FOR PART ONE CLICK HERE. FOR PART TWO CLICK HERE. FOR PART THREE CLICK HERE.
PART FOUR: When our previous installment ended, Ozidi had killed and beheaded three of his father’s murderers, bringing his soul that much closer to being freed from the deadlands limbo where it was stranded.
He and his sorceress grandmother Oreame began planning to deal with Ofe, the leader of the conspirators who murdered Ozidi the Elder so that they could rule Orua through the elder Ozidi’s mentally unfit brother, King Temugedege. Ofe was growing to fear Ozidi the Younger after the power and skill he had demonstrated in killing his first three opponents.
Ofe manipulated one of his other co-conspirators, Akpobrisi the Net-Wielder Whose Touch Was Death, into attacking Ozidi at the home of his uncle, King Temugedege. And not one-on-one like the three dead and decapitated men Ozidi the Younger had already slain, but with an army of men at his side.
Akpobrisi and his troops approached the home of the king. Ozidi’s usually calm grandmother Oreame panicked. She had not anticipated her grandson having to face Akpobrisi and his deadly soldiers. Ozidi’s mother Orea was, as usual, a mere witness to the proceedings.
Presently, Akpobrisi and his men surrounded King Temugedege’s home and Akpobrisi demanded that Ozidi face them all. Oreame’s panic and frantic failure to come up with a plan against Akpobrisi had so unnerved our hero that he could not draw his lightning-sword out of his mouth. In fact, NONE of the weapons magically contained within his intestines could be summoned forth, so out of sorts was Ozidi.
Tired of waiting for Ozidi to come out, Akpobrisi went into the king’s residence alone, armed with his net-weapon. He and Ozidi fought, with Ozidi unarmed since he could not call forth any of his weapons.
Before long, Akpobrisi had managed to thoroughly entangle Ozidi in his net-weapon and dragged him outside to show his cheering troops. With Ozidi safely bound, Ofe now showed himself and told Akpobrisi to take the captive warrior to his home for torture and death.
The impending doom of her grandson forced Oreame to calm down and she chanted a spell that restored Ozidi’s ability to pull his lightning-sword out of his mouth. Our hero immediately sliced through the many layers of netting which held him and faced Akpobrisi.
The two clashed, and, singing his killing song, Ozidi showed his usual form in battle. At length, he used his sword to cut off one of Akpobrisi’s ears. The villain protested that it was not fair. He had almost gotten Ozidi inside his home to be tortured and slain at will.
Ozidi didn’t care. He drove Akpobrisi and his men before him, pulling his other weapons and his faithful animal allies out of his mouth to help him deal with his foes.
Soon, Akpobrisi alone still lived and Ozidi’s attack took them both into the villain’s home, where our hero’s power and weaponry slashed that home into ribbons. To finish things off, Ozidi slew Akpobrisi, then beheaded him with his lightning-sword.
Like he did with the other heads of his father’s killers, our main character took Akpobrisi’s head to the trophy-house. Orua was abuzz over Ozidi’s latest victory. The evil Ofe realized he could avoid his fate no longer and must face Ozidi himself.
I ‘LL PICK UP NEXT TIME WITH THE CONTINUATION OF THIS EPIC MYTH FROM AFRICA.
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