The Wood-Carver

 

The King’s annual palace upgrade was drawing closer, preparations where in top gear. All village artisans loved this period; it was practically the only time the village benefitted from the kings wealth, he lavished money on a parties that lasted a whole month, paid extra for new furniture and art work, gave out gifts, forgave debts and released slaves. All loved the month of THE PALACE UPGRADE.

In all this anticipation and gay atmosphere, one man was engrossed in fear; Odu, the wood-carver. Odu had won the bid to be the chief furniture maker for the king this year, after years of bidding and getting rejected, his turn had finally come, and his fortune was about to change, that was certain. In barely five days he would deliver his work and join the elite class of rich men in the village, which was supposed to make him happy. It didn’t. Time was running out and he knew it. He had to take a decision, fast for there was a problem. Mere anarchy was loose upon his soul.

He never bargained for the situation he was in, all he wanted was to become rich and respected. One incident leading to another, his dream was uniformly coming to an end: his wife had eloped with her lover, his only son was down with a terrible fever and harvest was a disaster for him. All that wasn’t the issue, something bigger was going to happen because the iroko man had betrayed the wood-carver. He couldn’t understand why, his back-up plans were falling apart, doomsday was drawing closer. His nightmare had come alive; if luck ever existed he was certain its good books had no place for his name. Heaven however was not to blame.

Elsewhere, a new evil was looming. The month had other things in store for the villagers; none knew what, including the gods on whom the land trusted.

...to be continued.