THE LEGEND OF KIWAKAAZI

Most of the fighting had stopped. The Hanfus stopped fighting out of fear whiles some of the Gamufies stopped so that they can save Kelu; others simply wanted to watch the interesting match between Tete and Dofa. The match was interesting; it started with Tete having the upper hand. After all, Dofa cannot be killed doesn’t mean he does not tire. Taking advantage of enervated Dofa, Tete managed to drive his father’s blade through the crocodile’s left eye – the eye which was now slowly healing. But the injury sparked Dofa into life making him stronger and faster; Tete could not keep up with him and was getting beat. Luckily, his injuries were not life threatening.

Meanwhile inside Nsobuo, Kinwa had found the weapon he was looking for.  The old lady holding the sword told him she was known by many as Sunkwa, the grey witch with many eyes and she did have many eyes – an eye on her forehead, both cheeks and chin. While meditating in the caves known as Nsobuo, she had a premonition that the world will be destroyed if the weapon she held was not sealed away. She therefore located the sword and sealed it with the power of her own soul. She can only enter Gbeleshie (the Afterlife) only after the sword had been handed over to its custodian. She said while pointing at Kinwa “you Kinwa-si-kaazi are this custodian. You are the son of Zakaru and Anambre. I can see the power of Oogu (special powers believed to be from Anambre) and the power of Zuulu (strength and determination from Zakaru) upon you.”

Tete was young and inexperienced in battle. He was surely going to die if no one came to save him. Dofa had completely lost his mind. His blood thirst was stifling and killing Tete and all Gamufies will not even satiate this blood thirsty demon. Perhaps some of the Gamufie warriors realized that this new Dofa was different and will stop at nothing until they were all dead, so a few of them jumped in and tried to help. They were slaughtered in a matter seconds as Dofa constantly sought out Tete. Sorry Tete, you poked the crocodile; you angered the crocodile and now, the crocodile will not spare you.

A few of the Gamufie warriors tried to move Kelu who was barely breathing from the battlefield but he refused to leave. He was left lying at a safe distance watching and praying his son does not die before his very eyes. For a second there he regretted his decision and wished he had listened to his cowardly nephew, Kinwa. “Kinwa, where is he now?” he wondered.

Like a breeze something moved past many of the Gamufie warriors. It moved like the legendary flash. It appeared from nowhere. Enough with the “it” already! It was a “he”. He wore a cape. He wore tattered clothing and was still dripping wet. But the look in his eyes was something special - the look of a hero. He arrived on time. Crouching in front of Tete was this hero. He held a peculiar weapon. This weapon he held horizontally across Tete’s chest stopped Dofa’s blade from perforating Tete’s chest. It was perfect timing. Who is this hero and why has he come? He was Kinwa-si-kaazi the man blessed with the powers of Oogu and Zuulu and he has come to save the day like heroes do.

Dofa quickly took a few steps back. His face looked red indeed. And I am sure you know why.

Tete asked him “what took you so long, Kinwa?” Kinwa answered saying “Zakaru’s slayer was a bit difficult to find. You look really trashed. Why don’t you sit back and let me finish this?” Tete chuckled and said “so that you could take all the glory? Over my dead body!”

Kelu could not believe it. He came at last. He was wrong; his nephew was not a coward. He also felt it; that special thing Kinwa possessed. He was now sure that this battle and this entire war will be won by Gamufie. He believed in his two sons. He believed they working together will stop Dofa; together they can take on an entire army and win. He had seen this with his own eyes while he trained them.

Dofa was both confused and incensed. “These filthy kaazis just keep popping up from nowhere and interfering with his kills” he thought. Kinwa and Tete were crouching next to Kelu. He looked at both of them in the eyes and told them how proud he was of them. Brave Kelu whom had never been seen crying had tears in his eyes. He commanded them not to let Dofa take a single step near their home; their kingdom. He handed over all his weapons to them and instructed them to kill Dofa; “kill that creature and send it back to hell whence it came from!” he shouted. He coughed up blood and paused.

Dofa pointed his sword at Tete and Kinwa and said “you filthy kaazis, I am going to kill you both. Then I am going kill every living soul in Gamufie and kill all the kaazis in the world. I hate you all and I will not stop until you all die miserable deaths.”

Before Kinwa joined the battle he had to fight a battle of his own first. The old lady first explained the riddle to him. She said “anyone who approaches these waterfalls with the desire to possess the sword sees something. What you see is determined by some weakness in your heart. You seem to have a weakness for saving drowning strangers and that is why you saw the girl. You tried to save the girl and were given an opportunity to meet me inside Nsobuo which is a spirit world now. Like all spiritual realms only a state similar to death can grant you entry. If you are able to get the sword from me quickly enough, you will be saved. If not, well, you will simply die.” She followed this with a loud laugh. This is the true interpretation of the riddle.

Kinwa told Tete “if you still want to fight then you have to let me lead.” Tete agreed by nodding his head. “First, you will have to help me get rid of those beads around his waist,” demanded Kinwa.  Tete decided he will create an opening so that Kinwa can cut through the beads. They attacked Dofa together but believe me the crocodile was no pushover. He fought off the two very well until he bled after he was cut by Zakaru’s slayer. The wound started to heal immediately after the cut but that never happens. He does not bleed. He realized that the sword Kinwa was wielding was no ordinary sword.

 Kinwa remembered Sunkwa (the grey witch with many eyes) saying that he was the custodian of the sword, so he asked for it - politely. But granny said “I said you are the custodian of the sword but I did not say anything about just handing it over to you. If you want it, then come and get it!” But before he
could go get it, the old lady just attacked him. She just disappeared and appeared from behind him. She swung the sword and would have cut him into two if he had also not disappeared and appeared at a further distance away from her. The old lady smiled and expressed how impressed she was to see him use teleportation after seeing her use it once. But that was not her last attack. She attacked again. Once again Kiwakaazi disappeared. She attacked some more and did not give Kinwa anytime to rest or think.

Kinwa feared and thought the only way to defeat her was for him to draw his weapon. Unfortunately, he had no weapon. The woman looked at him and said again “this weapon is yours Kinwa, so why do you hesitate in taking it from me?” Kinwa did not understand any of this but he knew one thing; he needed a weapon to fight. So how does he get one?

He imagined wielding a weapon similar to the one the old witch held and it appeared. The old lady smiled. She shouted “vatuli vavaji!” “Come out my slaves” was the command. Many men holding the same weapon appeared. Kinwa fought and slit through them. But each time he cuts them, they will disappear and appear after about five seconds to attack him again. Sunkwa spoke once again saying “even after holding it in your hand you still have doubts, why?”

They say no man’s eyes witnessed the battle between Dofa and the two kaazi’s like Kelu. He was badly injured and should have died a long time ago but strong Kelu fought death and bought himself some more time. His two sons noticed that their father was slowly slipping away and fought hardest. Tete was injured but he attacked Dofa from below and when Dofa blocked his attack, Kinwa attacked from above. Kinwa was able to make a horizontal cut across Dofa’s chest throwing him off balance. Tete followed the attack of Kinwa swiftly and cut Dofa exactly where Kinwa had cut deepening his wound. With Dofa losing control Kinwa struck and cut through the beads around his waist.

Kinwa stopped fighting Sunkwa (the grey old witch with many eyes) for a while. He concentrated and with all his mind and heart. He believed that the sword of Zakaru was his; it was not Zakaru’s and it did not belong to this crazy old witch who spoke in riddles and parables but his. Sunkwa attacked but Kinwa did not fear when she swung her sword to cut off his head. Kinwa showed her his right palm. His palm sucked in the sword and the one he was wielding also disappeared. The old witch smiled for the third time and said “finally you have gotten it. Be careful. Do not let the power consume you.” She and everyone she summoned turned into particles of light and disappeared before Kinwa’s very own eyes.

 Kinwa suddenly opened his eyes. He was lying at the bottom of the river. His body was being filled up with water and he was going to die soon. He just lifted his right hand and something propelled him from the bottom to the very top. He jumped out of the river like a toad and landed on its bank. He vomited out water and some other yucky stuff, rested for a while and moved to his next location – the battlefield. He said to himself “hang on everyone, I will be there soon!”

Dofa tried to block the wave of attacks from Kinwa and Tete; when one attacked from the right the other attacked from the left; when one attacked from above the other attacked from below; when one attacked from behind, the other attacked from the front. Those whom witnessed this battle said the movement of the kaazis was like nothing they have seen before. It was like a well-rehearsed dance routine of a perfect couple – they complimented each other spectacularly.

During one of their numerous attacks, Kinwa lifted one of his uncle’s swords on the ground with Zakaru’s slayer and passed it to Tete whom caught it mid-air magnificently. He drove it through the heart of Dofa and knelt down before the crocodile. Kinwa used Tete’s body as a step and this time using another sword owned by his uncle separated Dofa’s head from his shoulders. Blood was splattered everywhere. Dofa, the invincible crocodile was down and out. He collapsed to the ground; first on his knees and then his entire body just fell flat; face down. More blood poured.

After he fell, Kinwa saw twelve lights appear from his body, they had faces and they each bowed before him and ascended to the sky. Later, the priest also emerged and he also bowed before Kinwa before Dofa himself appearing as the happy boy in Kinwa’s vision emerged and left. No one else saw this except Kinwa-si-kaazi.

 The Hanfus feared and ran but the Gamufies cheered on.

The armies of Gamufie allowed Kinwa and Tete to say goodbye to their father. Kelu mentioned just how proud he was again. You know how old men go on and on with the same thing. He begged Kinwa to forgive him for all the bad things he said to him. He drew his last breath smiling beautifully. All his dreams have materialized. He dreamt of one day dying on the battlefield after a great victory and he had just that. To him this was glorious death.

After Kelu drew his last breath, the brave men carried Kinwa and Tete on their shoulders and while some chanted “Tete! Tete! Tete!” others chanted “Kiwakaazi! Kiwakaazi! Kiwakaazi!”

The young boy who was telling Dedeli this story looked at princess Dedeli with an eager smile when he said “I was named after that great man and my goal is to achieve greater things than him. My name is Kiwakaazi!”

Princess Dedeli had tears in her eyes. She had heard many stories about heroes but she had never heard this beautiful story ever before. She remarked “what a fascinating story.”

In the room next door was Empress Ashanti. She could not believe just what she had heard. This was a true story only a few men and women of high standing have access to. After all, Kinwa-si-kaazi, later named Kiwakaazi, was the founding or godfather of the five great empires. She was certain now more than ever that he was the one – the child of prophecy!

So the name is Kiwakaazi. It was coined from the name Kinwa-si-kaazi and the first man to call himself that when asked the meaning of his name said “it means the great king bound by destiny.” The second man to bear this name was the boy telling Princess Dedeli the story and the third man to be called Kiwakaazi is somewhere scared to death in Nomposuro. Talking about Nomposuro, I guess it’s time we go back there.

 “A name…! I believe that death is real and life is an illusion. But someday when you and I die, what we leave behind are our names. I insist that if I could achieve something; something good and grand. Then, maybe the next person who will bear my name will aspire to do better than me. Perhaps this is how the world will be changed. This is what I believe. What do you believe?” – Njanjan