeyi showed me all seven plants several moons (months) back. Then we didn't even know what those plants represented"
"It's true" Kayode added, "Ṣeyi noticed the strange Agbara coming from the plant and just assumed that it was used for making Agbo"
"That's not possible," Bọlaji said; how could he miss the fact that the village had more than three caves? If this was true, then that meant four additional dark caves would be unaccounted for, and the Eagle team could train in the uncharted caves. He decided to be sure "Ṣeyi," he called.
"Agba?" Ṣeyi responded,
"Where is the cave closest to us?" He inquired, better to be sure than to regret it later. Ṣeyi pointed towards the back of the Eagle team's base, "That close?" Bọlaji exclaimed in surprise, and response, Ṣeyi started to bang his head again,
They all walked towards where Ṣeyi had indicated and moved away from the hanging plants that blocked the view; hidden within a perfectly camouflaged background was the chanted plant in question, reaching up to eight feet above the ground. They all gazed at the plant with slacked-jawed amazement; they had never expected to encounter a cave with this much potency.
"Ṣeyi" Lakan said as his voice trembled. "You have just found us a gold mine"
"What?" Ṣeyi inquired not knowing the importance.
"Good work Ṣeyi!" Bọlaji said with a smile, "This cave is now the property of the Eagle team." then he faced Lakan, "Lakan, go with Ṣeyi and locate the remaining three missing caves, find out the potency and report back. Today we plant the seeds of success concerning the eagle team"
"As you command," Lakan responded with a smile, then he grabbed Ṣeyi's hand and charged into the forest. Bọlaji's hand trembled as he caressed the plant in joy, and then he picked up some sand from the earth and performed the ritual to reveal the entrance to the cave. As soon as he was done, the entrance stood boldly three times bigger and grander than anything that Ilu-ina had discovered; Yewande Bọlaji's sister stood beside her awe-stricken brother and whispered.
"Ṣeyi has outdone himself" She commented
"Indeed," Bọlaji responded, "He was so ashamed of not knowing the ritual to enter the dark cave that he didn't realise that he had achieved far more in his short life than Ilu-ina had achieved in a hundred seasons. He truly is the seed of change"
"Are we going to tell the other Jagunas about this cave" Kenny pouted,
"No, but the Balogun will be informed" Bọlaji responded, "I'm sure she will tell the other Jagunas nothing about the caves we have discovered and she will not be pleased that they posted guards to prevent our entry"
"So, when do we start training?" Bolu inquired
Bọlaji smiled in response "As soon as possible"