UNTAMED

Part Twenty-three

{There is nothing on this earth quite like him, not an ounce of fear in that creature!} 
                 There was something confusing about Ibe’s words but what he could not understand was why Ibe had to go this far to tell his family history to his enemies. Was he trying to finally get his revenge? He wished something would make the audio stop.
“It was not a hearsay, I witnessed it with my two eyes. I had gone to the market to sell palm wine to retailers when the incident happened. Ikenna had started beating Obinna’s mother after she refused to give him the money she had sold for the day. Some people tried to intervene while others like us watched what was happening. Obinna had come from nowhere and stabbed his stepfather on his back. He was prevented from going for round two by some people. You needed to see his eyes that day. This ten years old boy swore to kill his stepfather at night on his bed. The man packed his bags and ran for his dear life. Two years later, Obinna’s Uncle came back to claim Obinna’s land as the next of kin. He sold the land to a supposed distance relative. Obinna set traps all over the sold land, the kind of traps hunters have never made. This trap caught up to seven of the new owners who came to inspect the land. They had to be carried to the native doctor who repaired bones. The new owners asked his uncle to return their money making his uncle furious. His uncle hired me and two others to help hold Obinna while he flogged sense into him. When we got there, his mother pleaded for mercy but his uncle pushed her away and told us to break the door. The next thing we heard was Obinna calling us. We turned and before we could understand what he was holding, an arrow had hit one of the youths that came with us. Obinna told us that his next aim will be to kill. Even though I saw the anger in his eyes, I needed money. And I thought he would not dare kill us. So we rushed at him and he shot at me. See, look at the scar, the arrow had missed my stomach, my chi had saved me. The remaining youth ran away, leaving us to our fate. As I was wailing, he focused on his uncle and if not for his mother who intervened, he would have really killed that man. He told us to disappear and I ran like I have never run before with an arrow in my waist. As I ran, I heard the loud scream of his uncle. He had ran into the sold land and got caught by one of his traps.
From that very day, Obinna grew more wings. Obinna started bullying children who were almost youths. He would come across some boys bullying a small child and challenge them to a fight. They said no matter how they hit Obinna, he would still fight like a beast until he was the last one standing. Many people praised him for stopping bullies but his mother had cried to the Anglican priest. She had said Obinna bullied bullies not because he wanted to help their victims but because he wanted to be on top of the food chain. Obinna felt there was no excitement fighting with weaklings, that only cowards do that. He only liked to fight those who he felt were bigger and those who felt children should fear them because he was the king and he had to keep it that way. After defeating them, Obinna would give them heavy task. They fetched his water, cleaned his shoes and even washed his clothes. Soon, he became the chairman of bullies. He did not go to the market to sell his little animals caught by his traps, instead he sent his subjects. After some time, he got tired and looked for bigger ones to bully. Obinna would fight those ten years older than him. Once he saw anybody or group of youths bullying a younger one, he fought them and most times, he ended up with a lot of injuries but he had still won.
I can’t tell you all his escapades and how he terrorized those old enough to be his father but there was the time his mum finished paying their debt, Obinna was sixteen then, but the money lenders said the time had expired and they would rather collect the collateral which was the house. People tried to advise them to just collect their money and leave but they refused, even the Priest tried to intervene but they still refused. They said they were not acting illegal. Obinna had used them as game for entertainment. One of the days, people had woken up to witness a naked man hanging upside down and tied to a mango tree at the square. He said he did not see who had attacked him from his back and knocked him out. Then Obinna had not introduced himself to them so he had no idea what was happening to him. His car which you know was a big feat to have that time was missing some parts the next morning. It was later found at the market square. The day they had gone to pursue Obinna and his mother from their house was a day people will never forget. They had met two wild bulls which chased them and also chased innocent people carrying out their daily businesses. The market was empty that day and it took three hunters to kill just one. While people fled for their dear life, Obinna stood close to a tree with a rope in his hands. The bull was about to attack one of the market women when Obinna stoned it and screamed for it to come over, that caught the bulls attention as he changed course and ran towards Obinna. As the bull got close, Obinna pulled on the rope which raised him high, then he jumped on it making the already angry bull furious. The bull tried to throw him out but he stabbed him just few times and screamed rodeo, bull ride. He was wearing a cowboy hat with a booth and a robe was wind around the angry bull’s neck, the bull turned and ran fast in anger but could not throw him out, but Obinna who was having fun continued stabbing the bull screaming rodeo, bull ride. His mother who was also at the market had ran inside the town hall with others and she had cried as Obinna enjoyed himself. Gradually the bull started losing strength and later went down, then later it died. We later got to know the knife was poisoned. The mother had ran out crying. She kept asking him where the bulls came from and why he had not listened to her not to hunt bulls but Obinna had just held his crying mother. Obinna had apologized to the money lenders, he said he had tied the bulls but they had gotten loosed the exact time they arrived. Everyone but the money lenders understood what he meant, it was a clear warning to stay away from their properties. But they still came back two days later and as they got close to the house, they had noticed there were sticks blocking a path forcing them to follow a particular path, but they did not see anything wrong with it. As they got to a tall palm tree, they had been caught in a net which shoot them high that they were hanging in the sky. They screamed and begged for help but Obinna was nowhere to be found. The mother could not even find him when she had come back from the market. Some hunters were called to lose the trap but they discovered the net had turned to the other side which was the bush path and cutting it could injure them because the area they would fall was marked out with sticks and a paper was placed there. Beware of the hunter’s poisonous trap was boldly written on the tallest stick. The hunters refused to pull out the traps, they were all afraid because Obinna’s trap were well hidden and even the hunters could not make such traps. So the search for Obinna began. If I tell you that those money lenders slept there that night you won’t believe me. Obinna had come back the next day dragging a bull in a plank wheel barrow he had constructed himself. Obinna was only sixteen and he already had three bulls to his name. We later got to know that Obinna had made a deal with our village doctor to give him a sleeping medicine powerful enough to knock out a bull. But how he was able to inject the bulls and drag their limp body into his wheelbarrow is what we will never know. He apologized to the money lenders, he said he went for a hunt and he was not aware they would be visiting. He even pointed at a tiny writing on the palm tree which he had written beware of bull trap. He said the trap was meant to prevent another bull from escaping. He slowly pulled out the traps while he whistled, then told them the rope was too tight to lose because they had tightened it from their struggles. So many people tried to lose the rope but gave up, they had to cut it and they had fallen to the earth from that height. One of them broke his arm and the other two broke their legs. They had taken the case to the Asagba but Obinna had defended himself by saying he had written that people should not go through that path because there was an animal trap, and he had also warned people to beware of the hunter’s trap and they were the ones who did not see it. And it was true, there was another paper but the writings were not bold enough. Obinna presented the bull to the Asagba as a gift from his hunt. The Asagba had closed the case by saying they were supposed to inform the hunter before going to his lair. The money lenders ran back to their home at Ogwashiku and forgot to collect the money they had refused. Obinna did a lot of things oh. But I can only tell you based on how much I was paid………..