Birth of a Dark Nation

by Rashid Darden

  "Are you crazy?" Justin shouted.

  "I said your lessons begin today."

  He snatched Justin's hand from his lap and held it, closing his eyes.

  "It won't work that way," I said. "Get closer."

  Victor sucked his teeth and scooted closer to Justin on the bed.

  "Relax," he said, gently cupping Justin's face into his hands and leaning close enough for their foreheads to touch.

  Justin immediately tensed.

  "It's okay," I said. Justin loosened his shoulders and relaxed, breathing in and out slowly as Victor opened up a pathway to our memories.

  I closed my eyes and tuned in to what Justin was seeing.

  West Africa, 1724

  "It is quite simple, Ogundiya," said the fat general. "You will accept the terms of this treaty or your people will die."

  About a dozen men from each side of this war crowded into the small hut. Each side of the bloody battle was ready for it to end, but only on their own terms.

  "Haruna," Ogundiya said slowly, "You have invaded the ancestral homeland of the Razadi and you dare make these demands?"

  "Ogundiya," Haruna interrupted. He was a beast of a man, almost porcine in his appearance. The rolls of his stomach seemed to spill onto the table like a sack of grain. His eyes were like two beetles hidden in a cake of brown mud. Haruna took great joy in exacting revenge on the tribe that had been the bane of his existence. His whole life, he was raised to hate the Razadi for all they had. He had been taught that the Razadi had displaced his own people from the lush valleys and driven them into the barren, rocky cliffs.

  "The Oyo people have not forgotten how, years ago, the Razadi forced us from the golden valley. We have simply returned to claim what is ours. We are offering a most gracious treaty in exchange for your lives."

  "Your people are misguided, believing these fanciful stories," Ogundiya calmly began. Ogundiya was everything that Haruna was not. He was a slender, level-headed old man that was well known among his people for his wisdom and fairness. The crow's feet around his eyes showed both his weariness and his age. He was too old to still fight wars in the savannah when white traders threatened to encroach on their safety.

  "The Razadi and the Oyo are like cousins, brothers and sisters!" Ogundiya explained. "Your people and my people all come from the valley. We did not displace you. Our division happened hundreds, perhaps over a thousand years ago. We don't even remember why, Haruna. But know this: the Razadi only want to be left alone."

  "You claim to be our brothers, yet you want to be alone?" Haruna's young lieutenant stood up and yelled. "How dare you insult the Oyo with your snobbery! You know that while the Razadi live peacefully in the valley, your so-called cousins starve in the cliffs. I should slit your throat right now, old man!"

  The lieutenant lunged across the table with a blade, attempting to slice the Razadi chief. Ogundiya did not even move. Before the lieutenant knew it, his blade had fallen to the ground, and the youngest Razadi lieutenant had slammed him against the wall of the hut.

  "I will rip your heart out of your chest and make you watch me eat it as you die, Oyo scum," the young lieutenant said, wrapping his hands tightly around the neck of his rival.

  "Let him go, Eşusanya," Ogundiya said. "He poses no threat to me."

  The sandy colored Eşusanya immediately obeyed, shoving the young lieutenant away. He had fire in his eyes. He was determined to protect his kin to the death. Eşusanya wore the traditional long braids of the Razadi people.

  "Ogundiya," Haruna began again. "You must face the facts. The Oyo have dammed the river. We are ready to plow salt into your fields so that nothing will grow there. We have the ability to burn your village to the ground and take what we want. You, Ogundiya, represent the most hated tribe in this region."

  "Hated because we just want to be left alone," Ogundiya said.

  "Wrong, old man," Haruna said. "You are hated because of the evil you represent. Our elders told us that we couldn't beat Razadi. They taught us to fear you because of the ruthlessness with which you control this area. They say you are descended from the devil, that you will even eat human flesh to stay alive if you have to."

  "And do you believe those tales?" Ogundiya asked.

  "No," he said. "The Razadi are formidable opponents, but your time has passed…"

  ~

  Justin gasped and Victor's concentration was broken.

  "Tell me what you saw," Victor sniped.

  "You. Threatening somebody the same way you did me."

  "Tell me more," Victor demanded.

  "A war council between the Razadi and the Oyo. I don't understand why they hate you."

  "They've always hated us," I said. "The Oyo lived in the cliffs, a few days' journey from us. Their land was infertile and the game was sparse. They were a poor tribe. Poor and jealous."

  "Which led to desperation," Victor added. "They wanted our land, our crops, our way of life…everything."

  "Why didn't they just ask?" Justin asked.

  "Wasn't their way," Victor said. "They were bred to hate us and to fear us, so whatever they wanted, they felt they had to take."

  Justin nodded.

  "Come back in," Victor said, cupping Justin's face once more.

  "We fought for days and nights until the ground was red with the blood of casualties on both sides. Even we, the youngest of our people, joined the fight. What do you see, Justin?"

  "A field. I'm in a field. There are people everywhere. It's chaos out here."

  "No. Not chaos. War. Look behind you. You see all those women with spears? They are our mothers and sisters. They are eager to jump in. Sometimes they do. But we usually prevent that."

  "Why?"

  "You kill a woman, you kill a bloodline. We can't have that."

  "You're winning the fight, but the women look sad."

  "Yes," Victor said, breaking the connection.

  "Why?"

  "That's enough for today."

  Victor walked out of the room.

  "Sorry about the laptop," he called from the hallway.

  Justin stood up and walked over to the destroyed laptop. He tried to pick up the pieces but he had a hard time bending over.

  "Can you help me?" he asked. I walked over to him, brushed against his side, and told him I'd take care of it. He walked back to the bed and sat down, exhausted.

  "I want to go home," he announced when I was finished picking up the pieces of the laptop. My heart stopped for a split second.

  "You're safer here," I reasoned. "Your fangs haven't grown in yet and you're still really weak."

  "I want to go home. All this shit I'm learning here, I can learn at home."

  "The answer is no," I said sternly. "Now that's an order from Babarinde himself."

  He glared at me.

  "I'm sorry…but it's just not possible right now."

  "You have no idea how this feels, do you?" he asked.

  "I have an idea."

  "You were born a Razadi. And I suspect whatever rite of passage you went through to become a man didn't leave you feeling dead for most of the day. I feel terrible, Dante. I just want to be at my own place, in my own bed, with my own stuff."

  "I know. And you will get that soon. But for now? You rest. There's a lot more you're going to have to learn. Mentally, spiritually, and physically. This is just the beginning."

  West Africa, 1724

  Word had gotten out that Justin had fallen ill, and even though he assured people he would be fine, the office was still inundated with get-well cards, flowers, and balloons. I picked them up and filled his room with them, hoping they'd cheer him up.

  "I can't believe all these people care that much about me," he said. "I barely know them."

  "They like you. What's hard to believe? You're a nice guy."

  "I guess," he said.

  "Anyway, I'll be giving you your next lesson," I told Justin gently. He nodded and closed his eyes.

  "Wait," he said, quickly
opening them again.

  "What?"

  "I have something I want to show you."

  He looked at me with his mouth agape, smiling at me with his eyes. Slowly, his fangs emerged, extending just below his lips.

  "That's awesome," I said, smiling.

  "I got fangs, yo!"

  "Baby fangs," I added. "Just wait until they get full-sized."

  Justin looked away and covered his mouth.

  "I can't make 'em go back in yet," he admitted.

  "It's okay. Just relax. I got someplace to take you," I said, cupping his face and closing my eyes.

  ~

  I sat guard outside of my mother's hut, eavesdropping on her debate with Ogundiya, our general.

  "Mama Abeo," he said. "There has to be another way. We've fought for too long and too hard to give up now."

  "We have never fought so hard against an enemy," she replied.

  "Sorcery," he responded. "There's no other explanation. These people…they are our match. But we can defeat them."

  "The soldiers are exhausted, Ogundiya. It's been months and neither side is giving up. The Oyo want this land."

  "They can't have it! The scrolls say…"

  "The scrolls say many things. The scrolls also say that one day we will rule without the need for force; that men will bow to us by the look in our eyes. But that day has not yet come."

  My mother was a tall, regal woman, adorned in the finest fabrics and jewelry. Her tall forehead and wide cheekbones gave her the appearance of perpetual amusement. And, generally speaking, she was a happy woman, even when deadly serious. She had a peace about her that made others flock to her when the world's problems became too much to bear.

  "Then we have to keep fighting!"

  "To what end? Listen to yourself. This is not who the Razadi are. It is not who we are meant to be. It was always foretold that our sons would be like the airborne seeds of a flower: blown softly away from home, but sure to land in safety in another place."

  "I won't leave."

  "You must. You all must."

  "No."

  "Ogundiya. It has been twenty years since the last Razadi child was born."

  "I know that."

  "Olódùmarè has given us a gift. We are stronger. We are faster. We live longer."

  "And with those gifts come responsibilities, Abeo. We must protect our land. We must protect our way of life. We can defeat them."

  "But should we? With our gifts come the burden of the blood thirst. And we could slay and drink every Oyo that comes our way. But to what end? If not the Oyo, it would be the Ife. If not the Ife, then the Okoro. They will keep coming. Ogundiya, the scrolls have already foretold this moment. Everything we have lived for has come to this day. Our people get stronger and stronger with each generation, but what has happened? There is no next generation. My son, my darling Aragbaye, will never know what it means to be a father. How is that a gift? That, dear friend, is a curse."

  "Indeed, it is a curse to live among a people that haven't heard the cries of a baby or the laughter of a toddler in decades. And it seems to me to be a curse to be able to walk in the sun for a hundred years but to never meet Olódùmarè. All things come to an end. All things get old and die."

  "But we don't. Do you know how old I am?"

  "I don't. You've always just been here, as long as I've lived."

  "I'm three hundred fifty two."

  "I wasn't aware."

  "Time freezes for the Razadi. It's time to thaw it."

  "Mama Abeo, but how do you know? How do you know that dividing the tribe will save us? How do you know that allowing the Oyo to live here among you, working with you, loving you, how do you know that it will work? What if you remain barren?"

  "Ogundiya…it's already happened."

  "What?"

  "Olateju is with child. She encountered an Oyo soldier six months ago, before the war started. They love each other."

  "Are we sure the baby doesn't have a Razadi father?"

  "There has been no one else. We have hidden her for her safety. But she is the proof. The proof that everything we believe is coming to pass. Those systems and beliefs we hold dear, those even older than the Orishas."

  "Praise Olódùmarè for the blessing of this child. But damn us all. Damn us all."

  I held my breath, trying not to be heard by my mother. Eşusanya and Aborişade walked up to me quietly.

  "What's going on?" Eşusanya whispered.

  "It's all going to change," I whispered back, my voice cracking with emotion.

  "What? What are you talking about?" Aborişade asked.

  I shook my head, struggling to hold back the tears.

  ~

  I stood at attention in between Eşusanya and Aborişade while my mother addressed the entire village for the final time. The sun had just risen and a cool breeze still blew over our land. The vibrant blue sky and pure white clouds were ill suited for this solemn moment.

  "My brothers, my sons, my friends. I stand here before you today with a heart that is both heavy and overjoyed. It is heavy because I send you out into the world to continue our bloodlines. I say farewell to you, the builders, the soldiers, the philosophers. We will not forget your contributions to this culture. We know that wherever you go, wherever you land, you will keep the heart and soul of the Razadi with you. You will seed your communities with our tenacious spirit. Our influence will be felt all across the land because of you.

  "Even though we will miss you, we know this division is necessary for the survival of us all. Even now, a new generation grows. Olateju will be known as the matriarch of the next generation of our people. May all of you be patriarchs of the worldwide Razadi empire!"

  Next to her stood the very pregnant Olateju and her Oyo husband, as well as Haruna, the satisfied general of the Oyo army.

  "Ogundiya and Babarinde. Come to me."

  Our most senior leader and his deputy approached my mother. I could not tell what she was whispering to them, but I could see what she presented them: iron casks and two scrolls each.

  Nervous whispers fell over the crowd. Were those the scrolls? The fundamental tenets of our beliefs and the history of our origins?

  Abeo embraced each man and they rejoined the group, carefully entrusting the casks and the scrolls to their assistants. Abeo then descended into the ranks. She looked carefully into the eyes of about a dozen men, and nodded at them. She didn't speak at all.

  I knew they were all her sons. So much time had passed in between our births that most of us weren't terribly close. They were no more my brothers than my peers were, as each man in our tribe respected one another the same.

  She came to me and paused. Tears welled in her eyes and she leaned close to me.

  "You, my youngest, are the one who will change the world."

  "I don't want to go, Mama," I said, choking on my tears.

  "Go. Seek the new dawn. I love you."

  "I love you too, Mama."

  She took her place in front of her men for the final time and uttered but one phrase.

  "May Olódùmarè and the Orishas forever protect you!"

  "And you!" we shouted in response.

  And then, the hundred and twenty five or so of us, we walked.

  And we walked.

  And we walked some more.

  The low men on the totem pole like me, Aborişade, Eşusanya, and Ogundiya's son, also named Ogundiya, didn't ask specific questions of our leadership. We just walked.

  "What did your mother say to you?" Aborişade asked me on the first night. We lay next to each other on our thin pallets, staring up at the night sky with its thousands of stars.

  "She said she loved me. She said to seek the new dawn. And she said that I'd change the world."

  "She didn't say a word to the rest of her sons," Eşusanya said. "I wonder what makes you so special."

  I scowled.

  "He's the youngest," Aborişade said. "The youngest is always the favorite."

 
; "It isn't like that at all," I said. "I don't know why she chose to speak to me."

  "Where do you think we're going?" Eşusanya said.

  "Eko," Ogundiya said.

  "Who told you that?" Eşusanya asked.

  "No one told me. I heard my uncle talking. We will settle in Eko."

  "Well that's not bad at all," Aborişade said. "We learned about Eko. It is diverse."

  "It's right on the water," I said.

  "They say you can't see the other side of the great river, there's so much water," Eşusanya said.

  "Is there another side?" I asked.

  The four of us fell silent, staring at the stars.

  ~

  The next morning we rose and we walked some more. Our leaders assured us that we would be reaching our destination soon.

  Each of us carried something we would need. Seeds. Water. Spices. Weapons. Textiles. Tools. We were starting a new life with new people, whoever they would be. We would be useful to them.

  I surmised that the iron casks were filled with gold and gems we'd amassed from our various conquests through time. We'd certainly need to trade some things as we reached other villages.

  Night fell again and we were exhausted. The older ones pitched tents, and the younger ones slept outside on pallets.

  I woke up suddenly from a deep sleep. I looked to my right and saw Eşusanya on top of Ogundiya, embracing him. Men loving each other among our tribe was nothing new, but I hadn't realized those two had a relationship. I stared for a moment, then turned over in an attempt to get back to sleep.

  Almost immediately, I heard an immense clopping noise, like a herd of antelope coming right for us. We sat up and our elders began coming out of the tents. The noise got louder and louder. Soon, we were all on our feet, facing in the direction of the roar of the stampede, and waiting for the threat to show itself. We hadn't eaten in a while, and surely whatever this animal was would make a great late night feast.

  "Wait…listen…" Aborişade said. We stood still.

  "The noise is coming from behind us," Eşusanya said. I immediately stood back-to-back with him, assuming a stance we'd learned long ago in manhood training.