That didn’t stop the Elder Priest. ‘You are just a regent,and you do not have the right or authority to change our laws. Your word can’t override me on this.’
The guards in the room slammed their rods firmly against the floor, and the sound of metal on metal boomed throughout the hall. The Lord Regent rose, and the room bowed before him.
‘You forget I am still your High Priest, old man,’ the Lord Regent said.
Tofa sat upright again, watching as realization hit Baba-Ìtàn. The law was a tool to be moulded in the hand of its beholder, and the fate of his life seemed to depend on who won the argument that played out before them. A battle of wills between the regent who once was and the one on his way out.
‘He will remain in the dungeon until the next first sun. Then my son will decide if he lives or dies,’ the Lord Regent replied. ‘As the words have left my lips.’
‘So let it be done,’ the room said after him.
Tofa’s heart dropped – another decision waiting for him when he took the throne. He locked eyes with Baba-Ìtàn.
‘You dishonour your gods, Lord Regent! That girl he raised is an enemy of this kingdom!’ Àlùfáà-Àgbà said.
‘I have heard enough!’ Lord Regent Babátúndé said, slamming his staff into the ground. The guards moved in unison, pulling Àlùfáà-Àgbà away from the dais and forcing him back to his seat.
‘Take the prisoner back to the dungeons. Get the girl’s location,’ the Lord Regent said, sitting back on his throne. ‘I wish it hadn’t come to this, old friend.’
Baba-Ìtàn said with a resolved expression, ‘I don’t care what happens to me.’
Tofa believed him. He knew the look of a man willing todie for something, making him even more curious to discover whatever secrets Àlùfáà-Àgbà was hiding.
Baba-Ìtàn moved closer to the Lord Regent’s dais, ‘Who did Àlùfáà-Àgbà tell you the girl was?’
‘Don’t you dare!’ Àlùfáà-Àgbà shouted at Baba-Ìtàn.
Tofa saw the Elder Priest’s mouth move silently and frowned.
‘What did he tell you to do if you found her?’ Baba-Ìtàn continued, ignoring the older man.
‘Who is she?’ the Lord Regent asked.
Tofa heard whispers of incantations from Àlùfáà-Àgbà. His eyes widened. He wasn’t … he couldn’t be using old magic to stop the man from revealing the truth.
Baba-Ìtàn spoke slowly, ‘If you kill her, you kill –’
Baba-Ìtàn slumped to the ground as Àlùfáà-Àgbà’s incantations stopped. The guards rushed to the storyteller. Up on the dais, his father was on his feet too, walking down the stairs. The Lord Regent wouldn’t have heard the chants that caused Baba-Ìtàn to fall, but Tofa certainly had, and from their side looks, so had the women. What could Baba-Ìtàn have said that threatened Àlùfáà-Àgbà so much he would use old magic in front of the court?
Who was this girl?
‘Is he dead?’ the Lord Regent asked.
The guard closest to Baba-Ìtàn lowered his face to the man’s chest. ‘He’s alive, Lord Regent.’
The Lord Regent slowly turned to Àlùfáà-Àgbà. ‘You did this.’
‘My Lord,’ Ìyá-Ayé said quickly, ‘the priests interrogated him before bringing him here. It is not unusual for him to faint. We had no hand in it.’ As his maiden, she was always implicated in anything the old priest did.
‘Stand up!’ the Lord Regent commanded, and they all rose.
‘Take him to the chamber next to mine,’ he instructed the guards, before glaring at Àlùfáà-Àgbà. ‘When he wakes up, my face will be the first he sees, and as the gods live, he will finish that sentence.’
The Lord Regent stormed out of the hall, the guards following him with Baba-Ìtàn in their arms.
High Priestess À?á was the first to leave, exchanging knowing looks with the others as she hurried out of the hall. Àlùfáà-Àgbà and Ìyá-Ayé walked out, too, using another exit.
Tofa hurried towards K?ni. ‘Did you see that? Àlùfáà-Àgbà used a spell on him.’
