CONQUEST

TURMOIL BREWING II

Gbolahan was running fast, with every step he took he was panting heavily, he had been training with a heavy hammer as well as wearing an armor that Folarin had designed to be incredibly heavy in order to be used to train the body but as soon as one of the secret guards brought the news to him, he had immediately ran to look for Folarin, forgotting all the heavy equipment around his body which led to the current situation but luckily, Folarin was in the Wefari village administration palace rather than his longhouse or else Gbolahan's journey would have been longer and he would have had to climb an hill as well but no matter what, this message had to be delivered, war was coming and it was very soon.

Folarin was busy playing with his two beautiful pets when Gbolahan came into the courtyard, with one glance at Gbolahan, Folarin knew it was very urgent, he immediately walked towards Gbolahan and snatched the letter that was in his hands and read it, the more he read, the more he frowned his face, sure enough there was no way to avoid this upcoming battle.

Folarin looked at Gbolahan and said "You ve been very busy, get some rest then immediately start preparing our men for battle, inform Kayo and Baba Olu of this news, our men can no longer slack off. My grandfather, father and uncle should have heard the news by now and they would be making their way to the capital, the nobles would also begin preparing and they would also be heading to the capital. Tell Kayo to organize our most loyal and skilled soldiers, they would be escorting me to the capital." Folarin sighed and said "The moment we return from the capital is the moment we go to war."

Gbolahan bowed his head and hurriedly left as Folarin sighed and looked at the letter again, in the letter was an invitation for all the nobles in the Oyo kingdom as well as the nobles of the smaller kingdoms under the Oyo kingdom to make their way to the capital of Oyo Ile, the current king was going to announce his successor to the throne.

It was a simple announcement but one that rippled through the kingdom, anyone with sense would also know that the king was basically going to announce his final wish, most likely the announcement of his successor is the final thing the old king would do before he passed away, he had not announced his successor all this years and all of a sudden he decided to do so now, it was clear that he didn't have much time left at all, infact his life may have just been prolonged using herbs and medicine.

But it remains true that no matter what the king announced, blood would surely flow in the land. If he announced Abeo as his successor which was highly unlikely, Abeo would use this opportunity to get rid of any and all people who may threaten his power starting with the Bashorun family which will lead to a bloody conflict, he may even take this one step further and execute any family who had not supported him during his quest to take the throne and if the king announced Adetola as his successor, it will lead to a battle between Abeo's faction and Adetola's faction.

Folarin sighed, all he could do was fight and hope all the preparations he had made the past few weeks were enough.

Three days later, at the border of the Oyo and the Ife kingdom, there was a large settlement here, it looked like any ordinary Yoruba village except it was much larger and its walls were higher and everyone here had a sense of discipline around them, they were all dressed in normsl leather armor made from animal skin and looked ready to head to battle at anytime.

This large settlement was the border fortress of the Oyo kingdom with the neighboring Ife kingdom,fifteen thousand soldiers were housed here, all of them highly disciplined and highly loyal to the Kankafor(Supreme General of the army) Mobo Bashorun.

At the biggest hut in this settlement, Mobo sat in front of Adebowale, both of them had a solemn expression on their faces as they looked at the letter,  their biggest fear had just come to past, the king was going to announce his successor, this meant the start of the battle of the throne, to the other nobles, the battle of the throne represented opportunity, it is a definite conclusion that several noble families will be killed, this provides an opportunity to swoop in and take in all the possessions of those fallen nobles as well as their land but to the Bashorun family, this was a battle for survival, although Mobo was the supreme commander of the army, only one out of the four generals of the Oyo kingdom was truly loyal to him.