obody other than the young man and his exasperated mother understood the origins of the tensions that culminated into the early morning face off. All that some bewildered members of the royal family and some villagers repeatedly saw and heard was a dangerously armed young man repeatedly saying to a frightened middle-aged woman: "tell me who my father is, tell me or I kill you.!"

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Okwara was the first son of Ojiego by an unusual circumstance. It is a very long and some times pathetic story, which predates the amalgamation of the north and southern parts of modern Nigeria. Legend has it that the army of Umuduru had captured Okwara's mother, Erinma (thread of beauty) who unknown to them, was the last wife of the then reigning monarch of Umudike, Nze Ojiego III.

It all began during the smoldering wars between the Umudike kingdom and that of Umuduru at the dawn through the waning years of the 19th century. It was a war of attrition, which took heavy political and economic tolls on both sides. Legend has it that peace move after peace move designed to end the war fell flat, partly because of ego and essentially because of the belief that whoever blinked first would incur the wrath of their respective native gods.

To make matters worse, the colonial administrators, who came before and after amalgamation looked the other way as the two neighboring kingdoms had a slugfest. Not even the recognition of the two warring kingdoms as warrant chiefdoms would do. It was much more later that the nonchalant attitude of the colonials was understood. It gave them a cover under which more and more slaves were discreetly captured and sent away to the Americas, Europe and the West Indies even the illicit trade had been officially abolished.

Umuduru and Umudike are two adjoining clans in the present day Okigwe senatorial district of Imo state Nigeria. At the beginning of the 20th century, however, both clans who had, had a long and protracted history of mutual hostilities, occasioned by claims and counter claims over portions of farmlands made inevitable by geographical propinquity, and other affinities, belonged to different colonial provinces.

While Umudike was in the old Okigwe province, Umuduru was in old Owerri. Their coming together to belong to the same province was as a result of boundary adjustments and rearrangements, occasioned by census figures that considered proportional representation in the allocation of resources and easy administrative toehold on Nigeria. It was the well thought-out consideration of successive Colonial Boundary Adjustment Commissions (CBAC), which held that, bringing the two mutually hostile communities into one geographical administrative area, would help to ease the tension that had characterized their existence. As events later showed, the plan turned out to achieve the opposite until providence played a mitigating part.

The capture of Erinma and the circumstances that led to her becoming the mother of the future kings of bitter rival kingdoms of Umudike and Umuduru, even in captivity, till this day, is still narrated some times in prejudiced folkloric slants and versions, designed to favor listeners or whose-ever titillating interest the narrator had in mind.

The most authentic version, as was recorded in the diaries of some colonial District Officers of yore, however, is that which chronicled how unknown to her captors, the young woman whom they had in captivity was the last of the eight wives of Nze Ojiego III. Nze Ojiego III as the royal father of Umudike was also, the de facto commander-in-chief of its armed forces. Erinma was, therefore, a trophy of immeasurable significance to the people of Umuduru and its kingdom.

When eventually, the story went round that the Umuduru army had an Umudike queen in captivity, Erinma became a symbol of so many things. It was of greater import to King Ekeh II, who in part for his personal interest and in part for sake of royal dignity, had decreed that Erinma's safety and dignified upkeep was of paramount importance. "A queen must be seen as a queen whether in freedom or in captivity," he warned his field commanders and followers. Because the king's word was law, his commanders and court staff obeyed without asking questions of any kind.

Queen Erinma was not returned to Umudike in accordance with age long tradition that forbade women and children in Igboland of those days, from being taken prisoners of war. The reason, was partly because of her ravaging beauty and largely as a strategic negotiation tool of last resort, whenever, it was time to talk peace. According to oral presentation of the story, Erinma was a very dark complexioned person of above average height for a woman. She had a broad face laced with lush eyebrows. She had broad waist atop on which her unique rings of local beads were almost a trademark. Her's was a unique dressing pattern. Erinma, the story went on, had a hug navel that curved downwards, adorned with an elaborated tattoo, which augmented her other earthly attributes. At the time of her capture, she would probably be a little more than the age of puberty. Any other woman of lesser value and naturally endowed attributes would, promptly have been sent back. Alternatively, the soldiers would have made mincemeat. Both the soldiers and members of royalty therefore saw her visible beauty as an attractive allure.

There were other extenuating circumstances. It was a way of extracting a pound of flesh from the King of Umudike, whose regiments had five years before, captured Akwaugo (Eagle's egg) wife of one of the field commanders of the Umuduru army while she bathed at Nwangele, the sacred pond. It is believed, in Umuduru folklore that the King of Umudike His royal majesty, Nze Ojiego III, had disregarded the golden principle of not taking women not engaged in combat as prisoners of war (or for ransom of any kind). He had taken Akwaugo, then in her late teenage years, as his wife number six.

Erinma in captivity, as king Ekeh had decreed, was, treated with utmost respect befitting a queen. After all the necessary ceremonies and rites were thoroughly and efficiently performed to propitiate the gods and cleanse the earth for any perceived or real offence against them, Erinma became wife number eleven in the hierarchy of the king's harem. Incidentally, there was a big snag. Unknown to the king, the peoples of Umuduru and Umudike and the soldiers who took her into captivity, Erinma was pregnant.

It was one evening, during a routine check in the palace, that Egeruo, a senior palace guard saw her at the far corner of the king's courtyard, alone, forlorn and sick. Egeruo had walked her into safety by letting her cling onto his shoulder as he frog jumped to Lolo Ahudiya's private quarters. For days, Erinma would neither eat nor drink. Instead, she complained of nausea and constantly threw up greenish, slimy substances that effused offensive and choking odor. Within two days of constant vomiting, Erinma had grown lean and haggard. She was so feverish and sick one day that Nwada, the woman prenatal herbalist and midwife who attended to the needs of the royal harem, was invited to attend to Erinma.

It was Nwada who after a thorough examination of Erinma, whispered her suspicion into the eager ears of Ahudiya, (the king's first wife and head of the royal harem), that Erinma was indeed pregnant. After a battery of questioning from the two women whose questions essentially centered on the timing in women's sensitive biological cycles, it was determined that Erinma may be about Eleven market weeks pregnant.

"Eleven market weeks, eleven weeks," Ahudiya ruefully did a mental calculation. "Except if the field commanders lied, this cannot be the handiwork of King Ekeh II. It has only been a little less than four market weeks since the lady was brought into this kingdom and betrothed to him. You never can tell. Men will always be men." Ahudiya concluded in a tone reminiscent to a sacred matrimonial duty and self-imposed resignation.

"Nwam," Ahudiya began, solemn but firm, "how old are you?"

"I am from Umudike. I am fifteen years old," said Erinma, barely looking up to Nwada.

"We know you are from Umudike and the king's wife, how long have you lived in King Ojiego's courtyard?" Nwada interjected.

"Only about ten market weeks from the day, they came to my father's place in Umuode. I am the daughter of Eze Abanobi of Umuode. My mother is Lolo Agbachi. I have eight brothers. I am the only girl from my mother's womb. My mother and father thought I could give male children to king Ojiego just as my mother gave lots and lots of male children to my father. All that, have now become a mere wish. I want to see my mother (sobs). That's the best that could be done for me now." Erinma said amidst sobs, tears and anguished pains, which were very visible and felt by the two women interrogating her.

"Ezigbo Nwa," Nwada called out in a soothing, comforting but firm voice. "My daughter, you are pregnant. It shall be well with you. I know your mother the Lolo. She may not have told you. I am Nwada, the dibia. I was the one the delivered five of your brothers, until something happened in the past before you were born and I stopped coming to king Abanobi's courtyard. You are a child, we all know. But a child big enough to get married to a king and become pregnant is not longer a child. She is an adult woman by default. I shall do my best to inform your mother about the situation. I will do my best to take care of you. I shall provide you with all the medicines you need. I shall consult the oracle to divine if you will be safe in your pregnancy. If the chi-omumu - the goddess of birth says you will not be safe, I will tell you what to do. Always listen to Ahudiya. Whatever she tells you to do, please do it. I am a mother.

My children have children of your age who are in their husbands' homes. I am the one that helps them when they find themselves in the type of situation you now are. I will do my utmost best to guide you. Just listen to Ahudiya. It shall be well with you my daughter. Here are a couple of medications for your use. Every morning before the sun rises and before you use your chewing stick, chew two pieces of this. When the sun is above the head and your shadow has shortly disappeared and not in synch with your whole body, chew another two-piece. Every night for the next five market weeks, chew two pieces of this, before you sleep. I have told Ahudiya what to do about how you sleep. Be strong my child, it shall be well."

It was only after the two women had worked and worked very hard on Erinma that she was able to regain her composure. For many more days and nights to come, she retreated in self-pity, brooding her new circumstance.

Inside the courtyard, part of the designated and sacred functions of the head of a harem was to keep a meticulous schedule of sleeping arrangements between the king and his junior and younger wives. It was also her duty to train and retrain newly married women into the courtyard on court manners, including its dos and the don'ts. In the case of Erinma, Ahudiya had double duties. First was to acquaint her with her new environment and second was to play the role of a mother, considering her youthful and tender age.

Culled from an unpublished Novel