In between the last day of battle and this day that he was summoned by the King, he took his time to consult the Princess of the way forward. He was cautious enough to avoid being spotted or raise suspicion. The reasons he gave the King were those they had discussed with his lover. This shifted the blame from his side to the battalion as a whole. Finally, they concluded that, something better needed to be done for next time.
"Captain, tell me, what happened out there at the battle field such that I had to withdraw the warriors. Is this Captainship becoming a burden to you, or, what is it that made you lose to Lampa for God's sake. Enlighten me Captain," asked the King.
"My lord, it's not that the Captainship is a burden to me but, the Lampa warriors were quite prepared for us and some new warriors were not well prepared. We did not have enough time to have them be the best my King," said the Captain.
"So Captain, you are telling me that the warriors were not well prepared. Since when did we start having warriors not ready for battle? About the training, how is that my fault? You are the Captain, the one responsible for the training. If anybody were to shoulder the blame, I would say it is you Joseph. Unless you tell me otherwise, I am considering another Captain," said the King.
"My lord, as much as most of the blame falls on us all, I do not deny mine as well. I must acknowledge that it was my mistake. I took many young and new warriors to battle that day. Despite our readiness, we needed numbers as well. This is not to be repeated again my King. Please forgive us. We promise you Lampa next time," said Joseph.
"You surprise me how fast you forget these things Joseph. If Kang'ethe had the heart to continue with the battle… We could be tossed! I could have lost my title and leadership. Let me hope this is not to be repeated again. Get back to your men and prepare properly. I do not want excuses next time. You may leave now. …Captain, next time, I do not expect inexperienced warriors at the battlefield. Remember, numbers are important as well to match the size of Lampa," said the King.
"Thank you my lord. We promise not to let you down next time," replied Joseph.
Having the plan working so well, it was time to move on. Pretending not to know anything, the Princess approached the King asking of what happened and of the way forward. For starters, she was very angry with him asking to know why he had to summon the Captain in secret without her knowledge and she was a part of the plan.
The King explained that it was what was best for her and that, he was to tell her later as they were forging the way forward. He went further to explain to her that, the battalion's weakness caused the loss of the battle and he had the Captain do something about it. After a moment of discussion concerning this issue, they concluded that there was need to increase the warriors by recruiting others and increase the training sessions.
Joseph was notified of this and was ordered to commence immediately. This training session was not to be like any other in the past though. The Captain was not only recruiting warriors but also those on his plan's favor. In other words, he was training a rebellion army as agreed with the Princess. All that Dorothy knew was that the warriors were being recruited for a rebellion. What she never knew was that, Joseph also had his own plan for this coupe de tat about to be done.
Mwithali, on sight of everything in motion and back to normal, he was not satisfied. The battalions fault for losing the war was no enough reason to him. He had his theory and needed it proven. He was the next in command and as always, he wanted better than that. Anything to implicate the Captain to get rid of him was what he needed.
First, he thought Joseph was too weak to lead a battalion, a traitor and above all, he hated him. Mwithali continued with his spy work against the Captain trying to prove that he was behind the failure at the battlefield during the attack.
On the other hand, Jessica did not rest. She was still on a mission to find out whether the Captain and the Princess were in a relationship. According to the progress of events, this was proving to be true. The loss of the battle against Lampa and, Martin's reaction towards it raised eyebrows. This was because; he was working hand in hand with the sister.
Ever since the day Jessica met Dorothy in her room shortly after the Captain had left, the Princess knew that Jessica was onto her. She knew that if she did not trend carefully, all would be known to her. Therefore, Dorothy was also onto Jessica and watched her closely in search for leverage in case anything happened. She was the Chief maiden hence; getting her off the Princess's back was not easy. Spying on her too was the best reasonable thing to do without cause of attention.
Back at the Lampa Kingdom, flows of joy and hope to those who had survived the attack could be felt. Hand in hand, the wailing of those who had lost their loved ones. For King Kang'ethe, it was a different story. He was happy and grateful to the gods that the battle was over but, he was certain of one thing; they had not won the war!
All he could not understand was how they won and why the Kamu warriors had to retreat, especially, under Martin's regime. Either way, he knew something was going on at Kamu and he prayed that whatever it was to bear good fruits. Back in his mind, he had a clue that Captain Joseph must have been a part of whatever was going on. It was something he could not dare to share even with his wife Jacinta.
When Joseph was sent to Lampa by Martin to deliver a message, Kang'ethe noticed him being of pure heart. Kang'ethe realized that, he was a lover of peace only that fate put him at the wrong place. He knew that Joseph was not doing what he was doing because he loved it but because he needed to survive.
Mwithali had done his homework but could not get anything to crucify Joseph. He had noted that, during the battle, the Captain had the newly trained and less skilled warriors on the front line hence the results. As he prepared to use it against him to the King, he learnt that, the King had already talked to Joseph about it.
He had to find something good enough to accuse Joseph of treason. This was the only way he could get Joseph out of his way. Since he got nothing, he decided to cook his own story.
He approached a few warriors for back up. Once it was done, he walked up to the King to make his accusations. Martin on the other end knew that, Mwithali had hatred towards Joseph and that he could do anything to have him demoted. This way, Martin needed to be certain of what Mwithali had for him in order to hold the Captain responsible. He also knew that Mwithali must demand something in exchange.
After a short while of spy work and testimonies from a few warriors, King Martin found out that Captain Joseph had something to do with Mwithali' accusations. He needed to pay for his actions. Joseph was summoned to the council and without a right to defendant was accused of treason. In this Kingdom and others like it during the era, treason was a crime punishable by shameful death and not forgivable.
Alia jacta est. (The die is cast). The Captain had nothing to get his neck off the noose. All that was left for him was the dungeons. He was taken there in wait for his execution, which was to take place after three days at the arena with the whole Kingdom watching.
To the Princess, those were bad news and she could never let that happen. First, if Joseph was executed, her mission was over. Most importantly, they could never take her lover from her. Getting Joseph off the hook became her mission. Mwithali became her number one enemy. Crucifying him became her number one agenda. As she was looking for ways to implicate Mwithali, the King was looking forward to promoting him for Captainship.
This was not an easy task for Dorothy. She did not want to raise any queries from her brother King Martin. She needed to keep her relationship with Joseph secret. If she had enough time, this could be a piece of cake. However, she only had two days to put her cards together and play the game in her lover's favor.
This meant that, something had to be done out of the ordinary even if it meant having to take a life for it. Indeed, she was a dependable woman. Joseph was lucky to have bewitched such a woman with his love. One thing Dorothy knew was that, Mwithali must have been behind the Captain's arrest, or, at least, the main part of it.
With this in mind, she had a starting point. Secondly, Mwithali was not to be sworn in as Captain before Joseph's execution. After inquiry from a few warriors and people, she found out that the Captain was being accused of sabotaging the battle by ordering a go-slow. He was also accused of planning a mutiny against Martin. Mwithali was behind cooking the whole story. Having in mind what Joseph had told Kang'ethe back when they had been sent to him, nothing could go wrong, so Mwithali thought. He had the perfect alibi, not to forget, the warriors he had on his side.