market and sometimes bought beancakes for Ezinma, whom she called her daughter. It
was a different woman--the priestess of Agbala, the Oracle of the Hills and Caves.
Ekwefi trudged along between two fears. The sound of her benumbed steps seemed to
come from some other person walking behind her. Her arms were folded across her bare
breasts. Dew fell heavily and the air was cold. She could no longer think, not even about
the terrors of night. She just jogged along in a half-sleep, only waking to full life when
Chielo sang.
At last they took a turning and began to head for the caves. From then on, Chielo
never ceased in her chanting. She greeted her god in a multitude of names--the owner of
the future, the messenger of earth, the god who cut a man down when his life was
sweetest to him. Ekwefi was also awakened and her benumbed fears revived.
The moon was now up and she could see Chielo and Ezinma clearly. How a
woman could carry a child of that size so easily and for so long was a miracle. But
Ekwefi was not thinking about that. Chielo was not a woman that night.
"Agbala do-o-o-o! Agbala ekeneo-o-o-o! Chi negbu madu ubosi ndu ya nato ya
uto daluo-o-o!..."
Ekwefi could already see the hills looming in the moonlight. They formed a
circular ring with a break at one point through which the foot-track led to the centre of
the circle.
As soon as the priestess stepped into this ring of hills her voice was not only
doubled in strength but was thrown back on all sides. It was indeed the shrine of a great
god. Ekwefi picked her way carefully and quietly. She was already beginning to doubt
the wisdom of her coming. Nothing would happen to Ezinma, she thought. And if
anything happened to her could she stop it? She would not dare to enter the
underground caves. Her coming was quite useless, she thought.
As these things went through her mind she did not realise how close they were
to the cave mouth. And so when the priestess with Ezinma on her back disappeared
through a hole hardly big enough to pass a hen, Ekwefi broke into a run as though to