CONQUEST

TEINDE II

The sun was setting in Wefari village, people were on their way home from their various workplace, farmers carried hoes on their shoulders as they discussed their work for the day, several order guards kept a vigilant watch over the people to make sure no one was committing any illegal act, several children were playing around, although Folarin had mentioned plans for a school, it would still take some time for this plans to be completed so the children had all the time in the world to play as they wish and finally the old people sat together as they discussed several issues concerning the kingdom while eating Kolanut and drinking palm wine, their old bones couldn't handle much stress so like the children, they did nothing much except having discussions with other old people and telling stories to their grandchildren and any other children they may find.

It was the image of a peaceful perfect village and anyone who came to Wefari at this moment would want to leave here cause this place had a different atmosphere than the other villages that were within the Oyo empire.

But unlike the peaceful atmosphere outside, in Folarin's longhouse at this moment, the atmosphere was solemn and heavy, Teinde sat down with a huge frown on his face as he listened to the words of Mobo and Yewande, his frown became deeper and deeper as she continued explaining all that had happened, after she was done, the room was silent as they gave time to Teinde to digest Yewande's words.

Few seconds past and Teinde finally spoke put saying "So much has happened in so little time, i was originally heading to the capital to request more men to be added to the border defense but obviously that is not possible anymore?"

Adebowale raised a eyebrow as he heard this, "is something wrong at the border, its unlike you to request more men." Teinde nodded his head and replied "Some nupe spies were caught within the Oyo empire, they attempted to sneak into my camp by dusgusing themselves as traders but fortunately they were unsuccessful, one of them managed to poison himself as soon as he was caught and i was able to stop the other one from committing suicide and torture her to get some information, apparently someone within the nupe empire had sent them to scout within our empire in order to find out our strengths and weaknesses."

"How did they manage to sneak pass the border guards?" Mobo asked with a stern tone in his voice

Teinde looked at Mobo and said "I thought it was nonsense when they mentioned it to me but with everything that has been happening within the kingdom, i have no choice but to believe it, it seems Banjoko and the rest of the Mosuro family have betrayed the empire and our people. Banjoko is tasked with keeping watch over the lands of the Nupe, there's no way they could have crossed the border without him knowing about it, i assumed it was nonsense when the spy had confessed this to me, a last tactic to divide us but it seems to be the truth because if the Ira family can betray king Boluwatife, what's to stop them from betraying our entire kingdom."

Adebowale had a ugly scowl on his face as he said "if this is true, then that means we have a traitor who can open the gates of our land to a foreign invasion at anytime he wishes."

Mobo suddenly felt a huge headache as he heard this, he quickly stood up from his seat and said "I have to write to Abeni immediately, she should immediately prepare for a battle with Banjoko, we can't let Banjoko be in control of the border."

Folarin who had been silent all this time finally spoke up saying "I don't think we should do that grandfather."

Mobo was angry at this moment and wanted to scold Folarin for his suggestion but upon seeing the calm look on Folarin's face, he forced himself to calm down and said "What do you mean boy, should we simply let our enemies enter the kingdom anytime they wish, if that's the case, even if we win the war with Abeo, we would still lose our empire."

Folarin still maintained a calm look on his face saying "If the Nupe people wanted to invade, they would have done so long ago, they do control our border so technically they can invade anytime they wish so why haven't they. The only answer i can think of is it would also be a huge loss for them, even if they do invade, they do not know this lands like we do, even if they somehow manage to win which is a big if, the price they would have to pay is something they would not be able to afford so the best option for them would be to wait, wait until we are weak and then they can devour us in one swift and clean blow. We know Ira, Patriach of the Mosuro family has been encouraging Abeo to start a civil war, it was largely with Ira's help that Abeo's plan could go so far, at first we simply assumed that he was loyal to Abeo and he wanted to grow his own power by supporting Abeo but now we can see that thid is clearly not the case, chief Ira's plan should be to weaken the kingdom, let our army and Abeo's army fight and kill each other, no matter who wins, the army of the Nupe people can simply finish them off because they would be weakened."

Everyone fell silent as they heard Folarin, although this was all mere speculation but with the spies caught and the Mosuro's family increasingly suspicious behaviour, this speculation became cemented as truth in everyone's minds.

"Bastard!" Teinde's voice interrupted everyone's thinking, he grit his teeth as he said "How could the Mosuro betray our emp..no how could they betray the entire Yorubaland as a whole, their ancestors were heroes, they rode with the great divine king Oranmiyan as he established our great nation, their ancestors would be crying in their grave, why would they do this." Teinde was a person who revered the great warriors of the past greatly, if he was in the twenty first century, he would be seen as an obsessed fanboy, he grew up listening to their stories and modeled his entire life based on this stories which is why he never bothers to participate in the political games of the empire, to him the present chiefs and nobles were nothing like the heroes of the past, everyone was simply obsessed with power and had forgotten the ways of their ancestors, only a few people like Adebowale and Mobo still had his respect, even the royal family were basically clowns in his eyes which is why he never swore loyalty to former emperor of Oyo but instead swore loyalty to the empire itself. But no matter how decadent the kingdom was in his eyes, he never thought that someone from the five great families would betray their motherland, he was genuinely confused at this moment because he simply couldn't understand why a descendant of a great hero would do such a thing.

"Power." It was Seyi who had been silent since the start of the meeting that spoke this time, "Power corrupts even the most noble of souls not to mention someone like Ira, if what Folarin said is true which is most likely then Ira must have been promised the throne of the Oyo empire in exchange for his loyalty in other words, the Oyo empire would simply be a vassal under the Nupe people."

Teinde banged his hands on the tanle as he heard this "I will cut of the heads of the entire Mosuro family and hang them on a spike for everyone to see what happens to traitors." Breathing out for a moment, Teinde calmed down and said "So how do we resolve this issue, you certainly can't fight a war on two fronts, so why don't i attack Banjoko's fortress and take back the border before the Nupe are able to cross through."

But Seyi shook his head at this moment as he replied Teinde "That would lead to unnecessary fights between men of Oyo which would further weaken us, at this point in time, we not only have to be weary of the Nupe but also the Ife empire as well, they are waiting for the perfect moment to launch a strike against us as well, in this situation we have an advantage in the fact that neither Banjoko or Ira are aware that we know of their plans and we still have two armies that are on standby not involved in the civil war so i say we use this, Balogun Abeni is my father's disciple so she will surely side with us so this is what i propose we do..."