Episode 5
It was another day in Ebeni kingdom, but a different day entirely unlike every other day in the land especially for me because I had a showdown at the river side.
The king had requested to see his people, he ordered that our parents and the youths of Ebeni be gathered in front of the palace at the late hours of the morning before sunrise. I wondered what prompted his decision; has he decided to retract his ordeal with the government on our farmlands or has he decided to finish off his evil deeds, for we have been made numb-skulls in our own land.
The lover boy as I had become was busy in my room memorizing a speech I have written down to prophecy to the lady that have suddenly stolen conscious mind away.
After few hours, my mother returned from the palace. She looked apoplectic rather than the usual glum masked all over her face; as I opened the entrance to welcome her in. I have never seen her in such bitterness and rage even when I and my siblings provoked her.
I allowed her to rest a bit before I asked what the trouble was. I offered her a glass of water, she accepted, after three gulps she spoke but in a calm tone.
She said the king claimed he spoke to the government and they agreed to return our farmlands and markets but since the kingdom belongs to him, the community would have to come to an agreement with his terms. She continued, "He proposed that if we must regain possession over them, eighty percent of the farm produce and sales from the market would remitted to the palace.
Suddenly I became sullen with a pain arched in my heart, "After three months; this is all the King could do for his people, we need to take powers into our own hands"; soliloquizing. The king must fall, we all can't perish without a fight, what was our crime to have warranted such ordinance passed on to us?.
After few minutes , I walked away to my room on remembering the scheduled plan of the day, not even the Kings decision can change my fate.