Bellowing winds, peaceful coexistence, children playing and crying, eerie places, flowing rivers, soldiers crossing. Scenes in my dreams with absolutely no connection to each other. Then a woman with her face covered in a veil trying to touch me. I always wake up before I make out her face.
“Oh my, dear. I shall miss the whole of you. Those enchanting eyes of yours are nothing but strength to me. They give life to my entire being. I shall come back to you my love“. He came to my hut before dawn. His gaze was intense with deep piercing eyes. Everytime he looked at me that way, it sent a tingling sensation through my body. Edun was tall dark and strong. His aura made everyone shudder at his mere presence.
“How am I to know that you will be back? The bones of Ifarh are uncertain this time. They do not speak. Whether you the warriors of the land will be triumphant, they do not say.” with sorrowful eyes, I traced the warrior marks on his chest.
“The Gods will protect us and reveal it in good time”. He twisted my waist beads, held my chin up and gazed into my eyes intensely again. My legs could barely hold the weight of my body this time.
I never felt seen like Edun made me feel. He was the greatest warrior of our time, the strongest of them all. He had shiny Ebony skin that made every maiden drool over him. However, he chose me as his bride. We were to be united after the battle.
The warriors of the land were set to battle our neighbors from the west over a piece of territorial land bordering both villages. It wasn't Edun’s first time to lead a battle but I had cold feet this time. Something in my core.
“Why hasn't the Ifarh spoken this time?“. I asked my mother while we made dinner outside her hut. “I am worried about the fate of Edun and the other warriors”. She shoved some more firewood into the fire, dusted her hands, and sat down beside me.
“My child! In this village, there is always a seer whom the future is revealed to by means of vision. Only then can the seer relay the message to the Ifarh priest. No one knows who the seer is. Not even the priest. She only reveals it to him through his dreams.
They say that the old seer has passed and the new one hasn't been given the key. She is yet to unlock the window through her soul.
“Hmmh. So the seer is female? What happens if she fails to assume this spiritual title?” I asked my mother feeling a little terrified. Goosebumps had covered both my arms as I clutched them together.
“Then calamity will befall the land. Rumor has it that the gift runs in a single lineage and is passed on from generation to generation. My late mother once described it as a gift, yet a curse. The seer sees everything. Even death, plagues, war and suffering too. That is too much for one soul” my mother replied as she blew the fire beneath the pot of soup.
After dinner that evening, the entire village gathered in the village square. It was a farewell feast for the warriors. Maidens danced their hearts out round a big fireplace. Fighters performed with so much vigor showing off their strength. You could not help but move to the inviting rhythm of the drummers. Everyone was in high spirits.
Later that night, I retired into my bamboo bed thinking about all that my mother had said earlier. It was so important to me that the seer be revealed to herself. Only she had the answers to my questions. “Would Edun return and be my groom?”
Soon, I drifted into a long sleep. ‘The children, the river, the woman’. She lifted her veil this time and I was shocked to my bones. It was my grandmother. She touched my palms and looked straight into my deepest. I trembled as her voice echoed in my head
“Your inheritance! Take it.“
Then I saw the soldiers again trying to cross the river. Only this time, they looked pale and lifeless. Their leader turned to look at me With hollow soulless dark eye sockets.
“Edun!”
I woke up screaming and sweating profusely.