Adaeze

Murder in the Throne Room

" We all know that the king of Umueze is chosen by the gods. What you are doing is unheard of Okenna." The onouwo (kingmaker) said angrily.

There was no way he would crown Okenna the next king, not after the abominable act he had just confessed he did.

" It is king Okenna to you. I don't care about the gods. If you are not with me, then you will be joining the late king Chibuike and his wife in the world beyond." Okenna said with venom.

" Fia(spat). Alu( abomination)! over my dead body will I be a party to this madness." The onouwo (kingmaker) said angrily.

" Very well then so be it," Okenna said with a smirk.

Before anyone could comprehend the meaning of his words, he had thrust a sword into the onouwo's( king maker's) stomach.

" Ahhhhh!" The onouwo (kingmaker) screamed as he felt the impact of the sword as it was thrust into his stomach.

Pulling out the sword which was now smeared with the blood of the onouwo (kingmaker), he pointed it to the rest of the chiefs.

" If any of you refute me again, you will end your miserable lives just like I did with him," Okenna said firmly while pointing at the onouwo (kingmaker) who was still writhing in pain.

The chiefs shuddered in fear. None of them uttered a word as looked at the onouwo (kingmaker) sadly. They were scared for their lives.

They knew that Okenna would surely bring his threat to pass if they try to say anything against him.

" g...ods... of...o..ur... l...a...nd, d...o..n..ot..o...ver...l...look...th..is....e...e..vil. O...ke..nna...y...y..ou..w.. will...l..l..eave...t...to...re...gret...th..is." The onouwo (kingmaker) struggled to say while coughing more blood from his mouth.

" So you still have time and strength to utter such rubbish to me," Okenna said with a smirk as he walked close to him and thrust the sword into his chest.

Loud gasps could be heard from the chiefs but everyone turned silent as soon as Okenna glared at them.

The onouwo (kingmaker) jerked violently on the floor and breathe his last.

The throne room was smeared with the blood of the onouwo (kingmaker).

" Obiora, Uzo! Take this dirt away and call me some maids

to clean up this mess." Okenna ordered two of his guards.

The guards nodded and quickly took out the already stiff dead body of the onouwo (kingmaker).

Soon three maids rushed in to clean up the blood that was splattered on the floor of the throne room. The maids scurried away as soon as they were done with their work.

" Ichei (chief) Sodimma, you will be the next onouwo (kingmaker) of Umueze." Okenna simply said giving no room for argument.

Ichei (chief) Sodimma could only nod to this as he was too frightened to utter a word.

Okenna smiled in satisfaction as no one stood up to refute his instructions.

" Well, that will be all for now. The town crier will go around the village to announce the death of king Chibuike and the coronation of a new king in three market days." Okenna said dismissively.

" Onouwo(kingmaker) get ready because you will be crowning me the next king of Umueze in the next three market days." Okenna turned to ichei ( chief) Sodimma and said with a smirk.

Ichei ( chief) Sodimma sat down speechlessly as he did not want to utter any word that would infuriate Okenna.

" You can go," Okenna said coldly.

The chiefs bowed and quickly dashed out of the palace with their tails in between their legs.

"gods of our land what is going on? Why did you allow this to happen to us? What wrong have we done to deserve this kind of punishment from you?" Ichei (chief) Udoka lamented as soon as they were very far from the palace.

" How could the gods take away our food and give us snakes in place of food?" Ichei ( chief) Sodimma asked no one in particular.

" I have always known that Okenna is bad news that was why the gods of our land rejected him as king. Just imagine how he murdered the onouwo (king marker) without breaking a sweat." Ichei (chief) Uzoma said sadly.

" Are you talking about that? Just imagine how he murdered his brother our king, Chibuike, and his lovely wife Ebubechi in cold blood." Ichei (chief) Chinonso said with a sigh.

" What are we going to do? We can't sit back and watch things go wrong." Ichei ( chief) Sodimma asked looking at the other two chiefs for suggestions.

" I think we should go to the ezemo ( chief priest). He will tell us what to do." Ichie Udoka said calmly.

Everyone agreed to his suggestion so they all made their way to the shrine.

Their eyes nearly popped out of their sockets in shock at the sight that greeted them immediately after they entered the shrine.