• Trade built Eko.
    power will reshape it.

    Book

    When The Lagoon Decides

    Book One of the Eko Chronicles

    by Olaseni Alaka

    On the waters of Eko, power is built on trade. Foreign ships crowd the lagoon. Markets swell with wealth. Chiefs and merchants compete for influence in a city shaped by ambition and fragile alliances. But prosperity has its cost.

    When a dispute in Ereko market spirals into accusation and death, fear begins to spread. Old loyalties strain. Quiet tensions rise to the surface. And in the palace, decisions made in the name of power begin to fracture the very foundations of the city.

    As conflict deepens between Eko, Badagry, and their allies, trade routes become battlegrounds. War moves across the lagoon. And those who seek to control the future of the city must reckon with forces beyond strategy or strength.

    Because in Eko, nothing stands alone. Power, trade, and fate move together, and when they collide, no one escapes unchanged.

As he adjusted the load on his shoulder, Lufaderin watched him with a mixture of admiration and unease. The burden he carried now was light compared to the burden she believed awaited him one day.
As he passed into the outer courtyard, Ìyálójà called after him.

Excerpt from When The Lagoon Decides

Kutere admired his wife’s success. At first he marvelled at how naturally she moved through the markets, negotiating prices, securing goods before competitors noticed their value, building alliances that stretched from Porto Novo to Ilorin. Her confidence fascinated him. Yet success created its own tension.

Excerpt from When The Lagoon Decides

The streets were already crowded. Porters, fishermen, Popo traders, Aganyins, Kurumos. Yet something felt wrong. Two fishermen stood speaking in low voices. “…something happened on the lagoon…” “…night travellers…” Lufaderin slowed. But the men fell silent when she passed. The harbour soon came into view.

Excerpt from When The Lagoon Decides

On such days the market swelled with life. Goods changed hands faster than the tide could turn. Voices climbed over one another. Laughter rose. Stalls emptied. Profit moved like current through the whole city. It was on one of those mornings, while watching the horizon where the water met the sky, that Lufaderin felt a quiet certainty settle inside her.

Excerpt from When The Lagoon Decides

The canoe shuddered. Wood cracked. Then it splintered apart. Men, women, and cargo plunged into the dark water. Nawe surfaced first. The sack of corn was still clutched in her arms. Her breath came in sharp gasps as she began to swim toward the shore. The burning in her arms spread quickly, but she forced herself forward.

Excerpt from When The Lagoon Decides

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