Scenerymania entry; Predator and prey part 2

The feast I had with Oduduwa was a wonderful one, but like I promised the rest of the events shouldn’t be hidden from you. So the hefty men continued, carrying a Falade oblivious of what his crimes are. They walked through endless paths until they reached an abandoned hut in the middle of a forest. There they dropped him like a bag of filled sack. The men left him still tied and gagged, they only slid the blind fold just over is moon so he could see. He saw them leave and for a long time nothing actually happened. Then later they return with a man, the man asked them to untie him and sit him down. Falade sat looking at the man, “Sir! I don’t seem to know you. How on earth have I wronged you?”
The man let out an annoyingly long chortle that echoed through the huge forest, “You of all people shouldn’t ask me that question, don’t you know me.”
“Sir, I don’t know you. Please how have I wronged you. I know I haven’t wronged so many people in my life, and even if I had, It shouldn’t be as terrible as to warrant being kidnapped. That is why I need you more than not to tell me my crimes. The man now drew out his own chair, faced Falade and said,
“I remember six months ago you revealed to your people that you had a dream that says that people should stop buying maize grains that come from the west that they are the major cause of the diarrhea that has been affecting your people for a long time. I being the greatest farmer from the west felt the greatest impact of your revelation as your people stopped buying maize grains from me. Now your being here means, you are going to spend a month with us as a warning so that when you return back home you’ll reverse your revelation, because if we grab you like this again. You might just disappear forever you know.”
“Falade was more shocked by the man’s words than scared. He wouldn’t imagine the little help he rendered for his people being his own headache. “Sir, I wouldn’t know how to reverse this to my people, since I made that revelation, the diarrhea incidence among my people has drastically reduced. However to go back there and tell them to resume buying maize grain from the west might not be a welcomed idea.”
“Mr Falade, I don’t care how you do it. Just ensure your people resume buying grains from me.”
“I won’t do that, my spirit even tells me it is your grains that specifically caused the diarhoea.”
“Mr Falade we shall see about that, just know you’ll be eating a great deal of the grains, durinh your stay with us.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Believe me you won’t have any choice.”
The man gave his men the nod and they strapped Falade to his chair and left him there to rest.
The six hunters on the kings’ team laid at the feet a big tree; resting. It was late in the evening and the deep gloom that now ruled the green environment was quite intimidating.  The men were utterly rough and exhausted; they swept through a large part of the forest and couldn’t even find a trace of the lion. While the others rested, Rali stood guard and looked out for trouble. Night crawled upon them gently, and the crescent moon that hung on the star-lit sky wouldn’t help as it sullen darkness kept the forest cryptic. The voices of the nights then joined in, the owls, frogs, crickets and other nocturnal noisemakers voiced out and their sounds reverberated all through the dark forest. Then towards midnight, with their camp fire slowly losing its strength and a wearied Raji about to summon his replacement; a roar erupted further down the forest. Every of the sleeping men were jeered back into consciousness and even though they saw not what roared, they so knew what did. They right then knew where their journey should take them the next day. So when cock crewed the men held tight their weapons, and they then headed south towards the sound source. As they advanced, they notice a thinning in the denseness of the forest. Fewer trees now existed replaced by the forage plants. The men further advanced until they found themselves in the middle of a rough terrain, the place was much bare with only patches of copses here and there; until they opened into a strange remoteness. This place was like a little spring surrounded by low highlands. The place was like a strange abandoned Eden, the lion evolved from a little cavern that sunk into the southern end of the highlands. The lion charged at the men, and they were so prepared for him that recurrent shots was fired at him, a combination of Dane gunshots, arrows and then spears. The lion dropped dead before it could actually strike down any of the men. The lion lay dead, its blood dripping into the thin spring creating a tiny stream of red. The men then went further into the cavern to check out if anymore lion hides within; however they only discovered an ancient cave of medieval witchcraft and idolatrousness. So they left the place making sure they carried with them the dead lion. At nightfall they were already back in their village with the village men welcoming them with chants of appraisals. The men headed to the king’s palace where they were rewarded and designated but when mid-night fell the worse actually occurred. The men unknowingly as they entered the tavern had violated the sanctity of the sacred place and the bounded evil spirits there within were given the freedom to roam the forests and free to roam beyond. So they found it easy to discover the little village and they ventured into it, ready to damn some more living souls. So that mid-night, the night shook with scary strange sounds, many a man were forced to  venture out to check out what went wrong, others were too scared to so they locked themselves in their homes waiting for the morning to come to their rescue. It was a long night and when finally morning came. Many bodies laid plagued, half dead half alive, on the dusty grounds of the village. The bodies were covered in dusty grimes and were only left with feeble heart beats. The king rose, toured through his land to evaluate the havoc that befell his people. He commanded his guards to collect the plagued bodies and carry them to the town most skilled medicine men. The medicine men were, baffled by the alienage of the disease. They couldn’t proffer any solution. They therefore reported their dead ends to the king who, out of frustration at not knowing what else to do remembered Falade’s warning. Now he wished he had listened to him. He commanded his messenger to summon Falade for him. Falade however was not found, he was unavailable and that further heightened the fear in the mind of the king. Night was rapidly approaching and the villagers knew soon, another session of horror begins. So they all made sure they were inside their homes even before nightfall and they all bolted up. Unlike the previous night, immediately night came the horrors took over the village.
Falade was tied legs and hand, he was given a mat to sleep on and as he slept, he dreamt again and this time, He had series of dreams, the first being that his kidnapper’s maize grains were not the cause of the diarhoea then, rather a natural, infection of the stream which later cleared, however the dream was meant to ensure the present situation he is in. The second dream revealed to him the ordeal his people are going through back home. The third dream directed him to a tree very close to his holding village and that tree, is a necessary ingredient for the ritual that shall drive the demons back home. The fourth dream revealed to him the abode of a powerful Ifa priest he needed to see to complete the request. The fifth dream then revealed to him the way to the ancient tavern. The next morning, less casualties were recorded in the village. Falade narrated his dream to the man and he also promised to help him out. They first went to the tree to get the leaves and then the Ifa priest next. Just as in the dream he was wearing the same cloth, he explained the situation on ground and the Ifa priest understanding the nature of the cleansing ritual followed them to the cave to perform the ritual. On getting to the sacred low land on whose end lies the tavern, he unveiled a calabash from his bag, and requested Falade hands him the leaves. He cupped out water from the little spring below their feet and squeezed the leaves and its green juice spread through the water. He after wards unveiled a fibrous sponge from his bag, then he led them all into the tavern. There, he located the ritual gouge, there he washed thoroughly with his drenched sponge. The priest afterward sprinkled the leaf-water juices all around the ritual room, in between which he chanted incantations. See,incantations are my fantasies, every Ifa priest knows this, the more he chants it, the more i'll be willing to help. Finally, when he was through with it, he asked everyone to face the exit and warn them non of them should look back. He threw back the sponge over his shoulder. They then left the tavern, though as they left, they could hear soft whispers and wails jamming together, but they’ve been warned not to look back so they all heeded. Falade thanked the Ifa priest adequately and promised his kidnappers that he’ll undo what he did by telling his new dream to his folk. Falade returned home to the arms of his fear-stricken village men, but then, Falade returned not just with a reassuring words, he rather returned with a guarantee that everything would be alright from then on.  That day, falade was nothing but a true hero. I always like happy endings like this. From that day on with our help Falade ensured his people remained alright, even when chaos threatens.